We arrived in New York City, specifically DUMBO, and the first thing I spotted after parking the Eurovan in its perfect spot, was Red Beard Bikes. I am no expert on what NYC has to offer, and I thought I was pretty up on all the bike shops in town, but this was a new and wonderful discovery. The shop is a small affair carrying bikes from the likes of Parlee and Giant. It is a beautifully designed space with a robust inventory. The business card offers a small and pointed description of the shop: “Purveyor of Fine Bicycles and Gear and a Damn Good Bike Fitter”. So, the first stop in NY, and bikes came to rule the day. We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring all that NYC has to offer, and thanks to a heads up from my sister, we were able to go to the Bicycle Film Festival later that evening. The festival is celebrating its 15th year in NYC, so I was excited to catch a program on Sunday evening. There were two standouts: the wonderful “In Search of the Storm”, and the mysterious “Rider and the Wolf”. Both were excellent films, and it was fun meeting with Brendt Barbur, the festival founder, after the event. My only disappointment of the day was the discovery that NYC’s rental bike program has a minimum age limit of 16 years old. This ruled out the kids, and it prevented us from doing the cycling I had hoped for around the park and beyond. We briefly toyed with the idea of throwing the rules to the wind, but thought better of it, and instead relied on our feet and the subway. NYC’s transportation system is excellent, so the lack of cycling was only disappointing from a “fun” point of view. As was the case with Washington DC, we spent our days in the city walking and visiting museums, then walking more. It was great fun getting a small taste of everything New Yorkers get to enjoy on a daily basis, and doing so in almost perfect weather made it even more of a blast.
