Getting Around New York City

[miamimarty]

I am doing the eastern seaboard in June from Jacksonville to Maine and taking the coastal route. My challenge is I have to get from Red Bank, NJ which is close to the shore, to Norwalk, CT., without getting crushed by the metro traffic around Newark, Manhattan and that entire megalopolis.
One suggestion is to take a train from the shore to Manhattan and ride the Hudson River pathway. Another was to take a ferry to the South Shore area by the Brooklyn Bridge and ride the East River bike path.
Not familiar with either. By going back to the ACA suggested route would add three days to my trip which I don't have.
Suggestions are appreciated.

[RogerinNYC]

I think I would recommend continuing on to Atlantic Highlands, NJ, where you can catch a ferry to Manhattan's lower east side (near Wall Street). From there, I would go south, around the bottom tip of Manhattan, to meet up with the Hudson River Greenway going north on the West Side of Manhattan (the East Side Greenway still has some gaps). Get a bike map from www.nyc.gov/bikes for specifics, but, in general, you would continue up the Greenway, go under the GW Bridge, exit at Dyckman Street, continue north on Seaman Ave, jig right to Broadway and over the Broadway Bridge to get into the Bronx, and then get to Van Cortland Park at 241st street, where you can enter and pick up Greenways that will take you east and north to Pelham. Here's a link to a route from Manhattan to Larchmont that i posted on MapMyRide: http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/51169072
After Larchmont, I'm afraid you're on your own -- I haven't gone further! But you might take a look at Google Maps bicycle routing directions (beta) to get some ideas.

[indyfabz]

One suggestion is to take a train from the shore to Manhattan and ride the Hudson River pathway.

FYI...NJT recently "clarified" its bike on train policy. (Excuse the editorializing, but that's horse puckey. NJT changed it.) You can now only board and detrain at stations with high level platforms. On the North Jersey Coast Line, you are good at most stations north of Bradley Beach, including Red Bank, but not the station immediately south of Red Bank or Perth Amboy. If travlelling on a weekday, you would also have to wait until after rush hour. You cannot take a bike on any train that terminates at Penn Station in NYC  between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m.  Don't know what your timing is, but July 3rd, July 4th, Labor Day and  Labor Day eve are no-bike days.