The Future of This Channel | Empire State Trail BIKE RIDE | Watch it Fast

OH, to get LOST IN MY BRAIN! In this video, I hopped on my bike near Ardsley, NY and pedaled to Elmsford, NY along the Empire State Trail. For this ride I was on Westchester’s South County Trailway. This one is filled with post-ride solo narration.

I cover all kinds of FUN TOPICS like:
Biking Content on This Channel
Shorts from Biking Content Here
Why I Don’t Use Music
The Nickname I Tried to Give Myself – Bike Saddle Urbanist
I Beg For Comments
Biking to Buy Lego Bricks and Lego Sets and Other Assorted Facebook Marketplace Nonsense
Is Painting a Worthwhile New Hobby? No. But Drawing… Perhaps!
Less Versus Fewer. Fewer vs. Less. Oh, I am MAD

Basically, this is a ride to say “Welcome to Middle Age, DUDE.”

00:00 Intro – A Quiet Ride Turns HEAVILY NARRATED
01:11 Camera and Microphone Setup Discussion
02:06 What’s the Aim of Biking Content on This Channel?
05:39 The Biking to Buy Concept
07:56 My Brain is Short-Circuiting
09:26 Am I An Artist? Is that My New Hobby?
10:35 Veering Off Topic – Less WILDLY
11:27 What’s Coming for the Channel

This ride is a quiet ride. We’ve got some video of 
me heading north on the Empire State Trail. This quiet, semi late morning ride features a pedal 
from Arsley to Elmsford. I should warn you now, I am not a speedy biker. Bicyclist. Rider. I move at 
my own pace. Let’s set expectations and note that this video has no on-bike ride talk, just this post 
ride commentary. There is a brief moment where I drop my sunglasses and circle back for them. I’ve 
got nothing to say about that other than “Oops.” The sounds of the neighboring highways are heavily 
featured. This part of the Empire State Trail is sandwiched between the Sawmill River Parkway and 
Interstate 87. That said, I feel like I got to spend some time in the woods and some time 
checking out the industrial warehouse scene for the greater New York City region. During 
the edit, I clipped out the few people I saw biking and running and walking. There were people 
on the trail, but I feel like I got a fair amount of solitude, too. For this day, my action camera 
is mounted on the front of the bike ahead of my handlebars. I’ve got it there instead of hanging 
from my neck. It’s almost like it’s floating. Or not. You make the call. I put the camera in its 
case and then covered it with a foam windscreen. The wind noise still came through, of course. 
In hindsight, I should have used the windscreen without the camera case. Next time. Or maybe I’ll 
use my clip-on microphone. Clip it somewhere other than my shirt. It’s got a much more effective 
windcreen. Honestly, I am still trying to figure out the best way to share a bit of biking content. 
Perhaps this video is posted here as a test, a new format, as a place to talk directly to those 
who watch, as a place to encourage comments. Tell me what you like, tell me what you don’t like, or 
what can be improved. So, please take a second and type some words. If you’re snarky, I’ll probably 
respond suggesting we take a bike ride together the next time you’re in New York City. That seems 
to be my fallback response to most comments, especially on any YouTube shorts I create. 
Speaking of shorts, I’ve got to say I like creating those when they’re just cut down clips 
from longer videos. One of the most recent videos I posted mashes together my May 2025 bike rides, 
mostly work commutes. I get a little chatty in those and they make for fun 20 to 30 second 
pieces. I don’t love watching shorts, but they exist and I’ve got to get used to them. I guess I 
am my own person. No one tells me what to think. Should I talk about why I don’t use music? 
It’s It’s simple. I’m not ready to spend money buying music. You’ll have to hum a tune 
for yourself. Of course, if you’re a friend of mine and I can license some of your tracks. 
Let’s talk. Related to all my gabbing about finding the purpose of this channel, I need 
to mention that one of the ideas tingling the back of my brain is the desire to conduct some 
interviews while riding. But with whom? Urbanists, I’m calling you. Comment below if you 
think we should take a ride together. Maybe I mostly want to share a bike ride with 
a driver who parked their car in the bike lane. Why are we always thinking of ourselves first? 
I’m looking to change hearts and minds, one car owner at a time. Back to the idea of bike rides 
and commenting on the city and urbanism. In one of my previous videos, I threw out the title bike 
saddle urbanist. Not sure if it’s a description of myself that will stick or not. Can’t say it rolls 
off the tongue super smoothly. Perhaps that’s why you should never give yourself a nickname. I 
know the machine’s answer to this next question, but people weigh in. Please tell me, am I too bold 
at mixing up the types of content on this channel? Do people who watch a bit of urban bicycle content 
also care about the resort properties I visit? Are my stylish red sunglasses the ones I should 
review? Especially since they’re definitely not meant for riding, unless you’re pedaling a beach 
cruiser on an actual beach boardwalk and probably with no helmet. What about the dark circle 
diminishing eye cream I reviewed? No one seemed to care about the short that was a followup 
to the video that very few people watched. One aspect of my bike riding that I’ve been 
enjoying lately is something I’m now called biking to buy. If you’re a regular viewer of my recorded 
bike rides that I share here, you’ll note that I’m often pedaling to some farflung destination to 
buy some sort of used Facebook marketplace item. Okay. Okay. There are a few videos I have yet to 
post where I go off to buy stuff. I feel like that habit really is just finding its stride in June 
and July, and I’ve yet to share those videos. Yeah, most of that did happen in June and July. 
I bought so many Lego bricks, sometimes as sets, and once a random assortment chosen because I knew 
that weight of Lego bricks would likely fit in the pany of my trunk bag. Those bricks needed to be 
washed in the most serious of ways. I should edit and post those videos of me buying the things. 
There are no videos of me washing Lego bricks. You will have to find another channel for that 
content. Surely it exists. This biking to buy is a new habit. Should I make it more of a conceit 
and really start reviewing the things I buy? With the videos of me going to buy things, I don’t know 
if I show the things I’ve bought. It’s like I’m taking you on a journey and there is no payoff. 
Please note your level of disappointment in the comments. I am in consumption mode this week. It’s 
really grabbing hold of me and I can’t get it to stop. I’ve been visiting sample sales this week. I 
bought way too many clothes, way too many shorts. I don’t know why I’m telling you this. I found a 
sample sale. One I didn’t even bike to. And the urge to replace some items in my wardrobe 
took hold. A few weeks ago, I bought way too many notebooks at a Moleskine sample sale. More 
notebooks than I’ve used in my post-college life, and I am well into middle age. But there’s a chance 
I’ll use some of these notebooks as part of my new hobby. Stay tuned. I’ll mention that shortly. 
I thought about using this video to complain about unnatural light and my current aversion to modern 
light bulbs. This is a new thing, but everything I look at vibrates. I’m not going to complain. This 
weird effect kind of comes and goes. I should grab some positive vibes from being outside. Check out 
all those green leaves. Perhaps because of all the weird indoor lighting, my brain isn’t working. 
It’s time to dip into the plight of the modern human who can no longer create anything of any 
length. I can’t string together more than three written sentences at a time. The thoughts are so 
jumbled. I know I should not write the script for this video while binging old episodes of Lego 
Masters. I never saw the show and I’ve really started to go down a Lego rabbit hole and I’m 
torn between embracing this refound fascination and running. Okay, biking away as fast as I can. 
Currently leaning toward embracing. Perhaps trying to tame my brain is why I take these bike rides. 
Is this therapy? I don’t know. It must be for some people. Is it for me? I am ready to take up a new 
drawing hobby, especially during vacations. I love the chilled out idea of painting, but watercolors 
are so not my skill. I’m team colored pencils all the way. People don’t call choices teams 
anymore, do they? When it comes to pencils, should I share my child’s drawing implements 
or bring my own pencil box? Oo, the suspense. There is a nice lightly used set available on 
Facebook Marketplace. Like I could bike over the East River one evening and make the purchase. 
Surely that’s a video someone would watch, right? Did I tell you I ordered some paint by numbers 
kits based on a Fuji Instax photo my child took while on vacation last summer? They’re set to 
arrive any day now. I got a little carried away editing the photo and trying to perfect just how 
I want the project to turn out. If it’s a success, I’m going to push for more of this format. It 
seems like a cool twist on a couple of hobbies. Let’s veer wildly off topic. Less versus 
fewer. Fewer versus less. Are people on podcasts with YouTube channels always using 
these words incorrectly? I think so. And I get angry whenever I hear less and not 
fewer. I’ve really got to chill out, right? I should calm down about this. I mean, I 
make mistakes. I make so many mistakes and I’d get upset if someone pointed it out. Point them 
out below. Get me angry. Conflict makes content, right? Actually, the less comments 
I get about my grammar, the better, right? See what I did there? There’s a bunch of 
video footage sitting on one of my hard drives. maybe even two hard drives. That footage features 
a visit to a resort in Mexico. And it’s from February. It is so old at this point. It needs 
to turn into a 10-minute hotel review and fast. But do I add that to a new channel? Yes. Should I 
talk about the resorts bikes on this channel? Yes. The past year of riding and especially the 
past four months has got me really wanting to ride more frequently and for longer distances. 
I am ready to escape New York. New Jersey doesn’t count. I’ve got a bike tour set for Urban 
Milan and a bike tour set for an island in Greece. Those rides will be at my friendly pace. 
I hope to create some short videos. There won’t be too much onbite commentary as those rides will 
happen with friends and family. I want to focus on enjoying the moment. What else can I tease? I 
need to work on a video about my search for a bike cap. The journey was a lot more complicated than 
I expected, and I’m still coming to terms with the need to protect my head from sunburn. Perhaps it’s 
best summarized by saying, “Welcome to middle age, dude. I’ve got too much stuff on my bike. I 
know that. I live in the city. I want another bike or two. I don’t have the space.” Classic 
New Yorker problem. I don’t know. It It all fades out here. My brain is buzzing. The images 
are vibrating. Comment, like, subscribe. Party.