So you're going for a Halloween bike ride, are you?
There are some very important questions to answer.
Do you dress yourself up?
Or, do you dress up your bike?
Or both?
And who, if anybody, do you bring with you?
Finally, are you going to ride after dark?
If you do, be sure your lights are working!
You really know you're on a Fall ride when you see this:
That, along stretch of the East Coast Greenway that winds its way from Pelham Bay, near City Island, to Pelham Manor in Westchester County. I was maybe half a kilometer from Pelham Manor--astride Arielle, my Mercian Audax.
I didn't get on the road until well after noon. I didn't regret it, though: The early morning was the coldest we had since, probably, April. And I still rode to Connecticut and back, just beating darkness home.
So...I pedaled into blazing shades of orange, red and yellow scattered on the ground on my way up to the Nutmeg State. And, by the time I reached Randall's Island--with only the RFK Memorial Bridge between me and home--I was riding into those same--or, at least, similar--hues spread against the sky, as the sun set behind me.
Marlee was not impressed. But she was happy to see me.
In "conceptual art", the idea behind the work takes precedence over traditional aesthetic, technical or material concerns. Marcel Duchamp's Fountain is often considered the first "conceptual" work.
A "concept bike", similarly, seems more concerned with some idea--or simply a crazy vision--than with rideability or practicality, at least for 99 percent of cyclists.
What would it be like to ride, instead of a bicycle, the idea of one?
