Frontier Cyclist, vol. 5: BK Bridge to Prospect Park

Picnic, Prospect Park, Brooklyn, May 2010

[A ongoing series of urban bike routes, tested by our riders. -FP]

This past weekend was a glorious one for bike riding in the city. Over two days, the Frontier Cyclist caravan rode through Williamsburg, Fort Greene, Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, Bed-Stuy, Prospect Heights, Park Slope, and Gowanus. Our entourage consisted of a fixed gear racer, a single-speed named after a Portland-based literary magazine, a lime green single-speed via the artist collective Third Ward, and a mini-BMX that weighs less than a bike lock. And while we like the band Beach House, we don't actually own one. So we headed to Prospect Park.

In the county of Kings, Prospect Park is the king of parks. With 585 acres of lushness, PP is the spot of choice for picnics, barbecues, drum circles, even weddings. Also, there's a spot called Nethermead.

Prospect Park also hosts the annual Celebrate Brooklyn concert series. This summer's lineup features FP favorites Passion Pit, The National, and The Dead Weather. Other highlights include: Metric, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, The Low Anthem, and Okay Africa with The Roots and Talib Kweli, whose new Reflection Eternal record was reviewed yesterday by Frontier Funbunny, FP's newest contributor. We may even go to the park on June 9 for the season opener, Norah Jones. Say what you will, but NJ has sold more than 37 million records and inspired at least that many consummations. Also, she shares initials with our ancestral home. Here's the full Celebrate Brooklyn schedule.

OK, back to the bikes.Today, an easy ride from Brooklyn Bridge Park to Prospect Park. If you've never cycled in the city, this ride is for you. If you're more experience, start with last week's ride from McCarren Park to BK Bridge Park, then head to Prospect Park. And when you get there, ride the 3.3 mile bike loop until your legs go wobbly.

Route: Brooklyn Bridge Park -Prospect Park
Distance: 7 miles (3.5 miles each way)
Degree of Difficulty: Beginner

1. From Brooklyn Bridge Park, ride approximately one mile south on Henry Street, through Brooklyn Heights, across Atlantic Avenue and into Cobble Hill and Boerum Hill.

2. Turn left at Degraw St, Right at Hoyt St., left at Union St.

3. Cross the Gowanus Canal, make a left on Third Ave. and a quick right on Sackett St., which becomes Berkeley Pl.

4. Ride Berkeley up the hill (Ah, that's why they call it Park Slope).

5. At the Prospect Park entrance, check out the Grand Army Plaza arch, the Brooklyn Library, and, on weekends, the Farmer's Market

6. Head into the park, pick a spot, and relax.

-Keith Meatto

Have a favorite bike route in New York or another city?
Send suggestions to frontiercyclist@gmail.com

Frontier Cyclist, vol. 5: BK Bridge to Prospect Park

Reflection Eternal - Revolutions Per Minute

The second we hear any song from Talib Kweli's first solo album Quality, we're transported to fresh-outta-college days, back when we still used a landline and sucked from the wide mouth of a two-foot-tall bong named Anita. We loved Kweli then; loved his lyrics, loved his beats, loved his gravel-wrapped-in-satin voice. "Get By" is still a song we crank up just to feel our hearts race.

At FP, we've never understood why Kweli didn't rise to the level of mainstream success as other rappers, even as much as his old Black Star mate Mos Def. Endorsed by Dave Chappelle, lauded by hip-hop royalty Jay-Z, you'd think the poor guy woulda been paving his driveway in platinum. But as my dad used to say, sometimes talent doesn't make a career. Maybe it's the conceit that occasionally seeps from Kweli's lyrics that keeps him from blowin up (i.e., in the first song off Eardrum, a mellifluous intro prepares us for a man of mythical lyrical powers). Maybe there's a constant struggle, albeit a Beautiful one, between being unapologetically bold about his insight and intelligence, and staying accessible to a fickle "my-room-is-the-g-spot-I-can-make-your-bed-rock" audience. We'd hate to think it's his brains that hold him back.

However, if a career with hiccup'd fame is what keeps Kweli trying to be better, good for us. With last week's Revolutions Per Minute, Kweli reunites with Hi-Tek in the second Reflection Eternal album in ten years. True to the duo's form, the album explores everyday trials as well as social ills. "Midnight Hour" is a sweet 40s-ish big-band hip-hop number; "The Ballad of Black Gold" explores government greed and the oil industry; "Got Work" likens the pursuit of fame to that of a deadly addiction: "You would probably shudder/ at the amount of blood/ flowing through the hollywood gutter/ all because of the appetite for dreams" ... wonder how he got thinking about all that.

We love to see our favorite artists grow through the years -- as if in some way, we're on a journey together -- and Revolutions Per Minute (nice play on words, guys), points to exactly that for Reflection Eternal. They're having fun, taking risks, speaking their minds and granted, this record is not breaking a lot of ground, but the lyrics and music are nonstop-compelling. The album is, as Kweli claims, quality. Then again, he is always evolving, even when he comes up with a song in a few weeks.

If you have the time: get a good fan read.

Reflection Eternal - Just Begun (featuring Jay Electronica, J Cole, and Mos Def)


Reflection Eternal - Midnight Hour (featuring Estelle)

Reflection Eternal - Revolutions Per Minute