walk, idiot, walk.

so, while i wasn't busy this weekend having an existential crisis, i was off in the wilds of the williamsburg/greenpoint borderlands, getting my reportage on at the 2007 idiotarod. it's something i'd wanted to see for a couple of years, but never quite gotten it together to do. hipsters in january are not always enough of a draw to inspire me to leave my cocoon. however, now that i live off the F train, it seemed like a great idea at the time. so, armed with the beast (the canon EOS 30d) and not nearly enough hand-warming equipment, i set out on saturday to the scene of the crime.

and crime scene it appeared to be, with the original starting line in McCarren park swarmed and surrounded by our boys (and girls) in blue. (oh, that's right--technically, the idiotarod is illegal. did i forget to mention that?) this impressive display meant that there was nary a cart to be seen at the park, as all the kids in the know decamped to an alternate starting line.

i was fortunate enough to spot a costumed and carted brigade on their way to this new address, and managed to tag along in their entourage. along the way we picked up some vikings and some bobsledders, and enough information to guide us to two new destinations--one false, the other the park at the corner of franklin and clay, where still more police and a jug band awaited us. as i said, we were among the first people there, so i was afforded the opportunity to get a good look at the teams as they trickled in. we had the whimsical (silent film characters),

the silly (the superwapping shatners),

the brilliant (team back to the future, complete with huey lewis tunes and doc brown in a fright wig),

and the just plain weird (the disaster vagina, complete with raw fish to use as weapons). (no, sorry, no pictures of that one)

as the crowd swelled, the scene swarmed with press and police; cameras abounded, and we even had the honor of being circled endlessly by a police helicopter. i took about a hundred and fifty pictures, but never quite managed to capture the energy of the event. i did have a few people thinking i was press (the beast has that effect on people), buttering me up for their moments of fame. i almost hated to disillusion them with the truth, but i have a sneaking suspicion it's not ethical to impersonate a press photographer.

the start of the race was A Scene, and among the most frenetic things i've ever seen (and i will say, you've not lived until you've jumped into a construction site in order to avoid being mowed down by an army of people wielding funny costumes and shopping carts). it was, simply put, awesome. like a hundred million hot dogs.

ultimately, i trundled home a little starry-eyed, a lot colder (my hands were so cold i couldn't hold my metrocard), and quite a bit wiser in the knowledge that i was not really cool enough to be there. but neither was anyone else, so it was completely okay.

who's with me for next year?