Any New Yorker worth their weight in bagels knows that Brooklyn is where it’s at right now. And although fortune favours the bold, to conquer the giantess of Brooklyn without a helping hand is nearby impossible.

So enter Get Up and Ride, the boutique Brooklyn bike ride tour designed for Brooklyn virgins keen to depart from the well-trodden streets of Manhattan. Started not too long ago by enthusiastic local Felipe Lavalle, Get Up and Ride is getting something right – all reviews on TripAdvisor have 5 stars.

The tour begins at McCarren Park, where you’re given your bicycle and hands-free walkie-talkie so Felipe can communicate with the group en-route. You then embark on a four and a half hour journey through Brooklyn’s most interesting neighbourhoods, with tales of history, and insider food and drink recommendations shared– so you can really blag it like a Brooklyn local when you return on foot.

Brooklyn’s Best Pizza

With New York’s best views seen from the Brooklyn side of the bridge, so is the zenith of the tour – The Brooklyn Grange. Felipe has exclusive access to this urban rooftop farm, the largest in the US, which itself only began a couple of years ago. And once you’ve digested the skyline, you’re given a little pot of honey to take home, which is a real buzz in your tummy.

Until the tour, I presumed that there was nowhere in New York I could get a decent coffee (little did it occur to me that I just didn’t know where to go). But as with everything, with a local by your side, you are guided effortlessly to the taste and quality you grow accustomed to at home and on the tour it was from Brooklyn Roasting Company in Dumbo.


So if you want to live it like a local and are new to Brooklyn, Get Up and Ride is a great way to get your pedalling feet under the skin of the area.

www.getupandride.com
Monday – Sunday, 4.5 – 5 Hours, $71.95 x person, includes bike rental, helmet, lock, cv radio, entrance to Brooklyn Grange and ticket on ferry
Distance: 13 Miles