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.