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Idk why I only got hip to this method of transport as my primary one this summer as this is my 4th year living in New York. I was notoriously 30 min late everyday to any class before 12pm in college or any class I didnāt care about purely because my method was train or bus then train and Iām one of those people that always just thinks they have 20 minutes to spare when it takes so long for them to put a perfect outfit together and they then negate breakfast every morning. I was often late to morning shifts of retail jobs for similar reasons or the bus just was late late lateā¦ Or Iād oversleep so much going to class didnāt even seem worth it.
But now. I realize. If I had just taken a fucking bike. I really wouldnāt have been the latest girl in the world all these years. And I love biking; itās literally how I survived lockdown. my daily routine was get high all day and ride my bike around my suburban hometown to different locations and keep smoking (until this led to an actual psychosis.)
perhaps I was intimidated by nyc chaos. I will admit electric Citi bike is not for the faint of heart. Iāve almost gotten hit numerous times. And once somewhere around Times Square on my way to the JT concert, a strange man with a high quality camera took a picture up my skirt? Hopefully it was blurry as I was going the speed of light but idk. so many of the docks are broken which may cause insurmountable frustration? And there was one time this summer I went to 5 different stations and every dock all of them were dead and it felt like the electricity system was conspiring against my ability to meet my friends at Mott Street Eatery.
Regardless. Iāve felt safer transporting myself at night without the fee of an Uber. Iām more often at time. I feel like Iām flying. Ive gotten to reconnect with my passion of the bike ride. I love to whip around with my friends who equally love biking. And I feel unstoppable.
My dad wants me and my sister to invest in collapsable helmets but that feels embarrassing like borderline voyeuristic - and Iād have to really commit to the bit as I bike probably average 4x a day now. he says young people avoid safety precautions because we have huge ego. Considering the amount of accidents these fast ass bikes cause: he has a point.
Live love laugh electric Citi bike. Itās an art you should master. I have a need for speed.
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One time I went on a bike ride from Boston to Newport, RI, and it was honestly one of the best times of my life. I remember setting out and being nervous about whether or not I'd be able to make it the whole way. I was pretty new to biking in general and had never created my own route before, so I ended up riding along a lot of highways and paths that definitely weren't made for my bike.
I wrote a new journal entry each time I went through a new town and stopped to take a picture of everything that I thought was pretty, which was nice because you can't always stop to do that in a car, and I feel like it made me take closer note of everything that was going on around me and everything going through my mind. No detour had to "make sense." I was just biking.
I met so many different people who I still think about every so often. My two battery packs and my phone died multiple times, so I had to pivot and find somewhere to stop. I met a woman at the CVS who let me use their picture station because they have all the cords you need and her daughter ended up being one of my classmates. She told me to make sure to call my mom and let her know where I was, and we had a really nice conversation.
It kind of felt like I was in the Truman Show because I don't think I ran into a single person who wasn't nice to me, and we always had something to talk about because everyone wanted to know why I was biking 80 miles. It was mostly because I was bored, but I also wanted to visit a friend. It was pretty spontaneous, and I was underprepared, but I have so many good memories from that trip.
My friend's girlfriend was working on getting her sailing license, and she took us on a sunset cruise that was hosting a bachelorette party and a golf club and we all drank so much champagne and just talked. We went to his local bar and talked to every single person in there. I met a guy who would only let us play darts if we threw them while his hand was on the board, and he ended up getting us drinks the whole night.
Before then, I had never been around that many people who were just genuinely interested in getting to know each other. I had always fallen into just having a specific group of people that I'd open up to and be myself around (which is fine and valid), but it wasn't really until then that it kind of clicked that I was kind of hiding "myself" or all the versions of "myself" that I could be and closing myself off from meeting people who I could get along with or share things in common with, and I carried that feeling the entire way back and met even more people. I stopped at more restaurant's and food trucks to eat alone, and I felt comfortable; it wasn't lonely, and I wasn't afraid to ask someone to take a picture of me or to ask where they were from and just talk.
This post started as something completely different in my head, but I said all of this to say that biking definitely changed my life for the better. I want to bike further, and I want to bike with my friends, and I want to see more things on my bike. Some of my favorite memories from the past 5 years happened while biking. My mom thought it was crazy to spend $450 on a bike, but if you take good care of it, it can last for years and I'm gonna use the same bike to plan a trip cross-country with an Amtrak rail pass this summer.
If you've been considering it, I HIGHLY suggest buying a bike.
Mar 30, 2024
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Well, CitiBike in NYC and Divvy in Chicago, I split my time between the two as of late. I fell in love with the regular CitiBikes quite a few years ago here in NYC whenĀ it clicked with me just how muchĀ faster they were to get around the city than taking an Uber (which now feel about as enjoyableĀ as being on a zoom call) or taking the train. The eBike situationĀ changed everything. My friend Joe Holder refers to the pedal assistĀ function they have as positive use of "strategicĀ laziness" which I love. Not only do theyĀ help get you to a meeting far less sweaty and winded than a normal bike, they're incrediblyĀ fun. I use them for both functional transport and leisure. When the temp is just right, there is nothing more enjoyableĀ than a ride (on alucky one that is completely free of rattles) from downtown up to CentralĀ Park, around the park, then back while listening to whatever audiobook I might be finishing that week. I just wish they were even faster, though, I've had my friendsĀ describe my riding style as "insane" so maybe that'sĀ not a great idea.
Aug 26, 2021
Was down yesterday; decided I had to break out. Rode my bike to Coney Island as the sun set. I had to suit up for the coldāin NYC theres no snow or ice yet so it was possibleāthermals and puffer. I remembered on the ride that Iām so sick like the coolest. I hadnāt rode my bike out to Coney since I was a teenager.
The return night ride along the belt parkway I passed only three other people just striding by the Narrows. To my rightāhundreds of car headlights pointed to the airport. It like forced me to give myself some credit.
Dec 16, 2024
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women who run with wolves, women who run with rats.
the true ultimate bonding activity for you and the girls. because youāll never forget how they sheltered you when you were low.
one of the most liberating rituals I perform in New York is popping a squat in between parked cars or a dark corner and letting it all goā¦. wild wild women we are deemed to be.
they may look down upon us because perhaps it isnāt āpoliteā. But when youāre bursting at the seams, why must we settle for discomfort? Whatās a girl to do? We are not graced with simplicity to turn to the wallā subtly concealed without judgement. Our anatomy binds us to the confines of bearing it all in a squat. With added complexity given the outfit of choice. And always the obstacle of not splattering our cute shoes. but id only be telling you a falsehood if I said peeing outdoors isnāt so enjoyable whether it be in the middle of a forest or the city street. Even when all odds may be stacked against you.
Only God can judge me. But God is a woman anyway.
Feb 13, 2024
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Itās okay. itās not for validation, itās for performance art. Linda Montano said living life itself is her lifelong performance because she declared that it was. Trisha Paytas has carried on that performance practice. So Iām hot on instagram when the spirit compels me to be. But in like a durationally artistic way and for my future lifelong archive, to show my granddaughters that I was also young and fertile once and my boobs were decently sized and semi perky. They should know. That I was that girl once before I was grey and a bit wrinkled and more bitter than I am currently; for traditional reasons.
Mar 14, 2024
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Iām post-grad, unemployed, no direction, sick with a stomach flu or something, went on 3 back to back trips so like I spent a lot of money, clearly have lots of time to write and recommend and ponder and not be ridden with confusion and anxiety these days.
So yes, of course here I am. Back at last to Perfectly Imperfect. Youāve caught me red-handed. Crawling back as Iām glued to my couch currently on a nocturnal sleep schedule due to perhaps a combination of my illness and my body remaining in a time zone opposite to the one I must adjust back to.
Hope someone out there missed me. The bitch is back.
Jul 28, 2024