By Seth Fera-Schanes

A bike is a great way to explore new areas of New York, especially after you have lived in the city for an extended amount of time.  I have covered a lot of ground in this city by walking or with public transit but am discovering a bike opens up a lot of new adventures.

I recently decided to ride north starting from 100th street and Amsterdam Avenue on the Upper West Side.  I have included a few of the highlights from my trip below.

The James Bailey House – Located on 150th street and Saint Nicholas Place, this mansion is quite the standout. The Bailey is from the Barnum and Bailey Circus.

I kept riding north past the Bailey mansion, and came to a bike trail along the Harlem River that took me all the way up to Dyckman Avenue.  This is a really interesting part of the trip and an area of the city I had never explored before.

Harlem River facing north

Harlem River facing south

Riding up a few more miles I came across the Peter Jay Sharp boathouse.

I finally ended up on Dyckman Avenue (way uptown.)  I decided to mix up the trip and headed west so I could ride back down along the Hudson River.

Working my way through Washington Heights, I finally came to the George Washington bridge.  You can actually ride across the bridge but this excursion had already been going on for a couple hours so I decided to postpone that for another time.

This was an excellent ride and definitely something to try out with friends on an early Saturday or Sunday morning.