so tight

The Chi

This city has straight up good people. What a worth while way to put my bank account way in the red. Name another city where you can meet someone that night and they'd let you kick it at there place for the night to save you another in your car.

Tea and Hitler

...And grape soda

Beautiful

What are the chances that on the same day a girl walks into my sub shop bearing a striking resemblence to my ex someone would decide to park their 1996, matador red pearl, 4 door Inegra LS right outside my window so that every time I look outside I'm reminded of how shitty it feels to have your car stolen? Why would the two most emotionally significant events of the past four months come full circle on one rainy, shitty day like today? And as if only to add insult to injury, parked in the foreground is my current whip flaunting its sheek new trash bag eye-patch. Super.

questions

Why do you ride bmx? Do you ride alone or with friends? It’s for the thrill right? Do you wear a helmet?

Why are we living. Why do we choose to live instead of just wither away? Tell me that and you have your answer.

favorites

Verde BMX Team Edit from Verde Bikes on Vimeo.

number before the next number

A few days ago my physical therapist had a moment of intuition and explained that "it's not like I'm making a million dollars [riding bmx]." Back when I started riding a fellow student said to me; "so basically you just ride around and do random shit" while trying to grasp the concept of BMX. Another engineer always tried to get me to "stop riding before I kill myself." He would say it in such an all-knowing sort of way.

they just don't understaaaand maaaan. They don't understand passion. Thats a shallow ass life.

number

I get stupid some times. Depending on how social I am, and how much I'm enjoying life, I get more dumb. I end up answering questions like "what is 7 plus 16" with a delayed "I have no idea" because my mind is off. The arithmatic is usually solved by the other person at which point I just say whatever number they said, think about it some more, and nod my head once I get it. Sometimes when people are talking to me I just hear words and end up blankly staring at them as I haven't formulated any sense out of what they just said. I like it when my mind is off and plan on keeping it that way for as much of summer as possible.

4288

havent watched this yet, i know it's going to be good.

4289

My camera phone died on me, which means I couldn't take a picture of the tricycle I saw in a bike rack next to two road bikes, or the "YO <3 ESPANA" bumper sticker I saw earlier. Here's a few randoms in memory of the camera.


See the gap above the front wheel? Thats because theres no engine to weigh it down. RIP teggy.

If I thank them for the free meal does that mean I get one?

4290

This is so good

4291

I never realized how legit grape soda was.

this is funnys.

4292

I have this disposition where as long as I am physically capable of riding, no matter how much pain I’m in, I will go riding. It never fails. Even if my back is too hurt to bunny hop or manual, which takes out essentially every trick in street riding, I’ll go out and just do nose manuals and foot jams.

I’m headed to the beach for a few days without the bmx. I know that in four days I’m going to have not done my homework, be out of shape from drinking and have much more important things to do. But I also know that, because of my disposition, I am going to go riding instead of being productive. It’s inevitable that in a week I will be in pain and have a ‘to-do’ list up to here! from riding my bike instead of going to the gym to strengthen my back like I should have. I’m not worried about it, I just know it will be there and I’m going to have to deal with it.

Creepy window display

And the reason I will knowingly make the ‘poor’ choice of going riding is because of this (click). This is how thinking about these philosophies pays its dividends. Next week I can be in a completely shit state of health and life and won’t be depressed, thinking poorly of myself, or freaking out about school. Everything is supposed to be messed up in a week, I’m already over it.

(Apartment complex in Montreal)

And besides, it will be Friday by that point, which means drinking will solve all of my problems.

4293

Whoever made this has ADD. Theres a huge over double peg at :40.

been going through physical therapy for my back, working a ton and taking online courses and riding as much as I can.

4294

I was out until it was light out last night getting and then being drunk (yea liver!) and consequently woke up in a pissy mood. On my way home for my causeines birthday I found something to get mad about for each and every car that was in front of me. While cruising home with the windows down and some sun roasting my arms I conversely recollected the previous nights and weeks and ended up thinking about how amazing my life is. I finally got enough solid positives to make this post.

With college coming to an end, life ahead has been getting a lot of thought. What’s life going to be like and what’s my income going to be when I graduate remains a mystery. Living in my apartment this summer has made me realize how easy it is to get a dialed ass life and be happy as shit for close to no moneys. So this is a list of a few things that make me happy that you don’t need a big fat salary to have.

Food; Stay stocked on lots of yummies.
Keep stuff working; Save money by fixing shit yourself. Car, bike, keep everything running solid and less headaches ensue.
Happy at work; Work somewhere you can get free food at, those are the best jobs.
Clothing; Get a wardrobe that makes you like what you see on a daily basis. Whatchulooklike matters. People judge whether you think its right or not.
Music; Take time and illegally download some music that you like. Don’t stress it, everyone just does things to make themselves happy from being nice to others to stealing shit. Its all gravy.
Friends; My friends kick ass. You know who you are.
Integrity; Your word/name is what you make it. Stay legit, everything in life works better.
Keep stuff organized; Less stress. I foldered everything up on my computer, got rid of shit, backed it up, don’t keep a single icon on my desktop. I may have OCD too.
Keep place clean; It’s free, it makes you feel like you’re living in a nice place instead of temporary housing constructed for WWII veterans.
Health; do it

As long as you don’t make stupid decisions and fuck up in a big way it’s easy to maintain all these things and be happy as tits.

4295

Check out Rubin and Hawk killing it in Spain. Both of these riders are on top of their style game and the filming and editing do a nice job of showing it.

http://www.foxhead.com/us/videos/?id=16954

4296

This made me throw up; enjoy.

Also I have a rant to post on my blog because I'm cool. I could structure this like a philosophy but the point gets across either way. It seems like so few people have a concept of how much now matters, how much today is worth. High school wasnt a time to put life aside and focus on school, college isn't a time to do that either. If you did, thats a solid 16 years of your motor-skilled life you really aren't living for shit. And based on this same principal, your job after college doesn't just have to suck and give you a lot of money again, for your future. Work and commute takes up 40% of your life minus sleep. If you become something shitty like an engineer and work around machines all day just to get a slightly higher salary, you end up spending 40% of life unhappy. Thats a lot of life to waste being unhappy for a few extra G's a year. To me...its not all about preparing for college, then preparing for real world, then working to get a bigger pay check. It's about NOT throwing away your entire life by forgetting how much today matters.

4297

No one likes to carry around a lock when you go riding, so Chad Degroot hooked it up with an article(click) about how to lock your bike up without using a lock.

Here's one idea;
"Little kids are usually the fuckers that steal bikes, and midgets. So if you can hang your bike high enough so they can’t reach it, BLAM, bike hang is a sweet lock."

4298

This is a real BMXer's apartment.

4299

Riding does a good job of settling my mind sometimes. I needed it tonight, so I went out around 12. I got into it with one of the summer orientation workers on campus. He felt the need to tell me not to ride the one particular ledge I was riding for some reason or another. He even politely mentioned that the police might get involved if I didn't leave. I explained to him that he should just call the police because I really do hate for him to have to deal with me and would much rather have an officer roll up and awkwardly ask me what I'm doing when I'm clearly just riding my bike, which is always my answer, which always results in a perplexed sort of look. And then they let me be. But I didn't want this fine young chap to have to deal with my nonsense. Unfortunately, he ended up being one of those people that has an ego. When I mentioned I would rather him just call the police he said that he wasn't going to, a stressed tone to his voice, and explained that he was simply asking me to do him a favour. Well played on his part, then I look like an ass for not doing it, though I don't know many people who make police threats when asking others to do them a favour - and with this I declined. Long story short, I got sick of him giving me a hard time for no reason and just politely explained that since I knew it didn't matter much to his well being I was going to keep riding the spot. I mean, I'm out riding my bike alone at midnight. That is, I clearly have issues. I feel like my emotional content is much more important than his, a well plump student walking around with two lovely female co-workers. Both of them were nice, though I don't doubt they were speaking poorley of me once they'd left.

I grinded the ledge a couple of times. First I accidentally double pegged it. Then I feebled it like I had been trying to my first go. And finally rode down it, which was a first for me. It's tough to get back in the riding state of mind once you've been forced to argue with someone, but I managed to tonight.

On my way home I picked up a hitch hiker. How old she was I couldnt tell you - her face looked like she was 80 but she didn't have a single gray hair. I figured her for a meth head at first, but later learned she only smoked weed and was homeless. I asked her where she was headed and she said she was going to Route 63. I asked where route 63 was and she told me. My apartment complex was only a minute down the road, so I said I wasn't going that far. She was perfectly content on my only giving her a ride to the intersection just past my complex, and on that note I offered her a ride to her destination which she told me was six or seven miles down the road. Fuck if it matters to me, I was in no rush.

She was suprised I was willing to go that far and thanked me. I figured she was nice to have been happy with just getting a ride any distance. She was good company too. I went home and thought about how a jobless, homeless woman could be so much more pleasant, curteous and have better values than the 20 year old prick on campus. The places riding bikes brings me...

4300

Edwin is such a thug.

4301

http://bmx.transworld.net/2009/06/09/interview-eli-platt-quits-subrosa-shadow/
didn't see this coming. Dude was definitely one of my favorite riders to watch. he absolutely shreds. Its good to see him doing what he wants though.

4302

I usually end up staring blankly at my computer and listening to the sound tracks of most bmx videos, heres a few long ones with good music.

more BMX Videos at feelbmx.com

4303

Happy Sunday

4304

I think a lot about words that society says are one thing and I think are another, like “good” or “love”. “Maturity” has been bothering me for a while, and I finally got a solid definition. Maturity: Having a refined personality and being experienced. Refined as in set in manner - not excellent, acceptable, appropriate or any of that. Theres probably a better word for it but my vocabulary sucks.

While on the subject of understanding words, heres one description I like; “Beauty? I don’t use the word beauty anymore. Never. It’s not that the thing itself is beautiful. It’s the relationship that you establish that makes something beautiful. And so the word ‘beautiful’ is not an absolute It’s a moment, I would say. It’s more like a moment in which you look at something and you feel alive, you feel that you are enjoying something. And that is a moment of poetry, pleasure, revelation, thinking." - Gabriel Orozco

4305

I knew I had some abs under there. Tomorrow I get to show these pictures to the doc and hope he doesn't say something stupid like I can't ride my bike.

4306

So tired. bump this, wake up. do shit.

4307

"Why was I feeling like a fraud all of a sudden? I’ve actually had an epiphany with regards to what I want to do and where I want to go with racing and riding bikes in general. I guess what has happened is that although I’ve had a taste of the sharp end of elite cross-country racing, and taken it all relatively seriously, I still don’t feel like I fall into that world-class bracket. I’m just another keen cyclist...But, all the same, I share the love as
much as the next person." - Anja McDonald (pro mtn. bike racer) from theridejournal pg. 18

This type of thing is what motivates me not to try. You go pro, and then what? All you've gained is security - you wake up and say to yourself, 'I am one of the best in the world.' This is what I'm talking about here applied to biking.

4308

4309

Mike Brennan OD's all day

4310

A couple days ago I woke up to find out Alienation was having a contest where the first ten people to skid past seven parking spaces get two free folding tires. I felt like a little kid going top speed in the parking lot of my apartment and skidding but F-it.

4311

This is issue one of the ride journal . Lots of good reads and photos, definitely worth the free download on this shit rainy day.

Also, take a look at a-frame mag. It's another free online magazine and has some dope pictures and plenty of good text for days when there's no swell or you live two hours from the nearest beach, or both. Good thing I can always just get my swell on by going to the gym. What's up?

4312

Here's Dan Cox's section from Tomorrow We Work. I like this because he just rides around doing the tricks he wants even if theyre not the trendiest or most impressive.

4313

How stoked are you that summer's here? This edit explains how I will be feeling every day for the next three months. Shouts to the H&M sign at :36.

4314

Got a text from Zack saying Muffin Man was on campus, so i got my sick, tired butt out of bed to go say whats up. Turns out it was Muffin Man's look-a-like Jake Seeley. Hes the guy in the red hat in this:

BMX legend Jim Cielinski, Ian Scwartz, Lee Dennis, Alex Magallan and a few other riders were there too. Got to see some wild riding go down including that photo of the up ledge manual. He wanted to throw the bars out of it but got too tired before he stuck it. Jim was filming for something they were going to show about after the filming of the new video thats comming out, Up Up and Away:

Maybe it will turn up online at some point. It was dope getting to see them ride and shoot the shit with them. I talked to Jim C a bit about his signature PC pedals with metal pins Sunday's coming out with which he had on his bike. I guess they just decided to stop at UMass and get some riding in before heading to Pittsfield for the premier. If only my Acura hadn't gotten stolen I'd probably be there right now. But that's life, it was a good time and I got to ride with some of my favorite riders.

4315

Ride put the leftover questions from their Sean Sexton interview online here. “If you’re going to sit around kicking rocks being mad all the time then that’s just going to be you, and I just decided to rise above the situation and be positive.”

Bring the ruckus...

4316

Everyone has this idea in their head that ambition is a good thing. Why? So you can be stressed out all of the time and look at life as a competition? I don’t see how that’s a positive thing. In my opinion if you try to be better at things you just get stressed out doing it, and then even if you get better at them all you’ve accomplished is stepping on other people or showing other people up. Being passionate about things may come as a result of being happy and confident, which are good and will lead to personal growth and “advancement”. But to be ambitious gets you no where in life; No where I want to be at least.

I'm making this a philosophy blog as well. I just thought of that stuff and it's making it really difficult to study for finals.

4317

Spotted this pool yesterday, this was our first session in it. It ended with the cops comming (see end) but it was worth it.

4318

4319

Joseph Pennell Refresh edit.

4320

check out this Sergio Layos interview on Etnies.

"Kinda made me realize you don’t need much to be happy. If you do what you wanna do that’s all you need." - SL

Part 2 here.

"Of course you can’t always be always happy but you should find something that goes with your day." - SL

4321

There’s an entire culture surrounding bmx that makes it about more than just riding around and doing tricks. I’m going to be posting anything related to bmx that interests or appeals to me.