The wild ride of New York’s stuntiest bikers

Who says you can’t surf atop a bicycle?

Photography · Exposure · By Giri Nathan · Photographs by Brian Finke · Published April 17, 2026 · 1 min read · May 2026 Issue

Topics: Biking, City Biking, Street Photography, Photography, Short, Exposure, Magazine

Exposure is a National Geographic series that features photography from around the world that our editors love. See more. In the summer of 2020, with New York City still deep in the throes of the pandemic, photographer Brian Finke noticed something curious. As he was leaving a city pool in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bed-Stuy, a rider on a mountain bike rolled by, popping a wheelie that lasted nearly half the block. Finke, who has built a career documenting American subcultures, sped after him on his own bike and introduced himself at a red light. The man, Finke learned, was one of thousands of New Yorkers using their bikes to blow off lockdown-induced steam, gathering en masse, playing music as they rode. Some stood up to surf atop their bikes, while others swerved wildly from side to side. The self-expression reminded Finke of the voguing scene that thrived on city dance floors in the 1980s. In the years that followed, Finke developed Bike Life, which will be published in May by Blurring Books and from which these images were drawn. With it, Finke offers a love letter not just to creativity but also to New York itself. (Discover more stories on biking.)

This story appears in the May 2026 issue of National Geographic magazine.