On a sunny day, eerily warm for its season--the kind that makes people mutter, "global warming"--cyclists are out in full force. It's a steep uphill slog on the bike path ascending the Williamsburg Bridge from Brooklyn, which some climb with apparent ease, while others surrender and walk their bikes up the slope. The promised land lies at the bridge's apex, from which it's a blissful downhill glide. The East River shimmers as riders, cruising above cars and speeding subway trains, slide into Manhattan. A sign greets cyclists, pedestrians, and cars coming off the bridge:"Welcome to Manhattan."But cyclists may not feel so welcome entering traffic-jammed Delancey Street. As they leave the safety of the Williamsburg Bridge path, there's no bikeway to be found. They breeze down the exit ramp into a jumbled mess of cars and delivery trucks, weaving through like pilots evading enemy attack."There's not going to be a nice cushy bike path wherever you go," says Michael Hunecke, holding his silver racing bike at the foot of the bridge. "You're going to have to throw yourself in traffic at some point."Advocates are hoping to change that by pushing the city to build more lanes and paths that offer protection for cyclists from the interminable tide of cars that race along New York City streets. After years of slow progress, last summer the City announced a plan to add 240 bikeway miles to the existing 440-mile network by 2009.But is the city moving fast enough?In the decade from 1996 to 2005, 225 cyclists died on New York City streets, according to a City report. Only one occurred in a marked bike lane. Not only would additional lanes save lives, say advocates, but they would encourage more cycling, promoting quiet, non-polluting transportation that improves the urban environment for everyone.Bikeways are proven to spur cycling, says Transportation Alternatives, an organization that works to decrease car use in the city. Since a bike path on the Hudson River Greenway opened in 2001, cycling activity there has almost tripled. "The old saying rings true," says Caroline Samponaro, the group's bicycle campaign coordinator. "If you build it, they will come."New York City's current bicycle "facilities" include 200 miles of Class I bike paths, which are physically separated from vehicular traffic; 175 miles of Class II bike lanes, demarcated by painted lines; and 65 miles of Class III signed routes, which offer no physical separation from vehicles. With last summer's announcement, the Department of Transportation said it would add five miles of new paths, 150 miles of lanes, and 45 miles of signed routes; the Department of Parks and Recreation plans to add another 40 greenway miles.The 240 new miles will form the backbone of a larger, planned bicycle network, and will allow riders to travel through all five boroughs without leaving a bike path, says Chris Gilbride, a Transportation Department spokesperson.The network, conceived a decade ago as part of a City-drafted Bicycle Master Plan intended to help reduce fuel consumption and traffic congestion, called for 1,800 bikeway miles throughout New York City--1,300 miles on or adjacent to roadways and 500 miles of park paths like the Hudson River Greenway.However, the plan has no target date for completion. When it was drafted almost 10 years ago, the city already had about 200 miles of bicycle facilities, the Department of Transportation says, and since then, bikeway miles have more than doubled. But even with what the city calls its ambitious, "unprecedented" 240-new-miles-plan, the network will be little more than one-third complete--12 years after the master plan's conception."The Master Plan is a conceptual document," explains Josh Benson, the bike director for the Department of Transportation. "It's not an installation schedule." The city can't yet say when the network will be complete, he adds. "We want everything to be thought out. We want to carefully design everything