We love Fresh Kills. It brings us back to those bad old days when the site was a notorious, noxious landfill, periodically catching fire, and visible from satellite. Not anymore though.Now it is thoroughly top-soiled, manicured, tamed, and importantly, for us, bikable. At nearly three times the size of Central Park and the largest park to be developed in New York City in over 100 years.

And we'll be test driving yet another addition to what looks to be extensive bike trails throughout the parkland -- the brand new Springville Greenway -- where we'll have a guided tour by Park rangers who'll talk on the beginnings of this magnificent environmental parkland.

Going out to join up with the Springville ride, we'll take the ferry and follow the Kill, westerly, on near-abandoned roadways to the park. (And, yes, we'll avoid all those Staten Island inclines on the way out, and, with a new route, on the way back as well.) So instead of climbs, we'll hug the coastline and dine at Denino's, on Port Richmond Avenue, rated the best Old World sit-down brick-oven pizzeria in NYC. We should be back in the city by 5 PM - latest.

We will be taking the 9:00 AM ferry; so arrive early.