Days 157-158 New Haven, CT-Stamford, CT-NYC (Atreyu)

The rains are gone! for now. It was a welcome sight to see sunny blue skies to start my day out of New Haven. Unfortunately the scenery was not as appealing as the days before. Nonetheless the riding has been fun.

I have ridden in the city before but this time was a new experience and an amazing opportunity to see the transition from entering New York State in Port Chester all the way through New Rochelle, The Bronx, Harlem, Upper East Side, Midtown (Times Square) all the way to my Hostel in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. It was a more gradual change from suburb to city than I expected.

Touring through small towns the reaction of folks to my setup and my trip falls mainly in the “Where you going” or complete indifference categories. Touring through a city like New York, where there is no shortage of bizarre, has garnered a quite different reaction. There was still a fair amount of indifference but also a lot of looks of shear disbelief as if I was a pink elephant or riding Atreyu through the skies. A hello and smile from me just added to the confusion 🙂

One thing I noticed that is quite different from the last time I was in NYC is the amount of dedicated bike lanes. When I was here you had to flow into traffic and now you can just zoom along on a path. Riding in a city like New York in exhilarating and a treat for the senses. Your constantly looking, hearing and reacting to the ever changing environment and this fills you with that palpable nervous excitement of life. I highly recommend it!

After settling in to the Hostel I was off to Harlem (7 mile ride, north of the LES) to meet my old pal Gilbert, who migrated from Seattle to New York some time ago, and his sweetheart Jenny (a lovely girl) for burgers. It was great to see a familiar face after so long meeting new friends.

Gil has been kind enough to lend me his place while he goes to Virginia for the weekend, which means I’ll be able to spend a few extra days exploring the city. It will give me an opportunity to bask in the energy of this town and explore some of the neighborhoods.

I’ll fill you all in on what I discover. Stay tuned!

Good Advice for everybody

My Hostel is in the middle

Gil and I at Harlem Shake in you guessed it Harlem

I got off on the wrong stop. Waiting for my train after dropping my stuff off at Gil’s apartment. A perfect culmination of a great day that included two states, a lot of fun riding and catching up with old friends. What more could you ask for?