When my husband and I were in Paris last April, we couldn’t stop admiring all the lovely ladies and gents riding around on bicycles. (Such short dresses! Such high heels!) The new-ish shared bike system, Velib’, lets Paris residents easily borrow silver bicycles for quick commutes or leisurely rides around town. (Even Entourage’s Adrian Grenier is a fan.)
New York doesn’t have a shared bike system (at least, not yet), but you can still get that Parisienne thrill of riding through twisting city streets, then warming up with an espresso. So, we parked ourselves on a pretty corner in downtown Manhattan and met some of our very own bike riders…
Brooke takes her daughter Ada for a morning spin.
Susan walks through Nolita with Lee, whose bike is back in her hometown, Copenhagen.
Fanny’s bike, which has a cute Betty Boop sticker on one side, has taken her all over Manhattan and Brooklyn. “She’s my trusty steed!” says Fanny.
Jennifer’s bike, nicknamed “Coffee,” was a birthday present from her boyfriend.
Valerie has ridden bikes all her life (”my first scars were on my chin, not my heart,” she says). She bought this one at the Chelsea flea market two years ago.
Jennifer says her favorite place to ride is over the Brooklyn Bridge: “You can look down between the wooden boards and see the water below you.”
Sofia’s friends joke that her bike is a boy magnet. “Sweet guys always smile, give you compliments and ask you out when you are on the bike!” she says.
(Photos by Anna Wolf)
