Thursday, July 2, 2020

Biking NYC East River Bridges


New York City offers a lot of biking paths.



July 1st, 2020
I decided to bike across all the East river bridges.
 First, I put the path on google maps to get an idea of what to expect.

Take the tram from Roosevelt Island to Manhattan.

Here you can see the East river.

The tram goes along the Queensborough bridge.
That is the first bridge I will take today.

The bike entrance to the Queensborough bridge is on 1st avenue and East 60th street.

There is a bike path with two lanes for bicyclists to share with pedestrians.
And that is my bike :)


The path turns 180 degrees here.

Better keep to the right.

And here we go straight up the hill.


 The view is good only to the North side of the bridge.

I just passed Roosevelt island.
 Queens is straight ahead.

There are a lot of bicyclists going in both directions during this rush hour.

A smooth road, nice to ride, save for the constant noise from cars.

It took me about 7 minutes to cross from Manhattan to Queens by the 59th street bridge.


From here I am going to the North.

 About 20 minutes ride took me to the Triborough bridge in Queens.
There is a pedestrian path across the Triborough bridge.

 NO BIKING on this path.

I take the stairs on 27th street and North side of Hoyt Avenue.
At least there is a rail on the stairs to roll bikes.

The path is narrow, about 6 feet wide or so.
So, no biking here.
Okay...

The path makes a turn here.

And there is another set of stairs to climb.
Another turn.

And a magnificent view!

 Hell Gate bridge on the North.


Another turn.
And another set of stairs - now to go down.

 It takes me about 8 minutes from Queens to Randall's Island.


 Randall's Island is a beautiful place to ride.

About 10 minutes ride around Randall's Island brought me to Ward's Island Bridge.
Here you can see it.

 Let's take a ride across Ward's Island bridge back to Manhattan.


There is a nice broad bike path shared with pedestrians.
 Beautiful view on both sides.


No cars on this bridge!
The path turns here.


And another turn to the East river.

And the last turn.

It took me about 3 minutes to cross Ward's Island bridge to Manhattan.
A very nice bridge!

 From here, I took about a 10 minute ride to the 59th street bridge going by the bike path along the East river.
An enjoyable ride with a view of Roosevelt Island.

Here is the Queensborough bridge.



 Let's take 2nd avenue downtown.

 It took me about 23 minutes to get from East 59th street to the Manhattan Bridge.

Here we go.
180 degrees turn on the bridge.

There are two lanes dedicated as a bike path across the Manhattan bridge.


The path feels a bit narrow for my liking.

There are a lot of cyclists going in both directions.
 Pedestrians use a separate walking path on the South side of the bridge.
I like that :)

It is hard to enjoy the view with so much traffic going around.

The road is good.



 It took me about 6 minutes to cross the Manhattan bridge from Manhattan to Brooklyn.

 It took me about a 3 minute ride from the Manhattan bridge to the Brooklyn bridge.

Here is the bike entrance to the Brooklyn bridge.

There is a two lane biking path across the Brooklyn bridge.
The bike path is joined with a pedestrians path.
Stay on your right!
The Brooklyn bridge offers probably the best view on all sides!


 Magnificient!

There is a lot of traffic on the path in both directions.
The wooden cover of the path does not make for a smooth ride.
But the view!!



The bike path goes above all the car lanes of the Brooklyn Bridge.




 It took me about 8 minutes to cross the Brooklyn bridge from Brooklyn to Manhattan.

And then it took me about 10 minutes ride from the Brooklyn Bridge to the Williamsburg Bridge.
The Williamsburg Bridge sports the widest biking path in both directions with a dedicated pedestrians path!

I love it!

 And the biking path is so smooth!!

 I love it even more after taking the path on the Brooklyn Bridge :)


The path also goes above all car lanes for most of the Williamsburg Bridge.


 It took me about 7 minutes to cross the Williamsburg Bridge from Manhattan to Brooklyn.

 From Williamsburg Bridge I took a 13 minute ride along the water view biking path to Pulaski Bridge.


3 minutes ride over the dedicated biking path of the Pulaski Bridge across Newtown Creek is a nice ride.

This biking path yields a magnificent skyline view of Manhattan across the East River.

This bridge is not across East River...nevertheless it offers a nice workout along the way.

 It makes the connection between Brooklyn and Queens a breeze.


 It took me about 9 minute to ride from the Pulaski Bridge to the Queensborough Bridge.

Just pass under the Queensborough Bridge going North.

Another 3 minute ride brings me to the Roosevelt Island Bridge.

It is the last bridge across the East River on this ride.
 The Roosevelt Island Bridge has a dedicated bike path in each direction.

 Each bike path is separated from pedestrians and from cars - which is great!


The path is bumpy and wide enough for one bike at a time only.

The bridge ends on Roosevelt Island with a spiral ramp.

 Here it is on my left.


 On the ramp, bicyclists share the road with cars.
 Stay on your right!
There is a speed limit for good reasons.

It took me less than 2 minutes to cross the Roosevelt Island Bridge.



Here we are on Main Street.

I turn North here and under the bridge to the East road that brings us to the tram station by the Queensborough bridge if you need to commute back to Manhattan.



I finish my ride here on Roosevelt Island surrounded by waters of East River, completing the 25 mile loop riding across all 7 East River bridges plus the Pulaski Bridge.




It took me less than 2 and half hours on my Boardwalk single speed 20 inch wheels bicycle.

 Check links in the description for more details on my rides on Strava.
Have fun and happy biking :)

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