Growing up in New York City, some of my favorite times were the bicycle rides through Central Park on the weekends. For New Yorkers this is a staple of fun, exercise and relative peace within a busy city. Central Park has wide, four lane Boulevards that run in a large figure-8 within the park. These roads are major arteries for drivers getting around Manhattan. Ever since I can remember, however, the park would close completely to cars all weekend, allowing the population to come together in all sorts of ways, including riding the bicycle around the 2 mile-or-so loop repeatedly. Whenever you got tired you could always stop and listen to street music, watch roller-skaters dance to the (then-new) sounds of disco., through a Frisbee, eat pretzels and hot-dogs; in short heaven for two brothers and their dad looking to spend the day outside.
I’m happy to see a little bit of that coming right to my front door in downtown San Jose. San Jose ViaVelo seems like it’s taking a small step in that direction. I hope this gets a good turn out and can be continued and expanded over time.
