City Cyclers

Now, with the highway demolished, I see new parkland, a paved pedestrian and bike path, the wake from tugboats splashing against rotting old pier timbers, people walking their dogs along floral promenades, tennis courts, a trapeze school, batting cages, a kayak center, a skateboard park, a helipad, the gargantuan sports and restaurant complex called Chelsea Piers, and the docks for the Circle Line's sightseeing boats. There are some scary stretches where construction narrows the bike path, but, happily, barricades separate you from the six lanes of vehicles on West Street. To me, the ride is a metaphor for a new kind of urban renewal that accepts the melancholy absence of the towers but throbs with activity and ultimately blossoms into grassy soccer fields and sailboats as you near the 79th Street Boat Basin.

Energetic cyclists can continue along the Upper West Side, through Riverside Park, below Grant's Tomb, and right up to the Little Red Lighthouse that you read about as a child, now barricaded against terrorists (or maybe just graffiti artists) by wire mesh fencing at the base of the George Washington Bridge.

If there's still some zip in your legs, you can climb to the Cloisters, the medieval-style museum in Fort Tryon Park. (The New Leaf Cafe nearby is a delightful lunch spot.) Or you can continue to the northern tip of the island at Spuyten Duyvil Creek, where you can picnic at the very spot (at least according to New York lore) in Inwood Park where Peter Minuit purchased Manhattan Island from the natives for $24 in trinkets.

Other Rides

For a taste of classic Brooklyn, pedal across the Brooklyn Bridge (warning: there are always tons of pedestrians who stray into the bike lane) and through the brownstone neighborhoods into Prospect Park, one of Olmsted and Vaux's masterpieces. Auto traffic is banned much of the time. There is a carousel and a skating rink here, too, as well as the Revolutionary-era Lefferts homestead. You might make a detour to the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens and the Brooklyn Museum, both close by.

Alternatively, ride through the park and onto the nation's first designated bike path on Ocean Parkway, another tree-lined Olmsted gem. As it takes you through the borough's large Orthodox Jewish community in Flatbush and beyond, you'll see synagogues, schools and mansions. Awaiting you about six miles south of Prospect Park is Coney Island. Yes, it's rather down at the heels, but you can still munch hot dogs at the original, legendary Nathan's.

There are other great places within easy cycling distance from midtown or downtown Manhattan, including the Bronx Botanical Gardens and two nearly unknown museums in Staten Island: the Alice Austen House Museum, devoted to the pioneer Victorian photographer, and the Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art. At the very least, at Battery Park, board the Staten Island ferry (no charge for people or bikes), inhale the salty breeze, visit the soaring white sails of Staten Island's 9/11 memorial next to the terminal, or simply gaze at the skyline.

Those who seek safety in numbers can join a group ride with one of the city's recreational bicycling clubs or sign up for a commercial guided tour. (See box.) One informal group, the Weekday Cyclists, meets at the Central Park Boathouse (on the east side of the park at 74th Street) at 10 a.m. for laps around Central Park every Tuesday. A New Zealander came along for a spin recently, hesitant at the start, jubilant after just a few minutes. "I can't believe I'm having fun on a bike in New York," she exulted. Sometimes, neither can I.

Grace Lichtenstein last wrote for Travel about skiing in Utah.