I Want To Ride My Bicycle, I Want To Ride My Bike...

October 31, 2008 11:55 AM

Yes or no: is biking permitted in Inwood Hill Park in New York?

I have found conflicting information about this -- first TIME OUT NEW YORK suggested Inwood Hill as a pretty spot for a fall bike ride, but then readers' comments on the TONY site suggested that biking is actually forbidden in the park. But Wikipedia's article about Inwood Hill Park says biking is allowed, and that moreover there is a bike trail leading from there to Ft. Tyron Park. However, a bike map of the city suggests otherwise. Other Googling tells me about possible mountain biking in the park, but nothing about regular, I-just-want-to-tool-around-on-my-Schwinn biking. When I called the park directly, I got a voicemail at a nature center and I have a hunch they won't call back.

So. Since it would really suck if I wrestled my Schwinn all the way uptown from Brooklyn on the A train only to find I couldn't use it, can anyone confirm whether non-mountain-bike bike riding IS permitted in Inwood Hill Park? (If not, I'll just go for a walk instead.)

posted by EmpressCallipygos to sports, hobbies, & recreation (8 comments total)

From this NYC.gov page: "the Hudson River Bike Trail [through Inwood Hill Park] offer visitors chances to appreciate large stretches of the park's natural beauty in an environmentally friendly manner." Doesn't say about the rest of the park though.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 12:04 PM on October 31, 2008

Doesn't say about the rest of the park though.

Yeah, that was exactly my problem.

But thanks for pointing that out, because it SORT of bodes well...
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:10 PM on October 31, 2008

Biking is pretty much permitted in any public outdoor space, isn't it?
posted by M.C. Lo-Carb! at 12:27 PM on October 31, 2008

Whaddya know, someone from Inwood Hill actually DID just call back.

Turns out there are trails, and there are trails -- some you can bike on, some you can't (they're more suited for hiking). But the ranger (who in all honestly sounded like a college kid) admitted that some people rode on all the trails anyway.

Eh, I may just go walk anyway just to save the hassle.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:39 PM on October 31, 2008

Biking is pretty much permitted in any public outdoor space, isn't it?
posted by M.C. Lo-Carb! at 12:27 PM on October 31 [+] [!]

Not at all. Many park paths in NYC have signs forbidding cycling.

Gonna be a nice weekend, Empress. Enjoy!

/derail/ What I don't get are the signs requiring cyclists to "go slow" and "yield to pedestrians." I mean, I get that you shouldn't run into them, but as for the "yielding," I'm not sure what's required. /end derail/
posted by JimN2TAW at 12:46 PM on October 31, 2008

What I don't get are the signs requiring cyclists to "go slow" and "yield to pedestrians." I mean, I get that you shouldn't run into them, but as for the "yielding," I'm not sure what's required.

I always took that as "let them go first when you come to an intersection and you're both waiting to cross," or stuff like that. General swerving around them, not riding in their paths, not getting cranky if hou have to ride around them, etc. Standard let-them-have-the-right-of-way stuff.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:52 PM on October 31, 2008

[Glad you agree that swerving around pedestrians is probably enough, in the usual case, and letting them go first if there's an actual conflict.]

I rode up to Fort Tryon Park and the Cloisters today. I entered from Fort Washington Ave. There were no signs about cycling whatsoever. I rode around in the park for about a half hour. Then, as I was nearing the Cloisters, I finally saw one lonely inscription painted on the pavement "No Cycling On the Paths" or the like. So I left the park and went out to the road, where there's a good bike lane.

With such a ridiculously small number of signs, I can't imagine there's much enforcement. But I have no information about that.

Actually I didn't find Ft. Tryon Park to be much fun. The paths are rather narrow, very winding and simultaneously hilly, and if there's even a couple of peds, they will block the whole thing. Many paths are blocked by stairs. It's really a beautiful place for hiking and sightseeing, not so much for cycling, as I found it.

Sorry I didn't get up to Inwood Hill Park, or see the path linking the two parks.
posted by JimN2TAW at 2:45 PM on November 1, 2008

The trails inside Inwood Hill Park are STEEP and narrow, and more than half of them aren't paved. They're beautiful for walking and a hassle for biking (the few people on bikes are mostly local kids).

The reason that park is Manhattan's only virgin forest is that it was nearly impossible to develop on it during the early-20th-century boom in northern Manhattan. It's basically one big boulder covered with trees.
posted by kalapierson at 8:57 AM on November 2, 2008