Get away to Randalls Island! An easy bike ride you can do in NYC.

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If you are looking to get away from the hustle and crowds of NYC…but not leave the city, riding your bike to Randalls Island is a great way to spend an afternoon. It’s an easy, pleasant ride from Manhattan, Queens or the Bronx. And it’s also a good spot to take children to since there are plenty of car-free bike paths, and plenty of things to check out!

If you are coming from Manhattan, the best way to get there is to ride to East 102nd Street. Go down 102nd Street until it ends at the East River. Ride onto the sidewalk on the north side of the street, then make a left along the FDR drive an you will soon see a ramp going up to a pedestrian bridge. Take that to the island.

From Queens, you will need to ride to Hoyt Avenue North and 27th Street where the RFK Triborough Bridge sidewalk begins. Unfortunately, you’ll have to deal with a lot of stairs crossing over to Randalls Island, so be prepared!

But the nicest way – by far – to get to Randalls Island is from the Bronx, where the new Randalls Island Connector gets you to the island. Access the connector from 132nd Street between Walnut Avenue and Willow Avenue. That’s the way we did it. We made a great day ride using the Bronx River Greenway to go from the northern end of NYC to Randalls Island. The pictures below tell the story!

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We started the ride by going down the Bronx River Pathway with its beautiful autumn colors!

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There were plenty of playgrounds along the way for our son to stop and play.

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concrete plant park
A nice “bikes only” protected bike lane leads to Concrete Plant Park

Randalls Island Connector
Here’s the entrance to the Randalls Island Connector.

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The connector bike path goes below the Amtrak tracks…and then crosses the Oak Point Rail line.

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A nice view of the Hell Gate Bridge. Rail fans will love it!

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Bike paths within Randalls Island give an excellent view of the Manhattan skyline!

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A great spot for lunch!

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End the day with miniature golf!

Randalls Island has something for everyone! Check it out! Not only can you do miniature golf, but there are batting cages, nature walks…and concession stands where you can buy lunch. You can really make a nice day of it on Randalls Island.

National Bike Tour Weekend 2016!

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travel weekendNational Bike Travel Weekend is June 3-5.  It’s a wonderful initiative being undertaken by our friends at the Adventure Cycling Association to get as many cyclists as possible out for a bike tour during the first weekend in June! And we want you to be a part of it!  That’s why we are proud to be offering our Beaches to Farms: A Winery Experience Bike Tour for National Bike Travel Weekend.  It’s a fabulous ride that’s not too far away….and you get a bottle of wine with your name on it at the end. This ride was actually featured on Adventure Cycling’s “Bike Overnights” website, which is a great resource to use for anyone looking for inspiration to plan their own overnight trip. Check out all the details about the tour here.

Frequently asked questions about this tour:

How long is this ride, and is it hilly?  This ride isn’t particularly hilly, since a lot of it is on rail-trails or canal paths. Each day you can choose the mileage you want to ride, ranging between 25 and 58 miles.

What happens if it 19074635318_ec73336f68_krains? We run the trip rain or shine. So we’ll be riding in the rain along side you!  But, you can always back out of the ride if the weather forecast looks bad. You only need to make a $100 non-refundable deposit to hold your spot, and then you can pay the balance as late as Wednesday, June 1. So if you don’t like the weather forecast, you can bail out and you don’t have to pay the balance.

Are there showers and flush toilets where we camp?  For this particular tour, we camp out in the vineyard behind the winery tasting room. So we have access to the tasting room bathrooms throughout our stay. For the shower, we rig up an outdoor shower using a forklift and a water tank where the water is heated.

I don’t want to camp. Are there other options?  Yes. We can shuttle you to a nearby hotel for the night if you do not want to camp. It’s only 10 minutes away in the support van. Then just start your ride from there the next morning.

Will I be able to charge my IPhone?  Yes, yes…you will totally be able to do this. You’ll need to keep your smartphone charged anyhow to take advantage of our GPS navigation for this ride!

Who comes on these rides?  All kinds of people take our rides. We generally get a wide variety of ages and abilities, and we make everyone feel comfortable. Most tours are limited to 9 riders for a small group feel.

AAA Bicycle Service!

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Riding a bike to Montauk!

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Gotham Bike Tours MontaukHave you ever wanted to do that one “big ride” to challenge yourself? Biking to Montauk from my apartment in Brooklyn was the first time I had ever dared to ride more than 100 miles in one day. It was 1998. I was only 23 years old. I had just finished college. I had started a new job…and I decided to train all summer to meet this goal.

I wanted to do this ride one-way…and take the LIRR back home when I was done.  Back then, you couldn’t bring your bike on the LIRR Montauk branch before Labor Day. So I waited until the week after. I remember going to the Hagstrom Map Store on 43rd Street and 6th Avenue to buy all the maps I would need to plan my journey. The ride would be about 115 miles long…if I didn’t  get lost. I spent a ton of time trying to figure out what roads to ride, how to do this, etc. But I couldn’t wait! I had only been to Montauk as a kid with my parents. Now I was ready to go there on my own…on a bike!

Biking to Montauk exceeded my expectations. And when I saw that lighthouse at the end of the ride it blew me away. I went down to the rocky beach below the lighthouse and I saw about a dozen fisherman casting their lines out into the surf. One guy was holding a huge fish he had just caught. I wondered if his feeling of accomplishment was similar to mine. I had caught a huge prize of my own…riding to Montauk!

Since that first ride, I have ridden to Montauk many times. Each time I learned a little more. I discovered how to use the trains effectively to do different kinds of rides. I learned where to camp. Where to get a good dinner. And were the best scenery was.

Three years ago I decided to put all of this knowledge into the first bike tour we ever offered at Gotham Bicycle Tours: Our Montauk and Eastern Long Island bike tour. It’s all the highlights of my many bike trips to Montauk condensed into a weekend that you can experience. Since not everyone wants to ride a hundred-plus miles, we have several different routes to choose from between 16 and 60 miles…each one designed to give you a feeling of accomplishment when you reach THE END!  And forget about pouring over paper maps!  We have all the routes figured out for you, and you can get turn-by-turn navigation from a GPS app on your smartphone.  Doing a bike overnight to Montauk and the Hamptons has gotten easier than ever!

Craft beer and biking!

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A favorite pastime for many cyclists is to do a big ride that ends at a craft brewery destination. There’s nothing better than enjoying a beer at the end of a big ride!  But getting back on that bike after drinking that beer can be tough going…or even dangerous if you’ve had a few too many.  Unless the brewery you’ve ridden to is next to a train station, or you’ve made plans to have someone pick you up, riding those final miles after your brewery ride can be a challenge.CL

That’s why we came up with our Captain Lawrence Bicycle Tour. Captain Lawrence is a locally famous brewery…you can find their beers in many stores and restaurants throughout the tri-state region. And to ride to Captain Lawrence is relatively easy….its about a half-mile away from a great rail-trail.  But because rail-trails are in the locations where trains used to be….unfortunately there’s no easy way to get home with your bike if you don’t want to do any more riding.  And that’s the situation we were hoping to remedy with our bike tour.

Captain Lawrence is a great brewery to experience, and given its proximity to New York City, it should be easy ride for anyone from the city to do…and now it is!  Check out our ride details on our website!  With lunch, rail-fare and a ride back to the train included…it’s an unbeatable value for an all-inclusive day trip from the city!

 

Outdoorfest 2016

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We are glad to be back for the second year of OutdoorFest! OutdoorFest is a 10-day outdoor adventure festival that aims to connect New Yorkers to live healthier and more adventurous lives. Look for us at the Outdoor Adventure Expo on Sunday June 19th from 12-5pm or ride with us the week before on Sunday, June 12th!

 

 

Celebrate National Bike Travel Weekend with us on June 3-5

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Gotham Bike Tours is pleased to participate in National Bike Travel Weekend, June 3-5, 2016.

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#adventurecycling #biketravelweekend #bikeovernight

A Winery Campout in Central New Jersey

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http://www.bikeovernights.org/post/a-winery-campout-in-central-new-jersey

Interested in Family Bike Touring?

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Are you interested in the idea of doing a bike tour with your family (including your kids)?  During the past year one of the most frequently asked questions we received from potential customers was “Can I bring my kids on this bike tour?”  So we decided to try to put together a tour that was family friendly. And the best way to do this is to ask people with families what they prefer.

So please, if you are interested, take our quick 10-question anonymous survey at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/3MWL99L The feedback you give us will be immensely helpful!