When I encourage people to bike to work, they encourage me to get my head examined. "It's dangerous," "I sweat," "You're a yahoo," and other uncouth half-truths fly around like honks and fingers in rush-hour traffic.But the fact is that New York is a great biking city and, with some simple, inexpensive adjustments, it could be one of the best in the world. What's more, if it joined the ranks of London and Paris as a world-class city supporting cycling, we'd have less traffic, healthier neighborhoods and safer streets.New York already has the layout of a top-tier bike town. It's relatively flat, densely populated and filled with world class views. Over half of all car trips in New York City are 3 miles or less in length.That's a distance easily covered by bike in 20 minutes. All it would take for New York to go the extra mile and be one of the best cycling cities around is some more safe, protected, connected bike lanes, secure bike parking on-street and in buildings and government leading by example with its own pro-biking policies.Protected bike lanes like the Hudson River Greenway encourage biking in a big way. They are safe spaces where cyclists do not have to be constantly on the lookout for everyday hazards like aggressive drivers, potholes, car doors and double-parked vehicles.Since opening, the average number of bicyclists on the Hudson River Greenway has increased 37%, from 2,113 bicyclists between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. in 2001 to a high count of 2,885 cyclists in 2003. The greenway and car-free East River bridge paths have also encouraged more people to ride on the streets of Manhattan. Since 2001, biking on Manhattan's avenues alone has increased 73%.If the city were to accelerate the comparable plans for car-free paths that exist for Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island (the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway, The Queens East River-North Shore Greenway, the South Bronx and Bronx River Greenways and the Staten Island South and West Shore Greenway) and routinely create protected street space for cycling, thousands more New Yorkers could confidently take to the streets and find safe routes from home to work and school and from destination to destination.Of course, with all that additional bike traffic, we'd need better bike parking. Some simple low-cost steps like affirming bikers' rights to park at out-of-the-way street fixtures, requiring office buildings to provide indoor bike parking, creating secure bike parking at transit hubs, mandating bike parking in garages and allowing bike parking in all city-owned buildings would provide thousands more parking spots and make New York a much easier place to get around on two wheels.With those changes in place, more New Yorkers would be riding bikes, our traffic troubles would be tamed, our health woes would be waning and visitors would want in on the action, too.To promote bike riding among tourists and for simple short trips often made by cab, the city could install low-cost bike rental kiosks around major destinations.That way, for a dollar or two, a visitor, a commuter or anyone else could get from, say, work or sites near Wall Street to transit hubs in midtown with a view of the Hudson, a little bit of exercise and the smile that a bike ride can bring.Biking is fun. It's simple and safe. It's a healthy way to get around the city, improve our environment, fight global warming, lessen our traffic tie-ups and escape from the daily grind. And, the more people who ride, the safer it is.Go ahead and try it! New York has the potential to be an ideal cycling city and, with some government support and more cyclists on the streets, it will become one of the best in the world.Paul Steely White is Executive Director of Transportation Alternatives ( www.transalt.org), a 5,500-member nonprofit citizens group working for better bicycling, walking and public transit, and fewer cars.