From the Minne-Apple to the Big Apple

In my last post I mentioned spending some time in New York this summer. Other than an overnight at a hostel in Manhattan en route to New Hampshire via Amtrak, I had never had a chance to experience the city.

While my first trip this summer was brief, it occurred smack in the middle of the Weinergate saga and made me feel like I was at the center of the universe. I checked in to my hotel, turned on the tv, and saw this:

I marveled realizing the press conference being broadcast around the world was happening just across town. (I guess I'm still hayseed enough to say, "Look who's in the big town.")

The second trip to NYC was for an entire week, and my assignment finished up early granting me a full day to spend at my leisure. A recent copy of Momentum Magazine featured NYC biking resources, including the address of a shop with reasonable rental rates. I decided to spend the morning on two wheels, so I took the subway from midtown to Greenwich Village and had no trouble finding the shop.

Hudson Urban Bicycles features a combination of vintage three speeds and cruisers for sale, decked out in full fenders and Brooks saddles, as well as their contemporary counterparts (think Batavus and Linus). While their rental stock wasn't quite as fabulous, I did find a Batavus three speed to help me navigate through overcast Manhattan and Brooklyn, with full fenders giving me insurance against a chance of showers.

I worked my way across the southern tip of Manhattan, following signs for the Brooklyn Bridge. I crossed into Brooklyn, explored the space, and started to make my way back when I suddenly heard the "pop!" and "gussssssssssh" of an inner tube's life being cut tragically short. Perfect timing.

Amazingly, it didn't take long for the situation to be remedied. In rare fashion, the Google map application on my Blackberry actually worked, and I located a bike shop just blocks away. R&A Cycles fixed me up in no time flat, and I was back on my merry way. I changed my plans to cross the Williamsburg bridge, opting for a more direct route via the utilitarian Manhattan Bridge.

I made the mistake of spending the last bit of time in lower Manhattan. While it was cool to see Soho and the financial district, it left a lot to be desired in terms of bicycle infrastructure. The cobbled streets and pedestrian traffic in Soho made it very difficult to get around. The sheer volume of vehicles and pedestrians combined with fewer bicycle lanes made the financial district almost impossible to navigate. I admitted defeat, locked the bike up, and hoofed it over to Ground Zero, Wall Street, and Charging Bull at Bowling Green Park. I was pleasantly surprised that the bike was still there when I returned.

Once leaving the financial district, I had no trouble making it back to Hudson to return the bike. What's more, they even cut my rental bill in half to compensate me for my troubles and reimbursed me for the flat. How's that for Minnesota NYC nice?

The rest of the city appeared to be quite easy to navigate on bike. Separated bike trails flank the island, there are a generous number of bike lanes in Brooklyn, and Central Park has huge amounts of space dedicated to bikes. I wouldn't say it is quite on par with Minneapolis, but it is still a great bike city and I'd love to ride there again.

If I Had Done It, Here's How

Remember when I promised this write-up during the account of my first RAGBRAI experience?

Probably not, so go back and refresh your memory (see part I and part II)

In any event, I wanted to figure out how successful I would have been had I needed to slap together some make-shift fenders to keep myself free of road grease and debris.

I grabbed the supplies I had accumulated and set to work.

I found it quite easy to cut-out fender patterns from the empty 24 pack, and using the scissors I had snatched from my friend's place, I was able to trim them to size. In no time at all, I had both the front and rear fenders in place:

Front Fender

Rear Fender

While the rear fender easily held itself connected to the rack via zip ties, I found the real challenge was fashioning front stays to give the fender some support. I found some small twigs and snapped them to size to gain some clearance between the tire and front fender, and the bread ties connected the sticks to the front eyelet. I punched the other end of the twig through the cardboard fender, and voila:

I tweaked the fit after a quick spin around the block, and once I was confident everything was secure, I really put the fenders to the test. It rained the day before so puddles abounded. I spent 10 minutes sloshing through every body of water I could find in south Minneapolis to see how well they would hold up. The gleaming white t-shirt I wore remained completely unspoiled, and the fenders were a little damp, but still held their form.

Altogether, it took me right at one hour from start to finish. Although it was a fun project, I hope I don't have to do this for RAGBRAI 2011. Speaking of which, the route gets announced this month, who's riding with me this year?