Here’s a press release from our publisher. Keep an eye out for website updates!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Nina Boutsikaris

nboutsikaris@skyhorsepublishing.com

A ONE-OF-A-KIND CYCLIST’S GUIDE TO NEW YORK

BIKE NYC

The Cyclist’s Guide to New York City

By Marci Blackman, Ed Glazar, and Michael Green

Good news for both the health of city dwellers and the planet—regular bicycle riding has doubled in New York City in the past four years! With protected paths and bike lanes popping up everywhere from Broadway to Prospect Park West, commuter biking and joy riding is safer and easier than ever. BIKE NYC is the definitive guide to navigating the city via its fastest growing mode of transportation. Three seasoned riders and bike tour guides, including the creator of Bikeblognyc.com, offer advice on fabulous rides through all five boroughs. Part guidebook, photo-essay, history, and human-interest story, BIKE NYC is all about rediscovering the city and being a part of the bike culture movement. Get exercise and gain a new perspective on New York City with adventures such as:

1. Riding Manhattan tip to tip, from 122-year-old Pier A to the Cloisters
2. Checking out the “Cemetery Belt,” an eighteen-mile ride through ancient cemeteries of Brooklyn and Queens
3. Pedaling your way through a Manhattan and Queens art crawl
4. Seeing Coney Island’s beaches as never before
5. Experiencing “the Dead Pool” on Staten Island up close and personal—the place where tugboats go to die
6. Taking a spooky Halloween night ride through Brooklyn brownstones
7. And more!

Small enough to carry anywhere, BIKE NYC is packed with safety tips, historical facts, photographs, and listings of the best food stops and bike shops no matter where you are on your ride. Whether you’ve got a custom-built bicycle or an old hand-me-down, BIKE NYC will be your new key to the city.

About the Authors

Marci Blackman has cycled through Europe, across the United States from San Francisco to the OuterBanks of North Carolina, and through the high octane, traffic-snarled streets of New York. An award-winning novelist, as a tour guide, Blackman leads the daring and adventurous on two-wheeled odysseys through the city.

Ed Glazar has been riding bikes for most of his life—from the ditches and BMX tracks of east Texas to the streets of New York City. His street cred includes several years of experience as a bike courier and a dispatcher, and most recently as a New York City bike tour guide. He has been taking photographs for more than ten years.

Michael Green is the founder of the innovative blog www.BikeBlogNYC.com, one of the key resources for urban cycling in New York and around the world. Michael has been quoted in the New York Times and has been interviewed by New York magazine, Time Out New York, the Village Voice, CBS, and several radio programs.

BIKE NYC

The Cyclist’s Guide to New York City

By Marci Blackman, Ed Glazar, and Michael Green

Skyhorse Publishing Paperback

On Sale: July 2011

ISBN: 978-1-61608-313-7

Price: $12.95

Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

307 West 36^th Street, 11^th Floor

New York, NY 10018

212 643 6816

www.skyhorsepublishing.com

Jessie Singer applies a coat of white paint. Brooklyn, 2011.

Volunteers gathered behind the Greenpoint Reform Church on Saturday to build ghost bikes for cyclists killed in the city streets during 2010. The memorials, which were pieced together using spare parts then painted white, will be installed at various accident sites prior to the NYC Street Memorial Project’s 6th Annual Memorial Ride on March 13. More information about the project and the ride can be found at Ghostbikes.org

We’ve just been given a publication date. Looks like BIKE NYC will hit shelves, bike baskets and messenger bags in June 2011! That’s just six months away, so start gearing up for our release party. We’ve also got a cover design too. Check out the details at Skyhorse Publishing! You can  pre-order a copy of the book now through Amazon, Barnes and Noble or Borders.  We’re be back to the business of giving away prizes so keep an eye on our Facebook fan page tonight.

Graham Goetz, New York, NY 2010.

Just prior to our short internet hiatus (sorry, we were busy getting married, dislocating shoulders and writing a book!) we caught up with our “Where Is This?” #16 contest winner, Graham Goetz. Graham won a pair of Tobruk shoes from Chrome. We caught up with him outside the grand opening party of Chrome’s new store on Mulberry St. He slipped them on out front, a perfect fit! Stay tuned here and at our Facebook fan page. We’ll be back to posting our WIT contests soon.

Taking a break in she shade near the Boathouse. NYC, 2010.

Crossing Bethesda Terrace. NYC, 2010.

The City Reliquary knows how to throw a party. Their 6th Annual Bicycle Fetish was no exception. Hundreds gathered on Havermeyer street in Brooklyn last Saturday to ride, race and show off their bikes. BIKE NYC was there to document some of the action, so check it out!

Puerto Rico Schwinn Club and the Classic Riders. Brooklyn, 2010.

Bike New York info wheel. Brooklyn, 2010.

High five. Brooklyn, 2010.

Shave ice bike. Brooklyn, 2010.

Custom Deluxe. Brooklyn, 2010.

Faces in the crowd. Brooklyn, 2010.

Mark your calenders. Brooklyn, 2010.

“Make us famous.” Brooklyn, 2010.

Precious cargo. Brooklyn, 2010.

Grommet. Brooklyn, 2010.\

Wormz wall ride. Brooklyn, 2010.

After Gordon Lew won his second “Where Is This?” contest, BIKE NYC called a meeting.

“Who is this kid?”

“Is he going to win all of our prizes?”

Gordon seemed to know where everything was.

When we met him, to deliver the Crumpler Western Lawn messenger bag and the EighthInch Track Bars he won, we understood why.

Gordon is a high school student, born and raised in NYC. He lives in Brooklyn Heights and bikes the city often with his Dad. Great to meet you Gordon! Ride safe!

Hand-built and silver-brazed in a small shop in Bushwick, by a kid raised in his Dad’s custom car shop in Colorado, Coast Cycles are the new classics. Coast’s love for his craft is indispensable.

But don’t just take our word for it, go see for your self! This Saturday frame builders Johnny Coast and his TIG welding shop mate  Seth Rosko will roll up their heavy metal door to demonstrate welding techniques and discuss frame design with the public. BBQ and beer will be available and music will be provided by DJs Dirty Finger, Porkchop & James Stacher. Be sure to join the Times-Up! group ride from Manhattan & Williamsburg to the shop, which leaves from Tompkins Square Park at 12:30 PM. Meet up with Brooklyn riders at Washington Plaza (the park on the Brooklyn side of the Williamsburg Bridge), around 1 PM.

Can you envision a car free NYC? Despite the DOT’s campaign to expand the "bicycle network" and the growth of our bike community, neither can we. But thanks to an off-season invitation from Elizabeth Rapuano and Ellen Cavanagh of the Governor’s Island Preservation & Education Corporation we can envision a car free destination, five minutes from the Battery.

You’ll be invited too! From June 5th to October 10th Governor’s Island is open to the public. The ferry ride is free and bicycles are more than welcome. If you don’t have one, you can rent one, or save your hard earned dollars for ice cream and visit on Bike and Roll’s Free Bike Fridays. Until then, here are a few photos we took on our recent ride around the island. Thanks again Elizabeth and Ellen!

Historical map. Governor’s Island, 2010.

Riding along Hudson Bay. Governor’s Island, 2010.

Nolan Park. Governor’s Island, 2010.

Riding along the East River. Governor’s Island, 2010.

Humans live an average of 65 years but  we lengthen our lives by slowing our heart rates through exercise.

This is the kind of thing you learn while writing a book about biking in NYC. Or when you spend a few minutes outside a deli in midtown with paramedic and die-hard bike commuter Eli Friedman.

Eli won our 4th "Where Is This?" contest and BIKE NYC caught up with him last week to deliver his Continuum Cycles gift card. Great to meet you Eli!

We caught up with our 6th winner Margarita Morales a few days later at Cake Shop to deliver her Seagull hip bag. She was catching up on some writing after a day of work at the New York Aquarium in Coney Island.

Margarita lives in Newark, NJ and runs a blog called Star Beat Music. She recently took third place in the Brick City Bike Collective Egg-mazing Scavenger Hunt. Go Margarita!