Bike NY

Kaputnik said:

I live in Connecticut. I'm thinking of doing the Five-
Borough bike ride in NY this year, bringing my Bike-Friday
folder. Since using public transportation the morning of
the ride seems to be impractical, I'm considering two ways
to get there; I'd appreciate feedback from anyone who's
tried either.

When we lived in NJ we would drive to Staten Island and park
near the ferry terminal. Parking was always easy to find
within a few blocks of the ferry. Then get on the ferry
which takes you to the Battery Park area where the ride
starts. An advantage is that you don't have to wait with the
thousands of other cyclists to get on the ferry at the end
of the ride.

On 20 Mar 2004 15:46:11 -0800, [email hidden] (Kaputnik)

Quoted message said:

I could just drive in the morning of the ride, but it seems
that parking is likely to be a nightmare.

It's actually not. BNY is the ONLY thing happening in Lower
Manhattan, at 6 AM on that Sunday morning, and I've never
had a problem parking in the 5 years I've done the ride.

Aside from area right around the start, the area is pretty
much deserted at that time. Wait until you see the contrast
with the same area later in the afternoon. <G>

Barry

Quoted message said:

When we lived in NJ we would drive to Staten Island and
park near the ferry terminal. Parking was always easy to
find within a few blocks of the ferry. Then get on the
ferry which takes you to the Battery Park area where the
ride starts. An advantage is that you don't have to wait
with the thousands of other cyclists to get on the ferry
at the end of the ride.

That's what I did last year. My friend and I drove in from
Westchester County at 4 a.m. We found a parking spot about
1/2 mile from the ferry terminal. We'd hoped to catch the
6:30 a.m. ferry, but missed it by a few minutes. We caught
the 7 a.m. ferry, which got us to the start "line" -- more
like a throng -- in plenty of time.

Not having to wait for the ferry back was great.

Here are some pictures I took:
stecksoft.combny2003Open ↗

-- Paul

[nyc.bicycles added]

Paul A. Steckler said:

Not having to wait for the ferry back was great.

I live in Brooklyn (and don't have a car) so parking isn't
an issue for me. But last year a few of us avoided the wait
for the ferry by cycling down to the Bayonne Bridge, taking
it over to New Jersey, and riding to the Hudson-Bergen Light
Rail (which is very bike-friendly; and we could have skipped
the streetcars and rode all the way but, uh, some of the
others were tired after 50 or so miles), back up to Jersey
City, and under the river to Manhattan on the PATH train. I
don't think it saved us much, if any, time, but it was a lot
more fun than standing in line for hours.

Quoted message said:

Here are some pictures I took:
stecksoft.combny2003Open ↗

Nice -- thanks for posting.

--
Steven O'Neill [email hidden]

Thanks to those who answered. Of course, I discovered after
posting that the web page *does* have information about
parking, but it's good to hear from people who have done it
in the past and say it's practical. I'm leaning now toward
coming in by car; I just have to get to bed really early the
night before.

Thanks

[email hidden] (Steven M. O'Neill) wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

[nyc.bicycles added]

Paul A. Steckler said:

Not having to wait for the ferry back was great.

I live in Brooklyn (and don't have a car) so parking isn't
an issue for me. But last year a few of us avoided the
wait for the ferry by cycling down to the Bayonne Bridge,
taking it over to New Jersey, and riding to the Hudson-
Bergen Light Rail (which is very bike-friendly; and we
could have skipped the streetcars and rode all the way
but, uh, some of the others were tired after 50 or so
miles), back up to Jersey City, and under the river to
Manhattan on the PATH train. I don't think it saved us
much, if any, time, but it was a lot more fun than
standing in line for hours.

Quoted message said:

Here are some pictures I took:
stecksoft.combny2003Open ↗

Nice -- thanks for posting.

Peter <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:B057c.51986$po.498609@attbi_s52...

Quoted message said:

Kaputnik wrote:

When we lived in NJ we would drive to Staten Island and
park near the ferry terminal. Parking was always easy to
find within a few blocks of the ferry. Then get on the
ferry which takes you to the Battery Park area where the
ride starts. An advantage is that you don't have to wait
with the thousands of other cyclists to get on the ferry
at the end of the ride.

One piece of advice if you are going to park on Staten
Island: park to the west side of Bay St., i.e. away from
the water. The one time I did Bike NY I parked on the
other side, and I had to wait a long time to get out
because of all of the riders coming through on that road
to get to the ferry.

You actually have three options,

1- If you look at the Getting to the start line page on our
website you will see info about taking MetroNorth to Grand
Central Station from CT.

2- You can drive to lower Manhattan and park. There is no
shortage of parking spots in lower Manhattan that early on a
Sunday morning. We used to notify parking garages so they
would add extra employees but we discovered that very few
people used them because street parking was easy.

3- You can park on SI and take the ferry over. The one
caveat is that some of those ferries fill up and you can end
up having to wait for the next ferry.

I will say that the last 2 years we did much better getting
people onto the ferries with less of a wait. Last year
allmost everyone got onto the first ferry that arrived after
they got there which means most waited well under 30
minutes. If it's a nice sunny day, people tend to hang out
longer at the festival on SI and that alleviates lines at
the ferry. On a cold, cloudy day or an extremely hot day,
riders blow thru the festival and head straight for the
ferry which than backs up. We have tried hard to smooth out
that part of the ride but we are using all the ferries the
city has available.

One additional plug--- Take a look at the new ride we are
running in July up in Millerton, NY. It will be more like a
traditional bike club road rally with 5 different lenght
routes, cue sheets and road markings. We hope to get about
1000 riders so it is much smaller and the roads will be open
to traffic. On the other hand I was up there scouting and in
15 miles was passed by under a dozen cars! The riding is
great and the countryside nice--lots of farms etc.

Len Diamond

"Len Diamond" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

You actually have three options,

1- If you look at the Getting to the start line page on
our website you will see info about taking MetroNorth to
Grand Central Station from CT.

I did consider that, but I'd have to leave so early to get
to the nearest train station on the list that it's probably
less hassle to drive. There is a closer metro north station,
but the first train out of there on Sunday is way too late.

Quoted message said:

2- You can drive to lower Manhattan and park.

(snip).

Quoted message said:

3- You can park on SI and take the ferry over.

(snip)

Yes, one of those. I'm leaning toward the Staten Island
option. From what I'm hearing, parking isn't going to
be as bad as I was thinking. It's good to get feedback.
I'm definitely going. Entry form filled out but not
mailed in yet.

Quoted message said:

One additional plug--- Take a look at the new ride we are
running in July up in Millerton, NY. It will be more like
a traditional bike club road rally with 5 different
lenght routes, cue sheets and road markings. We hope to
get about 1000 riders so it is much smaller and the roads
will be open to traffic. On the other hand I was up there
scouting and in 15 miles was passed by under a dozen
cars! The riding is great and the countryside nice--lots
of farms etc.

Thanks for all the information.

Len Diamond said:

You actually have three options,

1- If you look at the Getting to the start line page on
our website you will see info about taking MetroNorth to
Grand Central Station from CT.

2- You can drive to lower Manhattan and park. There is no
shortage of parking spots in lower Manhattan that early on
a Sunday morning. We used to notify parking garages so
they would add extra employees but we discovered that very
few people used them because street parking was easy.

3- You can park on SI and take the ferry over. The one
caveat is that some of those ferries fill up and you can
end up having to wait for the next ferry.

I will say that the last 2 years we did much better
getting people onto the ferries with less of a wait. Last
year allmost everyone got onto the first ferry that
arrived after they got there which means most waited well
under 30 minutes. If it's a nice sunny day, people tend to
hang out longer at the festival on SI and that alleviates
lines at the ferry. On a cold, cloudy day or an extremely
hot day, riders blow thru the festival and head straight
for the ferry which than backs up. We have tried hard to
smooth out that part of the ride but we are using all the
ferries the city has available.

One additional plug--- Take a look at the new ride we are
running in July up in Millerton, NY. It will be more like
a traditional bike club road rally with 5 different
lenght routes, cue sheets and road markings. We hope to
get about 1000 riders so it is much smaller and the roads
will be open to traffic. On the other hand I was up there
scouting and in 15 miles was passed by under a dozen
cars! The riding is great and the countryside nice--lots
of farms etc.

Len Diamond

Hey, Doc--wassup?

Steve