Slang Editorial :: Never Underestimate The Value Of A Holla'

Tuesday, September 15, 2009
2410 And Bikes And Shit

I'm vacationing in New York this week to spend time with a friend in town visiting. She went off on her own yesterday and so I started my day with a fast-paced 40 mile ride (or 64 kilometers, as I told her) before heading into the office for a few hours for some unavoidable meetings.

Those 40 miles put me over the 2400 mile threshold and I'm now 90 miles away from my "goal" of 2500. As my friend will be here from now until September 22, I'm not sure there's any way I'll be able to reach 2500 by the end of summer, but it's nice to know that I'm so close and I'll be there shortly. I feel like, just as I "came a long way" from the beginning of 2008 through the end, the same can be said for my "progress" in 2009, as a human and of course specifically as a human who also enjoys channeling his life-energy through the pedaled wheels of a bicycle.

On the crazy/ok/"New York I hate you and love you" front, on Sunday I received a call from Lil' Beau that her bike, a 43" 2007 Fuji Track SE had been stolen from outside of her friend's house in Manhattan in broad daylight. It was of course locked, but not with the kind of heavy duty security that I use to prevent theft. I've had seats and lights and fenders and even Presta-to-Schrader converters stolen, but never (yet) a whole bike... gone! And one that poor Lil' Beau had just purchased last fall. It was a real bummer, and especially so since she's still an impoverished student just trying to get by in the world, to whom a purchase such as a new bike is a huge financial commitment (ok, the same is true for me but that's probably due more to my own financial irresponsibility than the impossiblities of adult purchasing).

And of course, beyond the dollar damage, there is also the issue of the fact that the bike--as I mentioned, a 43" track bike--is of a rare size that almost literally NO other bike manufacturers produce. Lil' Beau is only 5'1 and let me tell you that finding a nice bike for a girl that size is a challenge and I half--I probably took her to 15-20 bike shops last year looking for a bike, desperately leaving my card with requests to call me if anything even in the remote similarity of size appeared. She finally found her Fuji champion on, of all places, the List of Craig, where she was able to snatch up a more or less brand new 43"er for $400 from a girl who'd realized she hadn't actually wanted to commit to a track bike after all.

With this in mind, it was with heavy heart that I came home to console her on Sunday night, with the thought that between dollars and inches, it would be some time before Lil' Beau would be mounting a new chariot. So convinced was I that she wouldn't be riding anytime soon that my Visitor and I began cruising Williamsburg for open pet shops in the hope that if I brought a new cat home it would distract her from the sting of the lost bike. Yes, desperate measures, times etc.

But, of course, this is New York and fuck yes, I underestimated her beastly resolve to remedy any situation within moments of becoming unperfect. By the time I got home, Lil' Beau had already gone straight to The List and BOOM, sure enough found a 2008 version of the exact same bike she'd just had stolen [see photo above]... for the exact same discounted used price she paid for her last one.

What the fuck, right?

Though she was nervous about how she might pay for the bike, she set up an appointment for last night to go check the bike out... and then, of course, BAM!--after getting to the office, an envelope appeared on my desk for her (sent to me for security reasons) from her summer internship... with a check for $500.

And now, here it is on Tuesday, a mere 36 hours since her bike was stolen, and there's a new, prettier version of the exact same bike in our house. New York, You Fucking Dick, I Love You.

Labels: BEAUMONT, biking, fucktactics, VICTORY

posted by Nihilist Loves Hate, Hates Everything at 9/15/2009 10:20:00 AM 2 comments

2 Comments:

E-BAD said...: I would be very sad/angry if you BOUGHT a cat.; 9/17/2009 10:41:00 PM
Nihilist Loves Hate, Hates Everything said...: certainly. obviously by bought i mean pay the whatever fee for shots etc from an animal shelter.; 9/17/2009 11:17:00 PM