Brooklyn has a hell of a lot of space to bike. Although bike fascists like us basically consider all paved roads aside from the highway to be our domain as much as cars, we do get that some people prefer to stick to bike lanes. One of the nicest continuous lanes is the Brooklyn-Queens Greenway. If you haven’t ridden it yet, you’ve got a chance to with a big group on July 27, when the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative hosts people doing a group ride along its 40 miles.
The ride, on Saturday July 27, will start at Kent Avenue and North 6th Street in Williamsburg at 8am. From there, you’ll go all along 40 miles of waterfront before depositing you at Rockaway Beach, where you can hang out and jump in the ocean for a beach party. Hooray! Props to you if you have the energy to swim after the ride.
Don’t worry if you’re not sure you can do 40 miles in the summer heat. BGI promises there’ll be a couple rest stops along the way, with refreshments and bike maintenance if your bike starts falling apart on you. You can also start at two alternate locations: a 26-mile ride that starts at Bay Ridge’s Owls Head Park, or a 14-mile ride that starts at Floyd Bennet Field.
If you ride along on your own, it’ll cost you $35, or you can grab three friends and ride as a team, for $120. It’s not a race though, so don’t pull any BS Tour de France blocking maneuvers. You can also look into being a volunteer, as a bike marshal, helping people register or setting the event up, in which case you ride for free. In any case, remember your helmet, and be sure to yell unspeakable things at any cars that almost hit you.