and now, a simple crude self-interview...

so what happened thursday night?

well, i left work in time to go to the bike shop to pick up madeleine before the store closed and then go back to work to otherwise beat my brain up over a silly website.

wait a tick; who's madeleine?

it's my long-time faithful companion from when i left thunder bay. my source of sanity, exploration and fitness. my black nishiki bicycle, bought used from outside a police auction. whilst all the families were buying $300 canadian tire bikes, i spent $140 on a brilliant used roadie from a man who happened to be hanging around the crowd expecting a quick sale. she's been with me through waterloo and toronto.

but weren't you in colorado from 1997-1998? didn't you ride then?

i brought madeleine with me, but for some reason, i didn't have her re-assembled from her carrying box. perhaps i was suspicious of how she would be handled by the denver city bike shops, perhaps i was lazy from driving around all the time. all i know is i should have hit the open road with her, since the weather was always perfect and i gained about 30 pounds otherwise.

but you brought the bike with you to new york city, where you would figure the weather is worse, the roads are terrible and the traffic is nuts. why new york city over denver?

i'm covering more expenses down here in a more costly city, so i economize. the car in denver was a rental that was initially fully covered by the company, but as time progressed, i was paying more and more for it. madeleine's only cost, other than the occasional rear tire, is my energy, which is useful since i seem to keep quite a fair bit cooped up.

one other thing is that i prefer a mixture of terrain and atmosphere around, and i've found that country riding to be rather dull. i doubt it's a short attention span syndrome, but i like being able to see something new every few minutes or so. well, not necessarily new, but i enjoy diversity. urban cycling provides different neighbourhoods, views, smells and riding surfaces. taking the occasional parkway with a sidewalk, four land road and small path thrown in somewhere, with a different way home to keep me attentive.

okay. so where did you ride first then?

saturday, i biked to central park in a burst of activity that almost winded me by the time i got to 59th. guess i was all pent up, but then again, i don't have a helmet here yet and watching out for the non-signalling cars and the ubiquitous pedestrian took some getting used to at a decent speed. i did a lap and a half on the ring road before heading towards riverside park. from there, i hunted and pecked towards the actual bike path, which coasted for a while before hitting a few harlem underpasses, before again finding my way through to the george washington bridge.

of course, with a late start to the day and wearing shorts, the cooling hudson river breeze really bit once the sun set, making the ride home quite the effort, but it was worthwhile.

sunday, it was time for coney island, although figuring out the route was a bit of a nightmare. the manhattan road layout makes it pretty easy to figure your way around, but brooklyn is quite larger and more irregular, like most cities you would expect. so, after figuring out the glorious brooklyn bridge, i drifted along court street (kinda) to prospect park, an older, more small town park with mighty oaks abound.

after a brief spin through there, i found the ocean parkway, which led a simple yet freakish trail to coney island, where parallel roads kept turning into the bike path, which was effectively a glorified sidewalk. however, hitting the boardwalk was worthwhile as the view and sights were familiar yet beguiling nonetheless. coasting along, digging the beach life, it was faboo ...except for the sunset, which allowed me to find the worst way back to manhattan possible after taking many a wrong turn. it was a bonnie ride, though i missed a few calls from some people (sorry rannie).

so where are the photos?

in time, in time...

wait: what happened on friday?

ah, that would be the david holmes dj set. which explains the late start on saturday.

well, that's a weekend right there. one last thing: why madeleine?

objects require identity, in a way to make sure i try to treat it with as much respect as i have for a living creature. so madeleine was named after a mathie i had a crush on in 1st year uni, along with madeleine stowe. black hair, smooth skin ...i dunno *shrug*

um, thanks.

you didn't really want to know, did you?

anything else?

the dirty monkey has lotsa new content; not just the david holmes dj review, but also his new mixed soul compilation, the latest from röyksopp and revlon 9.

that's shameless.

publish or perish, dude. publish or perish. oh, that 2nd photo: there's no kickstand. i propped up madeleine by herself in the fine beach sand and upright she stood.

fine. can i go home now?

you know, plying myself with beers was supposed to make you more relaxed...

nope, it just made me snippy.

hooray for me.