Spokes: NYC Bike News

Mark your calendars the Tour de Brooklyn is happening June 6th, 2010. This year’s tour is very exciting 23-mile ride. The tour kicks off at 9am from Coney Island and rolls through Sunset Park for an exclusive bicycle tour through Green-wood Cemetery!

The 2010 New York City bicycle racing season starts this weekend in Central Park.   Over the coming weeks and months, both Central Park and Prospect Park will host numerous bike races this year.  More bike races will be held at the Kissena Velodrome, Floyd Bennett Field, Governor’s Island, Grant’s Tomb, Bear Mountain State Park and [...]

Created as a Father’s Day event in 1973 by David A. Walker, the Harlem Skyscraper Cycling Classic is the oldest continually held bike race in New York. The three-quarter-mile circuit around Marcus Garvey Park hosts the nation’s fastest criterium specialists for a 55-lap spin. A variety of children and amateur [...]

New York’s Five Boro Bike Tour is the largest recreational cycling event in the United States. Every year on the first Sunday of May, over 30,000 riders participate in the 42 mile ride around New York City. The route, closed to automobile traffic, takes riders through all five boroughs of New York City, across five major bridges, and finally across New York Harbor on the Staten Island Ferry.

75 miles North of NYC (as the bike rides), cyclists and pedestrians now have their own Hudson River crossing. The Walkway Over the Hudson is a 24 foot wide, 1.2 mile long bridge that connects the city of Poughkeepsie with the Town of Lloyd. The Walkway Over the Hudson is open from [...]

Had the opportunity to ride a few laps at the Kissena Velodrome in Queens. Video shows five laps around the track at 4 times the normal speed. Video was shot on a weekday when there were no races or events scheduled (Track schedule)

Kissena Velodrom website
view more videos from NYC Bike Maps
View Kissena Velodrome on [...]

The NYC Century offers five route options (ranging from 15 to 100 miles) to provide all cyclists a great way to see New York City and explore some of the City’s best greenways and parks. This year the NYC Century Bike Tour will take place rain or shine on Sunday, September 13th, 2009.

For more [...]

Bike ride across the Queensboro Bridge (59th Street) from Manhattan into Queens. Video is played back at 2x the normal speed.

view more videos from NYC Bike Maps
View Queensboro Bridge on NYC Bike Map
view video at YouTube
Filmed with a GoPro Helmet Hero Wide 5 MP Digital Camera

Bicycle ride across the Brooklyn Bridge going from Brooklyn to Manhattan on Friday August 21st. The ride starts at the entrance to the Brooklyn side of the bridge’s path at Adams Street and ends near City Hall at the end of the bridge’s bike path.

Play back at 2x the normal speed

view more videos from [...]

A bike ride across the Manhattan Bridge from Manhattan into Brooklyn. The eight minute trip is played back at double speed in this four minute video.

Google Books has a sizable portion of David V. Herlihy’s book “Bicycle: The History”. A very interesting read for anyone interested in history and bicycles.

Video of a bike ride along the Grand Street bike lane from Thompson St to Chrystie St on my way to the Manhattan Bridge. This bike lane has been rather controversial

Bicycle ride down Broadway in New York City from Columbus Circle at 59th Street to Herald Square at 33rd Street. Video playback is twice the normal speed, so it will seem much faster than normal.

view more videos from NYC Bike Maps
View Broadway on NYC Bike Map
StreetsBlog: Car-Free Space Is an Instant Hit on [...]

The New York Cycle Club’s annual Escape New York bike ride will be held on Saturday, September 26, 2009 .
Routes: Choose from three clearly marked Escape New York options:

7:00 am: Century Challenge, 100 miles. A rolling full century through beautiful Bergen and Rockland counties.
8:00 am: Rockland Roll, 65 miles. Ramble on lightly trafficked roads [...]

Summer Streets are coming back in August…
For three Saturdays in August, New York City will have a 6.9 mile car-free path leading from the Brooklyn Bridge in Lower Manhattan to the East 72nd Street entrance of Central Park.    The street closures will occur from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. on three consecutive Saturdays in [...]

Here is a video from a recent bicycle ride on the Prince Street bike lane in Manhattan, which was one of the first painted bike lanes in NYC.

view more videos from NYC Bike Maps
View Prince Street on Bike Map
Prince Street Bike Lane Ride Video on YouTube
Filmed with a GoPro Helmet Hero Wide 5 MP Digital [...]

The New York City Council passed the Bicycle Access Bill* providing a framework for negotiating bicycle access and storage in office building.   The bill, while far from guaranteeing access, should improve the current process and give more bike commuters the option of storing the bike in their office, as opposed to out on the [...]

The NYC Department of City Planning’s newest bike map provides a meandering bike route through eighteen miles of Queens streets and greenways. Queens is the most ethnically diverse county and this bike route highlights the diverse communities and historic districts that make the borough unique. More info on the
The Queens Around the World [...]

The Tour de Bronx is the largest free cycling event in the country and gives riders the choice between a 25 mile and 40 mile route (and the choice of several starting locations and options to extend the ride). Since the Tour de Bronx offers cyclists of all skill levels a great [...]

Mark your calendars the Tour de Queens is happening July 12th 2009. Registration opens May 26, 2009
The Tour de Queens is a leisurely paced 20-mile ride open to riders of all ages and skill levels. The course is mostly flat, and will go along waterfronts, greenways, through parks and industrial and historic neighborhoods.
Please note: Limited [...]

Mark your calendars the Tour de Brooklyn is happening June 7th, 2009. Registration is open now
The Tour de Brooklyn is a leisurely paced, 18-mile bike tour along a relatively flat route that starts June 7, 2009 at 9:00am.  
Registration is free and required. [there's a 2,000 person limit on the ride]
Day-of Event Registration will be available [...]

May is Bike Month in NYC and there are plenty of bicycling events going on in and around New York City. BikeMonthNYC.org has the most comprehensive coverage, including an Event Calendar.

The Five Boro Bike Tour, the largest recreational cycling event in the United States, is scheduled for Sunday, May 3rd 2009. Every year on the first Sunday of May, over 30,000 riders participate in the 42 mile ride around New York City.

Streets Blog has confirmed that the existing Grand Street bike lane between Varick and Chrystie is being replaced with a protected bicycle path.   The bike path will be located on the far right of the street separated from traffic by a 3 foot curb and is the first cross town bike route separated from traffic.  [...]

A few of our favorite blogs on bikes and/or bicycling in New York City…
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please share yours in the comments