Riding Hurricane Sandy

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestmailby feather

Before I was an Arizonan, I was a New Yorker. The first 24 years of my life were spent in all corners of that wonderfully diverse state. The last corner I called home there was NYC. That dirty city is forever a part of me. It’s what made me the sarcastic prick I am today and I wouldn’t trade my time there for anything. I was just there a few weeks ago bumping around town on BMX bikes with old friends and drinking whiskey with SnakeHawk and Corey the Courier.  I can’t begin to comprehend what my old neighborhood in the East Villiage looks like right now.

Around these parts we tend to look at things like the 2002 Paris Roubaix or the 2011 Downhill worlds to be amazing and tough efforts because it was raining and there was shit weather. Well Casey Neistat, the guy who brought you Bike Thief 2012, spent some time on his bike in the streets of downtown NYC while Sandy was happening. This might be the toughest effort on a bike we have seen around here in a while.

YouTube Preview Image

I personally have a large amount of friends and family in that area, and so does drunkcyclist. Our ties to that town run deep. To everybody in the area, from The Shore to Shaolin, we are sending you all of our best wishes. And if you need a dry place to crash, there is plenty of room for you out here in the desert. First round is on me.

Be well and keep it dirty…

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestmailby feather

About dirty biker

I am a fan of singletrack, singlespeeds, single women and single malt. Currently in Carbondale, CO Follow on Instagram @dirty_biker

23 Replies to “Riding Hurricane Sandy”

  1. I live in Northern New Jersey. All the predictions were for “Run for the hills boys”.

    Bu all we got was a ton of rain and some wind.

    The Jersey shore got crushed but I have friends all over the state and every one said no biggie.

    Guess NYC got hit hard. Best of luck to all there.

    And that vid was bad ass.

  2. Got me some of those CT roots…Waterbury, or as we called it growing up, ‘The Dirty Water.’ Central CT. Old industrial towns. Don’t think Sandy hit it too hard, but a tree did fall on my dad’s place. Hope all is well back east kiddies. Stay dry.

  3. …crazy ass shit to live with & like any natural disaster, one person looses everything & the person next to them, nothing…

    …heartfelt props to those who suffered & best wishes to all because the inconveniences will go on for a while…

    …my buddy ‘mikeweb’ will be pedaling into work on manhattan from brooklyn (w/ no complaints) & i’m sure a lotta folks, who aren’t already, will rely on the tried & true method of the bike…ride safe all…

    …people are resilient & as bad as some have it, nyc, coastal connecticut & the jersey shore will rebound…

  4. Pingback: Thurs, Nov 1 | UltraRunnerPodcast.com

  5. have to say, i have not seen more people riding bikes than today. got stuck in a 30+ rider traffic jam going down 2nd ave, jam increased on the manhattan bridge. i could not have been more proud. there are plenty of shops south of 39th that are trying to stay open or just hang outside offering repairs or a pump.

  6. It’s eerie seeing Manhattan so empty, but what an adventure that must have been…

    Did you know that the Arctic ocean hosted the biggest cyclone in recorded history this summer? It churned up all the ice, which caused the biggest melt in recorded history.

    Time to start building some impressive dykes around our coastal cities, cause storms like this one are only going to get more frequent from here on in. Either that, or maybe one day we’ll all be riding bikes with pontoons.

  7. Now’s my chance to spread a little humor in lieu of the scenes unfolding down state.

    Man, I can’t believe Wall St. is asking for another bailout….

    Have you heard of the new mixed drink? It’s called the Sandy. It’s basically a watered down Manhattan.

    In times of badness, humor is a good thing, heard these both today, gotta love America….

  8. mendon +1

    that mixed-drink joke has been duly stolen and pasted all through the series of tubes, clogged with kittens.

  9. …duly noted & passed on to several bartender friends who’ve worked in nyc…

    …response ???…too soon – but funny as shit !!!…

  10. BGW: Is it just me, or is Senna really the most extraordinary individual to come down the shoot in racing sports ever? The outwarldy god-given talent, monstrous balls, and the however you want to decribe it mental toughness and ability to go inside himself and find a bit more. Inspirational character…

    1. The lap at Donnigton in ’93
    2. The pole lap at Jerez after the Donnelly crash
    3. The pole lap at Monaco in ’88 where he was going so fast he actually scared himself. Said he was basically just a passenger at some point.
    4. Interlagos ’91 where he wins with just the 6th gear with like 10 laps to go

  11. …two words, hack…gilles villeneuve…

    …both gentlemen were considered by their peers to be extraordinary race car drivers & exceptional human beings outside of the cockpit…

    …although villeneuve never won a championship for ferrari whist driving a number of either less than decent handling or unreliable race cars, enzo ferrari revealed in the years before his own death, that villeneuve had been his all-time favorite of all the great champions who had driven for him…

    …unlike senna, ferrari’s “piccolo canadese” was willing to stand more on decorum, the trait more likely a product of his canadian upbringing than his hunger & although clearly faster, when asked by ferrari to follow jody scheckter in the 1979 race at monza, thus giving scheckter the world championship, he acquiesed…

    …several years later, it was scheckter who eulogized villeneuve after his death at zolder, by saying – “I will miss Gilles for two reasons. First, he was the fastest driver in the history of motor racing. Second, he was the most genuine man I have ever known…”…

    …perhaps senna, in his time, was influenced by the awareness that amongst champions, an opportunity not immediately seized may ultimately never be realized…

    …two exceptional men in their own right, from different eras…

  12. You guys seriously ought to watch that Vettel kid drive. Maybe you noticed that he led every lap of three recent grands prix— the first since Senna. The parity in today’s cars is impressive. It is not a trivial exercise to consistently qualify on the front row and make 1.2s on the first lap. That Red Bull program probably costs close to half a billion dollars per year to operate; you think there’s any pressure to perform? Forza!

  13. Thanks for the support. I’m one of the ones who lost everything. I put my bike in attic when the water came. It’s a real mess and look forward to my dc read after long days of throwing whole house in a
    Dumpster

  14. I can’t get on board with this F1 stuff…

    My heroes were Barry Sheene, Kenny Roberts, Mert Lawill, Roger De Coster, Jimmy Weinert & Malcolm Smith.

    And of course Mike Hailwood, being South African, Jon Ekerold & Kork Ballington are there as well.

    Used to have all the walls in my bedroom covered in pages from Cycle, Modern Cycle, Dirt Bike as well as untold posters.

    Motorcycles, I loved them, finally parked the last one last year after 40 years of riding them.

  15. Jersey Rep +1

    I am so sorry for your loss. I hope you find the silver lining in your sorrow. May you find that for every cherished possession you toss into the bin, you make room and create space for something greater. May the home you create for yourself now from the detritus of the storm be a sanctuary for you, a sacred space infused with your hopes and dreams, a home base from which you can become everything you always dreamed you could be. May your place be blessed with gratitude and love.

    I wish FEMA would use PURE design principles on their emergency shelters this time around. When FEMA trailers were were used in the wake of Katrina, people were getting quite sick from all of the chemicals off-gassing (my little guy LOVES that word!) from their new homes. We offered to specify healthy, planet friendly materials for the trailers, but they never got back to us… sigh. You can lead a horse to water, right?

    At least Oprah called.

    BGW – beautiful. Thank you.

  16. @Hurben— did you watch that 24 seconds of slo-mo of that Pedrosa kid on the factory Honda? Impressive as hell.

  17. Sheer poetry in motion.

    That’s the big thing that I appreciated about the old AMA championship, you had to be so multi skilled, Road, dirt, mile, short track, TT.

    These men were heroes.

  18. …sheesh – we’re hittin’ on a million subjects on crossover posts but, ya…

    …jersey reppin’ – amigo, i’m hoping good things will evolve for you & that your “bounce back” will ultimately leave you feeling good down the road even if things look kinda bleak right now…

    …babble on…nor-cal has been my home since i was a teenager but my heart still carries great pride in having been born & raised in canada…so, guys like villeneuve, gretzky, oscar peterson, sidney crosby, marty short, (to name but a few) no matter their stage, it’s always heartfelt for me to know some of the best world class performers come out of the great white north…

    …you, ami & ‘pure’ are of a concept who’s time has come but unfortunately won’t likely be embraced ’til the problems you’ve addressed rear their head time & time again…

    …hurben – mert lawill has one of his old harley davidson race bikes in the front entranceway to his home, nearby here in tiburon…