It's spring, the weather has been perfect and May (which starts Thursday) is Bike Month. Middle-aged folk like me (and Room 8's Larry Littlefield ) are looking for exercise, cheap transport and global warming solutions. Bike messengers, Critical Mass riders (like my Council Member Rosie Mendez), edgy fixed-gear fanatics and teens are already out there. Join us. (For a full list of Bike Month events, click here (For Jennifer 8 Lee's NYT Bike Month Round-up, including NYC DOT plans, click here ).

It's already too late to sign up for the biggest NYC pleasure ride the Five Boro Bike Tour on Sunday May 4 which filled up at the beginning of April. The 42-mile car-free ride through NYC's streets parks and highways is an odd mob scene with a cast of tens of thousands, lots of snacks, flat tires and sweat. Because the whole ride is done with no cars, you get a little of the feeling about what a car-free-NYC might be like. Pedaling on auto-free highways is a revelation. It is definitely not for those who want to be alone. If you're going, look for me there.

Three still-open May bike rides:

The 6th Annual Brooklyn Greenway Bike Tour on Saturday May 3, 2008

As you may know, Wednesday March 19, 2008 is the fifth anniversary of President’s Bush’s immoral, illegal and wrongheaded war in Iraq. Opportunities for protest are vast. The War Resisters, for example, plan to travel to Washington DC to blockade the IRS. But an early spring DC journey is not required. Protest in NYC. Those listed below are my favorites.

Noon

”Grannies' Peace Brigade Knit-In for Peace" rain or shine & with full program for
non-knitters", at Times Square Recruitment Center, Broadway & 44th St. Trains: #1, 2, 3, 7,
S, N, Q, R or W train to Times Sq-42nd St; B, D, F, V to 42nd-Bryant Park; A, C, E to 42nd St.-Port Auth.)

Protest hawk Congress Member Vito Fosella, 8505 4th Ave in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. R train to 86th St. Brooklyn.

4:00 PM

Antiwar contingent in rally at City Hall to stop NYC public school budget cuts. Unions, parents and children protest education budget cuts. The Iraq war has drained billions from our economy that might have been productively spent. The impact of the Bush recession has led Mayor Bloomberg to impose draconian school budget cuts. Protest Trains: R, W to City Hall; #4, 5, 6 to Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall; J, M, Z to Chambers; 2, 3 to Chambers; A, C to Chambers; E to WTC.

United For Peace & Justice, the large, nationwide, anti-war coalition calls Iraq war opponents to march and demonstrate in NYC and 10 other cities across the country on Oct. 27, 2007.

In New York City , the main march will assemble at 12:00, noon on Broadway south of 23rd Street and march South to a Peace Fair in Foley Square. Click here for a route-map.

Feeder marches from all over NYC will parade through local neighborhoods before joining the main demonstration. For example, Brooklyn For Peace meets at 10:AM at Brooklyn Borough Hall for a march over the Brooklyn Bridge, while those on Manhattan’s Lower East Side will step off from 10th Street and Avenue A at 11:30 AM.

Endorsing organizations include 1199, Unite-Here and the Working Families Party. Click here for a fuller list. Is your organization or elected official missing? Why? See you there.

Can you stand a review of how we got to Iraq? The current New York Review of Books has a must-read article by New Yorker writer Mark Danner: "The Moment Has Come To Get Rid of Saddam"