Biking @ Gotham City - New York

I never imagined that the dream would come true to bike in country outside India. On my first trip to New York I had in mind to bike here but was not able get motivated and dream didn't convert to reality. I went back to Hyderabad with little addition on weight and found hard to get back to my routine of biking. 

Pretty soon I got a call again to work for few months in New York. This time I was not sure either that what will happen to biking again. On first day itself I saw notice of "TD Five Boro Bike Tour" to explore NYC on bike including all 5 boro's (Manhattan, Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island) but here came the tragic thing, it was on the date when I was flying back. Lucky enough that my trip got delayed and I was encouraged by my manager in NY to participate in the ride.

At last I went to bike shop and got the awesome machine "Specialized Roubaix SL4 Sport" road bike. A light weight carbon bike which took 4 days to come and waiting for that duration was not at all easy. I use to call up the bike shop each day (sometimes even twice/thrice a day) to know the status. Finally I got a call that bike is built and ready for pickup. I had lot of things to be resolved post I checked in to the shop:

1. Find out if hotel will allow me to keep my bike in my hotel room (Well thats where I keep my bikes in India :D )
2. Look for various bike rides in New York (It is not that easy as we have in India)
3. Learn bike rules (This scares me even now as bike can also get you a ticket if you don't follow rules)
4. Make your mind understand that left is right and right is left (Hope you get what I mean)
5. Get the fear of speeding cars hitting you out of mind since you ride in middle in some lanes and that can be dangerous if you are shaken by high speed car passing by you.
6. Figure out if airlines allow carrying bike and traveling with bike needs some research.

I kept resolving the above things one after the other but is was a good experience. First ride was bit difficult since all routes in Manhattan are one way and for a person like me who keeps forgetting the path it was even more difficult. Slowly I started going out on my bike and ride few miles, explore the beautiful city and places which you can't do on car/foot. 

Best route for me was Hudson river greenway which involved riding in lane dedicated to cyclists with river on a side, cool breeze blowing, entering into basketball city area, watching out all sorts of bikes I can imagine that exists in world. One key difference from riding in India - people will say sorry if they forgot to yield way to cyclists while in India they will scream at you if you didn't stop. Rides increased day by day helping me eat all junk food without worrying about weight gain. I started riding on Brooklyn Bridge, Central Park, Queens, Brooklyn, etc areas. post my office hours. It was interesting to train in cold weather which lasted for few days and finally spring was in. Best weather I would say to bike anywhere. 

My longest ride was exploring 5 boro's of New York City from where this all started where I added few miles to ride to/from start point. Overall it was experience of the lifetime to ride in Gotham City.

Its time to head back now to Hyderabad. Getting bike boxed for traveling is challenge in itself.

Few rides which are still not checked:

• Nyack/Piermont
• Bear Mountain
• Rosevelt Island
• Staten Island loop
• Westchester

Hopefully I will come back again and finish of my pending list :)