!Ride Strong!

Co-Conspirators?

2011-02-14T17:28:00.000-08:00

You may be wondering what the deal is with those little banners up at the top of the page. Well, for this coming race season, I was picked to go fast for the good folks over at Twin 6 and will be on their METAL team. (and still racing for Ghostship as well). The T6 guys are a small (yet growing) cycling apparel company that's been carving an awesome niche in the cycling world. I remember going to Interbike a few years ago, meeting Ryan and Brent as they were just starting up the brand, and being stoked on what down-to-earth, cool, easy to talk to guys they are. It's awesome to see good folks doing well and growing each year. It's (at the very least) a nice gesture to do what I can to help promote those who are helping me out.

I'm really excited to get back out and race some more. Been logging mileage on the rollers to make sure I've got some sort of base to work with once the season hits. And drawing a bunch. Trying to stay on the art thing. I've got some art dropping in the next couple of days, so stay tuned. Learn more junk about me that you probably already know; and if you could give a crap, my first racing tip will make you faster/more annoying to your enemies.

-It's official. Now there's pressure to perform.

Secret Spy Teaser

2011-02-13T11:53:00.000-08:00

Here's a secret-spy-teaser photo of the new portrait I just finished. The finished product is coming soon....stay tuned....

Dr Sketchy's - The Work

2011-02-01T22:44:00.000-08:00

So here are some samples of the sketching I did at Dr Sketchy's the other night (as promised). Nothing too mind-blowing. Drawing from a model is always fun. Especially when there are friends joining in and a beer or two is available. Click for larger images...

-Blind contour drawing is a skill they force on you in art school. It involves you not removing your drawing implement until you're done, and not looking at the page til you're done. I think this is one of the better drawings I did that night. It even netted me some sort of prize (yet to be mailed to me).

-Shoulders rolled forward and viewing from the frontal plane is not an easy pose to capture (as evidenced by my weak sketch!)

-10min pose?

Put a little time in at the drawing table last week to put down some inks on a sketch I've been working on. Trying to figure out where to go with it from here...If and when I finish it, I'll be sure to post up the results.

Dr Sketchy's

2011-01-30T19:03:00.000-08:00

Ad-Roc and I got our drawing skills on tonight at Dr Sketchy's Anti-Art School. After we hit up the falafel spot, we were ready to get our art on. I completely forgot to take a bunch of photos, but here are the few that I got. Sketches to come as they get scanned in.

-It was so dark in the bar, it was tough to see what the heck we were drawing!

-A pint helps loosen up yer drawing steez.

-Then my face started to melt.

Marked

2011-01-28T21:39:00.000-08:00

Things at the new shop have been steadily progressing. Before we know it, we're gonna be packed to the gills with bikes, parts and cycling-related fun. There have been 2-3 of us building bikes for the past few days. It's been an awesome experience so far, to be opening a shop with brand new coworkers. Getting to know each other in a some-what relaxed atmosphere, bonding over bike stories and sharing of knowledge and creating some great ideas.

Since we're not totally stocked with enough/all of our tools yet, we've been bringing our own. I figured that taking the time to label my stuff would work out for the best. Not that any of my coworkers have sticky fingers, simply because my brain sucks sometimes, and when you put two or three cassette lock-ring tools next to each other, can you really tell which belongs to whom? Right. So I got busy tonight.

-I really wanted pink E tape...but Home Cheapo didn't have any. I'm secure enough with myself to rock pink, and besides, who'd want to be caught stealing pink tools? [Note the beverage wrench in the most important spot.

-Stickers are awesome.

-Stealing all of the zip-ties outta my box wore Thor out.

Another Year Older

2011-01-27T18:40:00.000-08:00

Last night's storm couldn't keep friends away from helping me celebrate another revolution 'round the sun. Six hearty souls gave the hi-sign to mother nature and trucked on over to Eli Cannons for some food and drinks. Special thanks to Carrie and Sarp for hooking up Eli's for us. Color photos courtesy of Tony Tyrant and Tina.

-Tina's phone is HUGE.

-The Man, the Myth, the Legend....Dougy Fresh. We geeked out over bikes.

-Todd's up to something....

-Illus made an appearance.

-G-Rock rolled in as Todd put the kill on some wing-action (and looking fashionable in that Gship shirt.)

-Ad-Rock.

-I got to be an honorary fireman that night.

-Trying to make up my mind. That menu is no joke.

-Blackened chicken wrap and fries. No doubt.

-Some sort of boutique wing craziness.

-Me telling an awesome story.

-You guys are the best. Thank you!

Old School...

2011-01-26T05:52:00.000-08:00

Here's a piece I did back in my college lithography class. I'd really love to start making litho's again. I might look up my old professor, pay another $5 for a print-shop key, drink and make some art.

-Click for larger image.

January 2011

2011-01-25T06:27:00.000-08:00

Trying to whip this thing back into shape. Took a little time off, took a nap, drank some tea, now I think I'm ready to get movin' again. Here's what I've been up to...

-Winter-time = roller-time. Gettin' ready for the upcoming cycling season already.

-Saturday night I went to an "art-closing" and met these folks there.

-This is a terrible picture of Josie, which doesn't really seem fair as she takes awesome photos of everyone else.

-Think this was my favorite piece (save for the awful clock on top of the neck. What were they thinking?

-So well done.

-We all wound up back @ Eli's afterwards. Imagine that.

-Tony Tyrant.

-Young's Double Chocolate stouts are so good.

Oregon 2009

2009-07-01T22:21:00.000-07:00

Caitlin and I headed to Oregon so I could marry my friends Adam and Kanani. Some old friends showed up and we made some new ones as well. Here's the slideshow until I get around to the write-up.

Dr Sketcheys...April Edition

2009-04-07T21:07:00.001-07:00

Went down to the Elm City this past Sunday to partake in the first (of hopefully many) Dr Sketchey's Anti-Art school events. It basically a rock-concert version of live model drawing. Well, maybe not that intense, but a lot more fun than a traditional figure drawing class. Here're some flicks:

-This is pretty much where I was sitting....not sure how Linda got this shot without me realizing it...maybe before I got there?

-Kiki burying the ex...

-This one netted me some rad talking animal markers.

Then I went to Caitlin's, she made an awesome dinner, we watched some TV, fell asleep on the couch and even got to sleep in on Monday! A rad Sunday for sure.

Afternoon Snack...

2009-04-01T14:36:00.000-07:00

Digger hooked up the cupcakes, I hooked up the coffee....perfect for a raw, cold afternoon.

Photos...Words...

2009-03-31T20:43:00.001-07:00

I've been up to a few things in the past month or so...and I took a couple photos...

-Caitlin bought me a new thermos. I did it up promptly and proper with a few stickies...it's been carrying coffee safely in my messenger bag to work pretty much every day. Right now it's been neglected for the past couple of days in my living room and is in need of a good scrubbing...:(

-Met up at the Pan one fine evening with Tony, Tina, Schmidt and his lady-friend. I didn't know he had a lumberjack beard going...took me by surprise.

-Tony got bested by the Treasure Box game...again....

-Get up!

-Anti-Theft Device....

-Went with my boy Adam to the NYC Comic-Con. Lots of weirdos. Lots of cool geek stuff. That's Adam sitting on the panel for Hip-Hop and Comic Books along with DMC, Kyle Baker, Johnny Juice, Chuck D and James Bomb.

Caitlin and I went to Boston and saw....

-A shitty, oversized, gas-guzzling land-barge...

-The Shepard Fairey show at the ICA...

-The ocean...

-!Incredible! Thai food...

-her sister's boyfriend's awesome band...

-A shoe...

-Her super, super, sweet cat Mya.

Back home...

-Doug had his 30th...with the usual cast of characters.

-And some kind of fry tower?

-I rode to work...it rained...

-...and turned my skull sideways...

A few more randoms for you...

-Mya read me a bedtime story...

-I thought of Shawn when I saw these and had to take a photo...

-She's shy...

-Caitlin turning the tables...

Until next time...

Day Off Project

2009-02-11T16:20:00.001-08:00

I rocked out yesterday ninja-ing some laundry, getting groceries and building a bike rack. Who needs a fancy $60 bike rack when $17 gets you a 2x4, a couple lag screws, drill bits and a few bike hooks? Gett'n rad in my kitchen:

Stoked for an "anti-Valentines Day" weekend with Caitlin up in Boston. The girl hates on the V-Day so we figured that we'd make it the most un-V-Day by staying at her Mom's place...hahahaha! Apparently she's got lots of fun stuff planned! Can't wait! Been working on getting my studio into shape, getting there, slowly but surely. I'm actually going to get to work on a piece tonight.

Rode to work for the first time in forever today! With the weather being in the high 50's, there was no excuse not to! I feel like I've got my work cut out for the upcoming cycling season...motivation to ride the rollers is pretty weak this year. I can't wait for the nicer weather!

Great Art

2009-01-23T11:25:00.000-08:00

Jim Mahfood has one of the most powerful and touching works of art I've seen in a while. Check it out here.

Newness!

2009-01-10T20:47:00.001-08:00

So I'm pretty much all moved. I've got a few assorted odds and ends that need to be moved over here. Planning on getting the rest of it tomorrow. Getting the majority of it all here went pretty smoothly. Moving a couple of blocks (essentially) away is fairly easy. Borrowed a truck to get the big stuff here and utilized Caitlin's legendary moving powers to get it all in.

First impressions of the new place, well, it's big. Like, really, really big! Easily twice the size and close to three times my old place. And it's fucking cold! Apparently, there's no more oil left in the tank. So that means I have to scramble to find someone to fill the tank, bleed the line and light the furnace before I can stay warm on the daily. First order of business was to get all of the windows sealed in plastic. That made a pretty big difference already. So now I'm rockin' the space heater so I can sleep comfortably, not too bad. Nailed up an old comforter to separate a couple of rooms. That seems to have helped as well. I've got a few other tricks up my sleeve, but need to really start unpacking and putting-away to get things in order. Stoked to have tomorrow off and start making my place look a little more homey.

New, Old Video

2008-12-31T05:09:00.000-08:00

Just found an older hip-hop video I had never seen from one of my favorite groups (who may or may not be together any longer depending on what month it is).

What's New?

2008-12-22T15:53:00.000-08:00

Lots have been happening in the past couple of weeks. I've been pretty busy with lots of stuff...so here we go:
Got snowed in with Caitlin for the initial storm. Being snowed in can be cool. Or it can suck. But being snowed in with someone is way more fun than being snowed in by yourself! We went to the grocery store, expecting to have to elbow other people out of the way...but it was actually pretty civilized. Even the bread and milk aisles were in good condition. They're usually cleaned out like people are going to be trapped in their houses for a week when the weathermen start threatening with lots of snow. Needless to say I was pretty surprised! Picked up a few things so I could flex on my stir-fry abilities (which are pretty dope if you don't know....check out this bit of radness I just made tonight:)

Then we made the best of the rest of the day, watching movies, watching the snow fall and just generally being rad together. On the way to work on Saturday, I snapped a quick flick of this little accident:

-Two poor Japanese dudes wrecked it by themselves into the metal-guard-rope thing on the side of the road. Sucks!

The past couple of days have been spent cleaning and packing as I'm moving come January 1st. The new place is super dope and it's just down the street. Great neighbors, great space. Should be great overall. I can't wait to have a room that's a dedicated studio. Should be pretty rad! I've got some good plans for the new place! However, I do hate packing. And cleaning. They suck. But the upside is that I'm trying to throw out as much crap as I can so I have way less to pack. The more that goes into the garbage bin, the less that has to get unpacked.

Xmas is in a couple of days and it's tough to get in the spirit when I have so many other things going on. Looking forward to having Xmas off to continue packing. I'm staying home, resting and packing. Can't wait to get more work done. On the art front, I've got a couple of holiday pieces in the works for family, working on the new Pedal Power shirt designs, finishing up jeresys for the Scorchers, and getting a few new Ghostship hoodies worked on. 2009 is looking to be a dope year. Snapped a cool artsy photo the other day just before the big snowfall...enjoy!

Weekend Fun

2008-12-14T18:04:00.001-08:00

An awesome weekend for sure! C and I headed up to Mass MoCA on Saturday. We made the long drive up, and were amazed as we started our trip through the Berkshires. As you probably know, there was a bitch of an ice storm that has left many residents of NH, as well as MA and VT with no power. We saw some of the aftermath. The tree-tops glazed with a coating of light reflecting ice. It wasn't too bad as we were heading there. We got on the twisty, windy road of RT 2, and as we crested the mountain, it was markedly more drastic! Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING (except the road) was crusted with ice. There were lots of road crews out chainsawing trees so they wouldn't break and fall on cars driving past. It was pretty amazing. Beautiful for sure!

So we hit up the MoCA and saw lots of cool art. Some exhibits were better than others, but if you've never been, you should hit it up to see the building itself! It's located in a reclaimed factory building. Lots of big windows that let in plenty of light, and lots of cool architectural stuff going on. If it weren't so far away, I'd definitely have a membership. So much fun to visit!

We hit up Northampton on the way home for some burritos, used books and shoe shopping. Unfortunately, I didn't find anything I liked. Oh well. Also on the unfortunate tip, is the fact that I left my camera home, so no rad photos of the ice-trees. Next time....

Excited for the Weekend!

2008-12-04T20:31:00.000-08:00

-art'n the place up w. a photo of my fridge.

Anticipating an awesome weekend! Heading to the Market tomorrow to pick up some extra hours tuning boards, mounting skis, and generally just being a shop rat (listening to loud punk rock, making crude jokes, trying not to inhale too much wax smoke, talking about life w. Joe and Aaron, etc). Having dinner after work with a beautiful girl and then causing some trouble? Sleeping in late on Saturday, going into work late (cause I stayed late tonight), Scorcher's meeting that evening. Staying with one of the boys in New Haven, Raf's cooking us breakfast Sunday AM, then heading up to Boston to terrorize with about 7 other team guys. Poker Run race in the afternoon, free beer, burritos and roller-races that evening.

This has all the makings of an epic weekend for sure!

Making Up for Lost Time...

2008-12-02T21:36:00.000-08:00

Experimenting w. my little point-and-shoot.

-the 'mandatory-myspace' photo?...

-I think this reflects how tired I was when I shot it fairly well. hahahaha!

Thanksgiving.

2008-12-02T21:29:00.001-08:00

I took my camera with me and had the best intentions of shooting during the holiday. But the overwhelming urge to relax caused me to forget it in the car when we got to my sisters. So you're left with mostly artsy-fartsy shit from my car ride. Enjoy!

:)

2008-12-02T20:53:00.000-08:00

The Sweetness.

2008-11-24T20:01:00.000-08:00

Yep.

November...YIKES!

2008-11-16T12:35:00.000-08:00

Damn. I've really slacked off here. I've been pretty busy I guess. Racing has kind of burned me out. I won't lie. I got sick for about a week, and then took another week to totally get back to 100%. There's nothing like getting sick to really take the wind out of your sails....that's for sure! So riding to work has pretty much been my time on the bike for the past couple of weeks. I had put some gears on the cross bike to help me be a little more competitive on the flats. I've been finishing up in the middle of the pack still. Pretty much in the same place where I was finishing with on gear. So for the race this weekend, I think I'm going back to one cog. Just have fun. No worries. Have a good time. Heckle the shit out of everyone else. We'll see how it pans out. Ghostship is sponsoring the CT State Championships so I have to make time to get some shirts done this week...in my new studio! So stoked ot have a place to work now (outside of my living room).

I've been pretty busy with making art as well. I just have some pieces in the Game Over show @ No Regrets Tattoo/Art Gallery in Naugatuck. Dougy-fresh and I went to Eliza's wedding on Saturday and then high-tailed it up to the gallery to take in some culture. I could only get a couple of photos because we got there so late (damn you LI ferry!). The show runs for another couple of weeks so get on over there and check out some of the rad stuff!

-awesome block Super Mario figures! these guys stand about 2 feet tall or so.

-Life-sized Mario Cart. Super dope! I wanna see a motor in that thing!

-My main piece for the show. Ink wash on 140lb fine watercolor paper. 18"x13.5". Framed. $200.

-Woodman from Megaman II. One of my favorite games growing up. This is my favorite of the series of 3 I did. 4"x6". $50.

-Fireman from Megaman. 4"x6". For sale. $40.

-Bombman from Megaman. 4"x6". For sale. $40.

Discount if you want the entire series of 3. We can talk.

After I dropped Doug @ home, I trekked back to M-Town and hung out with Digger, SA, LT and Deanapar, had a beverage and watched Brock Lesnar pound on Randy Couture. A great fight and a packed Saturday for sure!

-SA and Deanapar taking it all in.

I've also been working with everyone I ride with to organize our club, The Scorchers, a bit better. We've got tons of great ideas floating around and we're all working really hard to make them realized. Got some shirts to work on this week and racing on Saturday. Then I've got a couple more pieces in the works. No rest for the weary!

Finally Home!

2008-09-28T21:38:00.001-07:00

Thank God I'm finally home! Another Vegas trip for the books. This year pretty much wore me the f*ck out. Not being a big drinker, or a big gambler, there's not a whole lot there for me to do. Oh yeah, I should also mention that I had very little expendable cash for this trip as well.

Well, the show was a good time. Got to see all the new bright, shiny bike goodies for the upcoming season. Made some new friends, visited and caught up with some old ones as well. Things that really stoked me out? Working along with Rickshaw on an upcoming custom one-off bag, pretty much all of the new BMX stuff. Looks really, really great! Had a good time laughing at the Dean and Digger Show...pretty much the whole trip. Got to race my cross bike on Wednesday night under the lights of a giant soccer complex. Super fun! Well, minus the crash that knocked me out of the first place spot (which I should have taken due to the one lap rule that I didn't know about til the next day!....damn my honesty and niceness!) and left a decent patch of skin on the pavement at about 15mph! Ouch. Randomly ran into Stevil Kinevil and hooked him up with his shirt. Watched Lance get shelled (he crashed in the same place I did! Rad!). Went to some randomly weird bicycle/urban fashion show and made fun of everybody...we've got it on video. I'll post that up later.

Those are pretty much the highlights for me. I didn't drink nearly enough coffee...had my head in a serious fog for the better part of the trip. I did shoot some photos, though. Click the photo below to head to the slideshow....since it sucks to try and post everything here. While I had fun, I think that this is my last trip out to the desert. That city definitely wears thin with me. Now, STOKED for the cross season and getting my art on! Lots of shirt ideas, getting the press warmed back up!

-Best Dressed for sure! photo by Jason Patrician

Vegasvegasvegasvegasvegas.....

2008-09-21T07:33:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again. Our annual trip out to the desert. We're shipping out on Monday and will be back on Saturday evening. Tony and I are registered for the cross race on Wed night, there's a great movie premier lined up that night as well. Digger and Deanapar are pretty much in drunk mode already...we should have some great stories, photos and videos this year! Oh yeah, Jason P is meeting up with us on Tues or Wed. Going to try and take it easy for the first couple days so I can stay fresh for the race. I don't travel well. I'm hoping for some good sleep to get well rested. Have to try and acclimate to the dry air as well. Bringing a bottle cage and bottle for the race. I think it'll be so dry that I'm going to need to actually drink during this one. Wish me luck! We'll see you when we get back!

Catching Up To Do....

2008-09-12T23:11:00.001-07:00

Well, I was planning on heading up to Boston to meet up with the rest of the crew, but after thinking long and hard, decided to stay put this weekend. There's sooooooo much I need to get done around here. And after I pay for 2 days worth of tattoo convention tix, gas and food $, that'll cover the cost of shipping Ms. Surly out to Los Vagrants (and then some!). I know I'm missing some great fun, but I'll have my week out in Vegas! So in the meantime, shirts are getting screened, friends are getting visits, and I had a little time to upload some photos from some recent adventures. Check out a few of my favorites:

First up, my Sister got married about a month ago...

-Chill'n w. Pops...probably one of the best self-portraits I've ever taken.

-Ma Dukes and myself.

-My Mom and my Niece.

-My Sister with her daughters.

Click here for a slideshow of the rest of the photos...

And Secondly: Trek flew a few of us from the shop out to their Trek World convention a few weeks ago. Fun times! Some more fun photos:

-The crew ready for an evening of beer, brats and skidding Limes...hahahhahah!

-Spence gett'n live....

-Don't let the cup fool you (he was refilling mine), he finished that himself....Digger on the loose....

Trying to remember what I had promised.......after swearing not to have a drop of beer until after XcrossX season...oops.

-what can I say?

See the rest of the set by clicking here. As always, good times! Should have some more rad photos and even some videos in a few weeks after Vegas. We're heading out from Monday to Saturday (ugh...gonna be total zombies by the time we return!), the longest stint we've done there so far. We're going to the big bicycle convention, Interbike. Tony Tyrant and I are registered to race in the Industry Cup cyclocross race, CrossVegas. We're renting ourselves a "molester" team van, and rocking out to brutal metal for the entire night...if we don't get arrested, we'll have some amazing stories!

Oh yeah!

2008-09-10T21:05:00.000-07:00

Look over to your right...no, not that far. On the screen. See the little Followers widget? Get on that! I'd love to see who follows this! Thanks!

X Season...

2008-09-10T17:12:00.000-07:00

...is here! Raced up in Springfield a few weeks ago....Not too shabby. It was the last race on the Hexed bike. No mechanical issues, chain stayed on. Nothing to make excuses for my lack of talent and lungs! Haha! Placed 16th out of about 33ish(?) with only one gear. Turns out I was the only guy there with just one. Highlight of the race was out-sprinting some guy on a custom Ti Serotta mountain bike for 16th place at the line. Tony's got some photos here. He's gett'n pretty good with that there soul-stealer.

-that's a thumbs down in case you couldn't tell!

Went and raced @ training race night @ Winding Trails in Farmington tonight. Couldn't get any gears on the bike today so I rocked the single speed again. Switched the rear cog from a 22t to a 20t. It was the right decision. But try telling that to me on a couple of the short, steep hills...after a few laps....legs burning and dead. Placed 15th out of about 30ish(?). Got beat on the flats again (spinning out) and made a few technical errors here and there (was fighting the course in a few spots instead of flowing with it) that pushed me back in the standings. I think gears will be an asset where I need them most (the flats for sure!). Talked with Tyrant a bit about CrossVegas. Still not sure whether I'm going to run gears or a single set-up. Gears will help, but singling that shit is just so punk rock! I'm not about the overall out there...I'm hoping to get some dollar primes and maybe a beer hand-up. As many $'s as I can stuff in my shorts is the name of the game....Still have to name the new bike....haven't thought of anything yet. Need to dismantle her and ship her to Los Vagrants on Monday. Without my cross rig for a week! Ugh...there are definitely worse things...

Burning some screens for new Ghostship stuff. A little slow going. Had a few technical issues to sort out. But I've learned more now! Pretty stoked. The whole silk-screening thing is one big learning process for me. I love it. I wish I had a larger space to work. Although that may get sorted out next week. We'll see how things work out. Work, ride, eat, make art...repeat seems to be the mantra of the past couple of weeks. Hope to keep it up!

Live Mural Art Dopeness!

2008-07-31T19:24:00.000-07:00

Last night saw Tony Tyrant and I throw down in our Live Mural Art Battle at Eli's. We had a blast! Lots of friends showed up to support us, hang out, have a couple drinks and give us a hard time! I got there a bit early, loaded in, had dinner and started sketching. About 15mins of scratching away in the sketchbook and I had my loose plan. Started doctoring up the boards right @ 6pm. It was a great set up as it allowed people to float in and out, get food and drink. Saw tons of great friends that came out to support us. I stopped working just about 12AM. As soon as I decided I was finished, my body just about shut down. I packed up, hung with a few friends til about 12:30 and headed home to bed! Here are some photos from the evening:

Dougy Fresh popped these:

My photos:

-Tony's piece

-My piece

-Two tired artists...

-The arsenal.

-Crew.

-3 fast guys right there.

-My boy Ad-Rock and his fiance Kanani rolled through.

-Showing Kate how my camera works. Impromptu self-portrait.

Click here for Tony's photos.

Inked Up!

2008-07-28T21:59:00.000-07:00

Couple pieces inked up. The last one was a little ink sketch over on the side of my pad. Kind neat. Check it:

-click for larger...

-click to supa-size...

-click to...ahhhh you know the drill.

Mural Art Date Moved!!

2008-07-23T16:56:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Quick note: Due to the prediction of rain of biblical proportions, Tony, Eli's and I decided that it would be best to move the event to our rain date of July 30th @ 6PM. No art tomorrow evening. Hope to see you next week!

-click to super-size...

Quick Flyer Piece

2008-07-21T23:51:00.000-07:00

Had to do a quick flyer (because of overwhelming resistance to the original one I put together) instead of working on my current pieces. Oh well, gotta promote! Here's the new one:

-click for larger

Please feel free to print a copy for yourself if you dig it. Better yet, print a few and post 'em up to get some more folks out to the battle! See you on Thursday!

Ink

2008-07-21T06:07:00.000-07:00

Dropping some ink on my tattooed head-phone girl.

-click for larger size

Photoshop Magic

2008-07-18T18:52:00.000-07:00

Next time you see that hottie in your favorite magazine or online, think about this...

"We oughta make 'em tell 'em the truth, from what the camera shoots, and use the negatives for evidence provide'n the proof." -The Procussions

New Sketch

2008-07-18T08:24:00.001-07:00

Another fresh piece coming together. There are some proportional issues I need to work out, but another sketch nonetheless.

-click for larger image

The mural battle is on! Tony Tyrant and I will be slinging paint and hanging out next Thursday, July 24th starting 6PM at Eli Cannon's in Middletown. We're chill'n on the back patio and gett'n our art on til close. Come on through, have a drink with us, socialize, meet some cool new people and enjoy some live art! Good times!

Also currently stoked on the new From Monuments to Masses that's coming out shortly. They've been posting videos on their myspace of some of the recording process. Annnd their producer is none other than Matt Bales (who produced the last Mastodon album)! Super stoked!

New Drawing

2008-07-14T18:42:00.000-07:00

Started a new drawing yesterday. I started it as just a quick kind of sketch, like what I've been working on lately. But I really like the way it's turned out so far so I think I'll take it to a clean finished product. Here are the pencils so far. I might get to start adding some ink tonight. We'll see how things pan out.

-click for a larger version.

I really pushed the contrast in photoshop cause the pencils are so light. But this gives you a good idea of what's happening. Pretend it's a top-secret spy photo.

Talked to my homeboy Ad-Roc to day. I don't want to jinx anything, talk about anything too soon before it happens, or let the cat out of the bag, but he and I are in the infant stages of something big right now. Big like something that CT hasn't seen before. I'm super-excited! I think this has some huge potential. Can't wait to see where it goes. All in due time.

Other than that, been going riding a bunch. I watched what was almost a really horrific collision between a couple of cyclists and a car. I swear that most people's IQ's just plummet as the pace increases. They're so deadset on passing each other (on a damned CLUB ride!) and are so competitive that they don't check over their shoulders for cars. I watched two guys literally swerve out in front of a car after 'Car Back' had been yelled out. And I watched some dipshit try to blow up the group, sprint out, lose steam, and no one would let him into the paceline, sit right in the middle of the road with a car behind him. It's no wonder why motorists hate cyclists so much. Sharing the road doesn't mean taking the lane when a car is trying to get past. Don't be an asshole.

Still training for cross season. I don't really have a benchmark for where I'm at so I'm not sure how things are going to pan out. I feel like I'm caught between the A's and the fastest B's on our group rides. Once things start going up, I can pass most folks like they're standing still. But there are a few guys I can't keep up with. No matter whether they're on hills, especially when they're on the flats. Had a lot of knee pain tonight too. I think the combination of cooler weather and pushing 20mph for 35mi kind of added up together. I feel like I have to embrocate unless it's stupidly hot out or constantly wear knee warmers. The cooler weather really knocks the shit out of my knees. I hope I can keep up this pace of riding right through cross season and that I don't get burned out. Just have to keep it fun, think right and "I got my PMA...we got our PMA!" Word.

Racing Is War.

2008-07-11T08:29:00.000-07:00

Another sketch. Playing with textures, practicing my hand-drawn fonts (they need LOTS of work!, and working off the top of my dome. Keeping the creativity flowing. I think the bombs on the bottom are my favorite part of this one.

-click the image for the huge version.

I had a visitor stop by the studio last night as well. He was here just long enough to zip around the joint, provide some entertainment and terrorize things a bit. I shot some video that I hope to have up by this weekend. Stay tuned.....

More Artwork....

2008-07-02T22:57:00.000-07:00

I've been pretty much MIA for the past couple weeks. Here's what I've been up to. Been riding a bunch. Still not drinking beer. I feel like I'm slimming down a bit...getting a little leaner. Hopefully I'll be ripped for cross....but if not, I won't feel like I failed. Been drawing much more frequently. Getting ready for the "Art Battle". Feels pretty good...I feel like I'm learning stuff a little quicker. Knocking out a bunch of sketches/semi-finished drawings per evening. Here's a little taste:

-a semi-classic pin-up bike mechanic for the service boys at work.

-I used a photo from David Perry's Hot Rod Pin-Ups 1 for this portrait. Trying to brush up on my speed and proportions.

-Still really stoked on Todd's tattoo...so here's a girl and her friendly, fire-breathing robot pal...notice the other robots she's chill'n on...the ones that her pal "took offline".

These are still pretty much sketches...nothing is really finished, 'cept for the portrait one. I may post updates as I tweak them more.

Amazing Movie...

2008-06-27T19:54:00.000-07:00

Saw this on Defgrip and thought I'd share. Just a really well shot, edited little movie. Pretty amazing.

Martin the Tailor from Ed David on Vimeo.

Sketching...

2008-06-20T18:55:00.000-07:00

Here's a new sketch...kinda sorta finished look to it.

How Do You Unwind?

2008-06-18T20:40:00.000-07:00

As I was helping close up tonight, got a text from my man Tyrant to head down to our local waterhole (ie: second home) and grab some drinks and food. Rode Lurch down in the rain, grabbed a spot at the bar and hilarity almost immediately ensued. Our presence was graced by my friend/co-worker/boss-man Bill. He hung out, had a couple pints, shared some stores about kids using washing machines to defend themselves against pissed off cougars, critiqued my artwork (we'll get to that in a second) and generally had a great time. Feeling a bit bored and wound up post-work, I busted out my Sharpie and got to work on the place-mat in front of me. (Tony Tyrant is responsible for all of these photos...thanks Tony!!)

-I love it when a plan comes together...

-The finished product.

-Super fun!

So after I posted the piece up on an air-duct, our good buddy/bar-manager-extrodinaire LT busted out a present given to him from one of the Sierra Nevada reps. Not wanting to let a few dares get the best of me, I retreated to the safety of the men's room to check out this gift in private...

Now I'm a pretty solid Pearl Izumi size large in both shorts and jerseys. Size XL in Giordana. That skinsuit turned out to be a Castelli in size Medium! For those who don't speak cycling lycra, it means that it's about 2 sizes too small for me. I couldn't stand straight up or I would have blown the crotch clear out...hence the Spiderman-Jazz-Hand stance. Mike was pretty sold.

Heading back to the bathroom I wound up having to wait to change because the men's room was occupado... A table full of rather attractive women said "Just use the ladies' room". To which I replied, "I'd love to but my clothes are in the men's room." I tried to get a photo op with them, but was turned down...always the bridesmaid. How'd your night wind up?

Photo Shoot.

2008-05-26T11:04:00.000-07:00

I hung out with Josie yesterday, and she brought her camera/gear with her. She's got a project going on where she's shooting her friends, portrait style. I got a good laugh when she opened the trunk of her car, and her Mark II was just chill'n in the netting, no case, not even a filter to protect the lens. "What? You've gotta let the shit breath once in a while", was her response. Nice! So we shot a bunch of somewhat traditional portraits, and then she was kind enough to do an impromptu Ghostship product shoot for the newest shirts. Not only was she super easy to work with, she made me look pretty damn good to boot (if I do say so myself). Head over to her site and check her work and hit her up if you want your headshots to look supadope!: www.josaleethrift.com. Check out a few of the shots we ended up with:

-I think this is one of my favorites.

Rhode Island

2008-04-06T01:51:00.000-07:00

Went to Rhode Island today with Todd and his crew to catch Explosions In The Sky. We killed a bunch of hours by hanging around in the mall. It's pretty large. 3 stories. Malls aren't really my thing, but there were some cool stores there. People watching was great too. Had a HUGE lunch from an Indian place in their food court. I was kinda sketched out by it at first, but everything they cooked was fresh and tasted amazing! A definite surprise as mall fair goes I guess. We left the mall for a bit and walked around downtown Providence. Went to a couple sneaker shops and bookstores. Snapped some random photos. We met up with some more folks (in the mall), some ate dinner, and we left to downtown yet again. By this time, I was jonesing for some caffeine pretty badly, so I set out on my own. With the help of some of the crew from Lisa Lampinelli [sp?] (i guess she was in town doing comedy at another theater), I found a Starbucks a little ways up the street. Headed back with caffeine and waited for the rest of the crew outside Lupos.

The show was sold out...good thing we had tix already. Watched the show. The band was pretty good. Not the type of show I'm used to going to. Was hoping for more of a show, but they played well. They turned down an encore, I'm still not sure what to make of that...what kind of fucking band turns down an encore?!?! Maybe they're all a bunch of nancy-boys? I thought everything was bigger in Texas (they're pretty proud of their Texan heritage but.....that shit might get revoked!) Here's some random shots I took. Enjoy.

-Todd at dinner.

-Me. Coffee deprived.

-Bad. Ass.

-Used cassette tapes in a used bookstore.

-Quick, 5min drawing during dinner. Have I mentioned how much I hate my digital camera. Shit said it was in focus....piece of garbage.

Easter.

2008-03-24T19:53:00.000-07:00

Easter saw me drive to NY to see family. A quick 1.5hr trip to Ma Dukes to have dinner, play with (read:torture) the cats and spend the night. The next day, a 2.5 hr trip to my sister's in LI. Dinner, see my nieces, hang-out. Was planning on hanging out with a friend and taking the ferry home, but the ferry was booked. So make another 3hr drive back home. Too much driving for one day for sure! But good to see family and take the day off from worrying about what project is due next. Check out some photos I took here.

Favorite Things

2008-03-13T21:29:00.000-07:00

Here're a couple of my favorite things.

Well Worn...

2008-03-13T00:20:00.000-07:00

I love old tools. There's something about their soul that speaks to me. Just looking at how well-loved they are makes me think about who's had them prior, what kind of projects they've used them for, a great history I guess. This is a pneumatic chisel that belongs to our service manager, Spencer. He told me a quick story about how he launched the chisel end once, about 20' at full blast. Luckily, there was no one on the receiving end....yikes!

-Well worn. Well loved.

-Check out the great engraving! They don't engrave anything like this anymore! So much soul!

Winter Cross Ride

2008-03-11T18:15:00.000-07:00

Took the cross bike into the woods today to blow off some steam, get some exercise and get refocused. Changed the spring in my Singlator to push down. I've had so many issues with it pushing up I figured I try something different. Put the rear tire back on, scrounged up an extra tube, co2 & cartridges, and tools (everything I usually use is somewhere in the mid-west with my track bike, according to FedEx). Changed and went out. Rode up to Wadsworth trails and found the trailhead I was going to use was a swamped out mess. Went a different route and found a mixture of trails too mucky to ride (although it appears a few have...shame, shame!) and some that were dry and fun. Walked around the really mucky stuff and ripped around for about an hour. I'm about ready for the nicer weather.

-mucky, nasty trails.

-how do I really feel about the mucky trails?

-the Falls were movin'...

-dead leaves and a fast trail.

So Over It...

2008-03-11T01:32:00.000-07:00

I'm sick of it. All the bullshit. The mixed messages, the un-straight-forward-ness, unreturned calls, non-communication. It's tiring. I don't understand what's so difficult about expressing feelings. Just tell people how you feel. Be straight up. I feel like there's a lot more that I want to say, but it's all just convoluted garbage that's difficult for me to form into coherent expression and it has no real bearing on the important aspects of life. So I'm refocusing. Turning my frustration towards something productive. Getting more focused on art. Making music. Taking photos. Screen-printing. Being creative. Focus on the important stuff and fuck the bullshit. Ok....I'll step down off my soapbox now.

Day 4/5

2008-03-07T13:30:00.001-08:00

Kind of wrote about Day 4 yesterday...after riding over the Golden Gate and into the Headlands, went to the beach, braved the cold winds. Ate a life saving burrito, went back to the hostel, showered and napped for about 2 hours. Got up, was going to eat dinner at "the best Chinese place in SF" but didn't want to wait 30 mins for a table. Went to a little Thai place on the corner instead. Pretty good food, big portions. Packed up what I didn't finish, rode on down to meet up with Craig at the bar he works at. Gave him my leftovers (def enough for a second meal!), hung out, had a couple beers. Meet his roommates, the bartenders, lots of cool folks. Great music in that bar as well.

Today, got up relatively early (starting to get more in tune with Cali time....jet lags gonna suck!!!) ate breakfast and met some cool folks from around the world. Ate with a few girls from Italy, South Africa and Seattle. Finished breakfast, talked bikes with a guy from Italy who races downhill while I packed my whip up. Showered, packed, checked out. Scheduled a shuttle back to SFO tonight, walked my bike case about 8 blocks down to FedEx to ship back home to avoid the exorbant charges associated with flying your bike.

Walking about a bit, stretching the legs. Taking things in a more relaxed manner instead of having to pay attention to traffic on the bike. Walked through Chinatown section, up into Little Italy. Had a sandwich, coffee and Italian pastry. Over-priced but not too bad. Walked back down here to the library. Trying to figure out what I want to do now. Might go walk around downtown and check things out. I feel kind of limited without having my bike to rip around on. That's about it. I've got lots of photos to upload when I get home so check back to see what I saw....Talk with you all soon.

Day 3...

2008-03-06T16:03:00.000-08:00

Only have a few mintues so we'll keep this quick. Day 3 was cool. Checked out a few more shops that I had been meaning to get to. Double-toe straps from Freewheel (one of the best bike investments I've made in a while!)...Caught up with Craig and a couple of his buddys in the evening for some drinks. Saw some rad graffiti (Barry McGee on a store front gate. Couldn't take a photo cause it was 1am in a sketch part of town), the rad folks @ Chrome fixed my bag and gave me a loaner while they were working on mine. New strap is rad! Rode over Golden Gate Bridge and up into the Marin Headlands today. Absolutely beautiful!!! Got some amazing photos. Went to the beach, stood in the Pacific! Cold-ass-hell water! Smells fresher than the Atlantic...hmmmm. I'm cashed so heading back to the hostel for a shower and nap before I go meet with Craig again tonight. I'll try to get one more post up here before I leave tomorrow. Late!

Day 2

2008-03-04T22:59:00.000-08:00

Got an early start this morning. Early enough that nothing was open! Went to the SFMOMA first, but found they didn't open til 11AM. Stopped by a bike shop that Craig referred me to and found that they were closed for rennovations til Thur. Stumbled upon Chrome on the way back to the museum. Dropped my bag off for a new shoulder-strap (they perform repairs on the spot) and got a loaner bag til mine is done tomorrow. Went to the library to check email, etc and went back to MOMA in time for the opening. The first Tues of every month is free gallery day. So I got to check out some rad modern art on the cheap! After that, went back to the Haight area to get some stuff I had checked out yesterday. Stopped off at a few bike shops that were closed on Monday. Went to Freewheel bike shop on Hayes, picked up some Toshi double toe-straps and some random odds and ends. Stopped at another shop to alcohol my bars/stem to stop the creaking (been there since I put them together the other day). Pretty much solved the problem. Went to a Whole Foods for a snack and beverage. Checked out Goorin Bros for some rad headwear (but couldn't carry anything back cause the loaner bag is smaller than mine...have to go back tomorrow). Back to the hostel for a shower, some rest and planning for tomorrow. Went down to a bar (can't remember the name) run by a cyclist (story has is that he broke up with a girl and opened a bar...hmmmmm). Pretty rad. Then went to Zeitgeist. Another rad divey place. Talked with the infamous Tamale Lady. Got pretty lit. Can't believe I made it back in one piece...ha! Oh yeah! Both bars had racks INSIDE for bikes!!! How fucking cool! Take note CT! They're gett'n it done here in the SF! Also got some photos of some AMAZING graffiti work!Gonna go drink some more water, head to sleep and get up, do it again tomorrow! Meeting up with Craig and the crew tomorrow night. Word!

Sf Day 2

2008-03-04T10:41:00.001-08:00

Spent pretty much all day yesterday riding around and taking things in. Tried to check out Freewheel bike shop but found out they are closed on Mondays. Found San Francisco Cyclery and picked up some CO2 cartridges, blinky lights as well as a SF bike map. If you're ever here, get one of those maps. They are amazing! Went to Haight St and checked out the small boutiques, Ameoba music (about the size of a large bowling alley), ate an amazing burrito...some highlights were happening upon the Fatlace shop and meeting the 2 cats working there, super nice. Hit up Upper Playground and saw some amazing art. Met up with Craig at the Island last night, rode around a bit and ate dinner. More stuff to cross off the list today. Oh yeah, got carded when buying beer last night "Are you old enough to buy this?" -Yep- "Oh, ok". Didn't even ask to see my id. Rad.

SF Day 1

2008-03-03T11:04:00.000-08:00

Well, itś day 2 actually. Day one was supposed to see me land in SFO @ noon, and enjoy the day exploring the city relatively traffic free by bike. Instead, we had mechanical failure on my second plane and I spent 6am-12am on planes and in airports. But at least you had all your stuff...yeah, thanks for losing my shit Delta. You guys rock. Then had the scariest shuttle ride to the hostel, ever. Can belive we got there without getting into a serious accident. Got up this morning, had breakfast, found that my stuff had arrived. Ate a bagel, put my bike together. Now I can relax and actually have fun. Updates to follow.

Update.

2008-02-04T23:10:00.001-08:00

Haven't really posted anything in a great while. So here's what's been going on. Been working on a lot of art lately. Painting a mural at work is the biggest thing on my plate right now. It's coming along and I'm fairly happy with the way most of it is turning out. The small portion I don't like is just the perfectionist thinking that I use to temper myself with to try to get better. A couple flicks are enclosed at the bottom. Designing the new shop jersey as well. It's coming along kind of slowly. I need to upload all of my design work from the shop to my comp here @ home so I can work on it on one of my day's off. I have a few Ghostship designs swirling around in my head but haven't had any time to really get anything down on paper because of another secret project I've been working on in my home studio. I can't tell anyone what it is yet, but when they're done, I'll post 'em all up here for sure! (they're rad and I love 'em all!!)

Trying to get back on the bike after about a month of inactivity. Yeah...I usually fall prey to it for about 2 weeks every year. This year 2 weeks turned into about a month. I was lazy, got sick, it was stupid cold and then I hurt my back snowboarding. Instead of making excuses, I'm putting an end to it. Rode the trainer tonight for about an hour and a half. Felt really good! Considering having no life this coming season and hiring a cycling coach so I can tear things up come cross season. We'll see what happens. Haven't made any decisions yet. Missing the unseasonably warm weather we were so lucky to have last Jan/Feb (although tomorrow is supposed to be rainy, 50-some-odd degrees).

Been listening to lots of music as always. Some recent things in heavy rotation: Amy Winehouse, Norah Jones, The Pharcyde, The Roots, Every Time I Die, Killswitch Engage...etc, etc. Lucero has a great way of dredging up horribly depressing feelings too. I can be in the best mood, iTunes randomly puts them on, and I turn into a pile of melancholic garbage. Pretty amazing for music to be able to do that. Hope everyone's new year has been rad so far!

Mural Photos: One of my customers dropped some knowledge on me today. Exploded isometrics are what these are called. Dig? These are fairly large. The cranks on the wall are probably 8-9 feet tall by about 8 feet wide? The hub is about 6-7 feet tall and easily 8-9 feet long. Pretty simple, bold and graphic. Iridescent gold paint on the red under-paint.

More to come as I make progress. Enjoy!

30th Photos...

2008-02-03T13:25:00.000-08:00

Here are the photos from my 30th about a week ago. The older slideshow generator that I've been using for a while now apparently no longer works, so just click here instead. Enjoy!

Highlights of the evening include, getting cut off...I've never been cut off before! Back-to-back Jack and Torrado[sp?] shots, having all of my close friends show up to hang out, sharpie marker tattoos. Good times!

30th!

2008-01-27T00:21:00.000-08:00

A HUGE thank you to all of my friends who showed up for my 30th bday on Sat night! I love you all and you really made my night special! Thank you so much! drunk as fuck but can still type....,knid of....thank you!!!!!

Saturday Night!

2008-01-25T00:17:00.000-08:00

Pretty Excited...

2008-01-16T18:55:00.000-08:00

So I'm pretty excited about this...functional, aesthetically pleasing, light, strong, made in the US. What more could you want? Available soon I hope. Lots of projects going on right now. Some freelance, some for work, lots of ideas too. 2008 is looking to be super-dope. Stick around.

"It hasn't been my day for a couple years..."

2007-12-16T22:10:00.000-08:00

Hell of a Day...

2007-11-28T16:15:00.000-08:00

So it started with a phone call from work. Apparently there was some sort of miscommunication and I had a client for a fit at the shop at 10am. It's my day off, so I get up, shower, eat, grab my bike and ride in. But it wasn't that smooth...about halfway to work, I got hit. I was traveling down a one-way street behind a car. They had their left signal on and started pulling to the left. I moved to pass them on the right when they cut the wheel to turn right into a parking lot (with the LEFT SIGNAL on). Instinct took over, and I steered with the car to avoid hitting them. Then my tires slipped out on the wet leaves. I slid towards the car, stopping myself with a well placed foot to the door. Front wheel went under the car, rear car wheel went over mine, toasted bike! Bent handlebars. I'm fine. Minor scrapes and stiff joints. I won't go into the gory details of what ensued, but in the end, I got paid to repair my bike and the authorities didn't have to get involved. Still got to work, did the fit and got home in one piece. I'm slowly getting stiffness here and there (as to be expected). Gonna build a new wheel and get some new bars up on the bike and we'll be good to go. PLEASE be careful out there this time of year. With a toasted wheel, bars and minor scrapes, I'm VERY lucky! Things could have been much worse and I thank my lucky stars! Hope you're all getting out to ride even with the cold weather!

Putney Race Report

2007-11-12T22:50:00.000-08:00

Yeah...so I arrived in Putney around 8AM-ish. It was cold and windy, but the sun was out. I knew that it would warm up as the morning progressed and was looking forward to losing some layers so I wouldn't sweat so bad. Saw Tony and Tina pull in shortly after I arrived. Took my time getting my stuff together, marveled at how the port-a-john had frozen from the evening prior (was the lucky one to christen it, I believe) and went in to register. It was a nice change to be able to register inside somewhere warm! Got my pins, and number, went back to the car, grabbed the bike and started to learn the course.

The first grass section had 2 barriers and I noticed that everything was frozen and slippery upon first dismount. The course wound around a bit, then had a short, steep down-hill to 90 degree turn to steep, log run up. Take a straightaway around the bike shop, through the dirt jumps, down a wicked steep, slippery downhill, to a path, to and around some corn fields (iced and chunky now), then back onto some pavement, up a SUPER steep run-up (probably about 30' long) and back onto the course. Good, fast, FUN course. Got in a few more runs. Retried a few technical spots that gave me trouble. Got more comfortable with the steeps with every lap. Made mental notes of where my lines should be. Had a few issues with the chain throwing itself again, fixed it. Went back to the car and ran the heat to warm my feet up. Was pretty sweaty and decided to loose the tights, instead opted for knee warmers, and pinned up my Ignite jacket.

At about 9:45 decided I'd take one last run, at about half speed through most of it, full speed on a few sections. Lost my arm warmers before leaving the car because it had warmed up so much. The light jacket was more than enough. Opted for a cycling cap instead of a beanie as well. Started getting the blood flowing, and wanted to be ready to go right to the start line. When I made it to the run up, everyone was already lined up. Saw Tony and cut the line to post up right next to him.

Got the 'gun', started my '45mins of Pain' mix on the iPod, and we were off! Spun like a bastard and stayed with the front of the group. Going into the barrier section, one guy bumped arms with me (purposely as far as I could tell). Noted it as we went over the barrier section. Winding around to the first run-up, he tried it again and I went aggro, pushing him back off of me. He tried it again, and I gave him the "watch your line!". He backed off and gave me some lame excuse. As we were going up the first techy run-up, some guy cased it right into the first log. He went straight down, his bike went up, another guy crashed into the brush next to the run-up. Bikes and bodies flying everywhere! I pushed through, and kept pace with who I was with til the cornfields. That's where the chain blew off. Fixed it cursing all the way, and noticed how all the frozen stuff was now a greasy mess! The corn field wound up being a crash fest for a ton of guys every time I went though.

The rest of the race I spent trying to pick off guys ahead of me. I noticed that the only place I really got dropped was on the flat paved section because of my gearing. The rest of the race (in most of the technical sections, especially the mud) I was catching and passing guys. I knew that I wasn't in contention, but I wanted to finish and see how many I could catch. Went hard. By the time I got to the finish, I was choking back vomit. Couldn't really talk. Just coughed a bunch. Tony got worried and actually had Tina check on me to make sure I was alright! Tony did great, finishing 5th!

Got changed, ate a burrito, drank the rest of my water, checked out the shop, watched some other racers, waited for the results FOREVER!, saw that I somehow didn't make DFL, and took off. Stopped in Northampton for a coffee, some used CD's, a new shirt and belt. Then went home. A great day with some super fun riding and good friends. Always a great time!

-Pushing HARD up the last few steps of the brutal run-up. photo by Tina McCurdy

-rep'n Ghostship and Ignite (Orange County Hard Core!) photo by Tina McCurdy

-the mini dirt jump in the middle of the course. super fun! photo by Tina McCurdy

VT Cyclocross.

2007-11-11T21:37:00.000-08:00

Raced Putney today. I'm SUPER tired and am heading to bed right now! (9:30pm). Here's the quick run-down...more detailed report to follow:
Got up super early, cold, frozen slick ground, thawed greasy mud, lots of crashing, jumping over bodies, bike failure AGAIN!, Tony kicked ass! (5th place), drove to Northampton, coffee, used cd's, new shirt, drove home, Eli's w/ the Sunday crew, here, bed. Photos to arrive as well (hopefully).

Putney...

2007-11-10T22:02:00.000-08:00

Last minute decision...Heading up to the VT tomorrow for the Putney cross race. It's been going on for 16 years (17 counting tomorrow) and promises to be an old school cross course...with a dirt jump in the middle! Sounds like a good time. Stories and photos to follow...

Vegas Photos...Finally!

2007-11-07T22:26:00.000-08:00

Here're the photos from our trip out to Las Vegas for this year's Interbike show. No descriptions yet...coming soon...enjoy!

Photos From Chainbiter

2007-11-05T12:47:00.000-08:00

Here're some photos from the cross race this past weekend. All photos by Tina McCurdy.

Cursed...

2007-11-03T17:38:00.000-07:00

I'm seriously beginning to think that my cross bike is cursed. Every race, and I mean EVERY fuck'n race, something breaks or fails. Flat tires (curbed by running higher pressure), dropped chains (fixed by running single-speed rings and cogs)...today I broke the pulley wheel on the singulator IN HALF. Of course it happened during the race. The first lap. About 1/8th of the way through. Couldn't have happened last night, or the day before, or during my practice run. Nope. Had to happen during the race. Once I figured out what happened and fixed it the best I could, all 3 fields (the Cat 4s, and both Master's classes passed me). I spent the rest of the race trying so hard just to catch up. When all was said and done, I got pulled with 1 lap left to go. DFL because of a stupid plastic part.

Other than the frustrations of my bicycle, I had a good time. The Ghostship Terror Squad was in full effect. Got to see some old friends and catch up. Did the dollar prime thing with Ghostship and met some new folks. Got to ride an awesome course, spend the day with great friends, eat some food, drink a couple beers. Life is good. I'm so tired I'm gonna crash on my couch and nap for a bit. Hope you made the best of a rainy, cold, windy day.

Halloween....

2007-10-28T22:07:00.000-07:00

Halloween party at my homegirl Ginger's place this past Saturday. Took advantage of the time to dress up like a weirdo, hang out with some rad folks, drink a few beers and generally have a good time. Ginger and her house-mates put in an AMAZING dungeon of terror, dubbed 'The Fear-Maker' in their basement. Complete with sound/light/noise activated spooks, gallons of fake blood, even a do-it-yourself autopsy room, it was crazy! Very well done. Here're a few photos I took. These are the ones that came out half-way decent. I think my digital camera was having some issues that evening. I can't wait to get another SLR! Enjoy!

-was going for The Living End's Chris Cheney look....he's got an amazing hair-stylist I guess. Wound up being a little more punkabilly. Sans guitar.

-Ginger (the murderous Stepford Wife) and her man. You can't see it, but she had a HUGE bloodied cleaver in the back of her apron, tons of fake blood. Team Ziseou represent!

-Rock! photo by Ginger.

-the party got crashed by this guy a few times.

Reserves...

2007-10-26T00:10:00.000-07:00

Since this past weekend's cross efforts (coupled with not riding for nearly a month), I need to expand the fuel tank for upcoming events. In an effort to accomplish that, I set out to get in a quick hour before work this morning. All was going well til I flatted about 2 mi from my house. In the SAME FUCKING SPOT as I did last time! Changing the tubular was a fucking fiasco to put it mildly. Was kicking myself in the ass for turning down a ride from a good samaratin [sp?] thinking I could quickly change my tire. 35mins later, sore fingers, a fucked tubular (broken tape) and a good amount of frustration led me to hike it back home. Luckily, within the last quarter mile a shop customer recognized me and gave me a lift home. Showering up and making breakfast I weighed my options for the possiblity of selling my current wheels and going with some clinchers instead for convenience sake. We'll see what transpires.

Other than that, I've been pretty good. A bit neurotic over some the possiblity of some relationship stuff (probably all in my head), busy with the Gship amidst trying to find time to ride, screen, draw, sew, hang out with friends and such. Picked up some stuff for my Halloween costume this year. Gonna try to rock it as Chris Cheney of The Living End. Got some cool bits and pieces. I'll get some photos to share this weekend. NH Devil's Night 4 race this coming Tues, Hartford's Helloween race on Wed, Farmington Cross a week out Saturday Nov 4th. Good times coming up! Congrats to Joe and Danielle! Gettn' hitched pirate style out in Vegas Saturday...Hoist the main sail, full speed ahead!

Vegas Preview...

2007-10-13T21:08:00.001-07:00

Yep....this sums it all up.

Movie Premier!

2007-10-08T03:05:00.000-07:00

Got up with a Drew and Doug today and headed down to NYC for the MASH movie premier. For those who don't know, MASH is a movie about a bunch of guys who rip the hell outta some fixed gear bikes in the San Francisco area. MASH has been 3 years in the works so it was really rad to finally be able to watch the finished product instead of trying to tide myself over with short, 1 min clips on their website. Some great footage of guys going RIPPIN fast through traffic! Don't wanna ruin it if you're waiting for the DVD! Took the train down, stopped in the Village for some falaffal, went to the Brooklyn Banks to check out some different fixed contests (best trick, bunny-hop, best skid, etc). Saw some amazing kids riding. Went and got some more food (burritos!) found Trackstar (but they were closed) and went to the premier. Watched the flick, rode back to the train and went home. Snapped a few pics. Check 'em out. If you didn't go, you really missed out!

Hot Mustard!

2007-10-04T00:25:00.000-07:00

This past tuesday evening was spent making Paul's Infamous Hot Mustard with Paul, his wife Jean, their daughter Katie and our good friend Dean. The mustard uses all kinds of secret ingredients, but I'll share some of the base ones: Scotch Bonnet peppers, brown sugar and mangos. This stuff is super spicy and tasty as well. I rode to Paul's, suffered on the two hills on the way with my 49x16 gearing. Upon arriving, a nice, cool Post Road Pumpkin beer cooled me down, followed by numerous others, as well as a couple Pink Grapefruit Vodka shots. Wielding sharp knives became a much more concious effort with the alcohol taking over. After a meal of Kielbasa, apple chicken sausage and red hots (of course we used the mustard!!), Paul treated us all to chocolate lava cake and some home-made cappuccino ('corrected' with a little amaretto). The ride home was a bit swervey, but was warm, a bit foggy, and almost devoid of cars! Lit only by my headlights...a great cap to a great evening. Many thanks to our incredibly gracious hosts for the spread of food and drinks and their hospitality! Check the photos below:

Back from Vegas....

2007-09-29T16:05:00.001-07:00

We made it back in one piece, albeit a horribly tired, dry and wrecked piece. I'll post up some photos and incriminating video in the next week or so. Some highlights include: copious amounts of alcohol, stolen pint glasses, massive amounts of stickering, almost getting arrested because of the massive amounts of stickering, losing money, 2 pro level bike races, horrible plane rides, no sleep, making new friends, possible artist collabs? G'night!

Haunted Room?

2007-09-22T23:20:00.000-07:00

I spent a few days about a week ago up in Saratoga Springs, NY as part of my training to get Serotta Fit Certified. I stayed in this place called the Adelphi Hotel. They bill themselves as one of the last remaining, original Victorian hotels in the US. Yep. It's definitely original. And haunted. At 4am the first night I was there, there was a clattering in my bathroom, like someone had dropped a metal pipe on the floor. I woke up, looked at the bathroom, saw the light go out. But I had never left it on! Then the door opened itself a few inches. I slept fine the next two nights, without any ghostly visits. Check out some of the creepy shit I saw out of the windows:

-All boarded up...pretty damn creepy!

-Cool bridge on the way up.

-Check out Buffalo. Some expensive tolls!

Amazing Trailer.

2007-09-21T00:03:00.000-07:00

Found this amazing trailer off of the Trackasaurusrex site:

Trailer.

Awesome. The creation of energy. Well said.

Out-Of-Town

2007-09-08T11:18:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone. I'll be out of town starting today til Tuesday of next week. I'm heading up to Serotta in Saratoga Springs, NY to get fit certified. Those of you who ride know what a big deal this is. If you don't ride, let me put it like this. How do you test ride a custom bicycle that's being made specifically for you? Right. Now if you can't sit on it til it's done, how do you know if it's going to fit? Well, you schedule a 2 hour fitting with me and I'll make sure that your new amazing, custom dream bike fits like a glove. I don't know if I'll have access to the intrawebs, but I'll have my cel if you need to get in touch with me. Class is every day from 8AM to 6PM so don't be alarmed if I don't get right back to you. See you all when I return. Have a great weekend!

The Sinking Ship cont...

2007-08-24T22:30:00.000-07:00

So I finished The Sinking Ship tonight...stayed late at work to get the last few details right. Here she is in all her cold, steel glory....

Went together great! The only exception being that the canti tabs that I had welded on the seat stays were tacked on too high...so the brake pads are at their maximum lowest point in the caliper arms...meaning that they'll never be perfectly adjusted until they wear in. Other than that, it seems to run great! Here's the simplified bike check:
-Surly Cross fork
-Avid Shorty 6 cant brakes
-53 x 21 drivetrain
-Surly Singulator
-Mavic Open Pro's laced to Ultegra hubs
-Crank Bros Egg Beater pedals
-Custom Ghostship stem
-Custom Ghostship 'Indy' down tube decals
-19lbs and change (with pedals for all the weight geeks/snob/weenies who're keeping track....oh yeah! almost forgot, I weighed in at around 206lbs this morning but that was before I took a shit...and I was wearing socks. Tally that up you elitist bitches.)
Hopefully she'll stay in one piece for my first race this weekend up in Agawam, MA. Wish us luck and terror this weekend (as well as no mechanicals, lots of mud and no crashes!)!

Thank God For Cigarettes pt 2

2007-08-17T09:01:00.000-07:00

So the show....holy shit! Dean and I left CT @ 2pm, had some good conversation and music on the way up, beating out the rush-hour traffic. We wandered around the city for a bit while waiting for friends to show up. Walked through Northeastern, down to Copley Square. Stopping into and Irish pub for a pint is where things began to get interesting.

No sooner do we sit down at the bar than this shit-housed, weird east islander looking dude starts trying to make conversation. After making small talk and pointing out my trucker hat, he states, "White trash from CT, huh?". What the fuck?! Then he backed off, did his little drunk apology. Dean talked him up a bit and found out about another bar further up the street. So we pound our pints and get the fuck out of the twilight zone episode our experience has become. Up the street, we go to the Pour House.

Damn, what a great bar! Cheap PBR on tap, cheap (good!) food, friendly bar-tenders, good music. A win-win situation. We definitely found the silver-lining to the cloud looming a bar back. We ate, drank and generally had a good time. On the way back we hit one last irish pub in Dean's buddy's neighborhood while we wait for them to call us. Hit the packy, pick up some Sparks and head to their house. We pre-game a bit and then take the T over the Roxy for the show.

Get up to the doormen at the entrance at which time we're told that the show is sold out. WTF!!!!! We start chatting with them a little and 2 of our crew zip right in and get to the floor. Fuck! So we back off around the corner and I check out what the hand stamps look like at the door. Our brains start going into overdrive about what we can do to get in. There are four of us at this point w/ two inside. No one has a black marker, is there a back entrance? Let's go buy a scalped ticket....The 2 come out and spin some ideas with us. I spy a cigarette butt on the ground and try to ash the back of my hand. Nothing. Dean puts out his cigarette and ashes my hand for me, then himself. One of our four decide he's not getting in and leaves. Time to give it a shot.

We walk up to the door like we own the place, breeze past the two guys at the door (who are stamping hands and have no idea what's going on). We go up the stairs, and are asked for ticket stubs or hand stamps. We show 'em the "stamps" and they ask where the 'Over 21' is. Ummmm, must have rubbed off, it's hot as fuck out! We're told to go back downstairs and get restamped. We get the same questions at the door by the guy we breezed past minutes earlier. Dean and I tag-teamed the dude with answers to his questions...'yeah, we've been here for like 15-20mins...it's super humid out, the stamps rubbed right off, the guys upstairs told us to come back down.' Aparantly, it worked, cause next thing we know, he's asking if we're with the band (we are if it gets us in!), and we're back in getting wristbands and are on the floor!

We run around a bit, checking out the floor. I randomly run into my friends Jay and Natalie. Haven't seen them in about 3 years! They're getting married, and life is great. Now I'm on cloud-fucking-nine, getting into a sold-out show using the oldest trick in the book, running into friends who are great, my brain is exploding!

I get up front for the last few songs of Lifetime's set, and wait for the Souls. They played great, I got a couple of Ghostship stickers up to the band, just awesome. There was a ton of crowd surfing going on. I didn't catch too many boots to the head. The worst part was some dude stage diving and gouging me in the eye. When you're jumping into a sea of people, keep your goddamned hands up! I was literally cross-eyed for about 3 songs! It must have been bad cause 2 guys in front of me were asking if I was alright.

An awesome show. Great night out, nice and cool. We grabbed some pizza on the way out and headed back to CT. An amazing evening if there ever was one. Good times!

THE BOUNCING SOULS (or Thank God for Cigarettes!)

2007-08-17T02:03:00.000-07:00

The. Bouncing. Fucking. Souls. This show was possibly the best concert experience I've EVER HAD! How should we say.....Epic? Yes. Epic. Details tomorrow.....

Oleee, Ole Ole Oleee, Ohleeeeee, O-Oleeeee.....

2007-08-15T22:50:00.000-07:00

Bouncing Souls tonight!!!!! So. Fucking. Excited!!!! Watch out Boston! Here's a photo of Pete I took the last time I saw them in New Haven:

New Art

2007-08-13T08:48:00.000-07:00

I've been getting 'back to my roots' so to speak lately and doing more art. This should be the way that things have always been, but shit happens, you know? So here're two pieces that I've been working on lately.

-This is the painting that everyone's been asking about. It's still in process but I wanted to share where it is so far. Who doesn't love battling kites?

-Another piece that's kinda mid-process. I say 'kinda' because I've started doing these larger drawing pieces (like this one), kinda treating it like a big sketchbook. Total stream-of-consciousness type trip, naimean? They're super fun cause I get to be so loose and not worry too much if things are a little 'offy' (yep, it's a word now!). Oh yeah! Flickr gave me a pro account, so I was sorting through some OLD photos. As long as we're on the subject of art, here's a piece I did for my friend's old band Indian Chief Headdress:

One last thing! If you like reading about relationship advice (and wish that someone like myself or my boy Wolf wrote the answers) go check out this blog. Enjoy!

Sinking Ship (or Everything Was Going According To Plan When...)

2007-08-08T00:25:00.000-07:00

I've dubbed it 'The Sinking Ship'...the rear tire clearance looks more like a track frame, seatpost size should be 27.2, but seems a bit smaller, issues with the Singulator....I've started putting together a single-speed cyclocross bike for the upcoming season. Had Jimmy from Black Magic Bikes retro an old road frame that I have to work as a cross rig. Started hanging parts on it tonight. The bb / cranks went smooth as snot. For all the road rides I did in the rain on my old road bike, the bb has little to no corrosion and is still smooth. Super stoked. Then I tried to hang the Surly Singulator...that's when things went wrong.

After fucking with the Singulator's return spring (swapped out the 'pushing down' spring for the 'pushing up' spring) for a good 30mins (I had to actually bend the spring end so it would match up with the hole it seats in...what a bitch!) I hung the part on the frame only to discover that the clamp bolt that adjusts the chainline position of the jockey wheel was stripped! Fuck! I pulled it off the frame and took the bolt out to see how bad the threads were. I could only laugh out loud when all the threads removed themselves along with the bolt. Spare fucking parts. If only I knew where my digital camera was, I could take a picture of all the carnage to share. Good thing my other parts order goes in tomorrow so I can slap another Singulator on there. Then I get to stay after work to disassemble my rear Campy shifter to figure out what the fuck isn't fully engaging and making shifting downright inaccurate and miserable. Maybe I should sell off a few bikes and alleviate some of the issues.....hmmmm. (Of course I'm joking!)

Help Me to Understand...

2007-07-13T21:32:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty confused...I'll be straight out with it. I was seeing this girl...this amazing, beautiful, sweet, intelligent girl. Things were going great, so I thought. Then it all seemed to change up, like the flip of a switch. Suddenly, she decides that "she's not in the right mind frame for a relationship." This comes out after telling me how she told all her friends about me, told her Mom about me, sent me emails about how wonderful being around me seems...The reason I'm confused is because I shared all the same sentiments and actions. Being told one thing, being drawn in closer and closer, then being shut out for no apparent reason. Now I'm not the kind of guy who hates on women. In fact, I love you ladies, for real! The fairer sex, for sure. But come on, help me out here a bit. I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but sometimes I really don't understand why or what you're thinking, and sometimes I don't think I ever will. So what's the deal ladies?

Finally Healed...

2007-06-21T00:37:00.000-07:00

My piece has finally healed and I've finally taken the time to shoot decent photos of it.

Wednesdays Project...

2007-06-13T16:44:00.000-07:00

Among getting a bunch of stuff crossed off the list of things I had to get finished, I still had some time to build up a couple of mallets for bike polo. These suckas are tall-boys! Standing at a towering 3 and a half feet tall, they should fit taller riders like myself fairly well. No more having to lean waaaaay over to try and strip the ball from opposing players! Can't wait to try 'em out on Sunday.

Farewell!

2007-06-13T16:29:00.000-07:00

Last Sat night I got up with the Tyrant crew to wish amazing artist/human being Shawn Hebrank and his wife Merril farewell good luck in their new adventures out in Minneapolis. We swung by Bar to get the fun started, then headed over to Rudy's for the festivities. Highlights include, hanging with great friends, the frite Nazi, randomly running into Drew and some of the EC Scorchers, the class of 60-something reunion???!!!, Tony going bonkers...

-Jason at Bar.

-Merril, Shawn on the far right. (I forget the name of the guy in the middle).

-A study in focus...

-The drink of choice for the evening...

After this, it suddenly became the Tony Tyrant show...bonkers is a good word to describe it all. I think we thought we were going to get the boot at one point in the evening.

-Tony playing the ATM?!?...

-...Doing his monkey impression....

-...ummmmmm...yep.

-...getting ready to rumble with the dip-shit who was trying to lay claim to the pool table...fisticuffs were almost thrown...

-...we just about ended the night here...there's video of Tony doing some kind of weird, interpretive dance with a crazy light show in the booth here...

Fresh Ink...

2007-05-28T19:34:00.001-07:00

I went and sat for some ink today with the infamous Shawn Hebrank. After about four hours, we were done. My only regret is that I hadn't sat with Shawn earlier. There's definitely something to be said for a guy who can make you laugh so hard you cry while he's drilling you with a tattoo gun! I'm super stoked on the finished piece! Here're some photos of the process...Oh yeah! Went to the Hartford Crit on Sat. El Bobo raced...came in second in his Jr's race and then hung with the big boys in the Elite Men's race...Adam Meyerson killed it! Check it:

-Peleton

-I think Aidan's in this photo...

-One of the NERAC boys d-ing up on the competition.

-Shawn deep in concentration...

-Finished outline.

-Dropping in the color...telling me some ridiculously funny story, I'm sure...

-The bloody, swollen, finished version...I'll have better photos when the swelling subsides....

T-Town Swap...

2007-05-07T10:09:00.000-07:00

Went to T-Town on Sat for the Spring Bike Swap. Had a great time and awesome weather...the swap was standard swap fare...meaning that folks had loads of cash and didn't want to spend it. Saw plenty of crap...a few cool things. Took some photos. Had some bets going about hip-packs so I thought it'd be appropriate to share some photos...

-80's shirt? Check. Dungarees? Check. Hip-Pouch? You better fuck'n believe it.

-Utility belts aren't just for super-heros anymore! They're also for hipster, messenger wannabes. Bathing is out this year too, ditto for laundry....wait a second....is she wearing fucking gaiters??!!!!

-You can kinda see the hip-pouch on this one....you can also kinda see 'Brodie' across the way. Brodie was in the space next to us and he was heavily rep'n everything that is so very wrong with the bike industry today. I think he was pissed that he was missing his frat brother's drunken-sororoity-molesting-barbituate-induced-barbeque. So he made up for it by getting pissed by 9:30 AM, wrestling with his co-workers, and taking a piss in broad daylight in the 1.5' tall bushes behind up. Keep up the good work douchbag!

-Check out the pouch on this fella. It's kinda like a kangaroo or marsupial....radness....king of the pouches. Can't mess...

-It's not a pouch...but when was the last time you've seen a sock for your dreads? Me neither.

-When you're crammed into a 2x4 space for 6 hours on the road, you've got to find creative ways to sleep. Hans, gett'n his snooze on....or vainly trying to end his life because he's had enough hanging out with these dirtbags......

T-Town...

2007-05-04T18:09:00.001-07:00

Going to T-Town tomorrow for the annual bike swap...should be a good time. Heading down with Karp and Hans...the last time the 3 of us teamed up, there was non-stop laughing for the whole trip (except when we were eating...too hungry to talk!). Should be a good time. Photos and stories to come soon....Oh yeah! This is pretty late, but congrats to Ken and Dana who now have a beautiful baby girl to add to the mayhem on the homefront!

Damn Kids!

2007-04-26T22:04:00.000-07:00

Went out and shot some vid / photos with Tony T and Pete K. Pete's come a long way from the kid who was asking me how to do skids to throwing over-the-bar-cross-foot 360 skids....fuckin' kids....shown' up an old man! I sucked ass, but had fun. Tony'll probably have some photos and maybe a video up on his blog. Check it out!

eh?

2007-04-24T00:30:00.000-07:00

This is what happens when bike punks show up to the prom...

-photo by Kelly Jensen

'What'd You Do Last Night?..."

2007-04-22T11:42:00.000-07:00

...is commonly overheard at the shop in the mornings. This is what a couple beers and some time on your hands yields...with the added reward of a falafal at the end. Enjoy.

cold weather sucks...

2007-04-10T19:04:00.000-07:00

I think I'm having a bout with 'Seasonal-Affective Disorder" or whatever the heck it's called. Every morning I ride to work leaves me in a sour, bitter, cursing mood when I arrive. It's almost mid-April...time for this ridiculous cold weather to fucking end so we can ride in shorts when we get out of work! I'm fucking moving to Cali....BWAAAHHHHHHH!

Mellow Night Out...

2007-04-07T21:24:00.001-07:00

Because tomorrow is Easter, a few of us decided we wanted a nice low-key evening out. I met up with Tony, Tina and Shawn and headed down to the Elm City for some Falafel and a few beers @ Rudys. We were back before midnight....plenty of time to sleep before heading to see family for Easter tomorrow.

-Tony Tyrant.

-Tina.

-Shawn.

-Almost finished...

-Freshly devoured.

Photo Dump....

2007-04-05T00:06:00.000-07:00

Here are the photos I've been meaning to put up over the past few weeks....enjoy!

UConn B-Boy Battle:

NY trip:
-Went to NY last weekend to hang out w/ Ma Dukes and relax a bit. Random snaps I took...most whilst driving...

-I remember when this used to be forest....

-On the way to Ma Duke's house...

-The road I used to live on...

-Heading back home....

-this is one of my favorites...

After getting back to homebase, I screened up a couple of limited edition Ghostship bandanas. One for myself, and one for the winner of the New Haven April Fool's Day Alleycat. Bandanas are made from scratch on a heavier cloth than what you'd normally find (bandana-wise). Excellent for keeping the cold out of your lungs during a ride. If you're interested in one, let me know. I don't have much material left. The next batch will be a larger run and probably be a little different.

Great Rides....

2007-03-27T22:41:00.000-07:00

I had the greatest ride tonight. Went hard for the past 2 nights so I decided to take it easy and do a simple recovery ride. Rode for only 1 hour and kept the HR down and pedaled SUPER easy. It was the warmest it's been all year (around the low to mid 60's). By the time I got out, the sun had started it's downward trend towards setting and there was a soft breeze blowing. Cranked up the Ipod and listened to Heavens...I don't think there was a more perfect album I could have listened to this evening.

I love feeling the cool and warm air swirling around each other at twilight. It's an amazing feeling to be at the bottom of a hill (slightly chilled) and feel the air temp warm up and change as you ride up. That combined with the glazed over sunset made for an amazing ride. The only thing that could have made it better would have been not seeing a soul in sight. Can't always have what you want. Spring smells are beginning to come out...the days are getting longer.....

Pop-Lock...

2007-03-25T22:43:00.000-07:00

An eventful weekend! FTE punk rock craziness on Fri night, and a rad B-Boy battle up at UConn last night. My homegirl Ginger let me know about the battle that went from noon to midnight! I showed up after work in time to catch the crew finals and the pop-lock finals. The pop-lock finalists were unreal! They ran about 5 different 'final' battles before they could choose a winner. It definitely wasn't an easy decision. Mix in work (the busy season is here!!!), and a lack of sleep. Went for a two hour ride after work today...was pretty damn cold! My legs were cramping because of the cool weather. An overcast, gloomy New England day. Typical. Just wait 5 minutes....I'll have more photos up later this week.

-During the crew finals. Managed to get a few shots in before the nazi-mc yelled at me to put the camera away. I find it humorous that the people involved in the hip-hop community weren't standing up to the guy acting as the authority figure telling everyone what they couldn't do.

F.T.E

2007-03-24T00:42:00.001-07:00

Went to go see Steve's band FTE play in Bristol for CJ's 30th B-Day bash on Friday night. Had a great time and ran into a bunch of friends. Hung out with Karp, Ken, Pete & Michele, Duffy, and met a bunch of other cool folk as well. FTE played rocked the place out and almost got shut down by an angry French woman. Here're some shots:

-I think Ken had the best quote of the night when referring to Karp, "He looks like he's from the Bible."

-Did you know that Steve can time warp/meld space when he plays?

2007-03-22T01:02:00.000-07:00

Back! VT was fun. Drove up in a small snow-squall, rode on Monday in clear, sunny skys with plenty of snow, hung out with Pa-Dukes, drank some beer (the best was a chocolate, oatmeal stout!), ate food, relaxed, drove up to Jay Peak, watched TV, learned some VT folklore, listened to a ton of great music, headed home in blue-bird conditions, saw cars off the road, eluded MA troopers' radar, and got home before 3! Here're some random snaps whilst driving.

-This sign means you're "Way the fuck up there!"

-"Don't drive angry."

-Did I mention I'm going for the 'Lumber-Jack Chic' lately? Trying out the Jerk Beard....

Escaped!

2007-03-19T15:42:00.000-07:00

Yep...I've escaped. I'm up here somewhere near the Great White North...I came out of retirement for the day and actually strapped a snowboard to my feet, surfed a mountain for the day. It was tough to swallow the 50-some-odd-dollar lift ticket, but the beautiful conditions made it a bit easier to choke down. It's been snowing pretty steadily since I've been here, looking forward to warmer weather so I can ride outside on a consistant basis. See you when I get back in few days. I'll have a few photos to post when I get back.