CYC: What train are we on now? Joseph: F. // CYC: We're on the F train. Joseph: Uptown. CYC: Goin' uptown. Joseph: Yes. CYC: I think it's pretty cool you can take your bike on the train here in New York. Has that always been the case is it a new thing or . . . Joseph: Nah as long as I remember. I've been here my whole life just about. CYC: So why do you ride your bike? Joseph: It saves time. I don't have a car now but when I had the car, you can't park in Ma'hatten. It cost astronomical money to park in Ma'hatten. I work at Queens at night, my mother lives in Brooklyn right, an' I have a' apartment in Harlem, a job program inna daytime by Delancey so it's better for me to ride the bike you know, all these stops I gotta make. CYC: Right, so it's like a good way to get around. The combination of the trains and your bike you can get anywhere you want to. Joseph: Faster. CYC: Faster, cheaper. Joseph: Yeah. CYC: So generally you think it's a good way to get around in New York is to have a bike. Joseph: Yeah: good for your cardiovascular (laughter). CYC: It's good for your health. Joseph: If you gotta go too far you just put it on the train.

CYC: Why do you ride your bike? Why are you on your bike right now? Clark: uhh I ride it for exercise basically. I have a monthly metro card, I could be riding the subway but during the summer I try to ride my bike as much as possible I got my trusty Blue Bonnie a one-speed, blue girl's Schwinn. CYC: Alriiiight. Clark: She's a sex machine cuz she gets up, she gets on up, she STAYS on the scene CYC: It's a beautiful machine. Clark: I've actually had the seat and the tires stolen off of it. I usually park it outside and not have a problem, some times you leave it different neighborhoods you know. CYC: So what's good about ridin a bike in New York though? Clark: I can actually get around with a little bit more time on a bike than the subway it doesn't take me all that much longer. They are making a lot more bike paths, you can see one here and those have just been poppin up in the last year actually. There are a couple of paths that have no cars at all along the river on both side of the island. They've been building bike paths on all three of the bridges. CYC: That's good to hear. In chicago they've been putting more of these bike lines . . . oh
Jenny: Hi. Clark: Friend of mine. Jenny: Hiya. Do you guys know where to get stamps around here? Clark: Actually I don't. Jenny: How are you? Clark: I'm doing a little bike interview here. Jenny: ohh . . . CYC: No no that's fine. That's actually one thing I like about bikes is you're on the street and you meet your friends and . . . Jenny: . . . and then they like ask you questions and they interrupt and . . . CYC: No no I like that. that's one thing I like, for example policemen on bicycles for the same reason. You're at human level, you're at foot level. Jenny: Definitely. CYC: And actually I think one of the benefits of living in a city is bumpin' into friends. Jenny: Absolutely. CYC: If you were in your car going wherever, you were you wouldn't get a chance to say hello. Clark: You know what there's a post office on east Broadway but that's down a ways. Off Fallon actually there's a post office, that's the only one I can think of. Jenny: Sorry to interupt. CYC: No its good, its fine Jenny: Nice to see you. Clark: Good to see you. Jenny: Bye nice to meet you. Clark: There's paths that're just for bikers and walkers if you go all the way to the Hudson river you'll see the path and it's really nice views.
CYC: New York's had some big events over the past several years and another thing we see on the news when like the power went down was the traffic jams trying to get out of the city and stuff . . . did bicyclists have it easier in times of uh difficulty to get out or to move around in general. To go to their friends and family. To commute around, if traffic's at a standstill, can bikes manouvre in and out more easily? Clark: It's interesting you asked that because I've recently thought about that. I wasn't here in the blackout I was out of town, but I know that if it something like that happens the traffic getting out. I mean even getting away on the weekends is a mess. I just went up to Conneticut which should have been a two and a half hour drive this weekend. Left at two thirty on Friday and it took five hours to get to where we were going. We didn't get over twenty miles per hour. It took over an hour and a half just to get out of the city . CYC: Wow. Clark: And that's just the weekend. If there's a panic and a chaos, a bike or a motorbike would be your best bet. CYC: Yeah. Clark: Like a scooter or motorcycle cuz then you can go through the traffic. CYC: Or a Segway human transporter! Clark: Turbo charged!

Aaron: I'm goin ta pick up veggies at the veggie stand down on third avenue and twenty sixth street. CYC: Ok so it's a good way to get around. Aaron: Yeah that's the way of my transportation. CYC: Do you even own a car? Aaron: No, I occasionally buy a metro card but . . . CYC: So you don't even take the train or bus that much. Aaron: I try to avoid it if I can. I take my bike everywhere. CYC: And why is that? Aaron: Because its faster and cheaper. CYC: How bout the winter time, d'you ride even in the winter? Aaron: As long as I can last. Eventually I cave. But if I can make it I'll try to stay on my bike the whole winter. CYC: How's New York getting around. There's a lot more traffic here. Aaron: The traffic isn't bad. The traffic is kind of fun. You have all the factors hapenning at once, and the person walking across the street, and you got the other cars, and the other guy backing up in the truck about TO HIT YOU. Right NOW!!!!! (truck kills James but he springs back to life)
CYC: So like it sounds like you've got some good personal reasons to do this. It's a well considered way to get around. Are there bigger issues you're thinking about too or is it . . . Aaron: like environmental issues or anything? CYC: Yeah. Aaron: I . . . I mean I am aware of it, and I try to live my life in a way that's as . . . uncontradictory as possible. And I think riding a bike is a good way to iron out some of those issues as an American, you deal with all the time. Most Americans just walk outta your house and you're going to be like participating in things that if you think about it too hard, it's going to make you sick. And so riding a bike is a good way: alright I got my ducks in a line, my moral ducks in a line. I ride a bike: it's cool. CYC: I like that. Aaron: It's a tough thing and you've gotta choose where you're gonna be contradictory. You're gonna be fucked up.
CYC: Some of the big events over the past several years you hear about in other cities. Like we saw the pictures of the blackout the main photos we saw were of the standstill of traffic and I was wondering if you were on a bike at the time. Aaron: I actually was on the train, I had just gotten outta the train at the time, but the greatest thing about the blackout: the blackout night was a BLAST. CYC: Really ? ! ? Aaron: It was a TOTAL blast For everyone I know that was in New York. And what I did is I took my bike with a couple of other people, and we went into the city and we biked around with flash lights. CYC: Oh really! Aaron: IT WAS the most beautiful thing you've EVER seen in your ENTIRE life, because the buildings in this city are so gorgeous. Everywhere they're so beautiful but the thing is you don't notice. You see the first floor and you never tip your head up to look what's above. And so what happened in the black out is we biked through, and you couldn't see what was on the ground level at all cuz it was totally black. And you just sort of would see the moonlight or maybe a car that was down the street shining and casting a big shadow and it looked like a comic book. CYC: Interesting ! Aaron: You know how in comic book drawings they have the big buildings of cities and building after building after building? That's what it looked like, it was absolutely gorgeous.
A bike was the best place to be during the blackout.

CYC: You say you just bought your bike, tell me about it. Doug: I'm fifty six years old ya know and I haven't excercized or worked out in a long time. And I smoke so I was like I gotta do something! I bought this. I figured I would ride it into work at least two or three times a week. CYC: great. Doug: I'm hoping that it'll ah you know give me the incentive to quit smoking heh heh. When I was in my twenties I quit smoking for six months and at the time I was playin' basketball three times a week. So the feeling of everytime goin' out there and each time feeling better and more stamina. CYC: Are you enjoying yourself right now? Doug: Oh yeah I've always enjoyed it, since I was a kid.