Yawn

If I'm bored with this, I can only imagine, dear readers, what you all must be thinking. I'll try and come up with something to spice it up a bit. 5.33 miles today. Here's the 4.1 mile photo, sunrise out over the Dyker Golf Course:

Day 13 and a Little Personal History

Less than 12 hours from yesterday's ride, I was not only out and about, but rode a little more. 7.18 miles, to be exact. I'm tired, but I feel good. There's something energizing about riding at dawn and seeing the first light illuminating Manhattan:


And here's today's 4.1 mile picture:


And now for a little digression.

Last Friday, I shared with my Weight Watchers meeting what I was doing on the bike and my leader, Maggie, gave me nine "Bravo" stickers to honor the first nine days of the current journey. I've placed them on the bike for some additional inspiration.


I got the bike for my birthday in 2002, a gift from my Mom, and I started doing longer rides that fall, including the New York Century Bike Tour (I did the 35-mile route) and the Tour de Bronx. I remember people being skeptical that I could do the ride. At the time I remember being puzzled as to why.

Of course, in hindsight, this was why:


That's the best/worst "before" picture I have. In July 2003, I recall going out for a morning bike ride, dropping the kids off at their summer camp program, and heading to the subway.

I stopped and grabbed a bite for the train. I was hungry from my ride and I wanted to try this new thing they called a "McGriddle" at McDonald's (460 calories, 21 grams of fat). So much for that exercise.

That night, Melanie brought home a Weight Watchers scale, because she had ended one meeting series and needed to take it to another location. Melanie became an employee of the company after losing 65 pounds.

I stepped on the scale, expecting to see a hefty 220. I wasn't sure when I last had weighed myself, probably the doctor's office.

I couldn't believe the number that popped up. 235.6 pounds.

Impossible.

I told Melanie that the scale must be broken. She stepped on and said "Nope, it's working fine."

I started Weight Watchers on line that night, started going to meetings in August, and by March of 2004, was at my new goal weight of 179 pounds.

Of course, the journey was a bit more difficult than that, and it continues to be.

I'm currently hovering about five pounds over my goal weight after sliding back to about 200 over the winter.

The bicycle has always been a key to my weight loss success, and I am looking forward to being back at that magical 179.

Rainy Morning, Beautiful Afternoon

It was raining this morning, so I postponed my ride until the afternoon. Good thing. I had a nice afternoon ride of 6.18 miles.

And my 4.1 mile photo was breathtaking:


I should be back on the early morning schedule tomorrow.

Afternoon Ride for a Sunny Sunday

I slept in for the first time in quite a while and saved my ride for the afternoon, when the bike path was choked with people. I planned well and spent the bulk of my ride riding north, with a strong southerly tailwind.

My 4.1 mile picture is nothing to blog about, but I have to anyway:


That's looking south toward Caesar's Bay.

I ended the day with a sunny 9.75 mile ride.

I'm a little worried about tomorrow because the forecast calls for rain all day. Let's see how I'll manage the elements.....

To Coney Island and Back

Well, I took a more circuitous route, but today I took advantage of the weekend and went out to Coney Island:

The problem was, at 4.1 miles, the only scenic thing around was the sunrise above the Belt Parkway:


Today's ride: 17.05 miles.

See you tomorrow!

Oh, Thank Heaven 7.11 7.17 on 7/11

Day 9 in the great 41st birthday riding challenge and I am looking forward to the weekend, when I can ride later in the day and give y'all a little bit more variety.

I did get a nice sunrise this morning. Here's the view from the pier in Bay Ridge, looking north at lower Manhattan:


And another sunrise shot:


I rode 7.17 palindromic miles today. Here's a lame shot from 4.1 miles:

Best Dressed Fire Hydrant in Brooklyn

Perhaps more amusing than the photo is the image of passers-by looking at me while I was taking a picture of a fire hydrant with a tie on it.

Any Way the Wind Blows, Or, Cruising Through the Narrows

Well, the wind was blowing in the opposite direction today, much to my chagrin, reaffirming the rule that one should always check the weather details before a bike ride.

So, I did a little backtracking and tallied 7.43 miles this morning, completing a full week of riding on consecutive days. Just 32 (gulp!) more to go!

Our 4.1 mile picture today is a close-up of a cruise ship heading toward its dock in Manhattan:

I knew I would get a shot of this at the 4.1 mile mark, after catching a little bit of a more breathtaking view a mile or so earlier, just as the ship was passing under the Verrazano Bridge and the sunrise was reflecting in its windows:

Incidentally, it was right at the 4.1 mile mark that I turned around and took advantage of the tailwind.

Tom Disch, 1940-2008

Yesterday I noticed, on the Best American Poetry blog, there was a post announcing the death of the writer Tom Disch. Read it here. His obituary in the New York Times is here.

I mention this because, in my 11+ years in New York City, I have crossed paths with many writers and feel a certain pang when one of them leaves this world.

Here's an excerpt from my journal (back before blogging killed it) commemorating my meeting with Mr. Disch.

JAN 15 1999 8NPrince [on the N train between 8th Street and Prince] 5:40pm
Just spent a half hour chatting with the author/poet Tom Disch in a coffee
shop off of Union Square.

I had called him yesterday, out of the blue, asking him to sign books & he
agreed...[to meet me] this afternoon, after I got off of work.

I blaze out of work at 4:45 & make great time. We meet at 5, he asks about
me etc. & we talk about poetry & writing. Details?

He admired my "chutzpah" in calling out of the blue & asking him to sign.
Have I done this before? I mention Rachel [Wetzeon, who I had also
contacted previously and with whom I had met] & he seems surprised. In this
day and age, how do you know who to trust? etc. etc. "Well," I say, "the
worse thing that can happen is they say no." He corrects me: "Ah, not true.
The worst thing they can do is fall in love with you."

He doesn't like poetry readings, per se, & does them as favors.The money's
nice, but really they're drab, boring affairs.

He filled me in on some of his latest projects. And then, at 5:30, I bowed
out, & he was kind about it."

So that was that. I didn't record at the time that he did sign some books. In all, I have signatures from him in all 5 volumes of The Best American Poetry, in which he appeared, as well as a nice inscription in his 1997 book A Child's Garden of Grammar.

I don't recall ever seeing him again. Based on his comments about poetry readings, this is hardly surprising. I forgot about that comment he made which was really very funny: "the worst thing they can do is fall in love with you". Indeed.

Farewell, Mr. Disch, thank you for giving me a half hour of your time back in 1999.

Day Seven

5.17 miles this morning. Would have been a little longer but, as the 4.1 mile picture indicates:


The wind was blowing from the south and I was riding from the north into the wind. Not terrible, but noticeable enough to slow me a bit. The flag is flying on the turret of a building on Shore Road.

Trying to Keep it Fresh

One might surmise, riding the bike every day is not so difficult. However, think about the Arts, how often does cycling make for an exciting story? Indeed, very seldom.

So blogging for 41 straight days about 41 consecutive rides, most of which are constrained by time, is more challenging than the act of riding itself. Or, at least, blogging in an interesting manner is the challenge.

Therefore, I try different routes. Today I rode to the Dyker Beach Golf Course, and did two loops. Then rode home. 5.65 miles all told. Nothing spectacular. Even the 4.1 mile photo is a little, eh.


And I forgot my handy dandy day marker on the desk at home. You'll have to take my word for it.

BillyBlog Plays 52-Card Pickup, The Ace of Spades Diamonds

It's been a while since I've found a card, but today I found a doozy, on Fourth Avenue and 90th Street in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn:


























The following cards have been found:

The Seven of Hearts and The King of Diamonds (April 24, 2008)

The Three of Clubs (March 29, 2008)

The King of Hearts
and the Three of Spades.
(February 28 and March 25, 2008)

View them all together here.

Glutton for Punishment

I know. It's really not that bad. People exercise a whole lot more than me, and I'm not racking up amazing mileage (7.12 miles this morning), but my body is still adjusting. To fit the schedule for a work day, I rose at 5:00 AM to ride, and I'm so not a morning person. I'd rather ride at 11:00 PM, but there are safety issues to consider.

Here's our 4.1 mile picture today:

I figured it was fitting since I'm so tired!

Longest Ride in the Streak

It's still early (Day 4), but I rode longer than I have in the last four days, and longer than I have in a while. Today's tally was 15.07 miles.

I rode from Bay Ridge to Prospect Park and did a loop before heading home.

At 4.1 miles, I found myself along the south border of Brooklyn's famous Green-Wood Cemetery. Here's an early morning shot.


So far so good, in the 41-day challenge. However, the real challenge lies ahead.....as the work week begins and I aim (ahem) to rise a little earlier and do a quick loop along the Shore Promenade.

Neither Rain, Nor Sleet, Nor Gloom of Night....

Ok, that's perhaps a little over-dramatic. But it's drizzly today. Good excuse not to ride? Nah.


That's from the 69th Street Pier in Bay Ridge.

At 4.1 miles, I took this shot:


It's a look at the Verrazano Bridge from the north. Here's a closer look a few minutes later:


That's from the 92nd Street footbridge over the Belt Parkway. I was cutting through the Shore Road park and, coincidentally, at 4.41 miles, I saw this and felt it was worth another picture.



I have now been on the bike three straight days. 5.32 miles today, shortened by cool, breezy, drizzly conditions.

The Day After the Beginning

My 41 days of riding continued today, despite some early rain this morning (and more than 41 ounces of beer last night).

The 4.1 mile picture is here:


That's from the Belt Parkway bike path, just east of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.

Today I rode 10.02 miles.

Happy Independence Day!

Check out a great New York City story here. A snapshot of the diversity of NYC in one subway car.

Celebrating 41, The Hard Way

Last year I impressed even myself, celebrating my 40th birthday by posting 40 times over the course of the day.

How to top that this year?

41 posts?

Hmm. Not likely. I don't have the time to compose so many posts, or at least interesting ones. That wouldn't be quite fair, I believe.

So what, then?

Then an idea struck me on July 1, two days before my birthday.

Several months ago, I saw my doctor for the first time in quite a while. The blessing of good health kept me away from him. And when they did a full work-up of my blood, I was the model of health, with one exception - my cholesterol is through the roof.

This, frankly, pissed me off. Ever since losing 55 pounds with Weight Watchers several years ago, my diet has been incredibly healthy. I rarely eat red meat, I only use skim milk, I eat soy cheese and other soy-based meat substitutes. I rarely eat eggs. Rich desserts are treats, not the norms. I have large salads for dinner multiple times a week. How did this happen?

So we waited six weeks and ran the blood again. During these six weeks, I incorporated more bran into my breakfast (generally fruit and yogurt). I eliminated a lot of the chicken from my lunch salads. I patronized the local fruit vendors around Madison Square Garden and shunned unhealthy foods. I continued my regular lunchtime walks (from 31st Street down Seventh Avenue to 14th Street and back up Eighth Ave).

Last week I got the results back, expecting great news. My cholesterol actually went up a point.

As the youngsters say, WTF?

So my doc says I'm going on a statin med to lower my cholesterol. I protest. "What if I ride my bike more?" He looked at me and said, "That would be like pissing into the wind." I knew what he meant, but now that I think about it, it's not really that good a metaphor.

With my family history (see my Pop's recent posts over at his blog), I guess we can chalk it up to genetics.

But, getting back to the matter at hand, my what-to-do-in-honor-of-my-41st-birthday conundrum, I looked to the fact that I have barely been on my bike since April. In fact, I rode it more in the November-March period than in the April-June period. Defies logic.

So, to make a long story longer, I have decided to gift myself this 41st birthday with a challenge. And I'm posting it here on BillyBlog to cement in a higher level of accountability.

This morning, on the anniversary of my birth, I got my old middle-aged (ugh, really?) ass out of the house and on my bike, and I rode it.

And here, dear reader, is a photo of my 41-year old self, still tired, posing with the Verrazano Narrows Bridge:


And here is the celebration part. It is my goal to ride my bike, every day, for the next 41 days.

Yes, between my birthday and August 12, I intend to ride my bike. And I will bore you all with the details like, today, July 3, 2008, I rode 5.14 miles and I saw a dead rat. Or whatever. I'll try to keep it interesting for all of us. I'll even keep you posted on other vital statistics.

On the ride, I decided to give a snapshot to you all whenever I hit, you guessed it, 4.1 miles. Here's today's 4.1-mile picture:


I started my cholesterol prescription last weekend and I didn't sprout a tail or anything weird. It's a low dosage and I'm looking forward to good numbers in August when I re-test.

And if this sounds like all work and no play, don't worry. I'll drink at least 41 ounces of beer tonight in celebration of another milestone.

Thanks for reading.

By the way, first order of business was filling my flat tires with $0.75 worth of air:

New York Minute: Waterfall from a Moving Train

Haven't heard of this? Read the New York Times article here.

A Love Note to Moe, from Shemp

Found on the southeast corner of 81st Street and 4th Avenue, Brooklyn, June 28, 2008

More Statues of Liberty Spotted!

Melanie spotted the Kansas City Royals statue on the steps of One Liberty Plaza this morning.

Also, an Anonymous commenter posted that the Colorado Rockies statue is at 1 New York Plaza downtown.

And Peterpanic reports "White Sox is in front of the Walgreens on 4th ave and 14th street."

And aswang in the city reports "NY giants is inside toys r'us in times square, near the entrance."

Here's a map where you can find them all. I'd go around and take pictures, but I have a job.
There's also a fan photo gallery here.

Pearl Jam at Madison Square Garden (Night 2)

I celebrated my birthday a week early with my fifth Pearl Jam concert. I just wanted to share a brief minute from one of the encores. Thank goodness for YouTube:



Here's the complete set list:

Set List: Release, World Wide Suicide, Severed Hand, Corduroy, All Night, Cropduster, Garden, Marker, I'm Open, Wishlist, State Of Love And Trust, Even Flow, Who You Are, Rats, Given To Fly, Do The Evolution, Go

Encore 1: Inside Job, W.M.A., Lukin, I Believe in Miracles with guest C.J. Ramone playing bass guitar, Better Man/Save It For Later, Rearviewmirror

Encore 2: No More, Last Kiss, Why Go, Black Diamond w/Matt Cameron & Mike McCready lead vocals with guest guitar player Ace Frehley, Alive, Yellow Ledbetter/Star Spangled Banner

The performance of the KISS classic Black Diamond, with legendary Ace Frehley on guitar was one of the most memorable parts of the evening.

Statues of Liberty on Parade: The New York Mets

In the spirit of The Cow Parade, New York City's upcoming hosting of the Major League Baseball All-Star Game next month has a publicity parade of its own. Although this occasion was discussed earlier this month in the media (New York Times article here), Wednesday morning revealed this New York Mets-themed statue in Penn Plaza, directly in front of the Borders store.


Of course, Mr. Met was relegated to the back of the statue:


When I see any of the other teams, I will post photos here.

Found on Third Avenue, Brooklyn: Random Post-It

Note to self: Next time, could you please be more specific?

George Carlin, 1937-2008

My kids will likely not know George Carlin for what he is best at (at 12 and 9, they're still a little too young for The Seven Words...), but they will recognize him from this autographed picture hanging in our bathroom (what better place?).

I don't know the Wayne to whom this inscribed, but I got it when an old production company was selling off all its old junk and I landed this framed, autographed picture.

I had the pleasure of meeting George briefly when he signed a copy of his first book Brain Droppings for me at Book Soup in West Hollywood, and then again in New York for Napalm and Silly Putty at the Rockefeller Center Barnes & Noble.

But I never got to see him perform live.

And now I never will.

Rest in Peace, George.