Citibike1: Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off to Work We Go...

Whereas yesterday, the first day the program was up and running, I had conversations with at least half a dozen people - including a traffic cop, a man from Africa, and a woman from LA - today, only one driver slowed down to ask me how it felt.  "Very good", I told him.

At that point, as I was about to get onto the East River Bikeway, it was very good.  But the day hadn't started that way.

  Too Successful?

As I headed out to get a bike for my morning commute, I was so confident that I'd soon be on my way that I checked my watch to get a start time and walked down the block with my helmet already on my head.  However, as I approached the bike dock nearest my departure point, my jaunty pace slowed as the sight of all the empty places greeted me.

Oh no!  Was I too late to get a bike at only 9:30 in the morning?  Evidently I was - there was one fellow busy undocking the very last bike at this location.

Was this brave experiment stillborn, doomed to failure on only the second day?

Plan B on Avenue A

Fearing not, I turned around to trek toward First Avenue, two long blocks distant, where I'd gotten my first one the day before - and who can forget their first time?  However, as I approached Avenue A, it occurred to me that the perhaps the East Village had yet another hidden treasure to be revealed.  Walking down a block to 13th Street - joy!  There were still some morning bikes to be had.




This was not totally surprising for a neighborhood where local restaurants typically serve breakfast specials until 4 in the afternoon, but it was welcome nonetheless.

Today's Citibike Tip

You must wait for the green light after inserting your electronic key.

If it's yellow, just be mellow,                     but,                if it's green, things are keen.

Anyway,
enough of that.

Journey Along the East River

Biking up First Avenue to 14th Street - because 13th Street runs the wrong way - I had to let some fire engines go by, then followed in their wake.  A few tricky turns, bobs, and weaves later - after answering the aforementioned driver as I was waiting to cross Avenue C toward the river - I was making the turn south onto the scenic East River Bikeway.

  I could see clearly now - a straight shot along the river awaited me.








A glance back over my shoulder showed me a scenic panorama of mid-town Manhattan on the East Side: the Empire State Building on the far left, the Chrysler Building bracketed by the Waterside towers near the middle, the U.N., all the way up the 59th Street Bridge.  I was feelin' groovy.

 There were many interesting things to see along this trail, some less explicable than others.

 There were odd urban artifacts,




 pleasant wooded areas, the mighty Williamsburg Bridge,

and a far-off view of legendary Brooklyn with its storied bridge.


There were glimpses of aquatic mammals - well, their statues - along the river,

 





 


as well as tall-masted ships in port.














There were patches of rough road,













as well as smooth.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Journey's End

Old Slip - Full Up!

However, at some point the sight-seeing had to stop and thoughts of getting to work intruded.  I was looking at under 20 minutes of biking to make it all the way past Wall Street when I encountered the flip-side of the success that emptied the docks near my apartment - the nearest dock at Old Slip was full!

Cycling down a couple of blocks, through fairly heavy traffic, revealed the docks at Broad Street were also apparently all filled up.

However, a closer look revealed there were still places to be had, even for a late-comer like me.

Citibike0: For the Very First Time

Citibike Virgin - The Very First Time

I returned from less than two weeks vacation a few weeks ago to see these new bike docks in my neighborhood and all over the place – as if they sprouted up overnight like mushrooms.

 But it was when I saw the ones around work that I began to get excited about the possibilities of this experiment.
So, today, I got my first chance to try out on of these bikes.  First, I had to get a helmet - I don't really have to since the law in NYC allows those of us older than 19 to ride without one - but it seems like a good idea.  Also, my package included a $10 coupon for one, so I chose a racy blue one to go with the bikes.

There was a lot of interest from people on the street - a couple of guys asked me about the pricing - I have the annual plan which gives me the first 45 minutes for free.  A young woman who'd just ridden up from further downtown helped me figure out how to use my new key after she'd finished her struggle to dock the one she picked up at Astor Place.  The first one I tried wouldn't give me a green light after I'd inserted my "key" but the one she'd docked worked fine.

I had to get up to Hell's Kitchen to pick up my camera that I'd left at a friend's.  It was exhilarating to speed up the bike lane on First Avenue but I soon noticed the paucity of cross-town lanes, so I crossed over on 42nd Street.  This may seem like a bad choice, given how famously busy that street is, but the traffic moves pretty slowly, especially around Grand Central, so I was one of the speedier vehicles on the road at that point.

Docking successfully on 49th Street on the West Side, I clocked my biking time at 20 minutes - not much worse than if I'd taken a cab.  Also, I'd gotten my heart rate up nicely.

Retrieving my camera, I was able to start more fully documenting my adventure.

Cruising Down Ninth Avenue

Picking up my next bike on Ninth Avenue, I noticed how few bikes there were at this location - it must be a popular pick-up point today.

 The paper today said that this program tries to have learned from what other cities are doing.  So, for instance, in Paris, the people who live near Sacre Coeur like to fly down the hill but very few want to struggle up it, so the city brings a truckload of bikes up to the top of the hill every evening.  Hopefully, the bikes will get re-distributed sensibly like this in New York as well.
Also, it obviously is crucial for citibikers to learn where docking stations are.  Less obvious - but also important - will be to learn what is near these stations.  So, if you drop off your bike on 45th and Ninth and are feeling hungry, you may want to check out "Five Napkin Burger" - which I can personally reccommed - or its neighbor "Nizza" - about which I know nothing.

Since I like to take pictures of the city as I travel around, I experimented with hanging my camera from my neck and shooting while riding - sometimes straight ahead...

...other times angling to the side...

...and being able to shoot at leisure at the occasional wait at a major intersection:

Looking east on 42nd Street

View west on 42nd

This seemed to work pretty well but it was easy to forget about taking pictures when I was able to build up a little speed down the avenue.

Some Technical Details

The bikes are 3-speeds, which is good for starting out from a stop - using first gear - cruising in second - or booking in third - but I soon noticed my enthusiastic shifting caused some abrasion near the base of my right thumb.

It was no big concern but alerted me to pay more attention to my shifting.  Later in the day, speaking with a fellow enthusiast named Chris, he mentioned the position of the shift gave him a little trouble as he was used to having his hand close to the base of the grip and this caused him to shift accidently a few times.

 

 

Navigation Tips

Below 14th Street, the grid pattern of Manhattan streets gets much less regular, so I took the opportunity to check out the handy maps at the docking station there.  There were people there obviously interested in figuring out how to get a bike, so they were checking out the non-subscription option, but I more interested in the map there.

One thing I noticed is that the maps are not oriented according to the tradition of placing North at the top but instead with the direction one is facing.  It's a little hard to see in this picture because of the reflection, but I'm facing downtown and the map shows Soho and Little Italy - both south of me - in the direction I'm facing, near the top of this map.

One important thing this maps shows me is which streets I should use to get over to the river and what are suggested streets for cutting across town.  As I'd mentioned, there seem to be relatively fewer cross-town bike lines than ones on avenues.

I used these directions to make my way over to the river, briefly, but then realized I should pay attention to my 45 minute limit and maybe stop somewhere to dock my bike and perhaps get a drink.

One thing I noticed quickly when cutting over to Washington Street to get a downtown lane is that cobblestones can give a pretty rough ride.  It behooves one to look ahead a little, avoid the really rough spots, and perhaps stand on the pedals on occasion to avoid some jolts.

It also makes the whole biking experience a bit more attention-intensive when you are watching for traffic and pedestrians while also keeping aware of which parked cars may be starting to move or open a door, all while trying to avoid the rougher patches of the street, but that's all part of the adventure.

The cruise down Washington to find the crossing to the river afforded some shade as well as views of the new World Trade tower.

There were also some random treasures that had been discarded along the curb, like these boxes of unopened DVDs.












At the river itself, there were many wonderful views, including those of the fabled land of New Jersey across the water.

Home Again, Home Again...

Heading east from the river, I located the bike docks on West Houston so I could remain within my 45-minute limit and track down a much-need drink.

Another thing that would be helpful, especially in a quiet neighborhood like that one, would be a quick read on the location of nearby delis and such.  As it was, I knew of a good magazine store - with the unfortunate name of "BJ Magazines" - only a block away which also had cold drinks.  On the way there, I also noticed the excellent chocolate store Jacques Torres.

Entrance To Jacques Torres Chocolates

BJ Magazines has drinks as well

 While in the magazine store, on a whim, I asked if they carried band-aids because I wanted to treat my abraded thumb before it got worse.  Surprisingly, they have a small selection of beauty and health items which included a handy pack of the band-aids I needed.