Ride in the Big Apple
A visit to Vaibhav’s place in NJ was long overdue. Since this involved crossing tunnels, I decided to postpone till getting a valid license.
What an unbelievable delay on the I-495 interstate around 5pm yesterday ! Traffic moved at a snail’s pace of 25-30 mph which I never saw before on that route. On the narrow Williamsburg bridge, it was worse than Kolkata traffic, average speed being 5 mph. A meagre 65 miles took me close to 3 hours but the timing was right as Vaibhav coming from office met me right in front of his apartment.
Some chit-chat like old times later, we rode on for dinner and some photo shoot of the new york skyline from the exchange place riverside boardwalk. Had yummy masala dosa at Journal Square. Enjoyed the stunning view of the manhattan skyline and the endless passage of airplanes taking off from Newark Liberty Intl airport nearby.
The best part of the trip was the return ride through downtown manhattan today morning. It was a big dream to ride in the big apple, and close to the Empire state and Chrysler buildings. My first ride through tunnels were great too. But Holland tunnel is too expensive - $5 toll for motorcycles where cars pay $6 ? Queens midtown tunnel cost me $2 though.
Plans are already underway for a 500+ mile weekend trip to Nashua, NH to visit another old friend Daman from my royal enfield days in India. Keeping my fingers crossed now as the cold weather gets bitter by the day.
Statistics from GPS:
Total miles: 159
Max speed: 76 mph
Moving time: 5 hours
October 20th, 2005 at 7:46 pm
You guys in New York/Jersey need to adopt lane splitting. Whether or not you say you would do it, I bet you would excercise this option once you are in that kind of traffic . Did you see any lane splitters in California? It is the only way to ride.
October 21st, 2005 at 1:13 am
What a wonderful experience you are having! We all enjoyed your description. Keep touring and visiting your friends. Visit Shankarda, Shipra , Rajat da in NJ
October 26th, 2005 at 9:32 pm
Hi Joy,
First of all congratulations on your wedding to priti. I was hoping to run into some wedding pics of yours in here. I hope you are having a good time and may be some time we will meet. I dont know when - i dont know how!!
I also share a similar passsion for biking(RTMC) and photography. Where in the latter is a more recent hobby, i should say.
Keep ridin dude! and keep postin your rides. Nice read.
Cheers!
Anand