Wednesday, August 21, 2019

New York City by Bike

New York City
On our second day in NYC we got up and hit another one of Erin's excellent coffee shop choices(apparently I didn't take any photos - probably because I hadn't had coffee yet). We then went back to the room and got organized for a day on bicycles. We rented a couple of hybrids from Blazing Saddles near the base of the Brooklyn Bridge. We rode around Lower Manhattan, along battery park, and then followed a trail all the way up the Hudson River into Washington Heights before cutting over to The Bronx. Erin wasn't so fond of these bikes so she hopped a subway back south and I rode along the East River meeting her in Soho.


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This is the view from the street we stayed on.
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The Little Red Lighthouse.
There is a children's story based on the lighthouse and the George Washington Bridge above it. The bridge rendered the lighthouse obsolete but it has remained because of the book. This was almost as far north as we went on the trail and I didn't take any photos until we got here. I really enjoyed the ride and the views of Manhattan - which sometimes I have to just force myself to do(be in the moment and not always behind the lens).
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Erin couldn't get comfortable on this style of bike or saddle - which I understand because I wasn't feeling so hot on the saddle either - but I'm a little more used to a flat bar bike because of my mountain bike.
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The Bronx was the only borough in New York I hadn't been to so I had found a few places to visit before we went. This was The Bronx Beer Hall which was located in an Italian Market(I honestly didn't know The Bronx had its own Little Italy).
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After splitting a drink and exploring a little bit we rode to a Subway stop and Erin headed off. I didn't plan on stopping at Yankee Stadium but when my route took me passed it I figured I might as well grab a shot.
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One of the other places on my map to check out was Bronx Brewery.
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OK, so there is a story to this photo and the few that follow:
So I order my beer, thinking I'll just have a quick one, and I'm sitting at the bar just about done. The bartender says that it is time to head out back for the weekly beer-shotgunning. Or "into the backyard" as patios seemed to be called in NYC. Apparently every Friday at 4:20 the brewery crew shotguns a beer and lately have been inviting whoever is in the taproom. I figure I'll head out and at least get some cool photos of it. Well heck, I was the only one out there without a beer and I wasn't the only one who had barely ever shotgunned a beer before. So we all shotgun our beer - and its ridiculous and fun - and then I take a few more photos and head back in to close out. The social media guy comes over to me and introduces himself. I tell him where I'm from and he says, "oh, just a kid from Akron? I worked in the NBA for 15 years". We finish our conversation then he loos at the bartender and says - put his next one on my tab....
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As I told them out back - I hadn't shotgunned a beer in well over a decade(a few others concurred) and it was never something I could really do(I'm glad there weren't cellphones back then or it probably would have ended up on "drunk people doing things" as most of the beer would end up on me) - but wow - I really put that thing down - came in about middle of the pack!
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The beer was fantastic - a nice spread of styles and a few very interesting ones.
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I mean, the Empire State Building is cool, but this is why we travel.
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My ride for the day in front of the brewery.
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So back out through The Bronx and onto Randall's Island - it was very beautiful but I didn't stop as much as intended already being way behind schedule. This was a bike path bridge from Randall's Island back to Manhattan. I didn't know this existed. I was on the island(which is mostly park) the first time I went to NYC as an adult to see Shane MacGowan.
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The Queensboro Bridge and tram. New York is so full of amazing things that I had never even realized they had a 150 person cable car to carry people to Roosevelt Island.
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In the Upper East Side.
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I lost the East River Trail because of some construction and ended up on a bike path in mid-town. I started to follow a local who really knew how to ride the streets - I had so much fun bombing down though the city. I met Erin at Rapha in Soho then we walked over to Chrome. I like both cycling apparel places for different reasons - but Chrome was definitely more my scene(they handed me a beer as I browsed).
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Walking to dinner.
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I think this shot conveys a bit of the chaos and vibrancy of "the city".
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"Following Erin"
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The somewhat trusty hybrid outside Rapha.
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Erin in front of her main reason for coming to New York - eating at Buvette. (We had also eaten at their Paris location).
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Erin explaining Buvette to this guy.
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Erin in her happy place.
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This might be my favorite city in the world.
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Very cool bar we finished our evening at.
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I didn't realize the original Stonewall Inn still existed - very cool.
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Play a train song!
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and scene.

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