Prolog: How I Got Hooked on Giant Tricycles

Let's start with the back story:

I learned how to ride a giant trike in October 2008, when I started working for Revolution Rickshawscargo courier. I spent the next seven months hauling loads of five to a thousand pounds, fifteen to forty hours per week: Cupcakes, fruit bouquets, gift baskets. Cheese, catering, wine. Juice, pizza crust, hard drives. In that time I participated in a couple group-transfers, arranged by RR, but barely considered hitting the streets, on a pedicab, as a free agent. It was hard enough pedaling a one-hundred-seventy-pound trike in traffic; it seemed thoroughly daunting to be responsible for selling my services on the spot, on top of that. as a

But I couldn't completely dismiss the prospect of pedicabbing. I knew that it held great potential for generating both exhilaration and cash flow. So, in October 2009, I decided to try it. I wanted to see if (prove?) I could do it. I started pedaling a few evenings a week, during rush hour. I made a bunch of money on Halloween, and experienced the Bangladesh rush (that is, the rare thrill of rounding Columbus Circle amidst a massive swarm of rickshaws) on Marathon Sunday. I also despaired, many times, of ever getting another fare. Sick of the cycle of highs and lows, I quit towards the end of November. I'd proven (to my satisfaction) that I could indeed make money driving a pedicab and, I figured, that was good enough.

Fast forward a good ten months, to late September 2010. I'm just back from a month at an artists' colony, and less than excited about returning to my desk job. Halloween's coming up, once again, and though I know I may fail, I decide to give the streets another try. This time, though, I'm going to keep track of the highs and lows. I'm going to tell the stories that make the practice of pedicabbing fascinating, whether it's going well or badly. And, though I by no means claim to be a typical pedicab driver, I'm going to attempt to create something for which I've so far searched in vain: A faithful chronicle of the process of learning, day by day, profitably to drive a giant tricycle through the miraculous madness of my city, Manhattan.