Hey Mister, Do You Have A Pulse?

Last weekend, after a meeting at my gallery in Chelsea, I rode my bike down Ninth Avenue. To my discovery, along with all of the sleek and modern redesigned bus stops and traffic efficient bus only lanes, there was a new and safe bike lane between the sidewalk and cemented bus stop island. At first I was happy to see bikers finally getting some respect and hopefully what was the beginning marks of promoting bicycle use in New York. As I raced down the bike lane as fast as I could, I soon became very bored. Safe is for chumps, I thought, as I turned left onto 14th Street and was, ahhhh, back to zooming in between cars. There is something so thrilling about riding your bike through Manhattan as fast as you can in between cars, through red lights and pedestrians crossing the street. The element of danger and something terrible could happen at any moment is quickly becoming extinct in New York. What happened to some fun? What happened to riding a dark subway car covered in graffiti and having to watch your back? Now the subway car talks to you and is contaminated with light poisoning and infested with twentysomething suburbanites who just moved here in collared Banana Republic shirts and khakis. Shit man, can we have some excitement back, I want to feel my heart race....or did fun in New York only exist until the end of the Twentieth Century?