LaGuardia and Citi Field

Today (Saturday) was a gorgeous day and screamed out for a training ride. Even to me. The only fly in the ointment is that it probably also screamed out as well to about 99% of the Manhattan population that owns a bike. No way was I going near the Greenway or Central Park if I could help it -- they would be way too crowded. I try my best save those locales for weekdays (the benefit of having your own business and a flexible schedule).

So I fell back today on an old favorite -- Queens. Yes, Queens. Really. It's amazingly nice, with a ton of bike paths and very little vehicular traffic -- either of the self-powered or gas engine kind.

Of course you do have to get there, which involves taking the aforementioned Central Park loop down to 59th Street and then going crosstown on 58th Street to pick up the Queensborough Bridge (yes, yes, I know, it's actually the Ed Koch Bridge these days, but I'm a hold out). The Bridge has a great pedestrian/bike path, which even has been repaved since last I traversed it. And, then, once out on the Queens side, you have a wide choice of bike paths on fairly untrafficked side streets.

The paths are not the segregated kind that we're now seeing in Manhattan, mostly just the painted lines on the street kind, but I actually kind of prefer these -- primarily because pedestrians are acclimated to them and don't habitually step in front of you without looking! And, I admit, I kind of feel guilty (although I really shouldn't) about a segregated bike lane, like the relatively new one on Columbus Avenue, taking away an entire lane of traffic. If any traffic planners are reading this, how about giving us a painted bike lane up Amsterdam Avenue?

Anyway, back to the training ride. I went as far out as Citi Field......

....and then swung by LaGuardia to watch the planes take off and land. I admit, I'm kind of like a 10-year old kid in this respect -- it just never gets old to see these huge mechanical behemoths float overhead on the way to landing. You need a wind out of the North for LaGuardia to have the landing pattern that takes the planes over my route, and I was desperately hoping that would be the case -- but, alas, it was mostly ESE, so no go. So I, and you my dear readers, must make do with my video from the last time I rode this route.....

 After LaGuardia, since I don't like to retrace my steps, as it were, I came back into Manhattan (or, more accurately, Ward's Island) via the RFK Bridge (that's a name I can accept, although Triborough still escapes my lips as well), where the view is quite spectacular from the elevated bike path...

Here, as always, are the route and metrics if anyone is interested in following this path themselves. Sheesh. It's only 12 days until I fly out to California. I'd better get back on my bike!