A Quick Ride to LIC
Long Island City (LIC) is the section of Queens along the East River. Today is one of those freakish January days with the temperature in the 50′s. I hadn’t gone for a ride in a while. The bike has been leaking oil. I am still waiting for some parts to fix that. But I figured I could take her just across the river and explore some of the neighborhoods. I knew a long ride was out of the question. On my last ride my leg was soaked with oil. I checked the oil gauge and Bonnie was good to go. She doesn’t drip much once she cools off. So I zipped through the tunnel and rode north along the East River. This area is quickly becoming overdeveloped with tall new buildings obscuring many good views of the city. There are occasional parks too. Here they have incorporated some of the old loading docks into the new park. Looking through the docks you see the Empire State Building on the left side and the United Nations through the right.
There aren’t a lot of spots to get to the river. A few streets still dead end at the water’s edge. It was at this spot below that I noticed I would have to cut this trip short. After taking this picture I saw a fresh puddle of oil the size of a hockey puck under my bike. Leaving her running while leaning on the kickstand had the oil dripping furiously. It was time to head back. If you don’t know NYC, that’s downtown Manhattan in the distance and to the left of the smokestacks. The tallest building closest to the smokestacks is the new Liberty Tower.
Before getting to the tunnel and back into Manhattan, I couldn’t resist taking this shot. There is some great graffiti all around the neighborhoods on this side of the East River. This piece is in Greenpoint, Brooklyn which is just south of LIC. Once the bike is fixed up I’ll take a graffiti tour. There’s some really great stuff out here!
