First time NYC commuter looking for advice. (Used to skating in rural area)

[MyOrangeHat]

Hi Girl learning to longboard here. Silverfish has been a great resource as I've been board shopping. Thanks for that. Anyway, I didn't get enough exercise at school last year and walking to commute was painfully slow so I decided to bring my board to school to commute with. The problem is I've never skated in a city before. I've just used my crappy bought-at-WalMart board to get to friends houses around my small town. There are no laws about skateboarding here and very little traffic.

I'm getting a real board to go to school with this semester (a Loaded Fish I think) and I was just looking for advice on how to skate in the city without 1. getting killed. 2. breaking laws. and 3. having to weave between insane cabbies any more than is absolutely necessary.

My commute would be from 91st and Amsterdam down to 21st and 7th. Would it make sense to pick up the bike path along Riverside Drive to take the straight shot down to 21st? Would it make sense to cut through Central Park? Where in Central Park can I skate legally?

[Nwallins]

Wow, that's 4 miles each way. When I first started (a few months ago) I mildly strained my pushing ankle or foot after a single 8 - 10 mile ride. Kept me off the board for a week. I'm surely better conditioned now, but I get still get some annoying internal pangs in my ankle and/or achilles after pushing a lot. You may want to think about a bike for pure commuting.

Riverside bike path should be great. Also no issues in Central Park.

If there are no protected paths, I generally ride on the street when commuting, with traffic. Sidewalks are choppy and crowded. I wouldn't do too much cabbie-weaving -- just stay off to the side and get an LED for your bag at night.

Cheers and good luck!

[flannon]

Originally Posted by MyOrangeHat

My commute would be from 91st and Amsterdam down to 21st and 7th. Would it make sense to pick up the bike path along Riverside Drive to take the straight shot down to 21st? Would it make sense to cut through Central Park? Where in Central Park can I skate legally?

I haven't ridden much above 60th street so I can' speak to that, but the bike path on the West Side Highway from 59th down to 21st is very nice ride. But, as Nwallins pointed out, that's a pretty good ride when just starting out so you might want to keep a $20 in your pocket so you can grab a cab if need be. Or, you could stick to Broadway and that way you could always jump on the N train. They recently finished repaving Broadway from 34th down past 21st so its a smooth ride, but the traffic in Times Square is a pain in the ass. Personally I like riding down 5th Ave. from around 42nd Street because there's a bit of a grade and with a good of a push you can hit the lights green and sometimes make it down to 23rd without stopping.

Which ever way you decide to go, it should be a lot of fun!

[Alpha06]

Yeah if you're gonna go in traffic just glide with it. Here are the super elusive laws for NY state:

Traffic Safety Programs: Bicycle, In-Line Skates and Scooters

scroll all the way down

[Wells]

If you're moving with the speed of traffic, get in the middle of a lane and skate defensively like you're driving defensively.

Don't skate in traffic until you feel absolutely confident doing so. It's going to be a while.

[MyOrangeHat]

Wow thanks for all the advice, guys. Yep I'll start slow and if I start to get sore or tired I'll just plan to hop a cab or jump on the train. I know 4 miles is a long way but I am in good enough shape I can walk it easily, just takes too long. I just need to get my boarding muscles up to par. And thank you for the link to the traffic laws. I had actually been looking all over for that.

I just got my board yesterday and I'm SO excited to get into Central Park and try it out! It's a Bustin Cigar and it is so different from my old board (a heavy 8 year old short board from WalMart with plastic wheels). I can't believe how fast it goes, how stable it feels, and how far it goes on a single push. And it's so flexy! I even got the stiff of the two that I tried and it's still so flexy. It's great. I want to post a picture but my camera is already packed for school and I can't find it. I'll post a pic of my board when I unpack.

So about riding in Central Park, are walking paths okay to ride on or can I only ride on the streets that cut through Central Park that have those bike lanes?

[Archy]

There's a lot of good advice here. I'd stick to the Hudson River Park run until you get comfortable in traffic. Learn to time the lights and you can have a lot of avenues to yourself, for a hot minute. But, like Wells said, don't rush it. Rule of thumb: assume no one can see you and that if they do they're not gonna like what they see.

[ridesnow.]

My rule of thumb while skating in traffic is to think that EVERYONE is about to hit you, or open their door in your way. If you're careful, skating in traffic wont be that bad. Just dont be too aggressive, like Max said, skate/drive defensively while in traffic.

[britchey11]

i used to ride the west side bike path from 80th down and cross to williamsburg. at nite some of us rode the paths in riverside park. that was lots of fun, but look out for people and dogs!
on the street i ride like a bicycle, people understand that. always wear safety glasses, people will throw things in your face in nyc.

[MyOrangeHat]

I haven't tried riding on the streets yet. I walk my board to the west side bike path, but it's only a block so it's not a big deal. I totally over did on my first ride out and got the top of my foot sore, strangely NOT my pushing foot. I did probably a little over 8 miles. I had SO much fun though that I couldn't stop. Oh well a few days off and I'll be back at it and I'm going to try to start learning to pump.

[SpeedFiend]

the street is safer than the sidewalk. i almost get hit all the time though. up here is the first time ive had to jump off the board cause im not sure someone is going to stop, its when i have the right of way and they they are turning, happens all the time at the south end of prospect which i read is the in the top ten dangerous intersections in nyc. good luck.

[MJKam11]

You should come to the Friday night RIP one day, we skate on a decent hill for NYC standards.

Just take it slow, don't do anything stupid in the roads. The number one thing I look for is for people opening their doors on you, i've had it happen to me when I was going around 15-20mph and I got pwned by a door, somehow I kept my board under me as I fell, but since then i've never skated too close to cars and if I have to I don't go more than 10mph by them. You'll get used to the whole weaving around double parked cars thing eventually.

And in Central Park it is totally legal to be going with traffic on the main road (that traffic goes on during rush hour) and the bike/running path is also on that road. It is against park laws to be on the smaller walking paths, but i've skated them hard before and nobody except for one guy said anything, so don't worry about any laws, just don't create a disturbance and they'll usually leave you alone.