Talk about a litera-tour!
Cyclists trekked Kings County one booklender at a time on May 20, in a race to visit all 61 Brooklyn Public Library branches within a strict time limit that was sponsored by the institution.
Obstacles in the form of survey-wielding librarians who asked contestants to rate their experience as they pedaled to the finish intensified the challenge of booking it from branch to branch, according to a participant.
“The librarians asked us a lot of questions,” said Queens cyclist Steve Budhoo, who biked 72 miles and managed to visit 54 libraries on Saturday. “They wanted to know what we liked about the library, so we lost some time.”
The event, called Bike the Branches, gave riders from 10 am to 5:15 pm to visit as many borough libraries as they could manage, and awarded $1,000 Brompton folding bikes to winners in the amateur and professional categories.
The booklender offered suggested tours for more leisurely participants, including a waterfront ride from Mill Basin to Red Hook and a north Brooklyn trip through Greenpoint and Williamsburg, but competitive cyclists were obliged to craft their own routes and some of the top performers shaved minutes off their time using cutting-edge software — Google Maps.
“I used that to optimize my route and it worked out pretty well,” said Bronx resident Derek Davidson, who rode with Budhoo into third place.
The whirlwind tour, which left cyclists with little time at each branch, was still a fantastic way to behold not only the architecture of Brooklyn’s famed libraries, but also the borough itself, Davidson said.
“You don’t get too much time to admire the libraries when you’re trying to get to as many as you can,” said Davidson. “But their architecture, especially the older ones, is beautiful, and you really get to appreciate the vibe of each neighborhood.”
