watchin wind blow out my window

sittin on a saturday wonderin what to do while Moe sleeps wrapped and swaddled like a banana. MF Doom rocks the computer speakers and outside the tree tops blow with the gusty south west wind -still naked . waves should be building. buoy is up to three meters at eight seconds. there should be a hamster wheel at a point a I know. walk to the top and get in. paddle, paddle, paddle against the current. snag one and milk it around the sections. get out. do over.  meanwhile Doom sings bada boom bada bing. the rats scurry under the sewer traps and the seaguls wait for summer for lotsa tourist scraps. some people do and some don't. the watchers are sitting at their screens right now.

just

like  me.

Doom and Sade move the next track through a double. why you've come this far I wonder? so I keep it going. remember that time when we went drinkin and ridin? you T -I'm talkin to you. don't remember what time it was. we were no-handin it down in china town and your front wheel turned and you went down like me on ice skates on winter ponds. then there was that other time -you ran into the back of that parked car and split your lip laughin through bloody teeth before we hit the next bar, bikes hung and locked on the fence to keep 'em off the sidewalk.

we used to drink heaps. "I'll get the next one" I'd say time and time again. and we'd talk about a whole heap of rubbish like some 20 somethins goin nowhere's fast. remember them days there? remember ten years earlier takin the door off your white vdub van so we could stick your motor bike part way in. power band kicked in 2nd gear and I'd almost get snatched right off the back. you'd be blastin the jumps with sneakers and shorts -no shirt no helmet. I was throwin down frontside slappys on the long yellow curb at the bank drive-through in downtown Bartow. the town was dead and dying. I was ready to exit but it would be a while still before I saw somthin new.

why ride a bike every day?

"In the modern world it’s totally possible to live a completely safe existence. City riding adds thrills, danger, problem solving, social interactions, and adrenaline into my day. Better than coffee and goes well with beer."

from Urban Velo

surf by bike trip

I've been kicking around the idea for some time now of doing a Nova Scotia surf trip by bike. the idea comes and goes each year and I've yet to commit to it. today I got the bug again.

when I first arrived in Halifax in 2006 I set out to scout some possible surf spots on my bike. I've always been quite skeptical of the interweb surf sites so I knew that I'd have to go and check for myself. the photo above is from one of my initial scouting sessions. this little spot can get good sometimes when the wind is right. the prevailing winds do not favour this spot however and I often go months without surfing there.

that photo was from the first and last time I ever took a ride to the ocean. seems silly not to do it more often.

perhaps if I could get an accomplice to come along on a bike to surf trip I may be more motivated to go through with it.

Halifax Fixie Freestyle?

found this while browsing a local bike forum. weird.

"The first ever fixie freestyle event has been announced for Halifax. Hardcore fixie riders are joyously celebrating the triumph of being recognized as real sportsmen and women. The event has gained some steam complete with sponsors and documentary film offers. American Apparel, Gus’s Pub and Frenchies have all pledged their support of the event.

In an effort to keep the level of sportsmanship sporty, the organizers have stated that experienced BMX riders will not be allowed to participate in the freestyle part of the event, however they are welcome to compete in the longest track stand and skid competition. The BMX community could not be contacted for comment –err actually when contacted they yawned and went on about their business, uninterested in continuing any further with the conversation.

Unbeknownst to the BMX and skateboard community the fixers are lobbying city officials for their own bike park, claiming that the streets will be overrun with fixies by next summer if immediate action is not taken. City officials refused to comment about fund allocations for the park. However, one official was overheard remarking that he’d never seen such an undernourished community group and wondered if perhaps the city should instead provide free meals to the fixers.

The organizers of the Fixie Freestyle event are also planning to start a bike polo league this coming summer. At the moment they are in talks with the NYC bike polo association to establish some grounds rules for the league, especially relating to appropriate handlebar width and whether team members are allowed to use different colour Oury grips. The excitement continues to build and riders can be seen all over the city practicing six inch wallies and long skids down Citadel Hill during snow flurries."

Hector Bustin Fixie Tricks @ Freestyle Toozdays from Dunamis Media on Vimeo.

Halifax police love cyclists

I hate cops. yes it's true. just about every single interaction I've ever had with police has been negative -and no, I've never been arrested. as a teenager in Florida my friends and I were constantlyharassed by the police for skateboarding. it's one thing to tell a kid to stop skating at a spot, it's another to put them in the back of the police cruiser without reading them their rights only to drive them around for a scare. there was another incident where my friend Beau and I were picked up blocks away from my house for allegedly trespassing onto the church roof directly across the street from my house. my Dad was pissed. we hadn't been anywhere near that damned roof.

I gotta say that cops in Canada are whole lot nicer than in the US. at least here I don't feel like I'm the prey and the pigs are the hunters. but generally I think, people who choose to be cops (and those who get the jobs) are generally dumb (a necessary quality for the job) and like to bully.

yesterday I was slogging against a way-below-freezing head wind on my way home from work. the street is a one way and that part of town is known for hookers, drug dealers and several unsolved violent crimes and murders over the past couple of years. so I'm going the right way up the one way, blinking tail light on, and parka hood over my helmet to cut the wind. this cop cruiser pulls up next to me. there's three cops in the car -one in the back. driver cop rolls down his window and asks me to stop.

"are you knew around here?" he asks

"nope"

"you know we have a helmet law?"

"yup" I say and pull off the parka hood so he can see that I am dutifully wearing a helmet. before I have a chance to finish pulling off the parka hood he says,

"that helmet is not approved."

I can tell he's feeling a little dumb for his initial approach.

"whadaya mean" I say knowing good and well that my ProTec skate helmet fits the CPSC regulations just fine.

"that helmet is not approved. it' supposed to have a stamp or sticker on it" he says to me again as I start taking the helmet off to prove him wrong.

"I'm just letting you know" he says as he and his two silent partners pull away leaving me there standing in the middle of a one way, just a block away from the site of the most recent unsolved murder of a First Nations girl, steps from the home of a guy who's always slingin some kinda dope, and they drive off having performed their all important civic duty.

so you see, I hate cops. they have strange priorities.

more love for Halifax cycling and cops here

huh?

it was really really good this morning. overhead sets with long walls. where was everyone? thanks for not showing up. I got to ride some mackers with just three other guys. we watched an amazing sunrise, then I had an icy walk back to the car and snowy bike ride in to work. doesn't really get any better eh.

winter cycling

frosty mornings now. temperatures still hover around freezing in the morning and then rise with the warming sun. but soon that will change. snow and ice will come as it does at the end of each year. I never fear the weather on the commute. more so the drivers who fear the weather on their morning drives and second guess themselves with timid brakes and gas pedals and jerky steering. still sometimes when I look out the window and it's icy and minus ten I get a little tinge of regret about suiting up for the morning commute.

more comic strips at Yehuda Moon

the reach around

been commuting to work by bike now since 2004. I wouldn't trade my ride to work for anything. although that's not to say it's not without its shitty moments. below is a diagram of perhaps the most sketchy and common situation I face riding my bike in Halifax. it's not only drivers speeding around you to make a right turn but also just to get around to make it to the red light before you do.




I tend to have different reactions to shitty driving especially when I feel like the pulse passing through my veins at an increased pace could have been my last. sometimes I just ignore it. other times the middle finger makes me feel better. gave a lady one this morning -she slammed on her brakes and zipped into the bike lane to park giving me less than a moments notice to correct.

sometimes I totally loose it. a few weeks ago I almost got licked by a young woman driving a purple Ford Ranger extended cab. I caught up with her at the next light and pulled up to her window which was halfway down. she was still texting away on her phone. I gave her a few choice words that my Mama would not be proud of. she wasn't expecting me and that's the point.

sometimes loosing it has its negative side. one time in Portland, Oregon I was cruising home from work on my fix when an oncoming car swerved way into my lane to get around a car parked in his lane on a residential street in a NE neighborhood. I gave him the finger and loud "fuck off.!!!" homeboy slammed on the brakes, u-turned and came after me. lucky for my I dipped down a dead-end, one-way that I could sneak across the grass and make my way down to MLK. I lost the guy. he may have kicked my ass.

more recently a guy on a sport bike got pissed cause I dipped around him at the light. I'm on a bike man. he caught me at the next light and offered to kick my ass the next time I did that to him. in a moment of adrenaline filled bravado I told him "lets go." the light turned and he twisted his throttle like it was something I should admire and was off.

I love how the power of the gas pedal and the combustion engine gives people a sense of power, no matter how meek and weak they are when they are just flesh and bone, sans machine.

lots of people that I've met over the years who were regular bike commuters got licked down by a car at one point or another. my friend Drew from DC took two massive beatings. luckily he still rode his bike and wasn't too jaded.

hard for me not to be a little uppity about riding my bike to work. it takes effort and I have to endure some shitty weather sometimes. but it is also amazing to feel the blood pumping through my veins halfway through my morning commute, sleep still heavy on my eyelids. and it's great to speed home and bank turns after work.

and no I don't have a DUI. I choose to ride my bike.

if you cut me off and I give you the finger or worse it's because I take it personal.

bike polo, nike and tommy hillfiger

the other day I was taking a stroll and passed by the road hockey/basketball courts next to the fire station in the north end where a small group of BMI challenged hipsters were clumsily trying to play bike polo. when a trend hits the eastern most coast of north America we can safely assume that it's hit a critical mass and will be soon co-opted by the giant clothing franchises and whatnots.

nothing against tight pants and people who spend a majority of their time planning their eccentric outer appearances to look as if they weren't even trying to look that way only to sneer at their fellow city dwellers with scorn and hubris. but really, at some point someone's gotta call bullshit.

I'm not calling bullshit on the game of bike polo -in fact if I ever felt inclined to participate in a team sport, competition is not one of my strengths, I would consider bike polo. but would I wear a hipster uniform and starve myself to look a certain way on the court? probably not.

the Halifax hipster scene is in full swing now -even though often the north end hipsters are unidentifiable from the south end college crowd purchased their look at the mall.

I know this is sounding like a rant by some middle aged guy feeling bitter about getting older. sure.

but remember one thing you radical hipsters -actually more than one thing so I'll bullet:

-if yer gonna ride fixed with no front brake then at least clip in to your pedals somehow cause otherwise your gonna get bucked like a drunken cowboy at an underground hipster rodeo

-raise the seat on your bike and not only will you look more "stylish" without trying but your bike will also be more efficient and fun to ride

-riding a fixie doesn't make your 'core' score go up. who gives a shit if your riding a fixed wheel. every toddler on a tricycle is riding fixed and they don't front

-a bike is a bike.

-there's only one Gonz

"if you're gonna do a nose wheelie, fuckin do a nose wheelie bro."




-

been a while

since I made somethin.

got out to the spider lake trails on the old single speed for a spring spin. been a year since my last time out there. only saw one lady slipper in bloom. the ferns under the trees green like emeralds. mosquitoes only got me when I stopped for a breather.

riding a bike through the forest is exhilarating. recommend it to anyone. and you don't need a three thousand dollar bike. mine is from 1999 with one speed, V type brakes and an updated fork. I like keeping my bike dialed in so it always feels good with everything tight and straight. no squeaks. all I could hear was my own labored breathing and tires slipping over roots and rocks. I followed the ride with a three mile run and now it's time to rest. it's good to feel my muscles and tendons and joints and guts.

rubbish heap summer transport

dug this frame outta rubbish bin. striped it and threw on an old set of wheels and bars and gone again. simple and basic no fail transport for cross town runs. whole heap a freeness out there. people love dash good things inna trash.

bike week

I love riding my bike and do so most every day exceptin ice or minus 17 temps. yeah I know I'm a pu$$y.

I still remember clearly Christmas day as a kid in Venezuela when my parents presented me with my first wheeled machine -a shiny red and white trike. I dogged that little thing for a long time.

I learned to ride a proper bike in '83. ol Jack got me a Krate style bike from the used bike shop. I ran it up a giant oak tree in the church lot across the street from our house on the first day.

then back in the Andes Calitos and Manuel were bolting 5 speed derailleurs on our beater bmx bikes with t-shifters on the top bar. we'd climb the winding steep road to the village above Las Virtudes -a slow grinding climb that seemed to take hours. at the top the boys would buy a flask of agua ardiente or Anise and then we'd come flyin and hollering down the mountain road like pre-adolescent maniacs with no regard for safety -your standard risk taking youthful behavior.

riding my bike is still as fun today as it was then in my youth.

so if it's been too long since you rode your bike, take your tire back from Pooky the pup and go for a spin. not to save the environment or to advocate for cycling rights, or to be healthy but just to have fun. simple old fun.

style: fixed lean 1930's

when the surf is flat my mind turns to bikes

style = chase hawk

bike ninja vs. mr. perfect bicycle commuter man

over the last few weeks there's been an increase in bike commuters on my daily route. it's expected in spring just as there are more surfers in the water. there's one guy in particular, a middle-aged man astride a shiny new sporty street bike with flat bar and disk brakes, one of those homogeneous jobbies from one the big three bike companies. anyways, today he called me out for my swiftness at charging the yellow. I could hear him behind me, scolding in "that is ridiculous" kinda tone.

so what did I say? nothing. I just sped off on my merry way as I do every day. been communing to work by bike since 2005 when we lived in PDX. my friend Drew in PDX, originally from D.C., had always commuted and had been hit by cars twice -neither time his fault and accidents quite serious. Drew never followed the "traffic laws" on his bike.

let's face it. laws that state that cyclist should obey the same rules as motor vehicles are absurd. cyclists cannot accelerate like a motored metal box therefore they can be overrun, especially on narrow streets. a bicycle weighs nothing compared to even a small car or motorcycle so accidents caused by cyclists tend to cause little harm. and most obvious of all a bike is NOT a motor vehicle and should not be treated as such.

I know if I'm self righteous. why else have a blog? but I also value self preservation, especially in a city like Halifax where the driving public hates cyclists. so the new commuter on his shiny bike can kiss my ass, I'd rather be a bike ninja than a cripple.

style: danny MacAskill

I spend a lot of time on my ass either behind my desk at work or in the evenings at home after work. but there is one lesson that I learned from years of skateboarding and the same lesson has been re-stamped in my will after the last three years of steady surfing. the only way to achieve anything is to put in the work and to be present and engaged during the process, learning from mistakes and successes. in the last few days I've been more sedentary than usual due to a lack of waves. I ran on the weekend and finally busted out few calisthenics yesterday. however,that is not even enough for maintenance.

luckily I found this newly posted gem. danny macaskill is amazingly fluid. he's like a mix between ryan leech and chase hawk. if your into cycling or human mechanics or will power then you'll appreciate this video. now I'm off to do some stretching.

tuesday email to D$

wind 23G31 N 32/33 9' @ 10 seconds


"yo

faaack. we're getting hammered by a fucking snowstorm. I busted my ass preparing everything for a DP this morning. woke up after restless sleep - [I dreamed that B was gut shot in a war and refused to get treatment] - I checked the weather and the roads were sketchy as fuck and the offshores gusting to 50 knots! back to bed. then I got up again had coffee and checked the work email and by boss is mad. then I shoveled for about a half hour, showered and rode my bike in. the ride was OK 'cause it was snowy and not icy. I had to get on a main road towards the centre of town and got fucking sprayed with dirty salty diarrhea like snow all over my jeans -why I didn't wear my rain pants is beyond me. I get to work and realize that both sets of car keys are in me jacket which means B and her visiting parents are stuck at home which in turn means that it's unlikely that I'll be able to go for an evening surf as they'll need the car. foiled again. skunked. office working is for people whose passion in life is not dependent on the weather."

the fixed gear tricks are lame rant

some subculture splinter groups are just trite and lame. take for example the fixed gear riders who perform "tricks" on their bikes. stuff like flat ground bar spins, or one footed skids or wheelies. it's boring.

why not just ride a bmx?

it's actually pretty funny, the whole fixed gear hipster vibe. there seems to be such a fashion code for dress and bike looks. yesterday here in Halifax I saw two track specific fixes with the must have docked riser bars and bmx pad on the top tube. why not? everybody's doing it.

I guess the reason I find it annoying is because it's elitist. as in 'we're cooler and more urban than you' elitist. it's the same with any other subculture I reckon -like the Gothic Dolphins displacement movement, or the SoCal I don't give a shit loggin like an epileptic movement, or krumpers in Idaho corn fields claimin it, or coffee connoisseurs drinking the dregs shit out by civet cats in some far off rain forest for $10 a cup. damn!

yeah I can hear what yer thinkin. "man this guy just wishes he was in the clique." don't get me wrong, fixed gear bikes are amazingly fun to ride. one of my first posts here was about commuting on a fix and learning to flow. but for chrisakes its still just a bike!

or maybe 'ol Chinasky was right when he said: “To do a dull thing with style-now THAT'S what I call art.” bastard.

here's some fun fixed gear triockery for ya

flow like chase

last friday was not as good as I'd hoped. gale force offshore's aren't uncommon with nice long period waves. figures. looks like another storm is coming at weeks end. keepin my fingers crossed cause it feels like a while since I've had a solid session.
found this photo on msw taken by frenchguy. I was out there at the time of the photo. there were some good lefts, fast down the line.


if I could flow on water the way chase hawk flows on land... no brakes, no corrections, just smooth lines.

scary fast in the alpenrose velodrome

I rode the Alpenrose velodrome once with my friend T-Bone. We were newly arrived in PDX and we knew that one of the few outdoor velodromes in the US was but a short drive from downtown. Alpenrose is made out of concrete and I think it's one of the steepest tracks around. the day we rode it there was no one around but us. the track was a little moist. I got clipped in first and started down the straightaway. as soon as I hit the first bank I got nervy and drifted down to the flats without making it around. I was deflated and surprised at how intimidating it was.

of course T is and always has been ruthless. he's also got legs like Christmas hams. he hammered down the straight and went into the first bank with plenty of speed. as the bank curved he climbed higher and higher up the wall, his body almost perpendicular to the ground 8 feet below. after T's feat I had to commit. speed is the key and an even spin. fixed is a must as your cadence has to be smooth. my heart in my throat I charged again through the first turn and tried not to think about slamming. I made it around but not very high up. still the feeling was great. I realized two things by the end of our one hour trip the velodrome. I was in shit shape and it's much harder than it looks. you also need a bigger gear than you would use on the street. I wish we had one in Halifax.