Liberato

Last night I spent a few hours over at my buddy Chris' place playing games with him and some of his wife's friends. We played Bohnanza for a quite a while, which is actually a pretty awesome game. It sounds kind of funny but it's a card game about farming. Bean farming in particular. Although the game was a lot of fun, the ride down at 6:15, was even better. It's been several weeks since I've ridden anywhere. Life's just been so chaotic that I haven't been getting up early enough to ride to work. Last night I finally committed myself to pedaling downtown. So I geared up with my winter riding garb and set off for Chris' place down on 89th street. Riding down from 190th street along Broadway is a lot of fun, and I always enjoy it. Broadway takes you through so many little villages and each one is different with abrupt transitions from one to the next. When I got to 125th street a 1 Train emerged from the tunnel parallel to me, and paced me as it headed south on the elevated tracks. I couldn't hear it's loud clacking rumble because I was listening to a Land of Loops album in my headphones. I was experiencing one of those "moments" in my life that I enjoy so much. Here I was, cruising down Broadway at night, under a nearly full moon, in Harlem, perfectly comfortable, flowing with traffic under the L, while I could feel the vibrations from the heavy subway cars above. I was thinking to myself: This is exactly where I want to be right now.

When I left Chris' place around 10:00 I was exhausted. But as soon as I was geared up, I felt a spark of energy and was looking forward to exploring on my ride home. I pedaled west through Central Park while Sublime played in my headphones. I made my first stop in Harlem under the elevated tracks for the Amtrak Line. There is a beautiful trestle bridge here with large arches and impressive iron work. I climbed the embankment at the south end of the bridge and sat peacefully in the dark watching traffic pass through the intersections below. I was surprised that I did not run into anyone else hanging out under the bridge. I sat there in the dark for about a half an hour thinking about where I was in life and I found myself almost completely at peace; it was another moment in life I wanted to hang on to. When I started to get cold, I zipped up, cinched up, and climbed down and out; returning to the Big Apple's buzz.

Pedaling out of Harlem, along Broadway, I chugged steadily north enjoying the night. At 163rd & Broadway I saw a well lit sign for a place called the Liberato Food Market. A small helicopter perched on the front corner of the market advertised the market's delivery services. The empty sidewalk, locked storefront gates and well lit signage seemed photo worthy to me, so I pulled out the point & shoot to snap a couple of pictures.

My last stop, before continuing home was at 168th & Broadway. I was interested in the red globes on the lamp posts of the subway station entrance. Setting the camera down on the ground, I framed the lamp post against the night sky for a long exposure. I wanted to capture the lamp post suspended in the universe for a interesting, thought provoking image. I only wish there were more stars in the sky.