With the beginning of the beautiful season, New York rediscovers the pleasure of cycling, which becomes the preferred means of transport by New Yorkers and visitors to move from one neighborhood to another taking advantage of over 1,100 km of cycle paths of the city.
If you like the idea, but do not have a dueruote, no problem, you can still take advantage of Bike Share Program, which offers 7,000 bikes in the 600 solar power stations around NYC, 24 hours a day, with the possibility to return it to the nearest station to its destination.
There is also a convenient smartphone app to locate stations and learn about the availability of real-time bikes.
In addition to the bike sharing service, there are also numerous hotels that offer a free bike rental service for their guests.
It’s the case New York Times Square (http://www.elementtimessquare.com/), opened in 2011 and LEED certificate located a short distance from Central Park and the Hudson River with its cycle path running along the river. Also Ink48 (http://www.ink48.com/), one block from the river, offers this service to its guests, who can use free bikes parked right in front of the hotel.
In SoHo, guests of the elegant The James (http://www.jameshotels.com/) can rent free bikes Public, designed by designer Rob Forbes: elegant and stylish, just like New York hotel!
And once you bake your bike, away to discover the bike friendly itineraries of the Big Apple. If you prefer to ride in the company, a good idea can be combined with the numerous cycling tours organized around the city.
Bike and Roll (http://bikeandroll.com/newyork/) offers a Day Pass with which you can pick up and return your bike to different points scattered around New York City, and many guided tours, for each level of preparation.
The Brooklyn Bridge and Beyond Tour of about 3 hours, for example, allows to discover in a path of 19 km Lower Manhattan, DUMBO and Brooklyn Heighs passing through the Brooklyn Promenade from which to admire one of the most spectacular views of the East River and Manhattan skyline.
In collaboration with New York Water Taxi was inaugurated last year Bike the Brooklyn Bridge, Return by Water Taxi: cross the Brooklyn Bridge by bike, then return to Manhattan by boat.
Bike the Big Apple (http://bikethebigapple.com/) offers unusual bike tours between the neighborhoods of the Big Apple as well as the Back to the Old Country – The Ethnic Apple Tour that every Friday from 10 to 17 offers a taste of the cultural melting pot of the city.
With Manhattan behind, it starts at Queens, the most multi-ethnic district of New York City, crossing the Queensboro Bridge, the historic bridge inaugurated in 1909 that crosses the East River passing through Roosevelt Island.
After visiting the Gentry State Park, we head to Williamsburg, with its Jewish community, and Greenpoint, the Polish neighborhood of Brooklyn. Through the Williamsburg Bridge you reach the Lower East Side of Manhattan, where New Yorkers have been living for generations along with recent immigrants from Europe, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and China.
For all lovers of the dueruote, the most awaited appointment is the Five Boro Bike Tour, oreach year the first Sunday of May, a great ride through the streets of all five districts of New York City along a 64-kilometre cycle path, to which thousands of cyclists participate.
The start is in Battery Park from where you go north to cross Central Park. After a ride in Bronx, come back Manhattan, this time heading south to Queensboro Bridge from which access Long Island City in Queens.
Through the Pulaski Bridge you ride towards Brooklyn, to cross its most beautiful neighborhoods, Williamsburg, Fort Greene, Park Slope, Bay Ridge, and reach Verrazzano Bridge, the large suspended bridge that leads to Staten Island. An outdoor festival awaits the athletes where they can relax between massages, bicycle demonstrations and stalls with food, drinks and gadgets before embarking on the scenic Staten Island Ferry towards Manhattan.
