On a picturesque Saturday morning, New York City residents biked across the borough to experience the beauty of the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway and the Jamaica Bay Greenway.
“The Epic is the quintessential mid-summer bike ride around the entire Brooklyn waterfront,” said Milton Puryear, Brooklyn Greenway Initiative (BGI) co-founder.
The “Brooklyn Waterfront Epic Ride,” in its fifth year running, is sponsored by BGI, a non-profit organization, and this year the organization partnered with the companies Etsy and Kiwi Energy.
The annual Epic Ride sold out three weeks prior to the event, a first for the organization; it also doubled in size. A total of 750 participants gathered at 27 North Street at 8 a.m. on July 27, prepared to spend their day biking 40 miles from Williamsburg to Rockaway Beach.
Riders not only saw first-hand the effects of Hurricane Sandy on Rockaway Beach but also supported the local businesses in their current road to recovery.
“It is a really interesting ride to see the diversity of Brooklyn and Queens as well,” said Program Manager Olivia Lynch.
Even though the bike route has to be adapted this year due to the damage left behind by Hurricane Sandy, the riders still had a great time. Participants celebrated the end of their ride at the Low Tide Bar on Beach 97th Street with live music and local food, and some even plunged into the Atlantic to cool off.
“The after-party on the beach was part of our mission to help the Rockaway food business because they had a rough time post-Sandy,” stated Lynch.
By participating, riders are supporting the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway, a 14-mile stretch of land that will connect four parks and any open spaces, and the Jamaica Bay Greenway Coalition, a public and private agency partnership that aims to improve and expand the Jamaica Bay Greenway.
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