Artflux

A shrine of piled stones at Algonquin Peak

Bill Crawford 1991 Victor Carnuccio

Check out this auction on Ebay.

Lemeac on Laurier

Photo: Antoine Du Petit Châtaignier

I have migrated north to live in Canada for needed rest and recovery from surgery that I underwent after a cycling crash.

Recovery is going well.  I have been free of pain, so will begin yoga again in mid February.  I live where is is peaceful so am enjoying the quite nights for good sleep.    It is somewhat colder than New York, but Canada seems to have fended off the humongous snow storm that has struck south of the border.  For instance today it is -9C where I am it is 1C in New York.  When it is freezing it is freezing and not all that much difference is felt.

My photography has adapted to the simplicity of the cell phone.  Sorry for the silence. I didn’t die.

New York hotels are overpriced. I discovered airbnb.com where you can list your spare room to guests who want to save while visiting the big apple. Their catch phrase is travel like a human. My first quests arrived over Columbus Day weekend from Montréal. The guys were actually charming guests. I’ve booked my spare room all the way through the middle of November.

Fashion Week is over. Whew… My solo soho show was canceled due to bad weather and a wicked bike crash I had two days before the opening. I was on my road bike traveling on a downhill at about 20 mph.. Then unexpectedly someone turned abruptly without signaling. I flipped over the handlebars landing on my my right shoulder as well as knee head and who knows what else. X-rays showed a level 1 or 2 shoulder separation. It’s been almost 3 weeks and I’m almost totally recovered.

It was kind of funny to ask me to go slow ‘haste makes waist.’ I explained that road bikes are designed for racing. The idea is to go really fast.

Self Portratit, 1996

Silver gelatin print 11 inches x 14 inches signed and numbered in pencil verso with studio stamp in an edition of 250.

Bill Crawford, NYC, 1991

Silver gelatin print 11 inches x 14 inches signed and numbered in pencil verso with studio stamp in an edition of 250.

Back in the saddle again as the summer approaches I have clocked close to 245 miles so far since April.  My average speeds are up this year dew to some leg training in the gym this year.  So I am stronger however there’s the considerate extra weight that I carry now.

Last weekend on what started as a fast and fabulous ride in central park I ran into a snag on the Harlem hill.  Someone had spread carpet tacks on the road.  It was my luck to snag one in my rear tire.  Ouch.  There were some helpful people who lent me air and help changing the tube.

The longer rides to the Palisades are my favorite.  I have doe that twice this year so far. It’s a 41.2 mile ride from lower Manhattan. The hill at the end is a killer.  I’ve been reluctant to take the ride since my flat as I am not sure the tube will hold up on the hills.  Top downhill speeds are close to 38 mph.

Wheels

I’m a martyr and am not using air conditioning.   Quite frankly I think that the heat is more of a media scum scam than anything else.

Acapulco, 1988 (Remembering Dave Catney)

While working in Acapulco in 1988 I had the rare pleasure of meeting the jazz musician Dave Catney who was working on the Norwegian cruise ship Royal Viking Sea as an entertainer. We spent time together there and went to have pizza before he returned to the ship. We later got together in his home town of Houston. Like many others, he died too soon at the age of 33. His music which I only recently rediscovered lives on…

My Trek Series 800 mountain bike which is my main mode of transportation around town had been put on the shelf since last January when the chain broke. The lag in repairing it was mainly that I decided that I would actually repair it myself. So I purchased an 8 speed SRAM chain, and universal Summit chain breaker on ebay. I installed the chain finding that the shifting was erratic so assuming the chain was too long I took a few more links out. Furthermore I discovered that my detailer cable housing was corroded and need to be replaced. Well then so onto the next project. I bought a new saddle as well from Nashbar that hopefully will arrive today.

After scrubbing both my bikes which were both in desperate need of the annual cleaning and putting on a Selle San Marco Aspide Arrowhead saddle purchased on ebay from a cyclist in Breckenridge, CO.

I remembered stopping by for lunch there when we were on the way back from the Vail Pass ride. Pretty cool. Its very comfortable as well. The Panaracer Stratius Extreme tires are still going strong without any flats after 2806 miles of city riding (mostly in Central Park) they are still going strong. I’m shy 390 miles to date this year compared with 2006. I’m ready for more 50 mile rides to make up for it.

Unseasonably warm weather had me up early Saturday morning for a 30 some mile cycle ride down Battery Park and up to the Central Park my usually spin. I had heard from a friend that someone had been killed recently. I saw another white ghost bike along the Hudson River Park bike path along with a memorial. Eric Ng, a 22-year-old bicyclist and teacher, was killed on Dec. 1 by a drunk driver as he rode his bike on the Hudson River Greenway after a party at Chelsea Peers. Here is the Youtube tribute by Streetfilms that I found on Streetblog.