sidehacks

so dope.

anyways head's up i'm back on the left coast.
update from the past two weeks to come.
i hope things have been well.

bomb down broadway

i love new york.

finding peace

and i pull back

reconsidering all my considerations
all that which i feel, here, and with you, him, and her
left alone to slip away

when a soft voice sings and a quiet melody plays

and all i want to see is the sun through the clouds
and all i want to hear is the wind through the trees
and all i want is to be stripped bare of it all

to feel everything and think nothing

a moment or two

taken to remember 9/11/01.

i'm back in the city on the day.
as far as i travel, as much time i spend elsewhere,
more of my heart will remain here.

today i love:

riding with good people all sunday.
this included:
-thai breakfast at the temple in berkeley
-claremont dmv farmers market
-bike church at manifesto
-katrina rozelle cake samples on college
-the ethiopian cultural festival at lake merritt

getting over sickness.
flying tonight to spend two weeks in new york.

today i love today and days to come.

green car

the future is here!
www.aptera.com

bicycle-talk: helmets

i know that there are some people in my life i only know through bikes and bike riding. but it was made apparent to me the other day, when i ran into a friend that i hadn't seen in a while, that some of these people may have a hard time recognizing me when i don't have my helmet on (and am off my bike). this confirmed that i do in fact wear my helmet every time i ride my bike (barring extraordinarily unforeseen circumstances). it also brought to attention once more the fact that there are a good number of riders in this local area that don't habitually rock a lid.

now. i recognize the fact that riders will ride as they will; many of my friends and family still do not wear helmets even after several years to more than a decade of riding bikes. i mean i grew up riding bmx on the streets of new york, with very, very sporadic helmet donning. but i will thank, personally, a specific someone i recently went to visit in portland for making my helmet-wearing a second nature. it's gotten to the point where i feel strange when not wearing my helmet, rather than when i am wearing it. and this is only within the past few years.

so i might as well just have out my spiel. if you've read this far you're not so sensitive that you'll get into an argument about helmet wearing, and you should know by now that whatever you wear while you ride is fine with me.

i don't think they are the be-all, end-all in safety equipment; they just provide a decent degree of protection for your brain. you can fall down on your side, break a bone or two, break your helmet, and you might avoid a concussion. whereas that same situation without a helmet may result in a plate in your skull along with the pins in your collarbone. you can still be mortally injured while wearing a helmet. just as you could without.

i do think they will provide, if not you, the people who care about you a degree of relief. they might not rest, but they can at least be assured that you're a little protected from the elemental forces of the road. in the least you can wear a helmet for them; your family and friends. you don't want to have to call them from the hospital getting your head wrapped when you could have just told them you broke your arm. i know that's what i would prefer. (though of course i would prefer over that not having to visit a hospital at all.)

anyways enough with the patternless rant; here's me in my helmet looking silly, but safe.



my favorite helmet companies:
giro for the light, vented race lids.
bern for the light, better-coverage bucket lids.
troy lee designs for the light, fancy, full-coverage full-face lids.

insomnia findings

ok.



why in the heck is urban outfitters selling my home subway sign on the internet?

i didn't realize things like this were so novel. are people buying BART or muni signage? like this?



wow. that's really unexciting.

night riding

10-something pm. tuesday night.

i felt restless so i grabbed my bike and went out. it seemed almost like a mission; i packed my bag light, attached my lights, tied my hair up, zipped my windbreaker, and threw on my gloves. rolling into the night alone.

the first stop was an empty garage i'd been to once before. maybe ten blocks away. the streets are quiet. there sits one parked car. the floor is dirty, slick, dark concrete that handles you firmly if you slip up. i'm learning to be ambidextrous; i spent a handful of moments skidding, sharpening my bike skills.

the second stop was a cafe a little farther and took a bit longer. it gave me an endpoint and a reason to breathe hard. it's a slight uphill for a few miles but you can carry your momentum through the dips to conserve energy. by the time i got there my shirt was damp and i was thoroughly warmed up. so i took my time and slowed down for a bit. got a tea, sat, thought, and wrote. i asked myself many questions, trying my perceptions, challenging my tendencies. somewhere along the way i found a moment of clarity, an edge through the haze that broadened to become a clearing. i immediately stood up and left. i found what i needed; it was time to go home.

resetting myself in my accoutrements, i set back onto the pavement. it took less than one minute to gather my rhythm, and i was off. i arrived at each light just as they turned green, threading between the cars just as they began to move. i gained speed. the pavement that was smooth, i savored. the pavement that was rough, i floated over with no effort. i pulled left and right for the few cars that passed me, spotting their headlights and hearing their engines well before they pulled forward. i caught and passed them later, at the next lights. i maintained my speed, adjusted my rhythm to the flow of the lights. i never had to stop.

after the last light turned green before my block, i let the muscles in my legs go loose and free. the momentum pulled me the rest of the way. i needed nothing but understanding.

travel-talk: portland recap

people keep asking me, "how was portland?", and the most frequent response turns out to be, "pretty mellow. really mellow." i think that about sums it up.

now i'm not really trying to talk it down or anything like that; i was certainly occupied, entertained, and having a good time. i got to ride my bike around new streets, paths, and around a brand-new-to-me landscape. i ate at many good vegan-friendly joints. i played at a couple arcades, watched a couple movies, and hung out in a bunch of parks (they're everywhere!!). i spent time with good people.

but it definitely felt small. and slow. very slow. and shallow. i don't mean superficial, but that it was not densely populated like the cities i'm used to. it was a strange composition of urban and suburban that i couldn't quite feel natural in. i was there for a week and still not acclimated.. even if by then i was familiar. i rode a lot, and covered a lot of ground in those days. but i covered less ground in less days when i was in vancouver, and still feel more comfortable with that city. maybe.

in any case there is one thing i came to realize about portland, whether it was the geographical location or weather or interpersonal conditions, is that i thought, reflected, and introspected a lot out there. my mind was catalyzed towards understanding myself and my position on this earth. i wrote a lot. i made decisions about my perceptions. it was meditative; and completely unintentionally so. it is just the way it turned out to be.

i shot some photos, but not many. of the 75 taken, i only chose to post 15. that's only one out of five. i'm not sure if it was the shooting conditions or my state of mind, but it almost felt like shooting with film. i was very choosy about what i shot. some just didn't come through for me, while a few really felt right. so here are some, and this is where i leave you. i don't have much more to say about portland. even if i will probably return there sometime for sometime. oh to realize the importance of some people.









a few more on my flickr.
oh i must note that the sky was amazing almost every day while i was there. i could sit and watch the clouds go by forever.

back in the mix - holy crap it's september

after a botched attempt to check my bag (15 minutes too late?)
onto saturday evening's 6pm flight from portland to oakland,
i stayed one more night in the other cool port city of the west coast.
it's funny how tripped out one could get over something as small,
insignificant as missing a flight. well at least in this recent context.
maybe i'm just lucky i didn't need to be anywhere fast.
and had a place to continue staying until my next flight.
so i kept my cool and went with the circumstances.

but sunday morning came through for me!
and here i am back in the bay area,
back rolling on my bike almost immediately.
back in the mix with all them bike people.
back to the local spots and familiar streets.

but yeah, i'm tired from everything,
so i'll do a proper portland recap in the morning.