Citi Cycling

After riding a bike every day in December (regardless of mileage, I did it!), January has been leaving me feeling deprived in the cycling department. Due in part to some harsh Winter weather and scheduling, I've already been forced to keep the bike inside 5 days so far this year. But, as has been the case so many times, when the time is right, the adventure finds me...

I had a day trip to New York City planned for yesterday to meet up with my girlfriend and daughter. It took a lot of coordination, but everything was set up so we'd get there right around the same time (I'd be taking the train, they'd be flying). Long story short, their flight was delayed and it was too late for me to re-schedule my train ticket, so I found myself in midtown Manhattan with about 2.5 hours to kill.

I'll be honest, I was feeling a bit anxious just being in New York. Even though I live in a city, it's a completely different energy level up there. To cure my anxiety, I decided to go for a bike ride (I realize that sounds counter-intuitive considering the surroundings, but also consider that it's me who's writing this - would you expect anything less?).

I bought a CitiBike daypass and set out for some pseudo-adventuring in the Big Apple:

CitiBike is NYC's bike share program, in case you can't tell from the picture above. This is (I think?) the 5th different bike sharing program I've used in the past year. They're all very similar. You swipe a credit card, answer a few questions, sign your life away, get a 5-digit code to enter at the dock, then pull out a bike:

These pics were taken in Central Park, which was actually the end of my first ride. The parameters of most of these systems require a bike to be returned to any station before 30 minutes elapse, otherwise additional charges of $4 per half hour apply. By the time I'd reached Central Park, I was at about 20 minutes and didn't want to risk going over my time. The nice thing about CitiBike is that there are eleventy billion stations (exact number - look it up) scattered throughout Manhattan, so they're never far away.

The day pass was only $12 (Philly's is $10), which allots for unlimited 30-minute rides, so even though I had to stop, I could just check out another bike from the same station without paying anything extra. You could actually go all day doing this and get wherever you need to go, as the pass is valid for 24 hours.

The bikes themselves are all very similar as well. They're a bit clunky, but those big handlebars serve another purpose beyond steering. I like that they provide a small rack for carrying items, as well as safe cycling and legal information for the lay person who may not be familiar with the rules of the road:

As for the rest of the bike, I have some mixed feelings. The first bike I rode had this strange "slick shift" which never seemed to catch into the next gear, but rather slid between lower and higher gears as you rotated the handle on the right handlebar:

I much preferred the second bike I grabbed, which had actual notches to let you "feel" when the gear switched:

As for the rides themselves, I had no major issues. I think that's partially because I'm an experienced urban cyclist. I won't lie to you though - New York cycling is a completely different animal than Philly cycling for a few reasons. One, more people than not seem to regularly ignore one of the major laws pertaining to cyclists: ride with the flow of traffic. Two, pedestrians in NYC are much more likely to cross against a red light. I don't know if this is the case simply because there are more people in NYC or if it's a culture thing or both, but whatever the case, I feel like an inexperienced cyclist might have had a rough time. And this also doesn't take into consideration the added difficulty of piloting those big, clunky bikes. Again, I had no major issues.

The cycling infrastructure was pretty solid from what I experienced. There are a lot of dedicated bike lanes in Midtown Manhattan, including this one on Broadway (not the best pic, but you get the idea):

Dig the green space to the left, too. In addition, some of these lanes include dedicated traffic signals for cyclists. I've seen these in other cities (DC comes to mind) but have yet to recall seeing one in Philly:

I had started at Madison Square Garden, rode up to Central Park (above), then turned around and headed south, stopping briefly in Times Square to be a little tourist-y:

I didn't do a whole lot of sightseeing otherwise. That's not really why I was there in the first place. I did, however, stop for lunch at a brewery in Chelsea:

Death Avenue Brewing, to be exact. Again, would you expect anything less from me at this point? It wasn't too far from MSG and my eventual base for the evening. At $11, the price per pint was a bit steep, but considering the location, it was to be expected. At least it was tasty:

After lunch, I rented another bike and headed East to finally meet up with my girlfriend. I biked across the island in about 20 minutes. Not too shabby! I also saw this unique signage beside the bike lane. I'm not sure who's trying to keep pigeons as pets, but nonetheless, there it is:

Due to my girlfriend's flight delays and my desire not to run myself ragged, I ended up changing my train reservation to this morning so I could stay overnight. Even a few extra hours was well worth the reservation change fees. Not pictured, I rented a bike to get back to Penn Station from the East Village this morning. Not surprisingly, the commute at 6AM was much more laid back and uneventful due to lack of traffic and pedestrians. I guess the city does occasionally sleep.

I'll admit that when the IndeGo bike share launched in Philly, I had some speculations, but in the last 2 years, I've found bike sharing to be quite crucial to getting the most out of my increasingly travel-oriented lifestyle. My galavants notwithstanding, I can't tell you how much money I saved in transportation costs by not having to take a taxi, train, or bus yesterday. A small adventure and functionality wrapped together, and that's true just about every time I put my foot on a pedal.

So now, the logical mission is to ride a bike share in as many cities as possible, right? Stay tuned...