hello everybody. It's April 17th, 2021, Saturday afternoon. It's noon right now. It's 54 degrees Fahrenheit, 12 degrees Celsius. I'm on my bicycle in Astoria, Queens, and this video. I'm going to take a ride down to City Hall, Manhattan. This is the Crescent Street bike lane [Applause] at 31st Road. If all goes smoothly, this ride shouldn't really take more than an hour. A little bit chilly on my bike with the wind coming at me. Astoria Queen's looking quite busy right now. Got to watch out for these cars making left turns. This bike lane is still quite new. It was only installed at the end of last year, so many drivers aren't used to the traffic patterns yet. But I do have some safety equipment on me. I've got a bell. It's got a loud bicycle horn, which sounds like a car horn. Of course, I've got the camera. I'm going to take this bike lane all the way to the end, to the 59th Street Bridge.

there's someone off to the side collecting bottles and pins. I've ridden on this bike path many times before. I don't particularly like how this is designed as a two-way bike lane because you do need to go against the flow of most traffic coming the other way, and you've got a lot of these driveways, which makes it very tricky. There's 36th Avenue. During the weekday mornings, this area will be a lot more busy with drivers going to the bridge as well as children going to the school here to my left. It seems as if I'm paddling against the wind right now. We've got a lot of trees moving right now. These are one of the more common species in New York City, the flowering Bradford pear trees. Let's wait for these cars to pass before I go. Yes, I know, so you may be typing in the comment section right now, I'm going through red lights, but it is the social norm to go through red lights in New York City with slower means of

transportation. As long as you look both ways and there's no traffic going, you're free to do so. It's like a social norm here. It's kind of the same as jaywalking. Jaywalking is illegal as well. It's actually been a while since I rode my bicycle over this 59-foot bridge. I don't particularly like the current design. The city is changing it to make it so that the south side of the bridge is for pedestrians, and the northern side where I'm going to go right now is with cyclists. I'm gonna have to deal with somebody walking in the bikeway now. I'm gonna pass on the left. Scooter. I think that's the same model scooter I have, the Segway 9 Bot Max. Thought about taking that scooter as well, but I decided I haven't been on my bike in a while, and I want some exercise, so here I am on my bicycle. That's the Q60 bus going into Midtown Manhattan pretty much when it goes across the

bridge. That's when this route is finished, but it runs the entirety of Queen's Boulevard in Queens pretty much. I am running a single-speed bicycle, the Mercedes Hulo WT on a freewheel, so I may take my time at parts just because it's hard to get the gearing up sometimes. That this guy's going to pass me now subway. I actually think a day like today isn't so bad for cycling. It's not so high where you'll be sweating all the time. It's uncomfortable. I'm noticing electric bikes, electric bicycles to be more common now. I'm actually going to move over to the right. I know there's the walking lane, but it really does make more sense to have each lane for one direction of travel. A little bit too close to me sharing the same lane with cyclists and other vehicles going at fast speeds coming down. Like to see the Queens Bridge housing projects just below me as well as Queens Bridge Park. Really nice. I think I saw that cyclist is spotting.

a cigarette, and I sure smelled it right there. I don't know how quickly the city is going to convert these lanes into cycling and walking, respectively. I'm gonna move over here the other way. There's Roosevelt Island. Go meet me right now. It's a great time to go because of the cherry blossoms looming. There is an annual cherry blossom festival that happens on the island, but I'm not sure if it's happening this year. Last year, it was canceled as well. I don't know where all these puddles of water came from. It was raining a little bit yesterday, but I would think that all of it should be dried up by now if the drainage was done correctly. All right, we're approaching the final descent into Manhattan. This pathway will lead me off at First Avenue and 60th Street. So, looks like someone brought a scooter on here. I heard that guy encouraging the people there, Don't stop going, keep pedaling. And I can share their frustration because this is a really steep hill.

It's actually very difficult for me to do on the single-speed bicycle. On a geared bicycle, you can do it much easier, but it's still not that easy if you're not used to it. Actually, even me, as active as I am, I'm a little bit, um, not used to my bicycle either. I haven't been on it in a while. This bridge gave me a little bit of issues. Let's get a sip of water here. Someone just left an aluminum can in the bike lane. That's very nice. [Music] So, I'm making a right turn onto First Avenue and then another right turn onto 59th Street. This, uh, Queensboro Bridge outer roadway is closed during the weekends, I believe. Well, maybe they're reconfiguring it right now to be a walkway because that sign up there, it just said it's closed between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. All right, so I am going to make a left turn over here onto Second Avenue. Watch out for vehicles going straight. It's always a tricky time to do

so here we are, the heart of midtown Manhattan, 2nd Avenue, 58th Street, making our way down to City Hall. Here's someone salmoning, which is a term meaning to go against the flow of traffic because salmon go against the current when it's time to lay their eggs. Whenever I see these outdoor dining areas, I'm a little bit more cautious because you never really know who's gonna pop out. Let's ring our bell, let these people know they shouldn't be walking here for a long period of time. Like really, they had at least 30 seconds to give me some space. Also, I don't really like these Link NYC kiosks because they block the view. Oh come on, look before you do something stupid. At least looks like there's some construction up ahead. I may have to detour off the bike lane in order to get there. Let's look behind me, I don't see anybody coming. I do have a mirror, but it's on my left side and it's not as useful when you're on the left hand.

side of the row like this. All right, I'm going to slow down a little bit. I'll ring my bell just as a precaution, make sure nobody's accidentally coming in. Yeah, bike lane work zone up ahead. [Music] Actually looks like the bike lane goes over here. Wow, look at this, got a cone lane. And I'm not going to go back in the bike lane because there's an outdoor eating area. Might as well just stay in this travel lane and then merge to the left. That's the way to bike safely in New York City. Out of that, you go really slow. Uh oh, they're gonna go. I wasn't sure if they were even aware they had a green light. [Music] I don't really like this part of secondary. There's a steep incline here. I am standing on my pedals. That's a large crane up ahead of me. It looks like it's on 44th Street. I wonder what's up with that crane. Pretty massive. Doesn't even look like it's working on any building. Actually, it is working on something. It's

lifting that huge piece of block. Well, this is going to be uh interesting to get past that bike lane. It's most certainly all closed off, so I'm not the merging with all of this. All right, man, that thing is huge. Almost looks as if that block is touching the building a little bit. Well, this is going to be or just stay right behind these cars, and that's a huge project. All right, now we can merge over to the left. Hopefully, they'll get that block in place. Yeah, this whole area is closed off. I'm not even going to go over there. It looks like there's more construction on that side too. Why ride in the bike lane? Moving truck now, and this person's coming in here now. The bike lane looks reasonably clear. Let's go this way. Still some more blooming Bradford pear trees. Many of them are uh losing their flowers now though. This is the Queen's Midtown Tunnel connecting Midtown Manhattan with Long Island City, Queens. All right, we have some handball being played here now. We're pretty much at the northern um

portion of Kipp's Bay. I still consider this area to be part of Midtown Manhattan. We've got a puddle of water to deal with. Let's go around this. There's 34th Street, Empire State Building. You can make it out there quickly. So, as you can see, cycling in New York City is not easy with all those obstacles. Well, there's a grand opening across the street, New Moon Chinese Restaurant. Pretty neat. How did I know that person was going to cross over diagonally like that? Another work zone. What I'm gonna do here is preemptively move myself over to this lane. Wow, I need to go two lanes over. The whole thing is blocked. You got FedEx and UPS here and someone running across the street. I'm gonna move over here. Well, you know what? I'll do this because even though I could pass over to the left there, you never really know. I had the signal. It probably would have been safe, but you have to evaluate each situation differently. Here, I'm most likely not going to make

the light, so we're going to slow up. Yep, it's 23rd street. Use this opportunity to drink some more water. Looks like the sun's coming out. That's [Music] good. Now the crosstown traffic is gonna go so, so. Looks like that someone says someone's having a back there delivering it to someone. Don't know where that dryer is going, so thank you [Applause]. I was going to slow up there and pass behind. Here we have the local neighborhood park, Stuyvesant Square. A lot of flowers blooming inside there. I see the tulips. My friend sent me some ice cream, some more tulips on the other side. I thought I saw daffodils, but daffodils are pretty much on their way out now. Those are usually one of the first flowers to bloom, so they don't stay alive too often. I didn't think that city biker who is going to stop, but I will stop here at 14th street. Not going to fight this busy street.

this uh 14th street by the way. It's mostly a bus way. If you drive over here, most people need to make a right at the first available opportunity. The city did it so it could speed up public transit. That's a lot of deliveries over there. Here's a spot which is annoying. This bike lane here isn't really the most practical option and there's tons of people here crowding the outside of Tompkins Square Bagels. I don't know this spot was so popular. I may have to try it someday. Got another bite salmon here. Former location of 2nd Avenue Deli. Now it's a Chase Bank branch. This over here is the East Village, one of the more popular spaces around here. The Selka Ukrainian restaurant known for its borscht and pierogies and coffee as well. Love the way Versa did his outdoor dining. Lots of flowers actually smells delicious too. Meanwhile, Dallas Barbecue doesn't really have that many people dining outside. Oh wow, this is new. I haven't been here.

go ahead. I haven't been here since this middle collegiate church burned down. It was a very sad incident that happened. Oh my gosh, who put broken glass here? Oh my gosh, this is horrible. I mean, it really isn't anywhere to indicate that it's a bike lane or a pedestrian lane. And I shocked that guy inadvertently. I didn't want to, but at least if you're unsure if there's a bike lane or a pedestrian lane, you look back, make sure you're not walking into anything that's dangerous like me potentially. Um, I was already too late. Seems like it's busier here in the East Village than it is in Midtown. I will be heading through uh, Chinatown as well. Chinatown I think should be busy, and we have to deal with the horrible intersection of 2nd Avenue and Houston Street where it turns into Christie. The light timings on it are, they work well, but people don't really know how to read them, so it gets very confusing there. And now it's even worse with this

temporary bike over here. You really have to wash the signals carefully because here the traveling goes first and then the bike. You see left turns go first. [Music] That taxi driver is not having it. Now the cycles go. A lot of times I've seen cyclists go first when the left turn signal is on. They get stuck behind a truck. Whoa. I know electric screws are convenient and all but you still gotta be careful riding one. That person did not seem intent on stopping at all and it seems like I changed my battery now. Alright, my battery's been changed. That person's riding. I don't even know what to say. Riding on the handlebars, steering with his feet. Like, that's what you should be doing on a two-way bike lane, right? Makes perfect sense, yes. Alright, so the way I'm going to make my way over to City Hall is take a left here onto Delancey Street and head over to East Broadway towards Chatham Square right behind these people. So left turn here. That person there should not be cycling.

against traffic, but we've seen that many times already today. This bike lane here on Delancey Street is fairly new. It's actually pretty welcome. This one over here needs some green paint, but it works. At least there's a concrete barrier here. It looks like I can go this way. I know there's a longer route to City Hall, but I really wanted to check out the East Village as well as Lower East Side. Over here, I am going to make a right turn over here, so right. But many of these places here are brand new. This residential tower is Wells Fargo, also coming up to my right, the Target and the trailer goes, also new additions to this neighborhood here. This person's on her phone, doesn't even hear me because their mind is somewhere else. I'm all right. You see the sign there, it says Civic Center. That's where we're going, making a right turn here. We're about to head into the eastern side of Chinatown now. It's still pretty quiet on this side of Chinatown. I've come down here multiple times and

it's usually this quiet now. All right, that's a green light, but my light is I don't want to get in trouble with you copyright. But they're making a right turn anyway. We're riding underneath the Manhattan Bridge now, Manhattan Municipal Building, Woolworth Building, and One World Trade Center all in view in front of me. This view I find is always pretty awesome. Nope, someone's opening their door. Student driver, you should get some points off for that, or just learn from the experience and be a better driver. Sometimes driving accidents happen when you're not driving, and that's a prime example of one. I'm gonna take the lane here so I can go around this double-parked van. All right, perfect. We have a green light right now, so we'll make the wide turn to get onto Chatham Square. I guess Matri is blocked off the traffic with that truck there. I just made it right onto Work Street here. We've got the Jenga building in front of me. That's 56 Leonard Street. Interesting instruction. Columbus Park.

used to be home of the five points neighborhood, a neighborhood which was notorious for its many gangs. In fact, the gangs of New York movie space around that era, and I guess people are free to ignore the traffic light there as long as they travel within like groups of 10 people. Looks like this street just opened up again, Wharf Street, and always been on the construction for many years now. Wow, what is going on here? Big gathering over here, many cyclists. All right, looks like Wharf Street is still on the construction over here. This is going to take a while to finish. All right, left turn here onto Lafayette, and this will pretty much bring me right in front of the New York City Hall. Lots and lots of activity here. This area is always impressive. Oh, this is one of the worst places of Salmon Buddy. All right, here's the base of the Brooklyn Bridge, York City Hall right here, and this is the conclusion of this video. If you enjoyed this video riding my bicycle from Astoria, Queens to the New York City Hall, and be sure to

smash the like button for me. Subscribe for some more videos like these, and I will see you next time. Take it easy. [Music] You

NYC Bike Ride to City Hall, Manhattan from Astoria, Queens (April 17, 2021)

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