3 9 8 P A R T 9 E X E R C I S E A N D R E C R E A T I O N
Remember that first-aid kit: we go nowhere without sports-style adhesive strips, ibuprofen or some other analgesic, petroleum jelly, and a small tube of antiseptic. And consider doubling your socks.
CHELSEA PIERS
CENTRAL PARK
T H E R E D E V E L O P M E N T of the old pier area between 17th and 23rd streets into the
Complex (# 212-336-6666; www.chelseapiers.com) may have cost millions, but it sure is bringing the money back in now: it’s a sports theme
|
park, and if you can afford it, you can spend |
|||
unofficial T I P |
the whole day. Among its attractions is one of |
|||
Chelsea Piers also houses |
those Japanese multilevel |
golf driving ranges |
||
with 52 stalls and a 200-foot fairway, plus a fully |
||||
a spa for postworkout |
||||
computerized “driving cage” with automatic |
||||
massages and manicures, |
||||
tee-up; two indoor ice rinks; a huge field house |
||||
waxes, and other indul- |
||||
with basketball, batting cages, gymnastics bars, |
||||
gences, plus a sundeck |
||||
and the like; a 40-lane bowling alley; and a |
||||
and a huge brewpub (# |
||||
mega–workout club, the Sports Center at Chel- |
||||
212-336-6440; www |
||||
sea Piers, with a running |
track, boxing |
ring, |
||
.chelseabrewingco.com) |
||||
pool, 10,000-square-foot |
rock-climbing |
wall, |
||
for more-liquid rewards. |
||||
and weight-training areas (day pass $50). Spend |
||||
|
||||
the whole day.
Central Park is where outdoor sports meets spectacle—ultimate Frisbee, softball, flag football, baseball, even bocce. There are rowboats and rental bikes at Loeb Boathouse (# 212-517-2233; www
.thecentralparkboathouse.com); wall climbing around 97th Street; tennis courts; croquet and British-style “bowls” near West 69th and petanque near the erstwhile Tavern on the Green; swimming; catch- and-release fishing; and ice-skating.
If you’re fond of folk dancing, you’ll find plenty of partners on Sunday afternoons near the East 79th Street entrance toward Turtle Pond. Or take a free tango lesson and then dip till you trip Saturday evenings near the Shakespeare statue.
For information on other areas to play, go to www.centralpark.com or www.nycgovparks.org. Also read the in-depth description of Central Park in Part Five, New York’s Neighborhoods.
WORKING OUT
W O R K O U T C L U B S A N D G Y M S
N E W YO R K I S S O body-conscious that you can try out almost any- thing—at any time, 24-7.
W O R K I N G O U T 3 9 9
Among the hottest workout clubs—the ones always written up in fitness magazines—are Sports Center at Chelsea Piers (see facing page), the Crunch Fitness clubs (open 24 hours weekdays at 404 Lafayette Street, # 212-614-0120; for ten other Manhattan locations, see www.crunch.com); Equinox Fitness (www.equinoxfitness.com), with 17 clubs in Manhattan, including its flagship at The Shops at Columbus Circle (# 212-871-0425); and Reebok Sports Club/NY (160 Columbus Avenue at 67th Street; # 212-362-6800 or www.thesportsclubla.com). You’ll need to go with a member to get into either Equinox Fitness or Reebok Sports Club, but $25 is the ticket for
in the West Village (421 Hudson Street, at St. Luke’s Place; # 212-243-7600 or www.phfrc.com), which besides offering 60 classes a day ranging from Pilates and yoga to spinning and boxing, offers massage, 360-degree views, and a rooftop pool and sundeck.
Yoga is incredibly hot here; look in at the branch of Hollywood’s at Centre Street and Grand (# 212-343-8191; www.goldenbridgeyoganyc.com), or visit www.yogaalliance.com for
other studios.
Even hotter is Pilates, and the most cutting-edge studio, where traditional Pilates meets modern medical research, is IM=X Pilates at Madison and 39th Street (# 212-997-5550; www.imxpilates.net). The introductory session is free, so you can learn the mechanics.
There are 21 branches of the YMCA (www.ymcanyc.org) in the city, including the Vanderbilt YMCA at 224 East 47th Street, between Second and Third avenues (# 212-912-2500; one-day pass for $25), which also has guest rooms. The West Side YMCA is the largest branch, with two pools, basketball and volleyball, racquetball and
squash, massage rooms, free weights, and more |
unofficial T I P |
included in a $20 daily pass (5 West 63rd Street; |
|
# 212-875-4100). |
To combine a workout |
Serious bodybuilders should check out the |
with a quintessential New |
19th Street Gym in Chelsea (22 West 19th Street, |
York experience, take a |
between Fifth and Sixth; # 212-415-5800; www |
class at the Alvin Ailey |
.19thstreetgym.com); a one-day pass is $25. |
American Dance Theater |
W A L K I N G
C O N S I D E R I N G H OW S T RO N G LY W E ’ V E U RG E D
you to do your touring on foot, you may have already guessed that we find not agony but ecstasy in da feet. It’s almost impossible not to enjoy the sidewalks of New York, and it’s unfortunate that many of its most beautiful sections, particularly downtown, have been so reduced to
the tour-stop circuit that most tourists never experience them.
The most obvious walking area, of course, is Central Park, where you can stick to the seven-mile the four-mile
4 0 0 P A R T 9 E X E R C I S E A N D R E C R E A T I O N
(from 72nd Street south), or the mile-and-a-half reservoir track; but it’s even more fun to just take whatever asphalt trails attract you. You can’t really get lost—some part of the outer world’s skyline is almost always visible, and you’ll come back across the main road several times—but there is always something new to discover that way: statues (have you found the Mad Tea Party yet?), lakes, ornate old bridges, gingerbread-trimmed buildings, the carousel, flower beds, dancing dogs, tiny transmitter-driven sailboats reminiscent of Stuart Little, chess players, stages, and so forth.
The Esplanade, which runs about a mile from Battery Park along the Hudson River to Battery Park City, is one of the prettiest greenways in the area, and it has the added benefit of being divided part of the way so that walkers don’t have to contend with bladers or bikers. (That’s also true of the High Line in Chelsea, but it’s not really good for pacing, just for stretching your legs.)
Another popular park for walkers is Riverside Park, on the Upper West Side between West 72nd and 158th streets. If you’re really interested in seeing the natural sights, you can turn out of Central Park along the main crossroads at West 86th, at 97th, or even at the top of the park—110th Street–Cathedral Parkway—and go west four blocks to the Hudson and Riverside Park, which is another four miles long.
R U N N I N G A N D J O G G I N G
I F YO U H A D N ’ T A L R E A DY G U E S S E D that Central Park is also run-
ners’ central, a quick glance will convince you. Central Park Drive has a dedicated biking–running lane (see mileage loops above), and the road is closed to traffic from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. every weekday— except, please note, during the holidays, when the traffic crush is too heavy—and all weekend, starting at 7 p.m. Friday. Runners are there at most any (daylight) hour, especially on weekends; feel free to join the pack. For group therapy, call the
(# 212-860-4455; www.nyrrc.org), or hook up with its regular runs: about 6:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Meet at the club at 9 East 89th Street (between Madison and Fifth avenues), or catch up at the starting point, just inside the park at Fifth and 90th.
Another popular stretch for runners, as it is for walkers, is River- by the Hudson River, discussed in the preceding section.
There is another two-mile stretch along the Hudson Promenade in the Village near the piers at the foot of Christopher Street; there’s a track along the East River between the Queensboro Bridge and Gracie Mansion; Brooklyn’s has a three-and-a-half-mile trail that begins near the boathouse entrance. If you’d like a short but sharp and visually stunning interval run, take the mile-long
W O R K I N G O U T 4 0 1
over and back, and consider the view of the Manhattan skyline a reward for chugging over that high curve.
B I K I N G A N D B L A D I N G
N O T S U R P R I S I N G LY, C E N T R A L PA R K I S A H U G E D R AW for recre-
ational bikers, and several companies offer park-related tours. For example, Central Park Bike Rentals (250 West 49th Street, between Seventh and Eighth avenues; # 347-713-0013, www.centralparkbike rent.com), which offers discounts on advance Web site reservations, is near Times Square but will deliver your bike almost anywhere you choose. It also offers guided bike tours and pedicab tours of the park.
Bite of the Apple Central Park Bike Tours leaves from 310 West 55th, between Eighth and Ninth (# 212-541-8759; www.centralparkbike tour.com). Bike Rental Central Park is closer to Columbus Circle on West 57th Street near Ninth (# 212-664-9600; www.bikerentalcentralpark
.com). It offers mountain bikes, comfort bikes, tandems, and baby trailers, and all bikes come with a map, helmet, basket, chain lock, etc. Bike Central Park—seeing a pattern here?—is even closer, at 221 West 58th, between Seventh Avenue and Broadway, a block south of the park. It also offers a full range of models as well as pedicab tours (# 212-969-9729; www.bikecentralpark.com). Pedal Pusher Bike Shop is on the Upper East Side (1306 Second Avenue, between 68th and 69th; # 212-288-5592 or 877-257-9437; www.pedalpusherbikeshop
.com). Or you can rent bikes right at the Loeb Boathouse, which is in Central Park near East 74th Street (# 212-517-2233; www.thecentral parkboathouse.com).
If you want to spend more time touring downtown, check with Bike and Roll (# 866-736-8224; www.bikeandroll.com/newyork), which has pickup locations right next to the Statue of Liberty ferry terminals, and at Pier 84 (at West 43rd near the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum), at
South Street Seaport, and on Governor’s Island as well as in Central Park. On the Lower East Side, try Frank’s Bike Shop (553 Grand Street, near Lewis; # 212-533-6332; www.franksbikes.com), which also rents folding bikes that could be just the thing for hop-on, hop-off touring. Metro Bicycles also has a half-dozen locations all
around Manhattan (www.metrobicycles.com). |
unofficial T I P |
Central Park is the place for recreational bik- |
In the summer of 2009, |
ing not only for its beauty but also because it has |
Bike and Roll worked |
a designated biking–jogging lane that stretches |
with city officials to make |
about seven miles. (See the preceding section, |
bikes available for use |
“Running and Jogging,” for auto-free hours.) You |
by the public for three- |
must stick to the road, however; no impromptu |
hour periods at its South |
mountain or trail riding allowed. If you’d like to |
Street Seaport site; |
see the park by moonlight, and you’re in town |
officials hope to fund the |
on the last Friday of the month, wheel over to |
program again in 2010. |