Nighttime Street Session

Here's a small bit of the crazy shit that went down when I went out street riding with a few guys from work the other night...part II is on the way. Please excuse my shitty photos....still learning about shooting in almost complete darkness...enjoy!

New Stuff!

So I've got a bit of time to catch up with my last post and fill in the missing parts....Been working at Pedal Power about once a week for the past few weeks to learn all of the day to day operations and the computer system. It's really good. The computer software is great! They've got a program that allows you to search the bike inventory by category (ie road, hybrid, bmx, etc), size and pricepoint. Then the computer spits out matches to your search criteria and tells you how many are in stock and how many are built! Sick! I can also access this thing called the 'internet'. I guess you can check out information on vendors and their products and relay it to customers. Cool stuff. Good people to work with and lots of experience and info to share.

Went with Karp and his buddy Hans to check out the Subdivision BMX tradeshow last Thursday. It's in the middle of nowhere...Johnson City, NY. A totally depressed area of NY. Lots of warehouses and mills that closed down after the depression. I think Karp put it best when he said, 'I think I've seen all of these people on Cops at least once' refering to the city's inhabitants that were walking around as we were heading to the show. Met a few pro riders who where there reping the companies that they ride for. Pretty much everyone was super cool and fun to talk to. Got a chance to meet Steve Crandall from FBM. Karp drew some graphics for their new shirts and stuff so we got the mini tour of their warehouse. Lots of bike porn all over the place (the new stuff from Coalition, G-Sport hubs, everything from Fly Bikes). Met Greg Walsh from Coalition and Hell On Earth clothing. Super cool guy. Had some funny stories about guns, security guards and pit bulls (all at once) while attending a weird clothing industry show. Picked up a couple of shirts, some stickers and pins from Hell on Earth. They definitely had some of the best designs in the show. Got lunch at this cool little natural food store on the main drag. The employees were telling us that they got a phone call on Monday informing them that there would be a bunch of BMXer's wearing black, decending upon their shop on Thursday so they would have time to make proper arrangement for extra Hummus wraps, Tabouli and such. Had a great hummus wrap and stuffed our faces with some yummy organic nachos courtesy of Karp [thanks!]. After the tradeshow we checked out East Coast Terminal. Amazing ramp park upstairs from the FBM factory. Great riding going on there too. Highlights include rooting/embarassing the QBP BMX guys, watching lots of dudes tear up the mini-ramp, etc. The ride home seemed a lot faster than the ride there as just about any road trip with Karp and Hans is guaranteed to have you pissing your pants laughing. A million thanks go out to Karp for driving. I was wiped out by the time I got home and slept really well. A full day indeed.

Currently looking for a new apartment in the Middlenoun area and running into lots of crap along the way. I had an interesting offer to relocate to West Haven to live with my Grandfather rent free. However, I think that the commute is quite a bit out of my way. Rent free would be nice, and it would be close to Kami while she's in Yale, but having to battle the rat racers into and home from work is a less than ideal proposition. I played that game for a few years while living in Will-o-rico, and New Smiton. Not fun. Checked out my buddy Jeff's new house. He did some work on it since I was there last. Looks awesome! He finished the second floor (carpet, new paint, etc) and cleared out a bunch of brush from his back yard. It looks fantastic! He's even got some dirt jumps built up on the side of his house. Should be good times when he gets them built up to where he wants them to be. Tomorrow is my last day at the Market. Gotta remember to drop off my key at close. Start full time @ PP Thursday. That's about it. If I haven't talked with you in a while hit me with an email and let me know what you've been up to!
Ride Fast! Ride Hard!

Some Big Doin's

So things have been interesting (busy as per usual) lately. Probably the biggest news is that I will be changing jobs in about a month. This has NOTHING to do with poor working conditions, hating my job or a lack of money. I love the people I work with and really enjoy getting up to go to work every day for multiple reasons. But in the past couple of years I guess I kind of felt that something was missing. You all know about my obsession with beautiful, human powered, two wheeled machinery. Most of you are obsessed as well. I absolutely love working with bikes, so the summers around work have been fantastic. But when the summer draws to an end and we start getting ready for ski and snowboard season, I have a longing to still be focused on the bike end of things. It seems to me that every year this 'longing' sticks with me for a longer and longer period of time. So much so that I commuted (albeit not consistantly) through the winter and thought about what I wanted to do to my rides all winter long (when I usually think about snowboarding). I decided that because I am hopelessly obsessed with bikes, I should work with them year round. It was definitely a difficult decision to leave behind the job and the friends that I work with from the past five years, but working full time in a dedicated bike shop is where I feel I need to be. I will be starting at Pedal Power in mid May. Feel free to drop by and say hello!

On other news, I got my copy of the new Terrible One zine that contains some of my photo work. Head here to cop one. I could tell you which of my photos are in there, but just spend the measly eight bucks and get yourself a neat little zine you can put on your coffee table for guests to enjoy. $8 bucks for a zine you ask me?!!! Isn't that a bit expensive?! Not when you consider that it's a really nicely BOUND edition with GLOSSY pages and about 110 pages long! That's not all! If you order now you'll also receive a bunch of neato T-1 stickers that when applied properly, are sure to make your vehicle of choice the coolest on the block! But wait!, there's more! They'll also throw in a CD of music from Indie-rock sensations the Holy Ghost Revival! $8 for all that? They must be crazy! Or spend 23 bucks to get all of the aforementioned stuff, PLUS a limited edition T-shirt. What a deal! So I'm off to bed to finish reading my T-1 zine and then get some sleep. Hope that you all are doing well. Ride Fast, Ride Hard!

Passed By The Old Guys...

This past weekend the Root 66 race series held its second mountain bike race of the season @ Winding Trails in Farmington. Pat and I headed out there to try our hands at this race thing. I got up, ate, packed up my gear and my bike, caffeinated and headed out to the race. Got there around 8AM, got my number, aired up the tires and went out to pre-ride the course. Now all I read and had heard from other people who did the race last year was that it's flat and super fast. Well apparently things changed this year because there was a definite steep section that took me by surprise on the pre-ride. I finished the route noting little elements that could cause me trouble during the race. I met up with Pat on the way back to the parking lot. Put my bike in the stand that John C had so graciously lent me (thanks again John!) and cleaned my ride off. Pat and I stretched and hung out for a bit before the line up for our race. As we were lined up I was checking out some of the other bikes. A pretty good mix of stuff. Everything from the brand new XT group to older 7 speed rigs. Race starts and I try to stay with the lead group. Watch a kid spin 90 on a sandy patch and almost case it, not even 100 yards into the race. Great. Now I'm worried that someone's gonna lose control into me somewhere. At the 1/2 mile mark the pack kinda thinned out.

I'm riding behind this kid with a full Cannondale kit and full suspension rig. Just as we get to the first single-track section we pass his teammate leaned up against a tree heaving his guts. I guess that the 3 packs of Gu right before the start weren't such a great idea. We get to the steeps section and the kid leaves me in his dust as he just flows down the sketchy single track. Once we get to the climb though I get right on his ass. We turn to go up the next section of single track and he just stops dead on the trail. Wrong gear? Who knows. He grabs a tree and leans over to let me pass. He catches up to me a bit further in the race. I keep a pretty steady pace and he starts losing ground. Once we get to the end of the first lap, I sprint up the hill past the finish line and pour it on where it flattens out. He's way behind me and I never see him again for the rest of the race. I checked the standings and found out the he never finished. Mechanical? Poor nutrition? Alien abduction? Who knows? I went out a bit too hard in the beginning of the race. When I got the last 8th mile I could hear riders coming up behind me. I tried to keep the heat on to stay in front of them but started to feel my arms tingling. The last time I felt that was when I was under-nourished for a road ride and wound up dry-heaving on the side of the road for 10 mins a couple of years ago. I kept my pace to a manageable level, got passed by four guys from the age group above me, hung with them in the uphill singletrack section no problem. But once it flattened out, they took off on me. I wound up placing 9th out of a field of something like 21 in my age group. 50:59 for 9 miles (4.5 mile course @ two laps). Not bad for never having raced anything before. Had a great time and looking forward to riding in the next race in May. I found a couple of photos of me on the promoter's web site. Sorry for the small size but couldn't figure out how to enlarge them.


-beginning of the race. this is the top of the steep section. i look so focused (trying not to run the stupid photographer over who's framing up with one foot in the trail...fucker!)

-really starting to suck wind here...

That's it. Everyone should come out and race the next one. We'll get our own team started. Call ourselves Team Cock or something. Get out and ride!

Anger and French Fries

So here I am just getting over another small cold. Fourth one of the year! I don't understand it. I feel like I'm in great shape now riding into work, being active, eating relatively well, etc, and I got sick four times this winter! Oh well. It's been a bad cold year for everyone. I went with Joe and his lady to go see Henry Rollins @ Toads a bit ago. Great show. Only complaint is that we had to stand for something like the two hours that he was on stage. There were chairs out but not nearly enough for everyone. He told some great stories, almost made me piss my pants I was laughing so hard and made me think. Post show, we headed to Rudy's around the corner to ingest some greasy Frits [sp?]. All I have to say is 40 different kinds of dipping sauces! Good times. Got my first bike race this Sunday. If you're interested in seeing me flounder about all awkward-like feel free to come check it out: Winding Trails Fat Tire Classic, Sunday April 10th. My race goes off @ 10AM. Racing the beginners class. It's a brisk 10mi race and from what I hear the course is pretty fast. I'm anticipating it being pretty smooth and not really technical. If any of you have raced here in the past give me a shout about what I should expect. Got to go through my bike tonight and make a few changes here and there. I've got to go get ready to rock into work. Hope you're doing the same. High of 60 today! Nice!
RideFast! RideStrong!

Photo Experimentation

So here's some shutter and apeture experimentation that I've been experimenting with lately. Hope you dig these.










Enjoying watching the snow fall. Went out and bombed the nearby hills on my squirrley snowskate. Was fun for about 15 mins. Felt good to get some exercise. Couple of upcoming shows to put into your calendars...
-Henry Rollins spoken word this Monday the 28th @ Toads in New Haven. $20
-Flogging Molly @ the Webster on April 18th
-Alkaline Trio @ the Webster May 4th
-Testament @ the Webster July 28th
So spread the word, free up you plans and let's go to some shows! Let me know what's up!

Slopestyle Pt II

So here's the rest of the slopestyle shots I promised a while back. There are the best of the best. All of the others really aren't worth mentioning so they'll stay on a disc somewhere. Enjoy!




-sick lipslide-


cool. ready for some hot rainbow action? here we go!





And there you have it! Hope you all enjoyed the photos as much as we enjoyed the sun.
Peace!

testing...testing...

don't mind me. just wanted to see how these would look. trying a new save process in photoshop. more from the slopestly contest.





more to follow. peace.

Bikes rule.

Was surfing around some bike sites just before bedtime and finally got to check out Matt Chester's site. He builds simple, beautiful, ti single speed frames. While checking out his blog, I found this story and wanted to share it with all of you. Head on over to check out the rest of his site and blog. Enjoy!

THE DEVIL YOU KNOW by Mike Ferrentino

Well, looky here. This issue is one of those "buyer's guides," pages full of shiny new products aimed at boosting the ever-spreading flag of consumerism up the flagpole of our general consciousness. So it seems appropriate to spend a few minutes talking about Cory Cuthbertson's bike. If there's a solid counterweight to the force-fed perversity of rampant buy-new-stuff now marketing pap that's shoved down our throats by an industry hell-bent on not only just its own survival but on expansion, ever bigger and better, then that counterweight is Cory's bike. A bike, which, for lack of any better fitting description, is known far and wide as a dangerous, rolling shitbox.

It's a classic shitbox though. A fillet-brazed steel Bontrager cyclocross frame heated together in Santa Cruz during the prehistory of mountain biking by Keith himself. A bike ridden by Daryl Price to the national junior cyclocross championship back at the down of our sport. Or maybe 1987, but don't quote me. A bike inherited by Cory when he was a tender lad of 13. A bike upon which he won his age group in that year's district 'cross championships, garnering a natty kid-size California bear-flag skin suit.

A bike that he loved and rode for the next decade, all the while folding his ever-growing body into a too-small skin suit - which many of his friends suspect for the noticeable slouch that out boy Cory exhibits - riding and racing with a grace that many aspire to but few can match. A bike that never saw a wrench in the five or six years that I knew it.

Five-speed freewheel, non-index Suntour bar-end shifters. A worn out chain running on worn out cogs and worn out chainrings, skipping like a fairy at Christmas time in every gear when pedaled forcefully. Death-defying Lilliputian drop bars, probably 40 centimeters wide, drooping narrower at their bottoms after a decade of landing jumps, wrapped in faded pink Benotto ribbon. Old non-aero plastic Modolo brake levers, pulling Mafac cantilevers sporting original pads weathered to the consistency of teak and offering the same lack of stopping power that any flimsy piece of aluminum pushing tiny blocks of wood into dented rims would be expected to generate.

Saaverda cranks, an Argentinian company that spent the '70's manufacturing knock-off Campagnolo componentry (no joke), with visible cracks at both spindle ends and which creaked with protest at any attempt to pedal with conviction. Worn out bottom bracket with bearings most likely shaped like tiny metal footballs. Worn out and old KKT Lightning pedals with half-severed nylon toe straps. Hubs that were all crunchy. As previously noted: a classic shitbox. Everyone in the county deemed it unrideable. Everyone but Cory, that is.

He rode it on group road rides. He rode it in 'cross races. He converted it to a one-speed and entered it in a 50-mile mountain bike race. He rode it in the dirt, often preferring it to the feel of his mountain bike. He rode it well and he rode it fast. Once we were floating downhill on pavement, rolling about 25 miles an hour, and Cory on his shitbox drifted casually up onto a sidewalk, bunny-hopped a nearly 2-foot-high picket fence onto a lawn before wheelie-ing down the driveway and back onto the road, all the while slouched in on himself like some skinny cartoon character.

He was also fond of doing this flying crucifix move. He'd get going fast downhill, preferably on dirt, then stand up and lean all the way forward, thighs pushing into the handlebars, arms outstretched, grinning into the wind. This, on a bike that most of us had a tough time riding in a straight line on perfectly smooth and level ground. He and that bike had an understanding. It never creaked or skipped gears when he rode it. They were like an old couple, fully in tune with each other. And they were magic to watch. There was a grace and smoothness about them that was beautiful to see. No waste. Just this pure and fluid motion.

Nobody else could do that. If anyone had tried to ride that bike even half as fast as Cory, they'd have killed themselves and the bike would have died beneath them. Cory and that bike were like a fragile ecosystem. Everything in perfect harmony with everything else, all quirks and weirdness accounted for. There's a term called dynamic homeostasis. It basically means that a systemic stability, a status quo, is maintained in spite of constantly changing input. Most of nature exists in this state, at least when we aren't around to mess it all up. That's how I like to think of Cory and that thrashed old Bontrager. They are in a state of dynamic homeostasis, adapting and adjusting to each other's ever changing composition.

That is a rare and beautiful thing. It can only come about over time, massive amounts of time. Cory spent his teenage years on that bike. He knew every little thing wrong with it; he worked around every one of those jagged and potentially flesh-rending future failure points until they became part of this intuitive map that he and the bike shared like a fingerprint. And he used that bike with every shred of his and its potential. That shitbox was perfect for him and he never wanted anything more.

We should all dream about and hope for that. Because that's what riding and life is all about. It's not about buying next year's shiny new stuff. That all tarnishes soon enough. It's not about buying new technology to overcome your shortcomings. There will always be new technology and you will always have shortcomings and some punk kid like Cory on a thrashed old bike will always be better/faster/smoother than you. Sorry, but it's true.

And it's not about buying new, expensive toys to prove your commitment to the sort of to justify your ego to you id. That's just kind of sad. Once, during one of our marketing hype-ups that happen in Corpoland, we tried defining what this magazine is supposedly all about. Someone tossed out the line: "BIKE - Enjoy the ride." Whether that fits or not, here, amidst the new and shiny sandwiched between pages of expensive glossy advertisements, it becomes a matter of conjecture. But that sentiment, "Enjoy The Ride," that's what I hope all of you are here to do. It's what Cory does.

Motorhead!! Good Goddamn! T1! Sweet!

So a few things have been goin on lately. First and foremost, I got to check out Motorhead the other night when they played at the Webster. GREAT fucking show. For the 30 years they've been around I have to say that they are probably to rock'nest band that I've seen live. Amazing show. That's the abridged version of the story. It gets a bit more interesting when told in detail....I get a phone call from my lady asking me if I wanted to go to the show. I thought about it for half a second and said sure. My only concern was ticket pricing and availability. That's when she said that she could get us in for free. Turns out that Lemmy was in the club where she waitresses and told mgt that he'd set up a guest list for anyone that wanted to go to the show. I jumped at the chance and got the details. She calls me back a couple of hours later and says that she can't make it because of homework and such but that I should still go.

So I head out to the Webster with instructions on how to get passes. Joe and crew were meeting me there. I go up to the ticket window, ask if this is where they do the guest list. Yup. I hand over my ID and wait while the girl goes and checks the list. I get a bit apprehensive when she returns with just my ID and no passes. She asks if I'm expecting anyone else. Blah Blah Blah. She disappears and returns, stamps my hand and hands me something. Then she tells me that someone will be out in a second to escort me downstairs. I nod in understanding (but am thoroughly confused. Downstairs?). Then I look down at my hand to check out what she gave me:



Yes. If you just said 'Holy Shit!!!' you're stating the exact phrase that escaped from my mouth upon the realization of what I've just been handed. So I get escorted downstairs and get to stand around with all of the other bands. I felt like a fish out of water. It was all hessians, leather jackets, torn jeans, motorcycle boots, long hair and haggard war stories. Then there's me. The tall-ass skinny kid wearing dickies, skate shoes and a warm-up jacket fleece thing. Everyone was super nice though. Real mellow atmosphere. I met the guys from Corrosion of Conformity for about 30 seconds while waiting for the bathroom. I hung around for about another 15 mins (that seemed like an eternity) for Joe....no Joe. So I head up to the stage to check out COC's show and wind up watching from behind the onstage mixer. I decide that I should head out to find my buddies. As I'm walking out into the crowd, this guy stops me and asks if I have any extra guitar picks. I tell him no and laugh to myself as I realize that he thinks I'm a roadie. I find Joe, have a drink, run into Jarrett, people watch, mullet count and just generally enjoy myself. Great show. I hung out with my lady today and she loaned this to me so I could post it here. This is one of the many reasons why she's the coolest girl in the world!



You know, for an older rock star, he looks damn good! And this was taken with a shitty polaroid. Today I hung around Middlenoun and just relaxed. Delivered a boxed bike to one of my customers who's moving back to Puerto Rico and wants to take his ride back with him. Now I've got a contact in PR if anyone's heading down there. Kami and I rode around town for a bit. She took the Silver Bullet (the commuter that I put together for her for Xmas) and I rocked the fixed. We ran some errands, stopped for coffee (bikes and coffee go hand in hand. Two beatifully simple {yet very complex} creations), and swung into Pedal Power so I could drop my carbon road fork off for inspection. I (unknowingly) got a bit overzealous with the torque on my stem and slightly ovalized the steerer tube in one spot. It's so slight that I could probably still ride it (who knows how long it's been like that. I've had it on the bike for 2 years) but the way carbon fails I figured that getting a couple of opinions would be a good idea. Getting a torque wrench this summer is priority. My buddy Mike who works there really dug my fixed. Checked out the ghetto duct-tape pockets on the cages and thought it was pretty rad. Then he turned around, scoped Kami's ride and said "WOW! This bike is even cooler!" Kinda swelled my ego a bit to get such a reaction on something that I put together.
Anyway, twas a great day off and a great week. Gonna try and ride some more tomorrow. Hope that everyone is trying to get out with the weather being pretty nice and cool.

Oh yeah! Almost forgot. I got two of my photos published in the new Terrible One zine. It should be coming out in the next couple of weeks. I submitted four but I'm not sure which two they selected. S'cool. I like being surprised. I should have my copy in the next week or so and I'll let you know how they look. When they become available for purchase I'll drop the address here so ya'll can head over and cop yo'selves yo very own. It's being printed too (not xeroxed like traditional zines) so it should be pretty high class!
Ride Fast! Ride Hard!

Slopestyle Pt I

Here's a quick taste of some of the stuff that went down at the Slopestyle contest that I helped judge last weekend:

frontside boardslide on the c-box....


backside lipslide on the flat to down box.

Some good stuff. I'll have a bunch more in the near future. Let me know what you think.
Late!

Trees, Monsters, and Contests.....

Kami and I made our weekly riding trip up to Stratton last Thursday. After getting 12+ inches the day prior the snow was amazing to say the least. It was cold enough to keep it all powdery too. It was a bit windy but the bluebird conditions more than made up for it. Went into the trees for the first time too. All I can say is if you've never been riding through the trees you're really missing out. Definitely reminded me of whipping through tight single-track on a mountain bike. Except that you're more like floating and gliding. My favorite part was just sitting under a canopy of pines where all of the branches were filled with snow. It was like being in your own little snowy world. Hearing faint sounds of people skiing or riding by on the trails that flanked the trees. Another aspect that I really dug was the fact that you could take your own lines. Ride where ever you're so inclined. Just because someone else blazed a path doesn't mean that you have to follow. And there was so much snow (knee to waist deep in some spots) that there were many untouched lines. Just an unbelievable experience. Which brings me to my next story. Just as we were saddling up to head home, I snapped a photo of Kami:

Then we found we had a stowaway hiding in the car!!!



He turned out to be pretty friendly....


Now we have a new pet.


On a different note, there's been some weird stuff going on around the shop lately. Weird noises coming from the back room, things disappear when you know you put them somewhere, strange smells. All kinds of weirdness. I happened to bring my camera into work one day hoping I might shoot some interesting stuff when I caught this guy.....



I got kinda scared when I first encountered him not knowing what to expect. But then he did something completely unexpected:


Checked his watch! Wanted to know what time it was!
Then he tried to pick me up...

Told him I had a girlfriend and then hired him to tune skis in the back. I think it's a pretty good arrangement.

This past Sunday I had the opportunity to head over to Sundown and judge the slopestyle contest that out shop put together. The level of talent was so really good. Those guys and gals seriously threw down! I'll have some photos up in the near future once I get them scanned and touched up. More details to follow was well. Hope that everyone is doing well. By the way, the new bicycle buyers guides are out. Have you picked out your new ride yet? Check it! Peace!
Ride Fast! Ride Hard!

Huge Congratulations!

A huge congratualtions goes out to my lady (who is ridiculously smart. Waaaay smarter than I). If you see or talk with her, make sure to congratulate her because she will be attending the Yale School of Nursing in the fall. I always knew you were brilliant Kami!

Craziness at the Pan!

Lots of great stuff happening lately....Went up to Stratton on Thur with my Lady. Had a great time riding around in the crusty, icy, corn snow of lower VT. Watched some kid do an impressive air-to-rib cage on one of the little jumps in the kiddy park. If you can't get up after you hit, you should probably seek some kind of medical attention. Kami rocked some rails. We cruised around enjoying the sunny, bluebird skies. Took a few laps through the bigger park to mess around in the super-pipe. I've never ridden in anything so huge before. There was a lot of over-vert at the lip of most of pipe. Kindy scary. After falling a few times I started to wish that it was March and that the snow was softer.

Today we just hung around the house and relaxed. A couple of the stiffs at work got me sick so I've been popping my Wellness Formula every few hours. The stuff works remarkably well! Decided around 5:30 or so that we should get out and around. Went to the mall to check out the Mac store and drool over all of the cool, expensive shit. I'm in love with the flat screen monitors. The 22" would be perfect for what I'm doing. Looking at the ridiculous 30" cinema screen made me laugh. Both of us thought that it would be better suited for watching TV than working on computer stuff. Went and made a LONG overdue visit to the Pan. Rocked out to some triple shreds in garlic sauce and tried their vegan barbeque spare ribs. If you've never tried them before, 'You've really got to get off your ass." Amazing! Ran into Metal Steve enjoying his meal with his folks. Cool people. He's turning 27 on Tuesday so if you see him, give him his birthday shots. Went to the bookstore afterward. Settled down to catch up on all the latest BMX hype and in walks Steve and his folks. Talked a bit more about stuff in general. According to Steve, the new High on Fire will 'Make you poop yourself'. Now that sounds like a good record investment! Steve!....You need to write some music reviews for my zine! Whip some stuff up and send it to me with those photos you were talking about!

Speaking zines, if anyone has short (short) stories you've written, photos you've taken, or pictures you've drawn and want to see it in print, let me know! I don't have any sort of a timeline for the completion of this project but the more interest that I get, the quicker it may come into fruition. I can't offer you any money either (unfortunately) but I can offer my eternal friendship and comradery [sp?]. Black and white only. We goin' old school wit dis shit yo!
Ride Fast! Ride Hard!

Welcome to the Ice Coast!

Went riding after work tonight. We knew it would be fast. With all of the warm weather, people skiing and riding, and then the freezing temps @ night, it makes for damn fast conditions. Pat and I took a few warm up runs before the rail carnage ensued. I'm amazed that he can ride so fast on such a buttery board. On the first run I look up to see him straight-lining the whole damn trail, just fucking mach-ing it. Sick! We take a couple of runs on the 'park' trail. Checking out the iced up landings. Then we headed over to the box section to mix it up a bit. One of the rails claimed Pat's knee. I flopped all over the damn things not feeling comfortable at all with the iced up landings and run-ups. On the last run while riding switch, I caught an edge and got a good hard body-jar to the ribs while trying to keep my arms pasted to my sides (to avoid wrist damage). That was about all she wrote. Packed it in and headed home.

I'm thinking about getting a zine together. Seriously this time. If anyone is interested in contributing to it with original stories or written work, original photos or artwork please let me know. I don't have any kind of time frame at the moment. I've been messing with a couple of things in photoshop playing with my photos and layouts. Just an idea that's been thrown around the backshop for so long that it needs to be physically realized. Cool. Gonna do some laundry and read Fast Food Nation.
Ride Fast Ride Hard!

The Monkey Sleeps at Midnight!

So here is the overdue but promised art update. Karp gave me this great idea that I should post a piece in stages from start to finish so you can see everything along the way. So here is the whole thing. I kind of rushed it along so I could see teh finished product, hence, everything is very loose and sketchy (please bear with it). Comments and constructive criticism are both welcomed so bring it fo'!








And there you have it. From sketch stage to 'finished' piece complete with cartoony palm fronds swaying gently with the warm jungle breeze. Makes me want to go pass out. Late!

Snowbooze Industry....

I'm back from the 'On-Snow Demo' which is, exactly as the name pertains, a demo that is held on the snow. Being a member of the 'Snowsport Industry' I and many others get the unique opportunity to try next year's equipment now. This is great for the buyers who haven't quite made up their mind yet as to what pieces of equipment they want to purchase for their shop for the coming season because they get real world experience in trying the stuff out 'on the snow'. It's also a great opportunity for a shop schlep like myself and many others to try the stuff so we know how it rides and can more accurately describe it's handling characteristics to a potential customer. Sadly, most shopfolk see this as an opportunity to get fucking smashed and act like retards for three days. It's mostly a posturing contest. See who can look cooler that the next guy and hit on any girl within a 100 feet. I had a kind of epiphany while I was there (some big words for this blog...I apologize....easy, stay with me. Promise it won't happen again anytime soon!). It occured to me that most of these shop owners and buyers don't want to grow up. Not that wanting to stay young is a bad or negative concept, but trying to act like you're 18 when you're 30, 40 plus years old is just fucking lame. You work in a shop. Or were asked to work for a rep. Big fucking deal. Argh. Now I'm rambling. Fuck it.

We had a pretty good time. Rode some great new stuff and talked to some super cool folks. I'll take any bluebird, mild, windless day of riding over most anything. Looking at getting a crew together for a little Letdown action this Sunday. Got my confidence up and gonna try some backsides on the box. If you wanna see me get worked, you should come out! Shouldn't be too many people cause of the game and all. Congrats, by the way, to our friend Haasenstuffins who now works for Mercedes Benz in Hartford! If anyone's roll'n on a busted Benzy, he's the man to see to make it all better. I promise that the art update is coming! Really! Patience. That's all she wrote!

Disappearing act....again!

I'm disappearing again for a few days. Heading up north to go check out the annual industry demo where I get to try all of next years snowboarding equipment. I think it's going to be sunny the whole time so that should be sweet. Counting down the weeks til our inventory day...cause after that we start our summer business. Shorter hours, shorter weeks, bikes! I can't wait to be able to ride in everyday and not have to worry about what the windchill is going to be like. Don't get me wrong, riding in and of itself is great and I'm lucky to be able to do so, but not stressing ice patches and poor drivers at the same time will be kinda nice. Almost ready to post some artwork that I've been cleaning up in photoshop. For a quick sketch it's not too bad in its finished form. I'm gonna go pack my crap for the demo. Late!

Another Year Older...

Yup....another year older. Yesterday was one of the best birthdays in many a year. Got to ride in fresh snow with a bunch of good friends in the morning. At least 6 inches of snow. Probably closer to something like 8. Tried the new Venue out. It rocks! So much fun for just messing around on. I can nose press forever! Dropped Joe off at work on the way home. Showered, changed and went to my ladies. She made me this ROCK'N cappellini with sauted [sp?] zucchini, portobellos and marinated artichoke hearts (my favorite). Then I was surprised when she brought out the Italian birthday cake complete with ridiculously sweet frosting and filled with strawberries and peaches. Amazing. Definitely a full day. Slept like a rock. Then I found two grey hairs this morning. Almost like it was planned. Odd. Yeah. Fun.

Back From Hiding!

What's up? Been a while since we've visited. Let's get caught up. My Lady and I went up to Sugar Loaf, ME for a few days a couple of weeks ago. It snowed all day the first day so we had some nice powdery stuff to ride in. Lift access about 200 feet out the back door of our hotel. Second day was much colder and windier [sp?] than the first. Still had a great time and rode a lot. Ate some really good food. Drove home in shitty weather that extended our 5 hour trip into a 7 hour one. Was good to take some time off from the shop so I could just relax and breathe. I feel like it has definitely restored my vigor at work. Should try to get out to Letdown some night this week and rock some rails. The work-load has slowed down a bit and allowed my cohorts and I to actually clean the place up. We cleaned out Big Green (our beloved tuning machine) swept the floors and did a general mass cleaning of epic proportions.

Remember that huge artwork post I promised a few weeks ago? Well, here it is. Maybe not as huge as you would think, but big nontheless. It's all quick sketchbook stuff that I've been pounding out after work. Experimenting with some concentrated watercolors that I've had for a while. Enjoy!





Someone asked if I had been watching the Faith No More video 'Epic'....not recently. Hadn't even thought of it til they mentioned it.


-figure studies with a random foot study.


-was super tired when I drew this so I figured that I'd work with what I knew.


And finally, the last in the 'Foggy Night' series.

I think that's about it. Commuted one day last week through the slush, ice, salt and sand. Going to try and keep the momentum up. I'll let you know how it's going. Let me know how you are and what you've been up to. Be good!