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I live in the Bronx, just over the Harlem River from the northern tip of Manhattan Island:
[From the NYC Bike Map [PDF].]
To access said island by bicycle, the two nearest bridges are these:
The Broadway Bridge, which also carries the subway train, is good because it’s short and it’s near stuff. But it’s bad because Broadway is one of those untamed thoroughfares and you’ve got to go into elbow-throwing mode and do battle with some of the most aggressive drivers New York City has to offer when you cross it. Incidentally, the Broadway Bridge also adorned some of my headwear offerings back when I offered stuff to wear on your head:
These will now fetch thousands of dollars apiece in the vintage clothing marketplace.
The other crossing is the Henry Hudson Bridge, which connects the headlands at the confluence of the Harlem and Hudson Rivers:
The good thing about the Henry Hudson Bridge is that you’re not really mixing it up with traffic. The bad thing about it is that it’s part of the Robert Moses parkway system so anything that’s not a car is an afterthought, and the Manhattan side of it leaves you deep in the last remaining bit of wilderness on the island–plus if you’re coming from Manhattan you’ve got to climb some serious grades in order to get to it, which can be fun if you’re on a road ride, but which sucks if you’re coming home from a long day at work.
And if that weren’t enough, all it had was a measly, narrow little pedestrian path with stairs on either side, and while there was nobody there to stop you from doing it, riding your bike across it wasn’t even technically allowed:
Once in a great while I’d ride over the Henry Hudson Bridge for the sake of novelty, but for the most part I’d almost never bother, which is too bad, because if it weren’t for that lousy path it would make a very pleasant and convenient route to the George Washington Bridge and the Hudson River Greenway.
Well, back in 2023 the MTA announced it would finally make its bridges bikeable, and while I don’t know if it’s officially open or not, yesterday I headed over to the Henry Hudson Bridge for the first time in quite awhile and was amazed to find the stairs gone and a sumptuous new path in its place:
There were still trucks and workers on the path putting in what I assume must be the finishing touches, but nobody objected to my presence so I can only assume it’s open for business:
Behold the Amtrak swing bridge and the mighty New Jersey Palisades in the distance:
Before long I was in Manhattan:
Though the slopes of Inwood Hill Park were still strewn with snow:
While the gradient isn’t apparent from the photo, this particular hill is pretty steep, which made descending treacherous, and I didn’t even have treaded tires like the gravelistas who had clearly been here before me:
My expert tracking skills tell me that’s a Panaracer Gravel King SK.
Go ahead, tell me I’m wrong:
Taking a pinch of snow, I tasted it, and soon determined the tire to be 43mm wide and inflated to roughly 35psi. The rider was also using a SRAM AXS group, riding a carbon frame, pushing a 23-inch gear, and he coasts left foot forward.
As for me, with these tires I felt like I was wearing possum socks on a hardwood floor:
Nevertheless, thanks to the ample wheelbase of the Homer I managed to stay upright. I then continued towards the Hudson River Greenway, which still requires you to carry your bike across this footbridge that spans the Amtrak tracks:
After taking in a bit of the Greenway and going about as far downtown as I could stand I started heading back towards the bridge, and I guess it’s been awhile since I’ve ridden on this stretch of Broadway because last time I did this building didn’t even exist yet:
Closets start at just $2,800:
And they even have “chef-inspired kitchens!”
If you’re wondering what a “chef-inspired kitchen” is, well, it’s a kitchen:
It’s very smart of them to look to chefs for inspiration when designing kitchens, because I had a swimmer-inspired kitchen once, and not only was the diving board completely unnecessary, but I couldn’t even get the burners lit.
And check out these shitting-inspired bathrooms!
There’s even a game room with fake graffiti and a fake bicycle so you can pretend you’re in a gritty pool hall, or at least in that building in Williamsburg that you would have preferred but was way too expensive:
Housing crisis? What housing crisis???
Anyway, rather than cross over the Amtrak tracks again I executed a flanking maneuver and approached the bridge from the other side of Inwood Hill Park:
Here I began to climb:
That’s the Bronx on the other side:
The span of the Henry Hudson Bridge is dramatic, if not exactly convenient:
On the steepest part of the climb I was no longer able to maintain traction and was forced to walk:
This despite my ample wheelbase and hill-conquering winch gear:
Before the new path you used to enter the bridge where it says “walkway closed:”
Now you roll right on via that luxurious new ramp, where you’re greeted by the start of the Hudson Valley:
Speaking of that winch gear, after riding in all that slush I gave my chain a quick lube job:
I’ve also learned from experience to give the derailleur screws a drop or two after riding in conditions like this so I’ll be able to turn them later:
By the way, Dumonde–the Kiehl’s of bicycle lubricants–were kind enough to send me another care package recently:
I realize this sounds exactly like what someone who gets care packages full of lubricants would say, but this is easily the best chain lube I’ve ever used. It seems to last a really long time, and it also doesn’t leave lots of build-up on the pulley wheels, though maybe that’s just because you don’t have to apply it very often. Plus, it’s great on salads, just as long as you don’t eat them.
