Last night was the 10th annual Poets House bridge walk. At the end of the night, Bill Murray read "A True Account of Talking with the Sun at Fire Island" by Frank O'Hara. This is officially now one of my favorite poems. In it The Sun is speaking directly to Frank O'Hara. I especially like this part,

...You may
not be the greatest thing on earth, but
you’re different. Now, I’ve heard some
say you’re crazy, they being excessively
calm themselves to my mind, and other
crazy poets think that you’re a boring
reactionary. Not me.
Just keep on
like I do and pay no attention. You’ll
find that people always will complain
about the atmosphere, either too hot
or cold too bright or too dark, days
too short or too long.
If you don’t appear
at all one day they think you’re lazy
or dead. Just keep right on, I like it.

Best Buddies 90 miler

I should have posted this right after the ride but it took me some time to get the pictures together. I went on a 90 mile bikeride from Boston to Cape Cod on 5/22/05.






It was a fundraiser in support of kids and adults with mental disabilities. It was in the cold (sometimes freezing) rain, with heavy winds, and my bike tire sprung a leak at the 18 mile marker that had me stopping to pump air every 30 minutes. I couldn't get a spare tire because I was riding "tubular" sew-up tires and I had packed my own spare tire in the wrong bag!

To make a long story short, I got off course for 4 miles (8 miles out and back) and eventually didn't finish the full 90. I made it to the third support stop at the 62 mile mark and was so cold that it was hard to stop shaking. Here are the stragglers (me included) walking our bikes across the finish line in Hyannis Port.



On the bright side, I got to shake hands with a presidential candidate and I even rode with him for a bit. I hope he runs again in 2008, HE did finish the ride. Kerry is genuine and tough.

The next day, back in New York, being frustrated at not having finished I went for a 20 mile bike ride around Manhattan and Brooklyn to make up for it. I'm hoping this is the year I get back on the bike.