I always wondered

why do companies make beach cruisers?
why?
road bikes? got it.
mountain? got it.
bmx? yeah.
cross? makes sense.
soon as I got to Cape May, I realised where they all went.
to the beach.
After a couple days there,
I even started figuring out if I could fit one more bike on the rack.
Stupid-bike-addicted-me, I don't live near a beach.
No beach cruiser coming home.

Roots

Simply put,
I heart Spike Jonze.
Like a newbie roadie loves Lance,
but more.
But not just the director Spike,
ever since the mid eighties when BMX Action
gave birth to Freestylin'.



He's a nerdy & dirty BMX kid,
with a really good eye,
and what ever he touches becomes gold.



Beastie Boys videos.
His short lived colabo. magazine with Sassy called 'Dirt',
Club Homeboy? Awesome!



Unfortunately,
most of the magazines I sold on ebay a while ago.
There were boxes of them,
some sold for $5, others for $40 each.
Bought my bike,
bought my camera,
family took a vacation,
there's alot less clutter now.

You need to own this DVD though!
All the great Spike music videos.
Stuff you never knew he directed.

things that suck

FATTY
the last two days of posts have been heartbreaking.
beyond the point of rallying against a disease.
just a painful slap of reality.

FUCK CANCER

My aunt beat it,
but not alot do,
and you never know if it's going to be in your future,
and what YOUR odds will be.

I've had two scares,
one was ten years ago,
when I was too young to think it could be serious.
the other was three years ago,
and was a cold feeling of what could be,
and motivation for lifestyle changes.

DONATE & HELP!

puppied out.

or,
Puppies! Out!

I'm all dogged out.
they like to play at 1 am,
and 3 or 4 am.
but they conspire against me,
one goes to the front door and pees,
as I grab the paper towels,
the other one runs to the kitchen to poop.
and as I'm cleaning up poop,
they switch.
then the other one poops at the front door,
while one pees in the kitchen.
it's 5 am, there's no reason to go back to bed,
little bastards.

wet, wet, WET!

a possible chance of rain?
do you bring booties?
no.
does it rain five minutes before you get out of work?
yes.
how do you tell HOW wet it is?
on HOW loud the squishy sound is from your shoes.
and you have to work the next morning?
yes.
extra shoes?
no.
wanna ride tonight?
uhhhh, can't.

so MAYBE you don't want to use a knife at my place,
but the shoes were dry by the a.m.

wheel in the sky

yes, it keeps on turning,
but that's a not so clever lead in
for new wheels!

The Spinergys just don't like lugging me around,
and they tend to show their disproval by discarding spokes.

And the Mavics,
my budget winter wheels shod with Nokian studs,
well, they still refuse to let tires seat properly,
or according to my local shop,
I just need to take off my pink panties,
and learn to put tires on correctly.
I still think there's an 'issue' with the rims...

Anyways,
a while ago I realised,
I don't need multiple bikes, just one.
Otherwise I'll have multiple bikes needing repair(s).
So I'll just concentrate on maintaining one bike,
so the bike gets new wheels!

But which ones?
Well,
years ago when I played in the dirt,
I attended a DT wheel building clinic,
and built myself some White Industry/Mavics;
radial front, radial/3x rear,
and loved that LOUD ratcheting sound.

So some DT 240s',
also had to get it for Campy 9.
So off to the local shop to swap the record cassette.
Since I can only find Veloce 9 anymore.

another reason for supporting your local shop,
when shops are booked out on repairs for a week,
and you don't own that tool you need?
Just hop in back and do it yourself!



Yesterday was the easiest ride to work,
makes knobbies feel like running in sand.
Now I just need to clean this bike.

puppy love again!

YEP!
More puppies!
For OUT OF THE PITS.
Puts us at four dogs,
or more like:
one crabby old lady,
one frisky teenager,
and two babies.

as I'm writing...

more DC wheels

because you didn't as a kid

There are lots of pros and cons to living IN a city.
As a kid growing up in the suburbs out west through the 80's,
I had no idea.
You went into the city to see shows on the weekend,
and try to get home without incident.
It was always an adventure.


In the 90's we moved more in town as I went to college.
But at the time, I was more occupied with other things
than to notice architecture.
The only thing you noticed with buildings:
HOW SKATEABLE WAS IT?
That's all that mattered.

At the end of the 90's we moved across the country.

And that's when you learn,
your reality is only based off of what surrounded you as you grew up.
All of a sudden there was history.
Not from the late 1800's,
but from the 1600's.
There are still cobblestone streets.
Houses were constructed in 1920,
not 1970.

The biggest thing for me?
Brownstones!
Row houses!
When you grew up surrounded by ranch houses,
you embrace something new, or in this case, old.

I was like a kid in a candy store in DC.
There was not enough time to shoot everything I wanted.
Next time there will be time budgeted to explore more.

But I learned alot about myself on this trip.

new found love in DC

TUGS!
Old semi-neglected boats.

What is this?
Hiding out there?


Awesomeness floating.


It was also clarified,
that if there were such a boat in my future,
I'ld be living on it by myself.


But to step off the boat,
and be riding in the city?

This thing left me seriously jonesing for a tug.
Like the very first time you saw someone ride by
on that bike you swore you would someday own.
I don't think I can mow enough lawns for this thing though.

photo friends

My love for local owned business is known.
But even more important is the PEOPLE
that make that business so well loved.
My local new stop-in Stuyvesant Photo.

Pete set me up with this fun-ness to try in DC.
A Holga medium format,
Holga?
Think plastic Fisher-Price 'My First Camera'.
Leaks light,
no adjustments,
you never know what you'll get.


Well it's film,
so there's no delete,
just pay up for the processing,
and hope.

Three rolls netted six good photos.
Hopefully this ratio will improve.
I now feel more comfortable with medium format,
so it'll be time to break out the Kiev88 that's been waiting.

It's the bike equivelant of an 80's lugged steel,
Campy record equipped bike. Classic in the simplest form.


The other great thing while picking up my photos,
thirty minutes of coffee roasting talk.
I assumed the local food co-op had beans,
but now I know,
and the coffee shop right around the corner,
fresh roast in house every week.
I'm gonna check this out.
Satisfy that coffee snob lurking in me.

Thanks Stuyvesant Photo.
Hopefully Nikon will be stocked soon?

where I was

well,
since today looks like an unproductive day,
let's share,
I still have this video somewhere,
VHS of course.
probably in that bag of cassette tapes.


and skating

Hensley.

and while searching for Hensley,
you get him now,
in Flogging Molly

ok, now I'm done with the 'tube.

wheel time.

what happened to hardcore?

when I'm riding on a Friday or Saturday night,
I just assume there's gonna be an idiot run in.

Past a sports bar,
the 'GO LANCE!',
which, if you're kitted up and hamering away,
you might expect.
But I'm not in shorts and a jersey,
and not in any hurry.
But it wasn't a sports bar.

And it's summer,
so most of the Long Island kids,
who couldn't get into NYU,
and whos parents didn't want to be reminded of their errors,
well,
they've gone back home.

So my surprise as I turn the corner to head home,
when I run right through a pack of rednecks,
out side of a hardcore show.

I'm confused.
when did kids at hardcore shows drive pickup trucks,
dress like lumberjacks,
and act like drunken rednecks?
I felt like I was wearing a tutu at a Marine boot camp.

the heckler got heckled, so I was caught off guard.

granted,
it's been a while since I've gone to a show.
but I know some some faces,
and great guys, that made great bands,
like Endicott.


and you grew up with shows,
that united,


ok, here's one more,
this has been stuck in my head so many times,
and a reason why I'll always buy a Rancid album,
no matter how average it ends up being.

so to sound like an old man complaining about the world,
what happened?

rides

Last week provided a couple breaks in the rain
for some exploring rides.
Trailing behind I watched the antics,
remembering how some of the best days of summer
only required some bricks or an old tire,
a piece of wood,
and my bike.


Exploring our way back home we pass a protest.


"What are they doing"
"Why are they out here?"

"Let's keep riding guys".
Really, how do you explain some things?
Or when.


The last week,
has looked like this:

You measure how hard it's raining,
by how many blocks before your shoes start sloshing.
The only thing on your mind,
on a cold and windy commute home,
'Will they dry out in time for tomorrow?'

bike karma

Automatically bad karma for stealing a bike,
or stripping parts,
it's a given,
you don't mess with someone's bike.

The exception is riding buddies,
and fellow bike shopworkers,
that's a given.
The bolt at the bottom of the seat tube,
saranwrap over the water bottle,
tilting the saddle up a couple millimeters.

But can you dress someone's bike up?

out on DC streets IV

More DC photos? really?

if you ever want to find me,
just look behind you.
there's no particular reason,
that's just where I end up.



an odd one,
we had the same pace,
I turned onto a different street TWICE,
and still kept ending up behind him.
A nice older Lemond, and a funky style,
but no words were shared
maybe he was glad thelast time I turned?



a particular favorite,
Gunnar Rock Hound,
never see these,
maybe I'm partial to Gunnars?
with a reverse mullet combo on the tires,
meat up front and a slick in back...



morning couple along the water,
pre coffee ride, WTF?
I learn that the pre coffee ride greatly reduces
my overall coffee consumption,
I don't know how I feel about that?
but an evening ride MIGHT eliminate
my late night icecream consumption,
and that would be good.