Closing Bell: BPL’s Bike the Branches
Get a free bike helmet today and bike around Brooklyn’s historic landmarks this weekend with Brooklyn Public Library’s Bike the Branches event. BPL is hosting a helmet fitting and giving away free helmets today at the Central Branch at 10 Grand Army Plaza from 4 to 6:30 pm.
And on Saturday, kids and adults can bike to all 60 of BPL’s neighborhood libraries and participate in various special events. African dancing and folk tales at Clarendon Library in Flatbush, puppet-making for children at the Brower Park branch in Crown Heights, and a Slavic Soul party in Sheepshead Bay are just a few on the long list of events taking place all over Brooklyn.
The library has also posted 12 themed bike routes that highlight Brooklyn’s historic places, including landmarked architecture, breweries and distilleries, literary sites, and early settlements. You can register for Saturday’s bike tour here — tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for children or seniors. All the proceeds go towards maintaining and upgrading the library’s branches.
Photo by Brooklyn Public Library via Brooklyn Based
Rent or list a bike, a place to stay, or office space
Image source: Seth W. on Flickr
Trying to get around has been crazy this week, with hurricane-related transit issues, and many people have been biking to work. It’s a great time to bring up the topic of bike sharing again, for those of you who wish you could get around on two wheels. Unfortunately, the Citi Bike program, which will bring about 10 bike rental stations to Long Island City, hasn’t gotten up and running yet. Now it is slated to launch in March 2013.
There’s another option in the meantime: renting bikes from your neighbors using Liquid.
Kissena Velodrome, the only bicycle track in New York
Image source: Seth W. on Flickr
Kissena Park in Queens is home to the only velodrome (a bicycle racing track) in all of New York state – and one of only 27 in the country. The outdoor Kissena Velodrome (GMAP), which is 400 meters around and has banked curves, is a major hub in the city for the sport of track cycling.
Track cycling is completely different from road racing, mountain biking, or riding around the neighborhood. First of all, the bikes used for the sport are fixed-gear, AKA “fixies,” without any brakes, meaning that the rider doesn’t stop pedaling until he or she wants to stop moving.
Kosciuszko Bridge reconstruction will improve travel for cars, bikes and pedestrians
Image source: rollingrck on Flickr
The Kosciuszko Bridge, which spans Newtown Creek to connect Brooklyn and Queens on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, is going to be rebuilt starting in the spring of 2013. The $460 million project was fast-tracked to begin a year earlier than originally planned, and is expected to be finished in the summer of 2016, according to the New York State Department of Transportation.
Question of the day – where do you like to exercise?
Image source: NYCStreets on Flickr
Now that it’s a little cooler, some of you might be starting up your exercise regimen again. Or perhaps you’ve been working out all along. So where do you like to exercise? Are you an outdoor activity enthusiast, an indoor gym fan, or maybe you’re even a swimmer? Let us know your practices in the comments or via twitter at @queensnycity!
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