There was a nice moment last night, when packing the bikes up. It became obvious that Guy's bike would not fit in the box unless he removed the pedals, however his pedals are well known to be screwed in by the bike shop with such force that they aren't likely to budge. Well a diligent effort was made but they didn't move, and he looked a bit sad, perhaps the USA would remain a dream.... I suggested taking the whole crank off, something Guy leaves to bike shops so he looked alarmed. However I had brought along the crank extractor - in spite of its weight, so I whipped them off, and the bike fitted in the box perfectly. It was nice to see him so relieved, and he's now got the crank extractor in his luggage so I'm a bit lighter too. I considered leaving it behind since previous trips made it seem unnecessary, fortunate that I didn't. Today was spent putting the bikes together in the depths of JFK airport, and then taking a very roundabout route into the centre of Brooklyn where we found our hostel in a picaresque but down at heel area. YH Moore is a pleasant place for resting cyclists, tea and coffee can be made and porridge microwaved. It is not too difficult to find a pleasant if longer route from the airport into Brooklyn. We hugged the shoreline for an age, then uswd Bedford St to get us to the middle of Brooklyn. We got lost surprising number of times, my USA data (which is very good) not being ready until later to power google maps, but there is a good NY city bike map.