first learn to push your bike around the block, then go to a small park and ride around in circles until you gain better handling skills. Most likely you have to go out of Manhattan to ride.

I prefer to teach people how to ride a bicycle in a grass field. That way, when they fall they won't get hurt. In addition, the bumps in the grass help focus the rider on balance. Wear a long sleeve shirt, long pants, a helmet, and gloves.

Central park is good - pick a large grassy area when it is not crowded. Once you get comfortable starting, stopping, and turning you can easily move from the grass to the roads in central park - when it is closed to traffic. Take it slow. It may take you two outings in the grass before you feel comfortable enough to go on the road.

Good luck,

Bob

Hopefully someone else has the details but there's a guy who takes people over to Riverside Park and teaches them to ride. I've seen them many times but not sure when exactly they meet or what the arrangements are.

If you just learn how to ride, you need to ride a lot just to get comfortable being on the bike. Then, you can worry about riding in the crowd when bike handling is more challengng. But if you're one of those adults who, although riden a bike as a child but never learn to steer a bike with their body, low speed handling may seem daunting.

Contrary to the others, I think the best place to learn to ride in the crowd IS a crowded place, like the lower loop of Central Park!

Drop your seat so you can put BOTH your foot down on the ground at the same time, and ride as slowly as you can without falling over. Pratice low speed turns (you can dangle your inside legs just to catch yourself if you over-turned). When you reach the point of able to ride steadily in walking speed, you can go pratice ride slowly in the crowd to get comfortable.

When I was a kid, we play this game where the objective is to block your opponents path just long enough he/she falls off before you do. The last one still on the bike wins...

http://www.nycc.org/mb/Thread.aspx?B=1&T=2223&TP=1#Msg8801