Riding into NYC
OK, call me crazy or as I prefer, adventurous, but I did something that many would probably cringeto do. I rode my Harley INTO New York City! Yes, you read that right. I rode my bike into NYC! Having been a truck driver for 18 years and having gone into the city in a big truck, I really thought that it would be easier for me on a bike then in a big truck. WORNG!!!! My brother and I had talked about me riding into the north side of the city and catching the subway down to the Sirius studios. I plotted sever routes including that one. I wanted to be prepared just in case I did miss something and had to go a different way. Well, I missed them ALL! I missed staying on I287 somehow and ended up on the Palisades Parkway. I was OK with that. It was one of the routes I had looked at. So I figured that I would just ride it down to the GW, cross into the city and catch 9A south. Well, that didn’t happen either. There were signs saying that cash toll had to exit. So I exited the parkway and looked for the signs for the GW Bridge. Some how I also missed that GW and ended up seeing signs for I95 south. I decided that I would grab that, go down to the next exit, do a flip and get back to the GW. Then I saw a sing for the Vince Lombardi service plaza. I pulled in there to take a look at the directions I had written out. A man sitting in a van asked me where I was trying to go. I explained and he said it would be easier for me to go through the Lincoln Tunnel. My dumb-ass decided to take the advice and cross into the city through the tunnel! What a mistake that was!
There was a big traffic jam getting to the toll both for the tunnel. Now I ride a Harley. All Harley’s are air cooled. All the stop and go traffic and sitting and idling for so long made my bike start to over heat! It started running funny. I made my way fro the far left lane to the far right lane in case it shut off on me, or I could find a place to pull off and let it cool! Let me tell ya, there is NO place to safely get out of the way and let a bike cool off. Since I was right at the beginning of the down hill to the toll booth, I shut if off and hope that I hate not over heated it so much that it would not start back up when I needed it to. The guy in the SUV behind me was laughing. He gave me a sympathetic look and laughed when I looked back at him. I just shook my head, shrugged my shoulders and continued to pushed my bike forward as the traffic moved. I pushed it forward and let it coast all the way to the tool booth. Luckily, it started!
I entered the tunnel and hoped that I could make it through without another back up. I knew it would not take much for it to over heat again. Yeah, you guessed it, the traffic slowed and then backed up about half way through. It didn’t take long and the bike was running funny again. I prayed that I could just get through the tunnel and find a place to let it cool off again. I knew I was going to be late getting to the show and I hate being late! I finally made it through the tunnel and started taking right hand exits til I found some place that I could safely park and let it cool off for a bit. I ended up on the corner of Dyer Ave and West 30th St, down by the post office.
I sat there a while, looked at my map and fired up Google Latitude on my phone. I knew where I needed to be, I just had to figure out what was the best way to get there and not over heat again. The Sirius studios are on the Corner of 49th and Avenue of the Americas. I had found a parking garage on 45th that I wanted to park my bike. I plotted the route on my phone and then looked around. I needed to get to 10th St and take a right. Because of where I had stopped, I was going to have to do one of 2 things, go around the block and deal with the traffic lights, or go the wrong way on 30th for half a block. Hummm….can you guess what I did? That’s right, I went the wrong way on 30th, hung a right and headed down 10th St.
As I was slowing at a stop light that had just turned green, a man started yelling, “Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you!” I don’t know if he was yelling that becasue I was on a bike, had loud pipes, or becaseu I have my American Flag and PGR flag flying from the saddlebags. I also had on my PGR vest that has “Support the Troops” all over it as well. He could have been yelling at that. I just threw my right arm out and shot him the bird. Yea, it don’t take long to get into the “city” mode and give them their crap back at em!
I continued up 10th St till I got to 46th and found the parking garage that I wanted to park in. I pulled in, got my ticket and walked 2 block to Ave of the Americas, hung a left and walked another 3 blocks to the McGraw Building where the Sirius studio for Freewheelin is. I got through the security, hopped on the elevator to the 36th floor and was finally there!
I was escorted into the Freewheelin studio, got hugs from Chris T and Meredith and settled in for the show. We had lots of old friends from Road Dogs on Hogs call in as well as many other drivers that wanted to say hi or talk about their road trips with their family. (That was the topic of the show today.) It was a great show and I really enjoyed being back in the studio with them. During one break, Chris and I talked about the best way for me to get out of the city without frying my bike. Thanks Chris T, it was great! After the show Meredith walked me down to see Jermey Tepper and I gave all 3 of them Road Dogs on Hogs patches.
I left the Sirius studios and started my walk back to 46th & 8th where I had parked my bike. I made a quck stop in the middle of Time Square to take a look around. There are LOTS of people milling around in a very small area there. I took a couple of pictures and headed on to my bike. When I got to the garage, I went to the cashier to pay for my parking. they charged me $34 for parking there 3 hours. Yes, you read that right. I was told it was $17 for one hour or $34 for all day…there was nothing for the in between length of time. I got on my bike and headed west to 9A, the Hudson PRKWY.
I had a straight shot with NO stop lights all the way to the GW Bridge! As soon as I came off the bridge I hopped on the Palisades PRKWY and headed north to US6 which brought me right back to the hotel. It was a nice ride back up here. I even stopped at one of the overlooks and had a bite of lunch. All in all it was a great day and now I can say that I have not only driven a big truck in NYC, I have now done the CRAZY thing of riding a motorcycle into NYC!
Tags: Freewheelin, Harley, Honda, Motorcycles, NYC, road dogs on hogs, Sirius Radio, truck drivers
