Join fellow pedal-power enthusiasts and participate in the first annual social bike ride to World Maker Faire on Saturday Sept. 21. Group bicycle rides have been a staple of the Bay Area Maker Faire for a few years now, so as an avid cyclist of the city of five boroughs I’m really glad to announce this social bike ride event.
Of course we’re starting small. While over 200 miles of bicycle lanes exist throughout NYC, this ride will be a humble 6 miles. That said the tour will traverse through the heart of America’s and indeed the world’s most diverse urban area, Queens, passing through the towns of Long Island City, Sunnyside, Woodside, Jackson Heights, North Corona, and finally Corona before arriving at the New York Hall of Science, our gracious host and partner.
Upon arrival free bike valet will be provided by Transportation Alternatives. All bicyclists will receive a special commemorative patch (right), while supplies last, reaffirming their commitment to the bike side!
Additionally, all cyclists will be entered into a raffle to win some special goodies including:
- Maker Faire rickshaw messenger bag
- subscriptions to MAKE Magazine
- Maker Faire schwag
- subscriptions to Momentum magazine
- and yes, daily and annual memberships to NYC’s bike share, Citibike!
- and more.
Once at World Maker Faire be sure to check out some pedal-powered projects including Frankenbikes by Jeff Del Papa, Farm Hack‘s unique resilient agricultural machines, and even a collaborative competition of arm wrestling by ITP graduates that’s also, you guessed it, pedal-powered!
The bike tour will be lead by Eric Petersen, a current Urban Affairs graduate at Hunter College who previously worked for seven years in the bicycle industry. Eric’s upcoming projects include a series of guided bike tours of the life and works of Robert Moses, New York City’s master builder. A resident of Astoria, he’s the perfect candidate for this inaugural ride through at least one of the five boroughs that constitute NYC!
The ride will only take place on Saturday September 21st. The ride will leave promptly at 10:15am from Dutch Kills Green (the park in front of the LIC clocktower) at the foot of the Queensboro Bridge. Getting to Dutch Kills Green by bicycle is direct from Manhattan (via the Queensboro Bridge) and easy from Brooklyn (via the Pulaski Bridge, then about 6 minutes ride to Queens Plaza).
Due to the nature of group rides, this tour will occur at a leisurely 10mph. Please stay with the tour gide, and stay within bike lanes at all times. Please register to participate on Facebook so we can estimate how many people will be riding.
Youth riders and art bikes are welcome to join!
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