Welcome to non binary bike club!

Next ride is 2026-07-01: Little Island

xena here.

First I heard of Little Island, I filed it away with notions of timed-entry tickets and west side of Manhattan and rich people shit. The date was May 2021, and I was still thawing from the longest winter of our lives. The park was cast in the mold of many recent public works: a fabulously wealthy person graciously offers to fund it (Barry Diller & DvF), construction and legal concerns cause it to flounder (botched environmental review), then a politician (Andrew Cuomo) commits tens of millions of tax dollars to finish something nobody ever asked for. On balance, I’d rather have a functional and well-subsidized public transit system or maybe a single clean bathroom in any existing park. At least Little Island is free to use.

And so we’re gonna use it! This week, Rachel co-leads their first NBBC ride! You may know Rachel as one of our rare Manhattanites. And so we simply must end at a convenient place for them! Our route as planned is 14 km (9 mi) over the Manhattan Bridge and then a lazy crosstown loop before arriving at Little Island around 20:00. The weather is supposed to be very hot; we will likely still ride, but we may shorten the route.

Little Island is actually really cool. I visited for the first time on a recent, warm evening. I was transported to the pleasure gardens in the exposition of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis. And while I’m not entirely sure that’s a good thing, I still think it’s worth a visit.

Come prepared for a sweaty one!

• lights
• locks
• water
• not too many layers