Re: A different world, 5 blocks away

"cycle-one" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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"Andy Gee" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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I typically turn my evening 3.6 mile commute home to a 12 mile training
ride by going around the circumference of Manhattan instead of straight
through. Manhattan comes to a point at the bottom, the Battery, and from
there uptown routes radiate.

Any thoughts on yokel who wanted to make Manhattan a cycling destination?
I'd really like to see it one day and do so by bike but two things make me
hesitate:

[1] Can a provincial from a tiny burg of 110,000 polite Canucks handle the
rough and tumble of
New Ya-a-a-a-wk traffic?

[2] Can accommodations be had for something less than a Donald Trump bank
account?

I can answer your second question as an occasional visitor to New York. The
Pennsylvania Hotel (formerly the Penta, formerly the Statler Hilton,
formerly the Pennsylvania) is safe, conveniently located and the
recently-redecorated rooms are very comfortable for a little over $100US per
night. If that's too steep, I have stayed at a hostel waaaaaaaaay uptown
for the usual cheap hostel rates. They'll probably be better able to
accommodate your bike, but I don't see why you can't just park in your room
at the Pennsylvania.

A New Yorker may better be able to help you with your first question. I
lived in the Toronto exurbs for most of last year and the whole place is
designed for motor traffic, except dedicated bike routes. Motorists don't
expect to encounter anything but other motorists. My walk to the bus was ten
minutes on a road with no sidewalk, which felt a little perilous during the
dark winter mornings. I think you will be less invisible to NYC drivers.

Max Penn said:

A New Yorker may better be able to help you with your first question. I
lived in the Toronto exurbs for most of last year and the whole place is
designed for motor traffic, except dedicated bike routes. Motorists don't
expect to encounter anything but other motorists. My walk to the bus was ten
minutes on a road with no sidewalk, which felt a little perilous during the
dark winter mornings. I think you will be less invisible to NYC drivers.

I bet you're right. I bike in downtown Toronto every day, and the
'pros' in the limos and cabs , even though the're cutting and darting
in and out of each others' way, seem to be used to bikes and we rarel
yinteract badly (other than the out of town 'scoopers' who block entire
lanes while parked waiting for a hotel tip-off.)

Meanwhile, when I go to Mississauga or Brampton, or even northern
Scarborough, despite the wider lanes and better site lines, I seem to
be invisibe to the "exurb" drivers.

As to the original poster's question about the Dr. Jeckle/Mr. Hyde
change in traffic that happens in just a few blocks, I don't think we
have a sharp line of demarcation like that here. I think the
underground Path and the many pedestrian-only shortcuts around places
like Union Station softens the ped/car interaction a lot.

I admire all of you for biking/commuting in big cities. I
occassionally biked when I lived in St. Louis, but it was much tougher
than biking in Fort Collins, CO, where I live now. Dedicated bike
lanes, etc.
Jim Gagnepain
http://home.comcast.net/~oil_free_and_happy/

"cycle-one" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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[2] Can accommodations be had for something less than a Donald Trump bank
account?

http://www.riversideinn-ny.com/rates.htm
http://www.morningsideinn-ny.com/rates.htm (higher, more central)

Here's another: http://www.riversidetowerhotel.com/

We'll be in The City in mid-February (no bicycles).

--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
http://www.bicyclemeditations.org/
Sponsor me for the Big Climb! See: www.active.com/donate/cpetersky06
See the books I've set free at:
http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky

"Claire Petersky" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

"cycle-one" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

[2] Can accommodations be had for something less than a Donald Trump bank
account?

http://www.riversideinn-ny.com/rates.htm
http://www.morningsideinn-ny.com/rates.htm (higher, more central)

Here's another: http://www.riversidetowerhotel.com/

We'll be in The City in mid-February (no bicycles).

Thanks for the sites. And thanks to the appreciating C$ those rates seem
quite reasonable. It's still in the flight of fancy stage. Something I might
do this summer.

Another question: Instead of boxing and shipping the bike are there
reasonable rentals? It's NYC. I figure there has to be.

[email hidden] wrote in news:1137915737.621051.105980
@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

Quoted message said:

I admire all of you for biking/commuting in big cities. I
occassionally biked when I lived in St. Louis, but it was much tougher
than biking in Fort Collins, CO, where I live now. Dedicated bike
lanes, etc.
Jim Gagnepain
http://home.comcast.net/~oil_free_and_happy/

I had to fly to St. Louis once to look at some company's computer. I
didn't have time to arrange a bike but I brought my Xootr kick scooter with
me on the plane to get a feel for what the bike commutes would be like.
For not being a resident, I got the idea that StL would be a pretty ideal
place to commute by bike or HPV of some kind: resdiential nabes within 5
or 6 miles of downtown, the "dangerous" or "no-go" areas are across a big
river in another state, fairly flat terrain. When I saw Xootring around
the Arch and the tourist area around it, people looked at me like I was
from Mars, but many of these practical midwesterners said hey, that's the
way to get around! They understood that I had "showed them" so to speak.

Was it the lack of facilities or what that kept you from having an easy
time biking there? Or did I get a totally wrong read on the town?

--ag