A Rolling Tour of Brooklyn

     This past Sunday morning, Esther and I were among 25,000 riders who took to the streets of Brooklyn for the Tour de Brooklyn.  The tour is a family-friendly bike ride organized by Transportation Alternatives, a non-profit organization encouraging non-polluting city-friendly travel.  Like the Tour de Cure, Sunday’s event was a ride, not a race, where riders cruised through parts of Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Bushwick, Bedford Stuyvesant, Red Hook and Park Slope. 

     Esther and I arrived at McCarren Park in Williamsburg, early to sign up for the tour.  We then joined the queue of riders waiting for the ride to begin.   Once lined up in front of Automotive High School, we knew the day would be fun from looking at our fellow riders.  There was a mix serious cyclists with their racing bikes wearing colorful-spandex riding gear, to more casually-dressed riders on mountain bikes and hybrids, as well as families riding together, the smaller ones being pulled in bike trailers.  To me the most memorable was the girl riding the hot pink beach cruiser with the streamers on the handlebars.

     There was a rolling communal feel to the Tour de Brooklyn, which the humid weather could not damper.  It was great to have ridden on streets that are usually busy with traffic.  As we rode some changed “Let’s go fast-ter” when the ride slowed up due to bottle necks.  There was also a rider on his bright red BMX jumping his bike over potholes and many other parts of the road, simply because he could. 

     During the ride, I was impressed with how many bike lanes there were in Brooklyn, my favorite was the Greenway by the waterfront in Williamsburg, which passed under the Williamsburg Bridge. It seems like a good enough reason to return to Brooklyn for more riding.

     The Tour de Brooklyn was a great way to get out and ride on a Sunday morning.  If this type event interests you, the Tour de Queens is scheduled for July 11^th and the Tour de Bronx is scheduled for October 24^th.  If you want more information on either ride you can find it on Transportation Alternative’s website and clicking on the events tab.  www.transalt.org  Another good website is NYC Bike Maps http://www.nycbikemaps.com   If you are interested in finding people to ride, there are many riding groups in the New York City area.  I hope to see you out there.