Bike Commute Reflections

Last summer, my bike commute took me over the Williamsburg Bridge. This summer, it's the Manhattan Bridge. (And soon enough, my commute will likely change to the Brooklyn Bridge when my office moves to the financial district in the fall). I like seeing the wildflowers and smelling the grass on the Brooklyn side ramp, a rare glimpse of nature against the steel and concrete.

One thing I will say about biking in New York City is that I find it exhausting. Not only physically, but also mentally, as you have to be constantly aware of your surroundings. My eyes scan the parked cars to the right to make sure none are about to open a door or pull out. I listen and glance behind me to make sure there are no cars approaching too fast that I should move out of the way for. Before I go through a green light, I check to make sure there are no cars running red lights in the other direction.

Biking doesn't tire me out that much in the mornings, because I take it easy on my way to the office. But I definitely feel it in the evenings, after I've worked all day and then biked five and half miles home with a gradual incline at the end. I welcome the occasional stormy day when I can veg out and close my sleepy eyes or read on the subway.

But I keep it up because it's still the best form of exercise for me personally. It's consistent and it's fun and it's hard enough finding "me" time in my current schedule that I don't know how I could fit in cardio workouts otherwise.

I realized that it actually limits my future job options, because I don't think I ever want to work somewhere with a bike commute that would be longer than six or seven miles. When it gets to be ten miles each way, it's too rough to do regularly, as Evan has found out at his new job. But I've decided I'm okay with that right now, because I'm prioritizing my health and quality of life.

And sometimes biking earns you comments like this one, said to me from a garbageman the other day: "Even in that helmet you look beautiful."

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The Savings of Biking

Now that it's been a full year since I started bike commuting, I thought I would look back to determine how much I saved. The cost of public transportation keeps rising in New York City, where an unlimited monthly pass went from $89 to $104 last year -- and there is word of another fare hike coming up in the next year. So in addition to the health and environmental benefits of biking, it can also save you some cash.

Over the past year, I averaged 6.4 subway/bus rides per week, totaling $711 for the year, and I biked an average of 26 miles per week. There were some weeks where I was able to rely completely on my bike and didn't need public transportation, but there were also a couple weeks where I didn't bike at all. It wasn't so much the winter cold that stopped me -- in fact, I could have easily biked all through the winter because we didn't get much snow and the weather never dipped cold for too long. Rather, various logistical factors kept me from riding more - like staying up late for rock shows and being too tired to bike in the morning, or health reasons, or post-work plans that I wouldn't want to bike home drunk from, or hopping back and forth between my apartment and my boyfriend's and not always having my bike with me.

I also looked at the cost of bicycle maintenance, which totaled $243 for the year. I paid for a tune-up, two fenders (since the first one was a clip-on type that sucked and kept falling off), a couple bike lights (since one was stolen and one fell off) and a flat tire repair. I included the $40 price of a Transportation Alternatives membership, since it got me discounts at bike shops and they do good advocacy work to improve bike lanes and pedestrian and biker safety in New York.

So $243 for bike maintenance + $711 for metrocard = $954. Meanwhile, if I had paid for an unlimited pass and taken the subway to work every day, like my previous years in New York City, I would have paid $1,248. This means that I saved $294 over the year by commuting by bike rather than by public transportation alone. I expected the savings to be higher, but it's definitely not an insignificant amount. And in reality, I saved even more because my metrocard was deducted pre-tax from my paycheck. Now I can challenge myself to bike more miles and save more money next year!

Have you ever tried changing the way you commute and seen how much you save?

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Biking to Fort Tilden

I took advantage of the surprise summer weather this weekend to bike to the Fort Tilden beach. I'd been there before, but last time we drove there and the flies chased us away. This time it was perfectly lovely. Hour + 15-30 minute bike rides flanking lazy lying on the beach. The water was too cold for me, but my companions enjoyed floating in unusually calm water.

After researching and trying both routes, we figured out that you can either take Ocean Parkway or Bedford Ave. Ocean Parkway has a pleasant separated bike lane, which is better for conversational biking, but adds two miles to the ride. If you take Ocean Parkway, turn left onto Neptune Ave before you reach the boardwalk, which turns into Emmons Ave. If you take Bedford Ave, you take a left right onto Emmons Ave. Either way, when you reach the intersection of Brigham and Emmons, you will see a path set off to the right of the ramp onto the Belt Parkway (pictured below).

You want to take this bike path (not the ramp onto the highway), which follows the wetlands along the shore and takes you right to Flatbush Ave and over the bridge to the Rockaways. We passed an area where Hurricane Irene had washed away the path, despite the bags of sand buffering the coast - no matter, just walk your bike through the sand at this spot and enjoy the view.

Once you're over the bridge, make an awkward left just before all the field and parking lot business, and then turn right just before the beach and follow the path through the woods until you reach at least post 22 (which also has a bike rack) in order to hit the lawless Fort Tilden beach, rather than Jacob Riis. It's not the most straightforward journey, which is why I thought it would be helpful to put these directions on the internet.

map via brooklyn by bike

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Back from Portland

I'm back from a weeklong trip to Portland, OR with friends who want to move there, and it's easy to see why they love it. The city lives up to its stereotypes. It's like Brooklyn - with hipsters and bikes and second hand clothing stores and quality locally sourced food and craft beer everywhere - but in a smaller, more manageable size and more beautiful and spacious setting. Instead of dense apartment buildings, it's cute house after cute house with small but green lots.

When I saw Portland's quiet, bike laned streets, I understood why it's good for biking - the city is laid out in a grid, appeared not-too hilly and has plentiful side streets that look much safer than NYC's busy streets. I could see myself easily getting around primarily by bike there. But while Portland's public transportation is much lauded and some of our friends there do get by without owning a car, I found that it's more of a car city than you'd think. The light rail doesn't even go to southeast Portland and the rail and buses stop running around 12:30 nightly. Somehow, you can always find street parking, so it's often easier to just drive to your destination, especially when you're with a big group of people who include tourists who don't have bikes.

This one speaks for itself.

Food not lawns!

There are movie theaters where you can enjoy pizza and beer while watching the movie, all for only slightly more than the price of just a movie ticket in NYC.

Food trucks! Unlike in NYC, where they are mobile and elusive and require twitter to track down locations, food trucks in Portland get permanent devoted areas in parking lots called "food truck pods" so you always know where you can find your favorite late night pizza or breakfast sandwich.

The most memorable meal of the trip was at Pok Pok, a Thai street food restaurant with a a James Beard Foundation award winning chef and amazing spicy fish sauce chicken wings.

We got to enjoy two hot springs - Bonneville Hot Springs in the Columbia River Gorge just across the border in Washington, which was more of a resort and was unfortunately treated with chlorine.

Columbia River Gorge

Much better was Bagby Hot Springs, where a 1.5 mile hike into the woods leads you to an old wooden structure where you can soak in carved out logs.

When people warn you not to go to the coast because it's rainy and windy, you should listen, because what they really mean is that there will be driving rain with gale force winds that rock your car and threaten to blow you over so you won't be able to hike or see any of the beautiful views.

Also, everyone we met was super nice and willing to make time to hang out and make introductions to other people. Very refreshing compared to New York. Here are some new friends having fun climbing the columns in Cathedral Park in North Portland.

I also heard a lot of complaints about the rain and unemployment problems, so just make sure you have a job lined up and don't mind wearing a raincoat if you plan on moving there...

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How to Bike Commute in the Summer and Keep Your Cool

Last week temperatures in New York reached the 90s. Undeterred, I bike commuted as usual anyway and got to work no sweatier than in other weather. Thus proving that I can make it in the peak summer hot weather, and that I don't need to waste money on a gym membership simply to shower before I go into the office. Here are my strategies for keeping cool:

* Go at a leisurely pace, even if it means your trip will be five-ish minutes longer. This is key.

* Carry your bag in a bike basket or panier rather than on your back.

* Wear as little clothing as possible, and make sure it is loose-fitting so you feel some breeze. Wear sandals instead of closed-toe shoes.

* Girls, wear your hair back. I pin my bangs back and keep my hair in a braided bun so it's not on my neck or back at all.

* I wear a bandana to absorb forehead sweat under the helmet. It works really well - sweat doesn't drip into my eyes while I'm riding and I feel noticeably less sweaty once I get to work. You could not wear a helmet, but that's not safe folks. This is what happens if you don't.

* Bring a change of clothes, hairbrush, deodorant, and washcloth

* When I get to work, I splash my face with some water and try to wipe down with a wet washcloth before changing into my office attire.

* Then wait. You may still feel gross, but that goes away in about a half hour.

* An added benefit of biking to work: While everyone else complains about subway fare hikes (to $104 monthly), I spent just $30 on subway rides during a summer month.

Do you have any other tips? Add them to the comments!

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Bike Commuting Take 2

I've tried to bike commute in the past, but quickly fell off the wagon. I was all gung-ho in May 2009, but life had other plans that summer. It rained almost every day in June, my life went crazy in a bad way, and when I moved to Park Slope, my potential bike commute went from 5.5 miles to 9 miles, a task far too daunting for someone like me who is decidedly not a morning person.

Now I am happily back in Williamsburg, and my new bike commute is a much more manageable 3.5 miles, so I am recommitting for real. To force myself to bike regularly, I signed up for a metrocard (through my work transit check program) with only enough money to travel by subway half the month. I'll see how this goes and hopefully adjust to an even cheaper metrocard in the warmer months. I'm also hoping that because the ride is relatively short, I won't get sweaty enough in the summer to need a gym membership just to shower before work.

To prepare, I bought a basic fender for my back tire (something like this) to protect me from slush and rain spraying up my back, and got my bike tuned up. My bike is over 10 years old and I'd never taken it for a tune up before. I'd always wondered if the creaky gears and weird noises were a sign it might fall apart at any minute, so it's good to feel confident in its working condition now.

So this morning, I rode my bike to work for the first time this year. I've been getting around Williamsburg and Bushwick by bike all winter, so the 30 degree weather didn't faze me. I don't wear any special gear for biking in the cold - just my usual clothes, winter coat, gloves, scarf, a ski headband underneath my helmet, and a backpack. For now, I'm bringing a clean shirt to change into when I get to work.

It was 30 minutes door to door, the same as taking the subway. The route had me safely on bike lanes most of the way. Bike lanes have come under a lot of controversy lately in New York, but they are necessary for bicycling to become a viable form of transportation as we move away from reliance on cars and oil, and I am personally grateful for the Department of Transportation's work to create an extensive bike lane network in this city. And I didn't encounter any ticket-happy police. Here we go...

Have you ever tried or thought about commuting by bike?

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Scenes from a Bike Tour of NYC

I crossed off one of my 25 things last weekend when I rode the New York Century Bike Tour, organized by Transportation Alternatives, New York City's advocacy group for pedestrians and cyclists. I'd been wanting to do this bike ride for years, but was deterred by having to haul my bike an hour to Central Park at 7am on a weekend morning. This year they launched an alternate starting location in Prospect Park, a doable mile or so from my apartment, which meant I no longer had an excuse. I will admit it was hard to say no to all my friends party harding on Saturday night in order to get to bed early-ish, but I am still glad I did it.


TA offers varying distances from 15 miles to 100 (that's the "century") to accommodate beginners and families through experienced bikers. I chose to ride the 35 mile route, which was longer than I've ever biked in one day before. I actually rode about 31 miles, factoring in my trip to the starting line and my more direct route to finish at my apartment in Brooklyn rather than at the park. I wasn't sure how I would feel when I hit the halfway point at Central Park, but I was totally fine with continuing to pedal back to Brooklyn.

I was on my own, but the fellow riders and marshals were all friendly, and I was able to join another single rider along the way at my same pace so we could have company. My fear of getting lost alone in the backstreets of Queens was unrealized. It was a gray day, but the cool air was actually perfect for biking. Serendipitously, the only rain was a half hour drizzle that didn't bother me once I had my rain jacket on.



The route is designed for on-street cycling, to demonstrate that bikes have a real place on roads alongside cars, so no roads were blocked off, and that meant we took both protected bike lanes and scary busy streets (ie. what were they thinking with having us on West End/11th Avenue and all its fast traffic heading for the tunnels?)

My favorite part was getting to see so many different parts of New York City in one day, including some locations I'd never been before. From hipster Brooklyn, to the view at the top of the Triboro bridge, to swamps on Randalls Island, through Manhattan's quickly changing neighborhoods, and over the iconic Brooklyn Bridge.

The 35 mile start time in Prospect Park was 8am, during offleash hours for dogs.


We headed north through Bed Stuy, quiet on a Sunday morning, and up the North Brooklyn waterfront. Loving the two-way bike lane on Kent Ave in Williamsburg, and capturing the strange juxtaposition of the neighborhood's artsy charm and its new towering condos.


Crossing Pulaski Bridge over the excessively polluted Newtown Creek from Brooklyn to Queens, with Manhattan in the distance.


We followed the Queens waterfront from Long Island City to a rest stop at Astoria Park, under the shadow of the Triboro and Hells Gate Bridge (awesome name). I was excited to cross the Triboro Bridge, a giant highway of a bridge I have traversed many times by car, for the unique opportunity to see views that you can only take in at this slower pace.


Looking west over the Triboro Bridge to Manhattan


Looking at Randalls Island and the industrial beyond from the Triboro




We meandered through Randalls Island's bizarre sports fields and swampy landscaped waterfront paths, which I'm now realizing were next to a psychiatric institution, before crossing this pedestrian bridge to Harlem.


Rest stop at the top of Central Park, at 110th street and Lenox Avenue. I don't think I'd been north of 85th street in the park before.


We rode down the west side, not on the Greenway, but on Riverside Drive then scary West End Avenue, and then to this protected bike lane on 9th avenue from 30th street to Bleecker street in Manhattan, complete with light signals for bikes!


After passing through the West Village, Soho, Chinatown, and City Hall, I headed over the Brooklyn Bridge, in the homestretch.


The Manhattan Bridge, as seen from the Brooklyn Bridge


I took a little shorcut through Downtown Brooklyn and Carroll Gardens to finally get home! 31 miles. 4 1/2 hours. 4 bridges. 3 boroughs. 2 wheels.

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Sudden Spring

Spring is here, and unlike last year when spring kept retreating back into winter, I am hoping it's here to stay. I had almost started to believe our lives would go on in a state of perpetual winter, so the warmer weather and extra daylight still feels like a pleasant surprise each day.



I enjoyed last weekend's sunny climes to the fullest with lots of biking and walking.


I took the Ocean Parkway bike path all the way to Brighton Beach, but it's not as nice riding as I thought it would be. After Ditmas Park, smooth paving gives way to bumpy and cracked sidewalks. Still, in less than an hour I was at the beach, something New Yorkers often forget exists as part of this city. Specifically I was sitting outside at Tatiana, one of the Russian cafes on the boardwalk. My salad and cured fish were good enough, but I'll have to go back for the delicious looking pierogies, which I regretted not ordering as soon as I saw them at a neighboring table.


Saturday evening I biked to Williamsburg for bar hopping involving multiple charcuterie plates, in a sea of hip strangers all out and about in the balmy darkness. I played the "remember when" game, reflecting on all the years I lived in Williamsburg's lively social scene, along with most of my friends. Now it seems we've all packed up and scattered to other neighborhoods, and I can't help but miss it a little.


Sunday afternoon I walked to Carroll Gardens for some more bar hopping. The second stop was inadvertent - on my way home I passed this faux-farmhouse, which turned out to be Black Mountain Wine House, and it was too adorable not to stop in for a pre-dinner apertif involving oysters. Would you say no to adirondack chairs nestled into an unassuming Brooklyn street corner?





How have you been enjoying the newfound freedom of springtime?

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