September 25, 2005
Vegas Bound....
I will be attending the Interbike tradeshow in beautiful, sunny Las Vegas from Tuesday to Saturday. I'll try to post to this blog with details of what's goin' down while we're out there. Hope everyone has a great week!
September 23, 2005
New Photos....Finally!!!!
So here you go. You can stop bugging the shit out of me to post some new photos. I didn't realize I had such a following. Shesh. Went out riding street with Tony Tyrant the other night. Here are some photos of what went down.

-curved wallride in the parking garage.

-Tony always 'inside icepicks' for the Lord.

-icepick with scary drop on the other side.

-some artsy shit right here yo!
By the by, if you're going to snag my photos for your website or your Myspace account, you'd BETTER give me a FUCKING BYLINE! I work damn hard at taking and working on these photos. If they're ending up in a place where other people are going to see them, I'd like other people to know who took them. I'd also appreciate you asking permission first. And maybe a link to this blog so interested parties can contact me if they want to contract me for work. Thanks. Enjoy!
PS- would anyone be interested in owning prints of any of the photos that they see here? I'm thinking of something like $20-$40 per print? Your choice of paper grade and size? Let me know if you'd be interested in something like this.
Ride Fast! Ride Hard!

-curved wallride in the parking garage.

-Tony always 'inside icepicks' for the Lord.

-icepick with scary drop on the other side.

-some artsy shit right here yo!
By the by, if you're going to snag my photos for your website or your Myspace account, you'd BETTER give me a FUCKING BYLINE! I work damn hard at taking and working on these photos. If they're ending up in a place where other people are going to see them, I'd like other people to know who took them. I'd also appreciate you asking permission first. And maybe a link to this blog so interested parties can contact me if they want to contract me for work. Thanks. Enjoy!
PS- would anyone be interested in owning prints of any of the photos that they see here? I'm thinking of something like $20-$40 per print? Your choice of paper grade and size? Let me know if you'd be interested in something like this.
Ride Fast! Ride Hard!
September 18, 2005
FOM! WHOOOO HOOOOOO!!!!!
How do you know when you've finally arrived? When you make Jeff's Friend Of the Month award. Apparantly I swept the month of August in Jeff's book. Head here to check out the offical word. As a side note, I ride to work every day! I want to thank all the people who made this possible, my agent and the millions of fans worldwide! Thank you, goodnight!
September 15, 2005
Updates, Updates, Updates!!!
So here we are. I've got lots to fill you in on so heeeeere we go!
Ghettodrome Pt I
-I went down to Ghettodrome two weeks ago for the first time. A bunch of track and fixed riders find spaces to race each other around only turning left (just like a velodrome). Throw in the fact that we're sneaking into these places, generally aren't supposed to be there, and have to deal with things like broken glass, avoiding the Fuzz, and not being able to see really well at all times, and you have the ghetto part. We run races like they do on a track, Miss-and-Out (Devil-Take-The-Hindmost or Elimination), Match Sprints, Scratch, and Pursuit. Fun stuff. Everyone who races is super mellow and just great folks to hang out, ride and race with. This week in particular we snuck into a high school track and ran the races there. The track was amazing, super grippy and nice even turns. There was no lighting so it was pitch black, save for when cars were passing by and the red lights we wore on our backs to keep from rear-ending each other. Good times.
Hartford Hardcore Alleycat.
-Last Saturday I raced in the Hartford messenger race. Super fun again! There were 5 of us who wound up racing together as a team. Karp, Linden, Karp's buddy from work, and even The Fuse showed up to throw down! He swung by with his wife and new bundle of joy who seemed happy just taking in all of the strange looking dirtbags with bikes that surrounded him. The route had us going all over the Hartford area from the hospital in Blue Hills, to the eastern part on Service Road, to the Whethersfield/Hartford line. Good times riding fast through traffic with friends is what its all about. At the end, I threw down my $5 to get in on the trackstand action. Out of 7 I was the 4th one out. Was super pissed at myself cause I know I could definitely give everyone else a run for their money no handed but my legs were so burned (just like everyone else, I know) I lost it. The next alleycat is in New Haven on Devil's Night. My chance to redeem myself.
Ghettodrome Pt II
-This past Monday my buddy Pat accompanied me to check out the race scene with me. We raced around Ikea parking lot. Much different than the previous week's track. The turns were WAAAAAAY tighter than what the track was like. I wound up pedal scraping and having to turn wide on most of the turns. Definitely not the safest thing. Not being able to keep a line is death for anyone else trying to out pace and pass. On the last race, Pat and I were running a Match Sprint. Best 2 of 3. He took the first race and on the second race, serious injury just barely grazed past my being. On the second to last turn I saw Pat accelerating and I knew that I had to lay it all out to be able to go to the tie breaker. I pushed with all I had, took the turn too hard and pedal struck like a motherfucker! All I remember is sitting bolt upright, taking one foot out of the clip and turning off my thinking. My muscle memory totally took over my body and straightened by bike out and gave me control of the bike again, letting me swerve and miss the carrage return by mere feet. Upon reaching the finish line, I was greeted with 'Holy crap, you OK?' 'Nice save!' Needless to say, it was the closest I want to be to wrecking at full speed on my fixed. I don't know how I saved it. Must have had a guardian angel (or two) looking out for me that night. Shorter cranks have been ordered and will be a welcome addition to my fixed for racing. I don't think I'll be able to race this coming Monday due to the logisitics of the order, but I'm considering shooting some film and video of the races.
That's about it. If anyone is interested in racing their track bike on Mondays please let me know and I'll set a space aside in the car for you. Oh yeah! Tony Tyrant and I rode some street tonight. Go check out his blog to see some of the photos he took while we were out.
Ride Fast! Ride Hard!
Ghettodrome Pt I
-I went down to Ghettodrome two weeks ago for the first time. A bunch of track and fixed riders find spaces to race each other around only turning left (just like a velodrome). Throw in the fact that we're sneaking into these places, generally aren't supposed to be there, and have to deal with things like broken glass, avoiding the Fuzz, and not being able to see really well at all times, and you have the ghetto part. We run races like they do on a track, Miss-and-Out (Devil-Take-The-Hindmost or Elimination), Match Sprints, Scratch, and Pursuit. Fun stuff. Everyone who races is super mellow and just great folks to hang out, ride and race with. This week in particular we snuck into a high school track and ran the races there. The track was amazing, super grippy and nice even turns. There was no lighting so it was pitch black, save for when cars were passing by and the red lights we wore on our backs to keep from rear-ending each other. Good times.
Hartford Hardcore Alleycat.
-Last Saturday I raced in the Hartford messenger race. Super fun again! There were 5 of us who wound up racing together as a team. Karp, Linden, Karp's buddy from work, and even The Fuse showed up to throw down! He swung by with his wife and new bundle of joy who seemed happy just taking in all of the strange looking dirtbags with bikes that surrounded him. The route had us going all over the Hartford area from the hospital in Blue Hills, to the eastern part on Service Road, to the Whethersfield/Hartford line. Good times riding fast through traffic with friends is what its all about. At the end, I threw down my $5 to get in on the trackstand action. Out of 7 I was the 4th one out. Was super pissed at myself cause I know I could definitely give everyone else a run for their money no handed but my legs were so burned (just like everyone else, I know) I lost it. The next alleycat is in New Haven on Devil's Night. My chance to redeem myself.
Ghettodrome Pt II
-This past Monday my buddy Pat accompanied me to check out the race scene with me. We raced around Ikea parking lot. Much different than the previous week's track. The turns were WAAAAAAY tighter than what the track was like. I wound up pedal scraping and having to turn wide on most of the turns. Definitely not the safest thing. Not being able to keep a line is death for anyone else trying to out pace and pass. On the last race, Pat and I were running a Match Sprint. Best 2 of 3. He took the first race and on the second race, serious injury just barely grazed past my being. On the second to last turn I saw Pat accelerating and I knew that I had to lay it all out to be able to go to the tie breaker. I pushed with all I had, took the turn too hard and pedal struck like a motherfucker! All I remember is sitting bolt upright, taking one foot out of the clip and turning off my thinking. My muscle memory totally took over my body and straightened by bike out and gave me control of the bike again, letting me swerve and miss the carrage return by mere feet. Upon reaching the finish line, I was greeted with 'Holy crap, you OK?' 'Nice save!' Needless to say, it was the closest I want to be to wrecking at full speed on my fixed. I don't know how I saved it. Must have had a guardian angel (or two) looking out for me that night. Shorter cranks have been ordered and will be a welcome addition to my fixed for racing. I don't think I'll be able to race this coming Monday due to the logisitics of the order, but I'm considering shooting some film and video of the races.
That's about it. If anyone is interested in racing their track bike on Mondays please let me know and I'll set a space aside in the car for you. Oh yeah! Tony Tyrant and I rode some street tonight. Go check out his blog to see some of the photos he took while we were out.
Ride Fast! Ride Hard!
September 08, 2005
Ghettodrome Results...
So the results from ghettodrome are in....I got my ass kicked! Hard! I'm blaming it on my gearing. I'm not geared nearly hard enough to keep up with everyone. I realized this about half way to the course as I fell to the back of the group. On this night in particular our race track was a local high school track. Pitch black. No lights. You could see about 2 feet in front of you. We all had to wear glowing red tail lights to avoid crashing into each other. The first race was elimination. The last rider across the line gets eliminated. You go as many laps as you have riders remaining. There were about seven of us racing. I was the second one to get eliminated. We ran a loser bracket with the first four to get eliminated racing. After assessing my last race, my strategy changed. I knew that I wouldn't be able to catch anyone out in front of me so I went out hard off the front. Got passed by one guy, caught up to him, passed him and then got caught in the last lap with about a 16th of a mile to go. Spinning my ass off, trying to choke the vomit back down. Shouldn't have eaten so close to a race. I guess second isn't so bad for my first time out. Then we raced a regular 3 lap deal. First one across won. I thought there were four of us and was so happy that I wasn't DFL. When I asked how many of us were racing I was pretty disappointed when the reply was 'three'. I'm definitely heading back there next week with a bigger gearing for more of an edge. 53x16....Next race report: Hartford Hardcore, this saturday @ 6pm.
Ride Fast! Ride Hard!
Ride Fast! Ride Hard!
September 04, 2005
Sunday Evening Practice
So we got together tonight for our weekly practice session. Holy Crap! What an amazing experience! Definitely the strongest yet. We started off kinda shakey, but about 1/3'rd of the way through we tightened up. Two of the songs that we worked on previously have gotten MUCH stronger! There's still aways to go in terms of something finished to be considered 'recordable' quality (in my opinion). Not that songs of 'recordable quality' should be the benchmark of 'good' music, but you get my drift. After working on the two, Dave taught Sean and I guitar parts to a song that he's had 'burning' in his head for a bit. When we put it together, it was great! I always have a bit of trouble when learning new stuff on the spot. Especially when two parts are fitted together like puzzle pieces. My brain trys to listen exclusively to what the other part is doing, and I have to make a very conscious [sp?] effort to hear both parts together. When we were done exploring Dave's tune I was left noodling around with a progression that forced itself into my hands. I sometimes have moments where my hands move on their own and produce sounds from the guitar that I don't hear in my head first. I just have to go with it and see what happens. It's an amazing thing when I reflect on it. It's meditative to a point. I'm completely connected to the music that's happening at the moment. Once I realized that everyone was intently listening to what I was doing, I stiffened up and had to remind myself to breath again and relax. For whatever reason, I sometimes get caught off guard and lose the relaxed feel that I have when I play. Being in this relaxed state really allows me to keep my creative channel open. When I get stressed, I tend to lock into whatever feels safe because I get so afraid of making a mistake. Lately, I've been focusing of staying relaxed, not worrying about hitting wrong notes, making sure that I'm confident in what I'm playing. Every note I play is the correct one. A wise musician once told me that as long as you play every note like it's the 'right' one, there is no wrong note. Everything is coming together very quickly.
September 03, 2005
Ghettodrome....
Every monday night in Slew Haven, meet @ the green @ 7:30PM for Ghettodrome. Bunch of local track/fixed riders ride around and find empty parking lots to race each other in. Contact Devil's Gear for more info.
September 02, 2005
New Music
I'm wide awake, I'm restless, and I'm sick. So here I am! Tony T's been bugging the shit out of me to post something new here so here you go! I'm killing time til I get sleepy and can go back to bed so I've been surfing around some music sites as of late. Found this great band that's made up of former members of Grey Area among other bands, called The Arsons. Check 'em here. Good stuff.
Word em up!
PS-who's racing the Hartford Hardcore alleycat on 9/10/05? Be there motherfuckers! If you show up I promise to kick your ass in skids and trackstands! Suckas!
Word em up!
PS-who's racing the Hartford Hardcore alleycat on 9/10/05? Be there motherfuckers! If you show up I promise to kick your ass in skids and trackstands! Suckas!
August 22, 2005
Same Artists, New Direction.
I got together with some of my old bandmates last night to start working on our new project. This has been a long time coming. It's come to fruition largely at the hands of The Monsiegnor. He's taken it upon himself to grab hold of the reigns logisticality. (Yes. I made it up). He's worked hard to get everyone together and to give the musical boulder the hard push that it needed to start it's roll down the hill. We all got together last night, picked up our instruments and started playing like there had never been a break. Granted, we're all getting aquainted again with ourselves and each other, but at the end of the night, we have the workings for a very sinister groove. Dave and I were talking after the practice concerning our tonal qualities. We both came to the agreement that tonight was the first time that both of our tones were very close to meshing together seamlessly. This did occur at several points, bought to our attention by the thought, 'Is that Dave making those noises, or is it me?' This is the first time that I've played with these guys with the newer amp. I have to say, it really helps me round out my sound and gives me a lot more creativity with my tone. Very much looking forward to the next practice.
August 17, 2005
PK's Dirt Haven PT II........PT 2.
Here are the remaining photos from the other night @ PK's.

Here's the one-footer. Sick.
Remember the tractor and the curved wall-ride? Here you go......


Sick stuff. We had a RIPPER of a session last night. Lots of people riding everywhere and everyone was going HUGE! I fired through 6 rolls of film in 2 hours. That's 162 exposures. Stay tuned for details.

Here's the one-footer. Sick.
Remember the tractor and the curved wall-ride? Here you go......


Sick stuff. We had a RIPPER of a session last night. Lots of people riding everywhere and everyone was going HUGE! I fired through 6 rolls of film in 2 hours. That's 162 exposures. Stay tuned for details.
August 13, 2005
Night Session...or not.
So we got together for a fun night of some street riding. Tony T and the usual suspects gathered together for some fun. It was balmy, temps around 90. Disgustingly humid. After deciding where we were off to, we were off! Within the first spot, Tony blew out his crank arm and we got harrassed by the po-po. I didn't even see him until someone told me he had been there. Those guys have seen it a million times before, a cop pulls up in a car, sits with his lights off in the adjacent parking lot, calls to the bike cops and then they try to box you in and ticket/arrest you. I guess it's eaiser/safer to corner some young kids on bikes staying out of trouble rather than heading into the north end to bag some drug dealers or gangbangers. I hope it gives them a real sense of civic pride to know that they caught a 15 year old kid who loves to ride his bike. Oh well. This coming Tues we've got another dirt session planned. Stay tuned for photos.
August 11, 2005
today, a part of me died.
i've lost my soulmate. the one that i wanted to spend the rest of my life with. it was so abrupt. unexpected. i was not prepared. i feel like i've been torn in two. completely empty. i already miss all of the small things we used to share. i think the small things are the ones that i will miss the most. she knew me so perfectly. everything about me. gone. four years worth of commitment flushed away by lies and deceit. this will take some time.
PK's Dirt Haven PT II........PT 1.
Hello. Another sick dirt session went down complete with some secret new obstacles. Here's the first set of photos. The second set will arrive when I want to give it to you. Keep checking back to find all the hot action! PS-I scored a new camera today. Expect to see some sequence shots soon (yes, it has a motor drive!). Enjoy!

-this is how Tony Tyrant warms up. Abubaca.

-footplant.

-tuck air.

-Tony T ain't takin no shit!

-David warming up. Footplant.

-6' out? Hell yeah. Did you say rock that shit one handed?...

-cool. Got that covered. What next? Did you say kill it one footed?....
You gots to wait for that until next time...until then, ponder this......

That's how we do here in Middlenoun!
Crazy shit to follow. Stay tuned.

-this is how Tony Tyrant warms up. Abubaca.

-footplant.

-tuck air.

-Tony T ain't takin no shit!

-David warming up. Footplant.

-6' out? Hell yeah. Did you say rock that shit one handed?...

-cool. Got that covered. What next? Did you say kill it one footed?....
You gots to wait for that until next time...until then, ponder this......

That's how we do here in Middlenoun!
Crazy shit to follow. Stay tuned.
August 09, 2005
Dirt Session @ PK's!
Tony Tyant and I went over to PK's Backyard Dirt Haven for a little dirt jump session. Here's the maddness that ensued....

-Mr. Tyrant launching the first booter.

-David crossing up. Check the falcon flying overhead....

-clearing the set....

-Dave. 360. Tony T looking on.

-David and Tony riding back to take another run. Sun's starting to get lower. Mosquitos starting to bite....
After we shuffled some stuff around we rigged up a sub on the last set.

-PK himself-abubuca.

-Capt. Tyrant abub...

-David follows suit...
I've got some other sick stuff on an undeveloped roll that I'll post when I finish it off. Footplants, tail-taps, and other assorted goodies. Oh yeah! I should have some photos being published over @ Tyrant BMX. Not sure what Tony's using or if he's posted it up quite yet but head on over and check it!

-Mr. Tyrant launching the first booter.

-David crossing up. Check the falcon flying overhead....

-clearing the set....

-Dave. 360. Tony T looking on.

-David and Tony riding back to take another run. Sun's starting to get lower. Mosquitos starting to bite....
After we shuffled some stuff around we rigged up a sub on the last set.

-PK himself-abubuca.

-Capt. Tyrant abub...

-David follows suit...
I've got some other sick stuff on an undeveloped roll that I'll post when I finish it off. Footplants, tail-taps, and other assorted goodies. Oh yeah! I should have some photos being published over @ Tyrant BMX. Not sure what Tony's using or if he's posted it up quite yet but head on over and check it!
August 03, 2005
amputation.
In talking with my Mom I found out that my Grandfather has lost his battle with the infection that's been plaguing his foot due to his Diabetes. He's in the hospital now and is going into surgery later today to have either part of, or his entire foot amputated. Christ, what the fuck is that like? I'd be an emotional wreck. Living your entire life and then looking down and suddenly realizing that after about a few hours worth of a surgeon's work you've got no foot left. That thing that helps you stand, walk, balance, jump, run, pedal, and kick is suddenly not there. The thing that's been there for 80 some-odd years of your life is suddenly gone. You know exactly what your foot feels like there. But suddenly, you know how it -should- feel to have something there. How the fuck do you deal with something like that? I hope that I (or you) never have to try and sort that kind of thing out. Please stay healthy. Love yourself.
August 01, 2005
Check it Bleed!
Hey,
By the way, check out Tony Tyrant's newest version of Tyrant BMX. It's the newest of new!
Ride Fast! Ride Hard!
By the way, check out Tony Tyrant's newest version of Tyrant BMX. It's the newest of new!
Ride Fast! Ride Hard!
The SURLYist of All Blogs...
I pulled this from the Surly Bikes Blog. Enjoy!
Monday, August 01, 2005
To The Lady In The Minivan Who Almost Ran Me Over Last Friday:
I guess I must have been in your way. I mean, after all, bikes aren't really supposed to be on the roads anyway. You were in your car and in a big hurry to get to that stop sign 30 feet in front of you. It was rude of me to assume you would let me in even though I had plenty of space and clearly signalled. I should have gotten the message when you laid on the horn and kept creeping closer and closer...literally inches from my wheel. What was I thinking? I should have known when you leaned out your window, still honking, and yelled at me, telling me that you "ride a bike too, so (you) know." It was rude of me to argue with you for almost intentially running into me with your minivan. Those roads belong to you and you alone. I'm sorry to have made you so upset about costing you time that you sat at the stop sign and yelled at me for several minutes, while the other drivers behind you rolled their eyes and even started trying to go around you, creating an even more dangerous mess. It was very rude of me to assume that I am traffic too, and I hope next time you nail that stupid biker costing you precious seconds of your life, moments that you will never get back, moments that you could have spent yelling at other people or talking on your cell phone. The life or health of someone like me is less important than getting to soccer practice, and I see now the error of my ways.
-posted by Kenny Bloggins @ 1:08 PM
Kinda makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, don't it?
Monday, August 01, 2005
To The Lady In The Minivan Who Almost Ran Me Over Last Friday:
I guess I must have been in your way. I mean, after all, bikes aren't really supposed to be on the roads anyway. You were in your car and in a big hurry to get to that stop sign 30 feet in front of you. It was rude of me to assume you would let me in even though I had plenty of space and clearly signalled. I should have gotten the message when you laid on the horn and kept creeping closer and closer...literally inches from my wheel. What was I thinking? I should have known when you leaned out your window, still honking, and yelled at me, telling me that you "ride a bike too, so (you) know." It was rude of me to argue with you for almost intentially running into me with your minivan. Those roads belong to you and you alone. I'm sorry to have made you so upset about costing you time that you sat at the stop sign and yelled at me for several minutes, while the other drivers behind you rolled their eyes and even started trying to go around you, creating an even more dangerous mess. It was very rude of me to assume that I am traffic too, and I hope next time you nail that stupid biker costing you precious seconds of your life, moments that you will never get back, moments that you could have spent yelling at other people or talking on your cell phone. The life or health of someone like me is less important than getting to soccer practice, and I see now the error of my ways.
-posted by Kenny Bloggins @ 1:08 PM
Kinda makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, don't it?
July 27, 2005
July 26, 2005
Will-o-rico street...
Went out riding with Jeff and Matt Barchus [sp?] tonight on the mean streets of Willi. Rode around the Eastern campus for a bit, found some interesting stuff to ride. I chickened out on an easy gap over a big curb to hill drop and kicked myself all the way home. Got to Jeff's a little late but he showed me a photo of Mr Barchus boosting Jeff's box jump and throwing a no-footed can-can for some flavor. Apparently it was the first time he'd every jumped Jeff's ramp to boot! Matt's a mellow dude and a super-ripper. He was busting bunnyhop 360's like it was his job. Also witnessed a sick bunnyhop tailwhip off a curb. Super smooth. Rode down to the main drag and saw a hairy post-accident scene investigation. It looked like a car cut off a motocycle and launched the rider over the hood. The bike was in a crumpled mess under the front end of the car and there were pools of blood that the FD tried to soak up. Not to mention a huge blood stained towel laying in the street. Scary shit! I think I was more repulsed at all of the people just hanging out watching what was going on. Don't you have anything better to do with your time than to stop and watch an accident scene?
We kinda meandered around. Ripping up and down hills in the haze and quickly approaching twilight. Not looking for anything specific and found lots of stuff to fool around on. Reminds me of when I first got into BMX and how cool it is to just ride around and try to make cool stuff happen on different things. Not stressing about how good your tricks are or worrying about how much you think you suck. Not worrying about what time it was, what we have to get done or what time we have to be at work tomorrow. Just riding and having fun. Pointing things out: "Wouldn't be cool if you could ride up that, do this and then ride out there?" Gonna go put and extra headset spacer into my BMX rig to tighten shit up. Go listen to some Bouncing Souls, grab you rig and go explore, ride somewhere you've never ridden before or somewhere you thought was/is lame and make it cool. Go ride like you're twelve again!
We kinda meandered around. Ripping up and down hills in the haze and quickly approaching twilight. Not looking for anything specific and found lots of stuff to fool around on. Reminds me of when I first got into BMX and how cool it is to just ride around and try to make cool stuff happen on different things. Not stressing about how good your tricks are or worrying about how much you think you suck. Not worrying about what time it was, what we have to get done or what time we have to be at work tomorrow. Just riding and having fun. Pointing things out: "Wouldn't be cool if you could ride up that, do this and then ride out there?" Gonna go put and extra headset spacer into my BMX rig to tighten shit up. Go listen to some Bouncing Souls, grab you rig and go explore, ride somewhere you've never ridden before or somewhere you thought was/is lame and make it cool. Go ride like you're twelve again!
July 23, 2005
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