Two hundred years ago this summer, Parisians had their minds blown witnessing German Baron Karl von Drais’ new invention, Draisienne or Laufmaschine or “Dandy Horse.” The first two-wheeled bicycle invention would be improved upon over the remainder of the 19th century until 1880s when the new standard bicycle, the safety bicycle took hold. Two hundred years […]
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Posted inArts + Music
Rich Aucoin bike blog #10: Washington, DC to Edison, NJ
This is night before my last cycle to New York City tomorrow. I feel like this constant state of motion has become my new normal and when I become still again, I’ll be still spinning like some flipped bicycle wheel that inertia hasn’t caught up with yet; spinning without moving forward. I’ve gotten quite used to […]
Posted inArts + Music
Rich Aucoin bike blog #9: Nashville, TN to Washington, DC
“The Wave,” “The Motorcycle Salute,” or as I’ve heard it called, “The Drag” (my personal favourite): Defining the signal of acknowledgement between two two-wheeled travellers on the open road in North America. These waves, mostly between two motorcyclists and presumed to have originated between the most famous two motorcycles, William Harley and Arthur Davidson, occasionally […]
Posted inArts + Music
Rich Aucoin bike blog #8: Memphis to Nashville, TN
I go back and forth between whether I like to plan ahead on things like travelling or whether I like to have a loose idea and just let a lot of things fall as they do and not stress whether I’m seeing the “best” possible thing with my time. While I’m a huge fan of […]
Posted inArts + Music
Rich Aucoin bike blog #7: Little Rock, AK to Memphis, TN
Good writing is like giving sight to the blind. I’m sure an exercise in many creative writing programs is giving the age-old thousand words to a photograph of the writer’s choosing. I started listening to William Least Heat-Moon’s cross-American odyssey Blue Highways and it feels as if he’s describing a series of photographs he’s taken […]
Posted inArts + Music
Rich Aucoin bike blog #6: Oklahoma City, OK to Little Rock, AK
I’ve luckily made it halfway across the country with no rain. In Oklahoma, an almost tornado-level storm passed through, but I had already made it into the city and snapped this photo of its near-constant lightning. Leaving Oklahoma, I noticed this huge structure that looked like a waterslide—turns out it was a non-profit outdoors centre […]
Posted inArts + Music
Rich Aucoin bike blog # 5: Elk City to Oklahoma, OK
Remember that it’s all luck; we can only try to give ourselves more chances to obtain those lucky breaks. Anyone claiming to have accomplished something others consider great from their sheer will-power is either in some narcissist delusion or is failing to see all the variables surrounding them and their position. Many people we consider […]
Posted inArts + Music
Rich Aucoin bike blog #3: Gallup to Tucumcari, NM
We no longer have a monoculture. The viral videos of late aughts were the last vestiges of ubiquitous shared experience. Even the biggest pop stars of today can be overlooked by large numbers of the population because of our highly specialized subscribe culture. So our water-cooler conversations now are left as a series of recommendations […]
Posted inArts + Music
Rich Aucoin bike blog # 2: Arcosanti to Gallup, NM
I took a few days off at the unbelievable rarity that is Arcosanti, a futuristic utopian community designed by artist Paolo Soleri. Looking like something out of a ’70s science-fiction, it was a great place to stay and write as I had access to their wonderful grand piano. […]
Posted inArts + Music
Rich Aucoin bike blog #1: Los Angeles to Arcosanti
Ten years ago, I bicycled across Canada for my first music tour performing my own music under my name, Rich Aucoin. The Coast, which I had been delivering just prior to this trek, was kind enough to give me an outlet to blog about my adventures. Well, now we’re doing it again, if you want […]
