BROOKLYN — If you’ve been waiting for the perfect weekend to bike, this may be it. From cycling lessons for your tot to a multi-neighborhood bike tour, Brooklyn pedal-pushers can get in gear for the summer now.
Here are some of the best bike-friendly events in and around the borough this weekend.
Saturday
Learn to Ride | Crown Heights and Bay Ridge
The Parks Department and Bike New York are teaming up to teach kids age 5 and older how to ride a bike. Parents can bring their kids, a bicycle and a helmet to Brower Park in Crown Heights between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. or to P.S. 102 in Bay Ridge between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. to get a lesson. The events are free and open to the public, but pre-registration is required on Bike New York’s website.
Brooklyn Water Works Tour | Ridgewood
The nonprofit NYC H2O is offering a bicycle tour of the infrastructure of Brooklyn Water Works, the water-supply utility that served the City of Brooklyn before the five boroughs consolidated. The 15-mile trip lead by Manhattan Borough Historian Michael Miscione will start at 11 a.m. at the Ridgewood Reservoir in Highland Park on the border of Brooklyn and Queens. Participants will see “ruins” of the old water system, which you can find “if you know where to look,” according to H2O’s website. Tickets for the tour are available for $25 each.
Cycle to the Stars | Prospect Heights to DUMBO
The World Science Festival is in full swing this weekend and if you want to enjoy it with fellow nerd cyclists, Time’s Up! is hosting a ride from Grand Army Plaza to a WSF stargazing event at Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 1. There, you can learn to use a telescope, hear talks with astronomers and physicists, and see a model comet. The ride starts at 7:30 p.m. to be at the pier by 8 p.m. RSVP here.
Sunday
Tour de Brooklyn | Borough-wide
The cycling and straphangers advocacy group Transportation Alternatives will host its 10th annual Tour de Brooklyn on Sunday. Though registration to join the event is now closed, there’s a lot to do for spectators. You can see the cyclists off at the start line at Erie Basin Park in Red Hook, catch a glimpse of the tour along its 20-mile route through central and south Brooklyn, or ride out to the tour’s halfway point at Canarsie Pier. The event begins at 9:30 a.m. Visit the tour's website for more information.
Bike Flea Market | Red Hook
Usually, the New York Bike Jumble — the city’s “only bicycle flea market” — happens twice a year. But if you missed the spring jumble earlier this month in Park Slope, you’ve got another chance — organizers will hold a special jumble from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. during the Tour de Brooklyn at the race’s start in Erie Basin Park in Red Hook, right next to the IKEA. Go to buy, sell or trade your used bike.
