Celebrate Bike to Work Day in Park Slope with Brooklyn Spoke

National Bike to Work Day is on Friday, and there is no better way to celebrate being a cyclist than ride in solidarity with your fellow two-wheeled neighbors.

Doug Gordon, the founder of the website Brooklyn Spoke, is leading a “social ride” from Park Slope to the Manhattan Bridge.

Gordon has invited any biking enthusiasts to meet him at , on Fifth Avenue at the corner of Park Place, at 8 a.m. on Friday. Cyclists will first meet for a cup of java and muffins, and then hit the bike lanes at 8:15 a.m. for a 2.2-mile ride to the Manhattan Bridge.

Before the ride, all participants will receive free "I Bike BKLYN" buttons, while supplies last.

The route will cut through downtown Brooklyn to the bridge, where Transportation Alternatives volunteers, a New York City-based transportation advocacy organization, will be stationed to give out snacks, water and some more morning coffee.

Once at the Manhattan Bridge you can follow other Bike to Work Day riders to Manhattan or stay in Brooklyn—the point is to simply bike to work with other cyclists. Guides will be offering newbies commuting assistance with safe routes.

Gordon said he that likes biking to work because it is a combination of three good things:

"Biking to work offers the rare trifecta of transportation: it's fast, cheap and reliable," Gordon told Patch. "I'm able to combine my daily exercise with my commute, which saves me time, and I save hundreds of dollars in subway fare."

But for Gordon, biking doesn't have to be a solitary exercise.

"I decided to lead a ride because riding to work is one of the best parts of my day," Gordon said. "It only gets better when I bump into people I know and get to ride with them, so this is an opportunity to make commuting a little more social." 

National Bike to Work Day is a day set aside for cyclists across the country to hop on their wheels, show solidarity and ride together for “their health, their cities and the environment.”

Other Bike to Work locations throughout the city are:

• Cortelyou Road at Argyle Road in Ditmas Park
• Grand Army Plaza
• Manhattan Bridge (Manhattan side bike path exit)
• On the Brooklyn Bridge
• Bronx - Joyce Kilmer Park (161st & Grand Concourse)
• Williamsburg Bridge (Brooklyn side, entrance to bike path)
• Queensboro/59th St. Bridge (Queens side, entrance to bike path)
• Staten Island Ferry (St. George Terminal)
• Upper West Side - Hudson Greenway (Upper West Side Streets Renaissance)

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