bike experiment, week 4; gigantic quotes twitter project; "harry potter is a self-hating jew"

in bike news, week 4 has come to a close.

week 4 stats

miles on bike: 125.5
rides on subway: 1
times i heard someone yell, at someone who wasn't me, "what, you not MAN ENOUGH to cycle IN THE STREET?": 1

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illustration by andrew bulger

in non-bike news, gigantic just launched a new online feature, called "the gigantic quotes twitter project." for the first day's quote, check out the gigantic blog.

the project got blogged about on vol. 1. not sure what it has to do with smithmag, but cool nonetheless. also, props on the title of the post: "harry potter is a self-hating jew."

non-bike experiment related update: stuff i wrote illustrated and/or published

illustration by arthur jones

kick-ass artist arthur jones illustrated my one-line short story "i have a hard time having a good time" for his "the whole story project," one-line short stories illustrated onto post-it notes.

for a brilliant interview with the man and institution that is arthur jones, check out (friend and gigantic co-editor) rozalia jovanovic's piece up at the rumpus.

(also thanks to rozi who alerted me to the contest.)

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new online newspaper the faster times is featuring my interview with the novelist john wray, entitled "how to write on the subway."

a lot of big names contributing there, including gary shteyngart, clancy martin, and others. a little bit about the faster times, as reported by the new york observer.

(thanks to adam who asked me to do the interview.)

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in other news, i am thinking about entering this, npr's "three-minute fiction" contest. deadline july 18th, 2009.

crash

met the pavement today, flew over handlebars, landed on shoulder and knee.

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and then i rode the rest of the way home.

total for the day: 22 miles (12 post-crash)

UPDATE (7/8/09): It seems the only permanent damage was not to my body, but to my ipod, which was in my bag. apparently the screen was crushed. it still works but now everything's that way computer monitors from the 1990s used to look.

bike experiment, week 3 wrap-up

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week 3 total: 90 miles

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SELECTED BIKE EXPERIMENT STATS, AFTER THREE WEEKS OF BIKE EXPERIMENT

miles: 223.5
subway rides: 10
amount saved by biking instead of purchasing a 30-day unlimited pass (projected): $59

pairs of blue-stained white shoes: 2
pairs of blue-stained white underpants: 3

accidents: 0
falls: 0
semi-near-death experiences where somebody honked or yelled at me to pay more attention: at least 3

times i was laughed at in a derisive way: 1
times i was "cat-called" by some random girls in a car: 1
times some drunk person in the east village said, "hey look it's hiro [nakamura from the television show "heroes"], it's really him!": 1

bike experiment, day 19

i rode 27 miles today. yesterday i rode 23. everyday this week i've been riding to and from columbia, where i've been teaching creative writing to high school students. i taught my two classes, went to a quick happy hour, talked and stood around with some of the other teachers for a while (one of whom had, earlier in the week, sold both his screenplay and his young adult sci-fi novel and who, at some point even earlier, i suspected had de-friended me off facebook). and then i rode home. along the greenway there was an usually large amount of horseshit, substantial mustard-colored clumps of it, littered across the lanes. i thought of poetry, and of how my work week was over, and of how i was going to spend the rest of my night. it began to rain hard and then thunder. i don't like to stop but this time it was too much. my shoes were filling up with water. i found shelter under a lean-to. standing there were a female jogger, a male jogger, and a guy in a business suit, all of whom were drier than me. hello, i said. i think i got a nod or two, though i couldn't really tell because my glasses were too fogged. we stood there. after a while the rain let up some and the business man and then the male jogger left. it started raining harder again. i pulled out my portable stereo and ipod and played "buckets of rain" and the female jogger smiled and i smiled back and thought about the city. the rain kept on and there we were. wet and waiting.

bike experiment, week 2

total for week one (in miles): 70
total for week two (in miles): 63.5
pairs of blue-assed underpants, from riding in the rain and getting soaked: 3

ADDITIONAL STATS UPDATE (7/1/09):

subway rides for week one: 3 or 4, i think
subway rides for week two: 3
subway rides for week three (so far): 3

bike experiment, days 7 and 8

day 7: 10 miles

7 day total: 70 miles

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day 8: 6.0 miles

though i've said this before, i think today's going to be the day i finally get a helmet.

this is the one i like:

UPDATE (6/22): Guess what I didn't do.

bike experiment, day 6

Gchat with Tao Lin (6/19/09)

7:20 PM me: i've been riding my bike like a motherfucker

7:21 PM Tao: nice

are you 'more fit' now

or did you lose weight or something

6 minutes

7:28 PM me: i am more fit now

when i walk i feel more powerful

Tao: nice

me: like when the ground pushes me, i push back

but harder

7:30 PM Tao: jesus

seems sweet

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total for day 6: 11.6 miles

total for 6 days: 64.7 mi

subway trips for the day: 2

subway trips for the week: 7

"near misses" for the day: 2 (guy on a bike clipped me at the bottom of the williamsburg bridge; accidentally rubbed tires with ben at a high speed)

bike experiment, days 4 and 5

day 4:

5.2 miles

rode over the williamsburg bridge with ben to attend the opium wiffleball event in a park in the lower east side. chain locked for the 3rd and 4th times this week. hands still mildly grease stained, a day later. played wiffle, ate dumplings, danced to a michael jackson song in a bar, rode back over the bridge with ben.

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day 5:

0 miles (too rainy)