Back in the dot-com boom, the young, hip and on-the-make talked about "getting in on the ground." That meant investing in a company or trend as it was about to become popular and highly profitable. Everyone, it seemed, spoke of wanting to be in on "the next new big thing."
Of course, some of those "next new big things" have become mainstays of today's world: Think of Google,as an example. On the other hand, some were comets that flared brightly and briefly before crashing. Do you remember Pet.com?
Well, I don't think very many of us are going to get rich, even for a moment (as so many of those former dot-com millionaires were), by finding the next hot new blog as it's starting its run. I missed the start of "Lovely Bicycle!" by about five months and "Bike Snob NYC," "DFW Point-to-Point," "Girls and Bicycles," "Urban Adventure League," "1410 OakWooD" and a few other great blogs by a couple of years. (Sorry to all of the ones I haven't mentioned: Simply listing them would be a post unto itself!)
However, I think I might have witnessed the birth (well, OK, I caught it on its second day) of an interesting new cycling blog. I'm talking about The Sophisticated Cycler.
In it, TSC is documenting the building--or, rather, making--of a bike that suits his particular needs and tastes. It's fascinating to follow his process, from his research and decision about what type of bike to buy to the ways he's customizing it.
He's only on his fourth post, so you can still be there for the "birth," as it were.
Today's ride was pleasure without revelations, or epiphanies--at least regarding bicycling or The Meaning of Life, anyway. And those are all you really care about if you're reading this blog, right?
All right...My ride, which took me up by Throgs Neck, led me through an industrial area of the South Bronx. I've mentioned it before: I enjoy cycling there on weekends because there's absolutely no traffic. But sometimes I see things, too, that I hadn't been expecting.
From a block away, I thought I saw the kind of sand-art-in-a-bottle that was so popular in the 1970's, rendered in the entropic colors of dystopia: just what someone might see if he or she were to watch Miami Vice while coming down from an acid trip.
Then I could swear I saw someone--trying to escape? or simply "losing it?"
I couldn't help but to think of the woman in the pattern of the yellow wallpaper of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's story, which I've read and assigned to my students more times than I'll admit!
The "prisoner" or "captain" or whomever you see in the second photo was actually in the window of a factory. The other photo is of another window on that same building. As best as I could tell, some sheet or something that was used to black out the windows was falling off or wearing away.
I guess I could rescue him (or her) by climbing on this:
I'm pretty sure that both are still used by trains; it's been a couple of years, at least, since I've seen a train pass over either of those trestles. Then again, that's about how long it's been since I've seen those trestles on a weekday, and I suspect that those trains run when the factories are open.
But if they aren't in use, I'd love to see them become the next High Line or Viaduct des Arts--except, of course, that bicycles would be allowed on it.
This is not an April Fool's joke: Today is the second.
Besides, you don't really believe that a nice, simple middle-aged woman (Is that a contradiction?) would play a joke on you, do you?
I really did buy that fixie you saw in yesterday's post. ;-)
Anyway...What I'm telling you today is true, although some of you familiar with the situation might think I'm extending April Fool's Day by another 24 hours.
If I go about a kilometer or so directly down the street on which I live, I come to an entrance for the Edward I. Koch Bridge. Those of you who don't live in New York and know what you know about this city from Simon and Garfunkel probably call it the 59th Street Bridge. Officially, it has been known as the Queensborough Bridge.
As you can imagine, I cycle over it fairly often. And, being a New Yorker, I can find reason to complain about it. Actually, you don't need to be a native of this city to find ptoblems with the crossing. The path on the north side of the bridge is divided between cyclists and pedestrians. It isn't wide enough for either, and sometimes rollers, skateboarders and surfers use it too. All right, I was kidding about the last one. But you get the picture.
Still, it's not bad, as bicycle/pedestrian accesses on local bridges go. It's been well-maintained and, of course, there are some interesting views. Plus, it takes you about as close to the Roosevelt Island finiculaire as you can get without riding it.
The main problem with it is getting on and off it. The path ended where 27th Street effectively dead-ended in Queensborough Plaza. And the traffic on that street is one-way, in the direction opposite from the one a cyclist would be riding upon exiting the bridge.
Until recently, there was one other alternative for exiting the bridge: turning left onto a path that wasn't really one. In other words, it was a strip of dirt in a berm that was, as often as not, full of glass. But it at least took cyclists to 23rd Street, where one could turn right and cycle toward my neighborhood and other points north. Or one could turn left and go underneath the bridge and train trestles to Silvercup studios and the factories and warehouses (some of which are now used for studios and other purposes) in Long Island City.
Well. the city Department of Transportation is paving that ad hoc path, effectively extending the bridge's bicycle/pedestrian path. The cynic in me gapes in disbelief that the city (or any American municipality besides Portland) is providing something safe and practical for cyclists. And--gasp--it's pretty convenient too (at least for me).
Now, if they could only extend the exit/entrance ramp on the Manhattan side just a bit. It ends on 60th Street and First Avenue. That's fine if you're going uptown, as that's the way the traffic goes on First. I sometimes take that route when riding to the George Washington Bridge. However, it's not so convenient if you're going downtown, as I do when I teach at the technical college on 34th Street.
I guess I should be thankful for what we get, and hopeful that we'll get more. Actually, it's rather nice to think that way.
In it, TSC is documenting the building--or, rather, making--of a bike that suits his particular needs and tastes. It's fascinating to follow his process, from his research and decision about what type of bike to buy to the ways he's customizing it.
