On Saturday night I attended The New Yorker Festival: David Byrne Presents How New Yorkers Ride Bikes courtesy of Fuseproject who had invited me along. I love cycling and bicycles: I revel in the freedom of spinning around the city on my bike and I also feel very sexy doing so.Yes, it's true, I think cycling is sexy because there's nothing better looking than a beautiful bike gliding along the road with a beautiful person on it*. And it could be more so. I think a city that puts people first, pedestrians and cyclists, is a healthy, cool, sexy place to live (how many times can I put sexy next to cycling!).The other night cycling felt very sexy. David Byrne attracted an audience of 1,500 or so -- a smart, good looking, young New Yorker crowd who love cycling and can see that this city is actually a brilliant place to do it. (I was expecting a hard core of road racers and cycling geeks).So I thought it only fair to share some of the take-out from the event. I won't do it much justice though because it was the combination of content, music, a great audience, and wonderful auditorium that made the night and made me think that this city needs to make its people king, not cars.Jan Gehl is an architect in Copenhagen. He presented a ‘New City Life' -- showing the audience the transformation of Copenhagen over time to a city that "makes people king". It's not even an inspirational story because when you look at the work done in Copenhagen it just makes so much sense. Having cars pilled up one after the other on our roads then seems like insanity.It has taken 30 years to put Copenhagen road infrastructure in place. I think it could be done faster in any city if it was made a fundamental priority: the essence is simply to put people and not the over sized metal shells we like to sit in, at the heart of the city. There every road has two bike lanes, two pedestrian lanes, a pedestrian island in the middle of the road and two car lanes.Everyone cycles (33% commute on bikes) or walks or takes public transport (38%). What does this mean? It means that people move quickly around a flat city; it means EVERYONE can take a bike and feel good about it -- it's ike a fashion, you're out if you are not in; it means the city people are fit and healthy; it means the streets are nicer to be on -- less noise, less pollution, many outdoors cafes; it means that the city is placed firmly on the world map for its cycling obsession; and as cycling is sexy, it means Copenhagen is sexy. Why on earth would we not want a city like this?Josh Benson, director of New York City Dept of Transportation Bicycle Program, showed us that New York is biting on the cycling buzz. Cycling has increased a third since 2000. Numbers are at an all time high and continuing to rise. 70 out of 200 miles of cycle network planned has already been implemented and people are using it.Cycle parks are being built at strategic points in the city, like at the Bedford L train stop in Williamsburg where riders can now tie up their bikes to 30 or so bike racks. The minute these go up they are full of bikes. Josh gave the impression that cracks were opening and every time a new one opens more and more cyclists appear