The Epic Comeback of the Greenway Ride. Ready to ride the entire 26-mile Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway?
REGISTER NOW Brooklyn Greenway Ride 2020
September 1 – September 30, 2020
#ontheBKGreenway
An EPIC exploration along the 26-mile Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway!
Discover Brooklyn’s waterfront parks, piers, picnic spots, and points of interest. Build your selfie library among the backdrop of the City’s iconic bridges, beaches, and bays. Marvel at the objects of Brooklyn’s past and present working waterfront, unparalleled Manhattan skyline views, and spectacular sunsets over New York Harbor. Stop along the route to enjoy delicacies and delights from restaurants and shops in Brooklyn’s vibrant waterfront neighborhoods. Grab your bike – or use a Citi Bike! – and join us for this grand self-guided and socially-distant Brooklyn bike adventure!
Greenway Ride participants set their own schedule and pace. The Ride can be done in one trip or enjoyed over multiple days. Ride solo or with family or friends. However you participate, you’ll ride easy knowing that you’re supporting Brooklyn Greenway Initiative in our work to celebrate and complete the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway as a safe landscaped route for people of all ages and abilities that connects a greener, stronger, healthier Brooklyn!
Two Registration Options
Greenway Rider – Free. Participants receive our digital Ride Guide by Untapped NY with all you need for your bike adventure: an artful illustrated map of route highlights and amenities, a map for navigating the route, and a variety of shorter route suggestions to explore neighborhoods along the Greenway!
Greenway Enthusiast – $25.00. Participants receive everything in the Greenway Rider registration, PLUS a Brooklyn Greenway Ride 2020 t-shirt, BGI buff face covering, and sponsor swag bag mailed to you!
Citi Bike – Experience the best way to get around Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens & Jersey City with Citi Bike, New York’s bike share system.
Con Edison – Securing a clean energy future and providing electric, gas, and steam to NYC and Westchester.
Greenpoint Landing – Greenpoint Landing, located along a half-mile stretch of waterfront in the northernmost section of Greenpoint, will provide over 4 new acres of publicly accessible open space for the neighborhood. Designed by James Corner Field Operations, the waterfront open space will provide vantage points for the public to enjoy unobstructed city views as well as offer a variety of outdoor amenities.
NYC Councilman Stephen T. Levin – Public funding for the Brooklyn Waterfront Challenge and other programming and services to ensure the longterm viability of the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway generously provided by NYC Council Member Stephen T. Levin, representing Council District 33.
Kiwi Energy – Dedicated to providing innovative energy solutions for electricity and natural gas supply.
Ride Brooklyn – Bicycle Shop with a convenient location in Park Slope and great prices on high quality bikes and service.
Ample Hills Creamery – Ample Hills Creamery is the beloved Brooklyn-based ice cream company with 9 locations in New York City and New Jersey. Ample Hills scoops cult-favorite flavors such as Ooey Gooey Butter Cake, Chocolate Milk and Cookies, and Peppermint Pattie, all made in their flagship factory in Red Hook, Brooklyn.
Wegmans – Offering choice, quality and value in every aisle is how we hope to make your shopping experience a genuine pleasure. Visit the Brooklyn market at 21 Flushing Ave.
Event Rules for Riders
- Wear your helmet at all times when riding [required to participate in the Ride].
- Don’t use your cell phone while riding.
- Yield to pedestrians.
- Stop at all red lights and stop signs.
- Ride with the flow of traffic.
- Don’t ride on the sidewalk.
E-Bikes and Pedal-Assist
Any human-powered bicycle (recumbent, unicycle, tandem, tricycle, etc.) is permitted, as well any pedal-assist bicycle, defined in the Rules of the City of New York, Chapter 4, Title 34 as: a bicycle equipped with fully operable pedals and an electric motor of less than seven hundred fifty watts (one horsepower) whereby such electric motor engages only when the operator is pedaling and the rate of speed of the bicycle is less than 20 miles per hour and disengages or ceases to function when (i) the Section 4-01 4 operator applies the brakes, (ii) the operator stops pedaling, or (iii) the bicycle achieves a speed of twenty miles per hour. No electric-assisted bike outside of this definition will be allowed on the Ride.
Experience Level of Riders
This is an open course that includes both off-street and on-street segments of the planned Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway. Riders participate at their own risk. Riders must be confident riding with traffic during on-street segments.
Registration Restrictions
Registration is non-refundable, non-deferrable and non-transferable. If you decide not to ride, your registration will be converted into a charitable contribution to Brooklyn Greenway Initiative, a 501c3 nonprofit organization dedicated to the development, establishment, and stewardship of the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway.
Registration Questions
Upon registration, you will receive a confirmation email that you’re registered. This also adds you to the Greenway Ride email list to receive Ride updates, tips, and the 2020 Ride Guide. If you did not receive a confirmation email or have additional questions, email ride@brooklyngreenway.org.
Media Inquiries
For media inquiries, images, or to request a press pass to the event, please email ride@brooklyngreenway.org.
There are so many things to see and do #onthebkgreenway! To highlight just a few, here are a few mini-guides with ideas on ways to spend a day on the Greenway and in our favorite borough.
Day Trip: Shirley Chisholm State Park to Brighton Beach
Start your day at the new Shirley Chisholm State Park, named after the first Black woman to serve in Congress and first woman to seek the Democratic presidential nomination. Studded with high hills, the views make you feel far outside the city. From the park’s 150-foot vantage point above Brooklyn, you can see all of Jamaica Bay, the towers of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, and the expanse of Manhattan’s skyline.
Photo credit: Curbed
Pro tips: Bringing kids? On Saturday 9/26, park rangers will be on hand to talk about the incredible wildlife found in the park. If you’re participating in the Ride, you can also get a free Clif bar at the park to fuel your ride by asking a park staff member.
While you’re there, explore a truly unusual work of art: Liberty Bell by Nancy Baker Cahill (featured in the New York Times). This augmented reality piece appears over the water through an app that you download on your phone. Note that the interactive piece is a 15-minute walk from the entrance — see here (or your Ride Guide, received upon registration) for directions.
After a day at the park, head over to Brighton Beach. You can take a stroll on the boardwalk, or just head straight to the food! We recommend Tatiana, a classic Brighton Beach spot serving Russian food, or Cafe At Your Mother-in-Law, an Uzbek joint serving dishes like langman noodles and kebabs.
Have fun #onthebkgreenway!
Day Trip: Coney Island to Industry City
First, start with a walk on the boardwalk and beach on Coney Island before it gets too cold. While rides and attractions are still closed, you can still enjoy sea air, ocean views and Coney Island refreshments, all accessible from the Greenway! Pick up a Nathan’s hot dog and get a daytime brew at Coney Island Brewery, which has an outdoor beer garden.
Photo credit: Brownstoner
Next, check out Calvert Vaux Park for a nice change in scenery. This park was once cut off from South Brooklynites by the Belt Parkway, but is now much more accessible thanks to the Greenway. Calvert Vaux Park is home to an unusual mix of diverse native plant and animal life, as well as abandoned ships. Take a stroll along Coney Island Creek too, especially if you find yourself itching to see even more ship remains.
Photo credit: Industry City
From your afternoon at the park, continue riding north up to Industry City for food and entertainment. (And here’s a photo tip en route: a selfie by Verrazzano Bridge!) You can catch live jazz outdoors at Sahadi’s, the famous Middle Eastern grocery whose factory and production facility are just a few blocks away (pick up some goods for home while you’re there!) Dinner options at Industry City are aplenty, from Korean comfort food to Döner Kebab.
Day Trip: North Brooklyn
Start your day with a meditative walk around the Naval Cemetery Landscape, BGI’s wildflower meadow nestled along the Greenway, designed to serve as a habitat for native species and a refuge from urban life. NCL is a wonderful success story of our mission to expand green and public spaces for New Yorkers – make this weekend the time to check it out! Greenway Riders can also grab a free Oxigen water for their ride.
Next, pick up lunch at Smorgasburg to Go, open Wednesday through Sunday from 11:30am to 8pm (order ahead at www.smorgtogo.com). We love their picnic suggestion to pick up an order and then head across the street to Marsha P. Johnson State Park.
If you’re going over the weekend, head to the Greenpoint Terminal Market, where over 100 local artisans will sell their home, design art and beauty wares in an open-air, socially distanced market. Food and drinks are available too.
Finally, end your busy day with a movie — with a view! — at the Skyline Drive-in in Greenpoint. Make it a Bike-In at $22 a seat.