David Bryne - the Bicycle Diaries, Cycle touring as a narrative and a way to understand the 'real world'

I recently read some of David Byrne's Bicycle Diaries; his observations by bicycle as his primary mode of city transport during his career as a musician and artist.

[caption id="attachment_1001" align="alignnone" width="255" caption="David Bryne with one of his bike racks in NYC"][/caption]

In a conversational style, Byrne talks about the thoughts inspired by what he sees whilst riding his bike. I recently listened to a podcast of 'the Bike Show' on Resonance FM. There was a feature about how when you cycle, your brain is in an alpha-wave state, your conscious and unconscious minds are slightly better linked and thoughts are more easily able to bubble over from one into the other. This is interesting because I feel that when I am cycling I can think more clearly and I often have a lot of ideas when cycling. Bryne talks about how a city is a physical manifestation of human wants and desires in all their unadulterated glory. If you want to find out what makes humans tick then go and explore the surroundings. Human's are a product of their environment and the environment, increasingly, is a product of the humans.

A bicycle is an optimal way to explore this physical map of human beings' creativity. The bike, part human-powered, part gravity powered, assisted and coaxed onward by the topography of the landscape,  acts like the other person in a conversation between human and environment, which offers ideas and triggers to the rider as he/she moves about with a sense of curiosity.

Bryne describes the different uses for his bike journeys; exploring a new place, going to a gig, meeting up with friends, colleagues or artists. The bicycle journeys to these meetings seems to act as thinking space by which to reflect on his own thoughts and the new ideas presented by the meetings and activities. Certainly, as an artist, it seems like a very favorable way to develop his thought processes and offer inspiration for his own art and music.

Bryne's thoughts, triggered by all of his experiences connected by the journeys by bike in between, create stories, intertwined with experiences, history and anecdotes. He is having a travelling experience, of sorts, throughout his experience. Travelling is not only an action but a way of thinking and a system for living.

The cycle ride is a way of meditating; the bike is the vehicle by which to enter the meditative state. This reminds me of a guy we met in Switzerland cycling who, other than rambling about how the American government was trying to control us all through criss-crossed patterns of cloud in the sky, talked about how cycling, after the first few kilometres puts you into a trance-like state. You notice the effort and pain of pedalling to a lesser extent and thoughts are left to wander.

Bryne talks about his surroundings in the context of his life and experiences; a picture of how he sees and understands the world. In a way he is creating a map of his own 'data', strung together, and categorised by what he sees and communicated to himself and the reader via stories.

I enjoyed reading some of the Bicycle Diaries, and I am looking forward to finishing the book when I get time. I feel that I have a different approach to the book because of my own experience of travelling by bike. I am interested to see how his experiences were similar to mine. Everyone has their own perspective on the world around them, but it's easier to relate to other people who have travelled by the same means as you, because their experience is likely to be similar. If I read the book without having experience of bike touring, I think I would see events as a much more linear progression, and something unique or unusual to that individual's experience. However, I know that anyone could have equally as interesting experiences by heading out on  a bike with an open mind.

You can buy the Bicycle Diaries here