Can anyone tell me about riding in NYC?

[Chris50]

Hello everyone,

First off, to all of who have left your feedback on any of my numerous posts, I just want to say THANK YOU. You good people are helping a newbie like myself a whole lot and I value each one of your comments more than you may know.

Second, does anyone know anything about riding on the streets of New York City? I have taken up a promotional offer from Hilton to go on one of their 2 hour vacation club sales presentations in exchange for a 3 day, 2 night stay at their Hilton around the Central Park area in Manhattan late next month. 
 

I’ll be driving up from Tennessee and from what I understand, I can park my car in Newark at the train station, ride the train into Manhattan, then get off and ride my Veteran Patton to the Hotel. Unless of course there’s a much better route for me to take that you all may know about.

I’m just a small town guy from the Volunteer State and I imagine that I’m going to be entering into something I’ve never experienced as soon as I get there. So any of your all’s feedback will be much appreciated.

[sbb]

I can't speak for riding, but with you coming from a Free State into The People's Republic of NY (and passing through MD and NJ etc),

1. Leave anything that resembles a weapon back home. Includes pointy things over a certain length or type.

2. Ensure you do not have any spent brass in your car. For real.

Beyond that, check with the hotel to see if a wheel will even be allowed in the building. If they won't allow e-bikes and e-scooters, your wheel won't get in, either.

 

[Tep]

Check with your hotel to see if you can bring a electric scooter (mention scooter to make it easier), because some building in NYC ban it outright.

Riding in NYC is very easy, you just have to be aware of everything that goes on around you, if the street is too busy, take the bike lane. Try not to ride on sidewalk as much as possible, it is prohibited and cops might give you issue about it if you run into one. Cops tend to not care about you riding on the street, but sidewalk is a different ball game.

I recommend going out and ride in early morning or late night, when there's not much people out. Avoid tourist spots during the day unless you want to squeeze through traffics. 

Get in touch with NYC telegram, let people know you're coming and some locals might be up to give you a tour. 

[Chris50]

5 hours ago, sbb said:

I can't speak for riding, but with you coming from a Free State into The People's Republic of NY (and passing through MD and NJ etc),

1. Leave anything that resembles a weapon back home. Includes pointy things over a certain length or type.

2. Ensure you do not have any spent brass in your car. For real.

Beyond that, check with the hotel to see if a wheel will even be allowed in the building. If they won't allow e-bikes and e-scooters, your wheel won't get in, either.

 

Thanks for your feedback man. I assume though that you’re talking about not bringing in guns and knives, right? From what I’ve heard, NYC is a very dangerous place and I was thinking about carrying my canister of extremely potent pepper spray in my pocket just in case. I’ve been told by a number of cops where I live that it will knock someone on their ass, it’s that strong.

But even if it is illegal in NYC (which I would find to be morally detestable on behalf of the NYC government, because everyone should have a right to defend themselves), they’ve quit doing stop and frisk, right? 

[Chris50]

3 hours ago, Tep said:

Check with your hotel to see if you can bring a electric scooter (mention scooter to make it easier), because some building in NYC ban it outright.

Riding in NYC is very easy, you just have to be aware of everything that goes on around you, if the street is too busy, take the bike lane. Try not to ride on sidewalk as much as possible, it is prohibited and cops might give you issue about it if you run into one. Cops tend to not care about you riding on the street, but sidewalk is a different ball game.

I recommend going out and ride in early morning or late night, when there's not much people out. Avoid tourist spots during the day unless you want to squeeze through traffics. 

Get in touch with NYC telegram, let people know you're coming and some locals might be up to give you a tour. 

Thanks for your feedback too man. When you say NYC telegram, is that a website you’re referring to and would there be locals on EUCs that would show me around? Because that’s all I want to do is ride my EUC instead of walking (or certainly not riding the subway) anywhere.

[the_deeb]

FWIW, I would guess that what you may have heard about NYC being a dangerous place is probably overblown, particularly for the part of town you’re planning to be in (midtown near Central Park). I say this from the perspective of someone who’s lived in NYC for 14 years and has (thankfully) never once been in any sort of dangerous encounter where something like pepper spray was required (and I’m not particularly fearful or cautious about avoiding rougher neighborhoods - I just try to be generally pleasant towards people).

What is admittedly somewhat dangerous is riding an EUC through the streets, because there is a high density of chaotic traffic including cars, bicycles and scooters many people of whom ignore all traffic laws. Given that you’re riding a capable and fast wheel, my advice would be to ride with traffic and follow traffic laws as though you’re a car and I think you’ll be fine.

Hope you enjoy your time in the city.

Edited September 21 by the_deeb

[Esash]

On 9/19/2024 at 12:01 PM, Chris50 said:

Hello everyone,

First off, to all of who have left your feedback on any of my numerous posts, I just want to say THANK YOU. You good people are helping a newbie like myself a whole lot and I value each one of your comments more than you may know.

Second, does anyone know anything about riding on the streets of New York City? I have taken up a promotional offer from Hilton to go on one of their 2 hour vacation club sales presentations in exchange for a 3 day, 2 night stay at their Hilton around the Central Park area in Manhattan late next month. 
 

I’ll be driving up from Tennessee and from what I understand, I can park my car in Newark at the train station, ride the train into Manhattan, then get off and ride my Veteran Patton to the Hotel. Unless of course there’s a much better route for me to take that you all may know about.

I’m just a small town guy from the Volunteer State and I imagine that I’m going to be entering into something I’ve never experienced as soon as I get there. So any of your all’s feedback will be much appreciated.

Stick to riding inside Central Park, at least on your day of arrival. It's huge and fun to ride in and it'll help your brain adapt to being in the middle of  a huge city.

After your first night, on your first full day, spend half the day just walking around Midtown/Times Square. You're already staying right there so your EUC will have ZERO practicality, and will only hamper your ability to go in and out of stores/restaurants/museums etc like you will want to.

You'll also be over-stimulated to the max, and having/riding your wheel won't help, it will hurt, perhaps literally.

For the second half of your sole full day, perhaps after a mid-day rest at your hotel, you could consider riding your euc down the west side bike path on the water. It's very beautiful, and a lot less dangerous, and you can ride it all the way down to the southern tip of Manhattan, to look at the statue of liberty and Wall St/Financial district. 

Then if you were feeling comfortable and brave you could try riding/exploring back to your hotel right up the middle of Manhattan, exploring SoHo/Chinatown, west village (see washington square park/union square), and back up to your hotel at your leisure.

You could also just ride back north from Battery Park/south tip of Manhattan on the bike path you came from, to play it safe. Only real danger will be getting to/from the bike path from your hotel.

By Day 3 you won't need much guidance, other than don't get your ass hurt/killed.

Ignore anybody telling you you have nothing to worry about. Pretending there's no danger is a survival mechanism in NYC. It's sort of like if you're in the woods and you run into a bear, the last thing you want to do is show fear. People who live in NYC are like that, pretending there's no danger because if they show fear their odds of being attacked skyrocket.

Also, your accent is going to make you a possible target for some people, and some other pretentious woody allen wannabees will passive-aggressively disrespect you. Leave the Tennessee Volunteers sweatshirt at home. 

Edited September 21 by Esash

[Chris50]

13 hours ago, the_deeb said:

FWIW, I would guess that what you may have heard about NYC being a dangerous place is probably overblown, particularly for the part of town you’re planning to be in (midtown near Central Park). I say this from the perspective of someone who’s lived in NYC for 14 years and has (thankfully) never once been in any sort of dangerous encounter where something like pepper spray was required (and I’m not particularly fearful or cautious about avoiding rougher neighborhoods - I just try to be generally pleasant towards people).

What is admittedly somewhat dangerous is riding an EUC through the streets, because there is a high density of chaotic traffic including cars, bicycles and scooters many people of whom ignore all traffic laws. Given that you’re riding a capable and fast wheel, my advice would be to ride with traffic and follow traffic laws as though you’re a car and I think you’ll be fine.

Hope you enjoy your time in the city.

Damn, that’s not bad at all! What you’re describing sounds a lot less dangerous than where I live (LOL.) If that’s the case, maybe it’s because rednecks and driving don’t mix too well. Inside of that 14 years of driving down here for me, I’ve had a number of incidents where if it weren’t for me immediately taking a side road to speed away from a lunatic road rager, I’d probably have had to result to lethal means of defense. Especially on I-40.

Anyway, as it turns out, I called the Hilton hotel where I’ll be staying and they told me that they don’t allow electric unicycles in their building. So I’m going to have to drive all the way into Manhattan and park at in their designated parking garage. So is there anything you can tell me about that, such as the danger factor and perhaps things I need to watch out for?

[Chris50]

55 minutes ago, Esash said:

Stick to riding inside Central Park, at least on your day of arrival. It's huge and fun to ride in and it'll help your brain adapt to being in the middle of  a huge city.

After your first night, on your first full day, spend half the day just walking around Midtown/Times Square. You're already staying right there so your EUC will have ZERO practicality, and will only hamper your ability to go in and out of stores/restaurants/museums etc like you will want to.

You'll also be over-stimulated to the max, and having/riding your wheel won't help, it will hurt, perhaps literally.

For the second half of your sole full day, perhaps after a mid-day rest at your hotel, you could consider riding your euc down the west side bike path on the water. It's very beautiful, and a lot less dangerous, and you can ride it all the way down to the southern tip of Manhattan, to look at the statue of liberty and Wall St/Financial district. 

Then if you were feeling comfortable and brave you could try riding/exploring back to your hotel right up the middle of Manhattan, exploring SoHo/Chinatown, west village (see washington square park/union square), and back up to your hotel at your leisure.

You could also just ride back north from Battery Park/south tip of Manhattan on the bike path you came from, to play it safe. Only real danger will be getting to/from the bike path from your hotel.

By Day 3 you won't need much guidance, other than don't get your ass hurt/killed.

Ignore anybody telling you you have nothing to worry about. Pretending there's no danger is a survival mechanism in NYC. It's sort of like if you're in the woods and you run into a bear, the last thing you want to do is show fear. People who live in NYC are like that, pretending there's no danger because if they show fear their odds of being attacked skyrocket.

Also, your accent is going to make you a possible target for some people, and some other pretentious woody allen wannabees will passive-aggressively disrespect you. Leave the Tennessee Volunteers sweatshirt at home. 

Thanks very much for your feedback man, that’s very helpful. I’m definitely going to follow your advice and stay on those designated paths as that just makes intelligent sense. 

As it turns out, I’m going to have to drive all the way into Manhattan and leave my EUC in my car (in the garage) because they don’t allow them in the hotel. So can you please elaborate on what I’ll encounter on my drive into NYC?

[Esash]

48 minutes ago, Chris50 said:

Thanks very much for your feedback man, that’s very helpful. I’m definitely going to follow your advice and stay on those designated paths as that just makes intelligent sense. 

As it turns out, I’m going to have to drive all the way into Manhattan and leave my EUC in my car (in the garage) because they don’t allow them in the hotel. So can you please elaborate on what I’ll encounter on my drive into NYC?

Just lots of slow traffic, and horns honking behind you if you drive too slow when it's time to MOVE. Leave the wheel in your trunk so nobody can see it in your car windows in the garage.

If you end up finding the city to be too overwhelming on your senses, you could also turn north (right) when you get to the west side highway bike path. I think it goes for miles and miles and into new jersey and woodsy type nature stuff. But you should focus on exploring the city since you can find bike paths in the woods anywhere, and you might not have a good spot to charge your wheel.

Riding in Central Park should be just fine and not too overwhelming on your senses like Times Square/Midtown might.

A couple more tips: Make it a goal to not give a nickel to ANYBODY, and you'll be asked for money dozens of times. They'll have you sized up for a tourist no matter what you wear, because you'll be looking around a lot and probably walking slow as you look. They'll have the most sympathetic tear-jerking stories ready for you, knowing that your sympathy hasn't been dulled yet.

And try not to buy any $10 soda pops or $15 hotdogs in Central Park, just on principle.

 

[Chris50]

Thanks buddy, you’re a cool dude and much appreciated. I’m definitely going to heed to all of your advice because I’d bet you know what you’re talking about.

Just a side note because you bring up greenways (which is my favorite type of terrain to ride on), if you’re ever down south, you should check out the Silver Comet and Chief Ladiga Trail. It goes about a hundred miles way the hell out in the middle of nowhere, through small towns along the way. Not to mention that almost all of its surface is immaculate and is the best place I’ve ever found to ride on. A few people on here told me about the Empire State Trail in NY, along with the  trails in California and I’m going to check those out. But in my opinion, the Silver Comet and Chief Ladiga Trail is an absolute gem for going on a multi day EUC trip.

[Esash]

8 minutes ago, Chris50 said:

Thanks buddy, you’re a cool dude and much appreciated. I’m definitely going to heed to all of your advice because I’d bet you know what you’re talking about.

Just a side note because you bring up greenways (which is my favorite type of terrain to ride on), if you’re ever down south, you should check out the Silver Comet and Chief Ladiga Trail. It goes about a hundred miles way the hell out in the middle of nowhere, through small towns along the way. Not to mention that almost all of its surface is immaculate and is the best place I’ve ever found to ride on. A few people on here told me about the Empire State Trail in NY, along with the  trails in California and I’m going to check those out. But in my opinion, the Silver Comet and Chief Ladiga Trail is an absolute gem for going on a multi day EUC trip.

Also read this. There's Venezuelan moped gangs running around Manhattan and they'll grab your phone right out of your hand. Maybe even your Lynx.  Half the NYC government leadership is getting arrested right now, and investigated and searched and subpoenaed, even the NYPD leadership, so the city's in a state of chaos right now and you're mostly on your own. 

Remember that a lot of nyc residents are far leftist ideologues, so they'll downplay any and all of this stuff because it doesn't fit the agenda. That goes for on this forum too. 

https://www.fox5ny.com/news/who-tren-de-aragua-violent-venezuelan-gang

NYPD officials say that members of the gang have been crossing the border along with the larger influx of migrants.

Police say that members of the gang have gone from crimes like shoplifting and stealing cell phones and jewelry to all-out shoot-outs in the streets.

Deputy Inspector Nicholas Fiore of the NYPD's Crimes Against Persons Unit told FOX 5 NY that Tren de Aragua's savage, bloody crimes are similar to MS-13, the violent street gang responsible for dozens of murders throughout the NYC area. 

 

The crimes include one or two thieves on a moped yanking cell phones, jewelry and other valuables from pedestrians. 

Cell phones are a hot commodity in these robberies, as they have found ways to use smartphones to hack into victims' bank accounts.

The phones are then shipped to Columbia and Venezuela.

Most of the suspects arrested for these crimes don't admit to being gang-affiliated. 

 

 

[Chris50]

That’s Cash Jordan and I was subscribed to his channel because I think he had some important things to say. But then I fell out of line with him for one video he made (that I’m not going to get into.) But yeah, I’ve certainly heard about the moped gangs in NYC. They seem as bad as the subway gangs.

There are a few tricks that I’ve learned about street survival that have worked quite well for me if anyone’s interested…..

1) I’m always sincerely nice to people and I don’t get hung up if someone is a prick, that’s my cue to de-escalate and get moving.

2) I intentionally dress poor because I don’t feel the need to impress anyone, and I know that trying to show off in that regard makes that person a target for a whole lot of nefarious people.

3) I always carry the most powerful pepper spray you can find in my pocket, I look around me a whole lot, and I always know which way the wind is blowing. I would carry a gun with me, but I am forever banned from doing that due to being a convicted felon over some stupid financial shit I got into about 20 years ago. 

But anyway, thanks for all of your advice man. I’m going to be well versed in everything you’re telling me when I’m up there.