The wild ride of New York’s stuntiest bikers
Who says you can’t surf atop a bicycle?
In the summer of 2020, with New York City still deep in the throes of the pandemic, photographer Brian Finke noticed something curious. As he was leaving a city pool in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bed-Stuy, a rider on a mountain bike rolled by, popping a wheelie that lasted nearly half the block. Finke, who has built a career documenting American subcultures, sped after him on his own bike and introduced himself at a red light.
The man, Finke learned, was one of thousands of New Yorkers using their bikes to blow off lockdown-induced steam, gathering en masse, playing music as they rode. Some stood up to surf atop their bikes, while others swerved wildly from side to side. The self-expression reminded Finke of the voguing scene that thrived on city dance floors in the 1980s. In the years that followed, Finke developed Bike Life, which will be published in May by Blurring Books and from which these images were drawn. With it, Finke offers a love letter not just to creativity but also to New York itself.
