Indoor Training

Living in California means you often get spoiled by our weather. We can ride our bikes year round, but there are times when Mother Nature throws a curveball. December of 2010 saw a solid week of rain. Not the drissle for 20 minutes kind either, it was non-stop for what seemed like an eternity. At first I welcomed the much needed rain to our drought plagued Southern California, but since it started to extend in to our weekend ride and was showing no signs of letting up, I needed to dust off the trainer and do some pedaling indoors.

My trainer rarely gets used and there is a good reason. It is boring as hell. Sure there are ways to spice it up and I've heard of guys with all sorts of computer simulations, rollers, etc., but the reality is that it will never be the same. There is no way to match the adrenaline, the cornering, the wind in your face.  This is what makes riding unique.

Where's my sun?

Cuyamaca

When I lived in San Diego, I had a group of friends that would get together and ride on a pretty regular schedule. We would load up the trucks and go to east San Diego more often than not. The mountains out there are big and you really get away from it all. It's one of the only places in Southern California where you can find big trees. This is a shot of our group with me in the blue t-shirt facing the camera.

We had just got done climbing up to Cuyamaca Peak and stopped to take in the views and fuel up. The peak is about 6,600 feet and takes a lot out of you. The trails there are just awesome. This was shot way back in about 1991. Check out my rig, it's the one with the yellow Rock Shock Judy SL fork which was pretty awesome in their day. That was one of my first rides. It was a Mongoose hardtail, and I put on XT V-brakes, grip shift and climbing bars with Panaracer tires. I would pinch flat the hell out of those tires in the rock gardens. We thought we were the shit. Ah, memories.

Tecate

Recently we were invited to go down to Mexico to tour the Tecate plant. It was to be an article in our magazine and looked kind of interesting on paper. Anyways, we thought we could have a pretty fun adventure and we drove down at the crack of dawn to east San Diego where we would board a train for a nice tour. The train has cheap tickets and is fairly rustic.

We settled in and took in the views, which by the way, aren't exactly that nice once you leave the 'ol US of A behind. I don't think anyone down there had any idea about the concept of recycling or even something as simple as a trash can. Anyways, the train chugs along much like a bay cruise and right through the heart of the desert. We decided to post up in a car that had the side door open with only a chain to keep us from going further. It was a nice day, not too hot and we enjoyed a few cold ones. As we approached the factory with anticipation, we noticed a big group of people who we had traveled with on the train had the same idea. I did notice, this wasn't exactly a fun, let's get down and party kind of crowd, instead it resembled more of an AARP convention, with hipsacks, Dockers, and  ends up playing bingo rather than tying one on and ringing the bell. After getting off the train we were corralled like cows and lead to something "special."

Like a bad "Love Boat" rerun, we were put in front of a pretty cheesy Mexican "authentic" dancing squad (let the golf clap begin). Of course this was done below huge Tecate banners and we were handed one "Free Sample" beer. If we'd like to have round two, we were going to have to shell out our own hard earned dough. That was going to be pretty much required when you are sitting in plastic chairs for about 2 hours.

Shortly after, we were whisked in to a theater where we were shown a movie by the folks at Tecate. In reality, it was a bad marketing scheme with 30 minutes of my life I'll never get back. Oh, and by the way, no cameras allowed in the plant. We felt as important as a fly on the wall. Ok, maybe that's a stretch, since they did appoint us a PR representative to hand us a photo CD with pre-approved images for our use. Awesome.

Not long after, we tried to slip out the back without creating a PR nightmare for our magazine (well we were trying to do a story on the factory with hopes that the company might increase their advertising budget for us) and find a local tavern to enjoy a bit more of the local scene. Well the Tecate plant is huge and one of the only reasons why the town exists. In fact, they make a lot of beers; Tecate, Sol, Bohemia, Modelo, etc., along with soda like Pepsi. If you think all those beers are made by some tiny, cool garage type operation, with some guy in the background who happens to be the second most interesting person on the planet, you'd be way off. The plant stretches for as far as the eye can see, and a huge part of the Mexican economy. You are more likely to see a forklift or a huge bottling machine than anything else. You think Anheuser-Busch is big, this thing may just rival it, in fact its just part of a huge network of distribution and manufacturing worldwide. Only this company isn't exactly used to the big marketing budgets of the American breweries and have about as much tact as Spicoli. So other than some quickly thrown up tourists shops in town, there wasn't much to see or do.

Oh well, we did make the best of it and really didn't have too many options. After all, the train conveniently left just shortly after the tour of the plant, and if we decided to skip out and enjoy more of the town, we were stuck for another 24 hours. Wow, chalk that one off the list of things to do.

Brown Ale

I like Brown Ales. Spawned from mild ale, these tend to be a bit sweeter and be a little more malty with full body. Don't go and get your panties in a fix since many don't consider a brown ale that complex, but sometimes there is nothing better. Like having a domestic beer at a sporting event, there are times when a nice brown ale just hits the spot. Yeah, I have a sweet tooth, but there is something nice about having something so simple and so tasty. You can grab a big sip, a handful of peanuts and not miss too much of a conversation, and most of the time that fits the bill nicely.

Great Reading Material

 

I'm a sucker for good books and magazines. A well written and laid out piece takes my mind away to a different place where I can imagine and think about all the cool things in life. For that short period of time, I can forget worries, stress, and problems I might be having. If the photography is good and compliments the story, then it starts to elevate. 

I came across this book when I was reading a blog online. I ordered it and it came by mail a couple of weeks later. Like a kid at Christmas, I pealed open the package to reveal the bright and colorful work of art. It's obvious that whoever did it was passionate and probably didn't create the project with the intention to make a ton of money. It had reviews on cool items, travel pieces, events, thoughts, etc. Some of it could have been left out, but overall I found myself staring at the pictures and admiring the little things that I had never seen before. It showed true craftsman in their own element; painters, athletes, welders, etc., all showing their craft for us to admire. I respect that, in fact, I always respect the work and dedication of people who are creative and have the skills I can only dream of.

I'm sure there are a lot of people that do the same thing as me. They buy these small bits of amusement, browse and shortly after, they retire them to their library that is on display in all of its proud splendor. Okay, maybe some of those pieces end up sitting next to the Porcelain God. After all,  traffic in this area is high and extra time for viewing is always in short supply. Unfortunately, my library is getting too big and if I don't watch it, I'll be walking that fine line of stepping over in to "packrat" status. Then it's time to make room for more.

40 oz. Shootout. Ouch.

Okay, our mag decided it would be interesting to do a 40 oz. Malt Liquor shootout to put to bed which was the best "ghetto" offering. We had to do it in cups unmarked. All I can say is that it was brutal. In actuality the shootout should have been like our political candidates; the lesser of the evils. Yeah it was fun to live some of my dorm room memories, but dear god almighty. Without a doubt, hands down, the worst one was the Steel Reserve. I don't know how anyone can drink this stuff. It was like really bad cough syrup with a very strong aftertaste that hit you like a freight train. I challenge you to take a swig and not make a grimace.

If you don't know, malt liquor has to be labeled as such, because the alcohol content is too high for it to be classified as beer. So a 40 oz. is a big volume of heavy, gutt-wrenching swill and there is a reason it has probably been at least 20 years since I touched this stuff, and if I have my way, it will be much longer before I touch any of this stuff again. The winner? It doesn't matter, they are all terrible and should be avoided like the plague.

Winter Olympics

The 2002 Winter Olympics were in Utah and we were on it. My boss had a place in Park City and invited us to come on out. This was to be a fun trip and there wasn't really any work associated with it, so we could just relax and have a good time. In spite of this, I still had to bring my camera. I invited my brother Robert and we flew out to join the group. Flying to Park City is easy, you can jump on a plane and within an hour and a half you're in Salt Lake City, and within another hour you're in the sleepy town of Park City.

One of the highlights of the Games was the halfpipe competition. The atmosphere was amazing and the crowds were huge. If you ever get a chance to check out a world class snowboard halfpipe, you need to. The walls are very steep and deep, and although it may look like snow, it's mostly ice. In fact, the more ice, the faster and smoother the walls are. That may be scary to the inexperienced, but to these guys, it needs to be that way. As the riders fly down the pipe, it is surprisingly loud and puts a chill up your back, similar to running your nails on a chalkboard. Those razor sharp edges on the snowboard cut and claw at the ice as the go up and down.

When the riders started dropping in for the runs, each would have their own song that reflected their own personalities. The great thing about snowboarding, is that it has evolved to a very technically high level, and the athletes are professional, but what sets it apart from the other sports is that it maintains a lot of it's rebellious attitude and individualism still comes through. Many of the snowboarders are stubbornly proud of what they like and won't sell out at the drop of a dime.

This translated well to the crowd as each rider was introduced and prepared for their chance at the medals. They would choose a song, and often it could be a heavy hip hop song, heavy metal or even punk rock. It wasn't too long before the crowd started to latch on to their favorite rider and this just added to the event. Unfortunately, this doesn't come through to people viewing it on tv, and in order to keep politically correct, NBC would often substitute their own music and commentary hoping to make middle America happy. I guess they just don't get it, and that's fine by me.

After the event, it was time to enjoy the town. Park City is amazing. There are a ton of great restaurants and main street lights up. You can bar hop and just take in the sites. I love it there.

Andersen Truck Trail

Andersen Truck Trail is a spot in east San Diego that has been around for some time now. It is an jeep trail that has long ago been reclaimed by nature and now is more of a technical singletrack. We started riding this area in the early 90s and usually did an out and back. It didn't take us long to figure out that this could be shuttled, but it went through part of an indian reservation and the bottom went through about 100 yards of private property, meaning that access has been restricted from time to time.

The trail is pretty good and flowing, but the top is where things get really interesting. Mike King and some other guys took it upon themselves to build a gnarly few miles of heavy terrain so that Freeriders and Downhillers could get their adrenaline fix. This was pushed due to the closing of downhilling at Big Bear Mountain around the same time.

You could bring your heavy-as-all-hell bike there and really push your limits. The two top shots are of my friend Brent "Bikey" Zemel, and he earned his name by really enveloping the whole bike lifestyle. He bought a white Ford cargo van, put racks in the back and rode a downhill Karpiel bike that was so ridiculously heavy that I still get amused by it to this day. Brian Botts in the bottom shot is an ex-pro snowboarder that moved back to the San Diego area after living in Salt Lake City for years. He's a pretty crazy guy and makes me laugh a lot. He's got a lot of natural athletic ability and took to mountain biking easily.

These shots were done around 1998 ish. Back when Freeride bikes were just getting figured out. Our bikes were really pushing it if we had 4" of travel and triple clamp forks were the only way to go. We wore pads and often full-face helmets and had a lot of fun. On this particular trip, I decided to take my camera, and if you can imagine, its not that fun to take your Nikon F5 film camera with you with a flash, different lenses, etc. It's heavy and you run the risk of crashing with the gear, but I felt I had to document our adventures once in a while.

Hockey and Beer- Hell Yeah!

Hockey and beer pretty much go together. Luckily my boss has season tickets to the Ducks and he'll kick them my way once in a great while. The "Pond" is near my house and that makes things really convenient. You can get a big beer and watch the fighting, although those lagers don't come cheap at around $9 a pop. To help with this problem, it's always nice to slam a few down in the parking lot before the game. Ah, it's nice to relive the college days.

Professional hockey is awesome. There is nothing better than watching this hard hitting sport and it really gets the "man" going inside of you. It's all about Testosterone and getting back to your primal roots. Chest thumping, high-fives, yelling at the top of your lungs, it all happens. What makes things even better are the fact that these pair of seats are 3 rows from the ice. You get to see the speed, power and finesse that is professional hockey. Love it.

Figmo?

This was one of my experiments a few years back. I had ridden aluminum road bikes and such, but never a full blown carbon fiber one. I was really getting the itch to try carbon fiber and kept staring at these cheap full frame sets on eBay. They varied quite a bit in price and you could see all sorts of different ones with names you've never heard of.

After a bunch of browsing, I saw some blank frame sets, with headset, seat collar, fork, etc., for about $450. That's cheap, but for slightly more, around $625, I could get something with a name on it, a warranty, background on the factory, etc. I decided to roll the dice and order one up. Heh, I wasn't expecting much, but at this price it was kind of an experiment and I could treat the bike as disposable. I have to admit, it's not the most ethical thing to do by bringing in a bike like this to a high end shop, but thankfully the guys are pretty good dudes. Anyways, the bike is definitely not that great in quality, but how bad could it be? Well closer inspection showed that the rear drop out wasn't perfectly straight and over time one of the rivets holding the cable stop popped off. A quick rivet gun fix later and I was back in action.

So how did it ride? Not that bad to be honest. It isn't very stiff, and the geometry isn't the greatest, but it worked and gave me miles of enjoyment. This didn't help when combined with those Easton SLX wheels, since they aren't exactly stiff hoops, but if I didn't really hammer on the bike, those subtle differences could easily be missed.

Like anything else, my experiment eventually faded and I moved on to better wheels and a better carbon fiber frame set. I retired the Figmo and eventually gave it to a good friend in Utah who was itching to try out the road riding thing. He has it to this day, but I don't think it gets too many miles. That's okay, and it was fun to try. I've been known to do stuff like this from time to time.

Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah

This is Little Cottonwood Canyon In Utah. It's the canyon that leads up to Snowbird ski resort and the trail is pretty fun. Yeah it's an out and back, but access is quick and easy and you can cram a ride in even if you are on a tight schedule. This was in November of 2009 and the hills had gotten dusted with snow from the night. I was itching to ride with my buddy Ron and kind of forced it. Yeah it was cold and things got a little crispy in the morning air. Still a good ride and now I have some more memories.

Party Pose

Sometimes there is nothing better than a good night out on the town. In this case it was at a friend's wedding and when everyone is all dressed up and in a festive spirit, it's time to cut the rug. Likewise, there are times when stories are funnier, and laughter louder (at least in my own mind). Here's a shot from another wedding (Mike McMahon's) and I'm the guy with a tie on my head. Story telling is fun. What a complete idiot I am.

Darden Goes Pop.

Rob Darden is one of those soft spoken guys that doesn't exactly look like an athlete, but when he hits the dirt his skills come out. I shot this at Point X, which is east of northern San Diego county. The spot is gone, but it served its purpose for a while. I think it really shows the height and technical nature of riding those scary tombstone kickers.

Mirra Goes Big!

A few years back, I did some photo shoots with Dave Mirra at Danny Way's SuperRamp in downtown San Diego. Danny really respected Dave and everyone thought it was a good idea to have Dave see what he could do on the ramp. This was the era before the humongous MegaRamp dimensions (the size that is now commonly used in the X-Games) were around and up to this point, the only thing in this scale was Hoffman's quarter pipe that he was pulled in to by a motorcycle to set the world record. Well Dave also thought that with the right ramp, he could break the record which had stood for so long.

The ramp had 18 foot transitions with about 2 feet of vertical, so in theory it was thought he should be able to go about that high above the ramp. The top shot I did with my Hasselblad and I think it is much more interesting, but since we were documenting the height of the air, it was instead decided to use a more front-on perspective. The top shot was also done a couple of days before the attempt when Dave was getting used to the ramp. The photo was never used and a lot of real BMX'ers thought his style in the air was too "dead sailor" and boring. So in to the archive it went and still sits to this day (okay, I'm using it here). The bottom shot is the shot we used along with the shot that Mike Blabac did from the deck (you can see him squatting down) with his Hasselblad and a fisheye and strobe. We used both of our shots in a split down the page and was incorporated in to mainstream advertising (Rolling Stone, etc.) and point of purchase, catalogs and various other DC marketing. This is actually the World Record air and was confirmed by the Guiness Book of Records.

What you don't see is the crash he took in one of his earlier attempts. He went a little too far over the deck and hung up on his back wheel. His wheel "taco'd" and he flew to the bottom on his shoulder. It literally shook the ramp and I still wince thinking about it to this day. Fortunately, he dusted himself off and took it without too much damage. Wow.

Beer Bottles

Shooting beer bottles in the studio can be tricky. The glass reflects all sorts of light and getting it to look natural and have some interest is always a challenge. This kind of stuff is real specific and there are photographers who specialize in it. Anyways, I decided to experiment and add some lighting and go for some sort of glam shot. I used a spray bottle and a few strobes placed strategically. Turned out okay and we ended up using it. Yeah the foreground is a little boring with the black velveteen, but I got to work with the graphic artist who was laying out the article and we incorporated the type and some design elements to work with the duller areas. Overall, it was fun and I do have to mention the beer tasted pretty good too.

Lucky Leprechaun

We were working on our St. Patrick's Day issue of the Beer mag and I had a brainstorm. We needed to shoot a specific beer for the "beer of the month," but the props I was handed and the background wasn't doing much for me. There was this guy Joe who worked with us and he's a really big boy. He also has red hair and looks like a big Irish dude. We had these small foam hats and I thought it might look pretty funny on him. I decided to set up a shot with him as my main focus and try to add some humor. His shirt was actually yellow and was mixed with earth tones, but a little Photoshop work could easily solve that problem.

Anyways, I shot a bunch of photos and did a bit of post production work to a few and gave them to the Senior Editor. The "Dream Crusher" didn't really see the humor that myself and the other fellow workers in my office found, so in the end it was shelved for a pretty boring and somewhat tacky (in my opinion) shot with cheap party store props. Oh well, it still brings back memories.

A Trip to Travis Parker's House

Travis Parker is someone special. He is a retired professional snowboarder that now lives in the Tahoe area. A couple of seasons ago, I scheduled a trip to visit with him at his house. He still rides a ton and gets shots for editorial or for use in his company Airblaster. The guy just lights up a room. He is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet and is about as down to earth as anyone. He works hard and enjoys life.

On this particular trip, I stayed at his house and shot some photos with him over a couple of days. We shot in the backcountry with our snowmobiles and found this unusual tree to take some shots on in the evening near his house. Later we grabbed a nice meal at a restaurant across town with my brother Mike and his son Nick. It was just a timing thing and we all enjoyed a nice meal with a few beers.

After returning that evening, and still sporting a nice buzz, we headed to the garage for a quick improvised music session. Travis was just learning to play the drums, but has that fun, innocent approach that is contagious and makes everyone want to sing along. What a great trip.

Ricky Carmichael

 

A few years back, I had the job of working at DC Shoes.  This meant I was able to work with some pretty amazing athletes. DC was making a big push in the MX scene and one of our pros was Ricky Carmichael. Ricky is considered by many to be the greatest MX rider in history and has the wins to back it up. He was in his prime and had a very disciplined approach to his riding and training. I had shot a couple of times with him and the photos I had taken landed in a few people's hands, including the Senior Editor of Racer X magazine's Davey Coombs. He thought my angles and style were unique to MX and my background in action sports gave me an "eye" that the other photographers in that industry didn't have. This meant that I was able to get my photos published right away and I didn't have to go through a lot of trial in order to prove myself. Ok, it helped that DC was a big advertiser with the magazine as well.

Over time I was able to make a nice friendship with Ricky and we developed a great working relationship. This is something I probably took for granted and only realized later that he would only choose limited people to shoot with since his work load and training often took most of his time. He needed to trust me and respect what I could get. He also participated in a sport with a lot of danger and liked that I was able to work quickly.

His schedule included the Supercross season that usually starts in winter and ends toward the beginning of summer when the outdoor "Motocross" season would take over. That meant that only a short period of time was available to do extra work and get in some off-season training. Since I needed to get some shots for DC's advertising and some extras for editorial, etc., I was invited by him to stay at his house several times and get incorporated in to his routine. 

This routine consisted of waking up and cramming the day with MX. He would hit the road bike for a couple of hours with his trainer. His trainer was a ex-cross country racer and made a name for himself with a very unique style of training. I envied this, and would have loved to go for a ride with them, but knew my boundaries and waited for his return. After all, this wasn't a group fun ride. He then would eat (very strict diet) and continue with his training at the gym. Only after this would he hit the track for some disciplined turns and testing. Oh, and he also needed to trust me since his training routine was a much guarded secret and was coveted by many of his competition. I could then grab my camera and get some shots. He was a great professional. I knew I could easily disrupt his training, but I respected his space and tried to stay as non-intrusive as possible. He also knew this, but often would take the time to stop and do any requests I might have. This would go on for hours till he and I were done. I got a lot of shots and saw some amazing riding.

Later, it was time to grab some dinner. Ricky was quite the host. He often would take us all down to the local Outback Steakhouse for a nice meal. Ricky is a good ‘ol boy from Tallahassee and likes things simple, so the Outback was the cat’s meow. No drinking for him (at least not during his training season), but heh, my workday was over. He also knew everyone who worked at the restaurant and everyone loves him. It was steamed vegetables and roasted chicken for him and usually something a bit richer for me. What a day.

Now you might be thinking that this makes him out to be a pretty boring, but that is far from the truth. The guy is hilarious and has a very sarcastic sense of humor. Unfortunately, the media can take things out of context and he is very aware of this and his image, so he takes great efforts to be careful about what he said and did in public and this meant that often he came across as having a flat personality. Fortunately those that know him are aware of this and know the real truth. I respect the hell out of him.

BTW, the top shot is a whip photo I did that was later bought by Fox Racing. They made it in to a poster and shows how technical his riding can be. The lower shot is just one of the hundreds of turns he did during his training to perfect his cornering skills.

Different is Sometimes Better?

Over Thanksgiving I stayed in San Francisco and specifically the Mission district area. That means there is all kinds of restaurants to try. My brother Steve turned me on to a Guatemalan restaurant just down the street from his house and we settled in for some tasty grub. Guatemala isn't exactly known for it's culinary flavors, but rather it's poverty and political unrest. But, as the saying goes, when in Rome... This also means I had to try some of the indigenous beer and ordered up this Famosa Lager. Well, I didn't exactly have a lot of options; it was this or a Budweiser.

Ok, so it isn't going to win any awards, but at least it's part of the vibe. The beer is pretty much a standard lager and blindfolded you wouldn't know this from any other Tecate or Sapporo. However, I have had one of these before in my two trips to Guatemala and not surprisingly, it was pretty much the same. This doesn't mean it was all blah, after all, I can say it put a bit more excitement than ordering up a standard offering, and maybe we've been too high-brow that we often miss these little things in life. Drinking a beer isn't always about holding up the glass to the light, concentrating on the aroma and subtle fragrances, but rather it's the act of sharing a nice evening with friends and family, and isn't that the point?

Chamois Cream

Road cyclists have a little secret. When you spend tons of time in the saddle, things tend to start rubbing more than you would like. Back in the day, riders used an animal chamois in their shorts that wasn't too soft or contoured the way today's modern bibs are. In order to soften them and reduce any rough rubbing that happened, they would often apply a nice cream or Vaseline to the chamois. Think oiling a baseball mitt.

Well, those days are long gone, and fortunately technology has helped with great choices in saddles and molded foam pads in our bibs. But, hours in the saddle can still cause irritation and things can get a bit nasty down "there." Cyclists get what's called "saddle sores." They tend to look like ingrown hairs and get red and irritated. No there is actually no ingrown hair, but a red abrasion, with... well I'll just stop there. Once you get them, it's pretty hard to have them cleared up without extended periods of time off the bike to heal. Oh, and don't let anyone tell you to ride a nice gel, cushioned saddle cover, etc. This is usually advice recreational riders give to serious riders when they stare at our thin, lightweight seats.

The purpose of the designs of our modern seats is to put the weight of your body on the two ends of your pelvis bone. That's why the shape of our seat hasn't changed much over time. You have two key spots, which by the way, can be slightly different from person to person, and then the front which helps to make up the third spot, resulting in a nice 3 point, stable platform. If you aren't sitting on these spots, the weight of your body can shift to the softer tissue and cause big discomfort.

You see recreational riders out on their big, soft, cushy, beach cruiser seat, and they swear it is the shiznit. Well it is comfortable for a short ride, but anything a bit longer, and things get a bit sloppy. Remember the old car seats in your buddy's old Oldsmobile? Those flat, soft seats were comfy, but a road trip showed that a longer ride needed a nice conformed seat that the European cars had.

So now we've come full circle to our bike seats, and even with all the modern versions and fit, things can still rub in strange areas. Nothing better than a nice cream to keep things smooth and flowing. Now there are several types of cream, and there are tastes and preferences, but it is just one of those things that cyclists only talk about behind closed doors with other cyclists.

I've used a few brands in my short  days riding as a road cyclist (most mountain bikers are pretty uneducated about this stuff), and sometimes you feel like you just want to test out something a bit different. I came across this stuff recently when reading a blog online. It's called Mad Alchemy, and it comes in a plastic jar. It showed up by mail along with the cool 'zine the guys had put together. I applied it liberally and went out for a ride. They said to test it in a small area first in order to make sure there would be no reactions, but heh, I like to live dangerous. This stuff is slightly thinner, similar to Chamois Butt'r, and not as heavy or thick like Assos, but overall not bad. It's not going to win any awards in my book, but it does get the job done. Fun stuff right?

Beer Reviews

Part of working at the Beer Magazine is reviewing beers every issue. I'm usually behind the lens, not the taster, but pouring so much beer means a lot goes to waste. There is no way to try everything, so I tend to limit my selection to the ones that fall within my normal tastebuds. Lately it's been Belgian Ales that have been on point. I like the sour taste and malty flavors. Nothing else quite like them. Of course, I like many different kinds of varieties too. These 2 were pretty damn good.

Best Coffee and Pastries

I was fortunate enough to go for a ride with Banning and some friends and Banning knew of a great coffee shop in Irvine area that had some of the best stuff I've ever had. Nice break from the ride. Coffee shop rides are kind of a tradition in road riding and I wasn't going to miss this opportunity.

I love coffee and a good pastry and this place was on another level. After riding for 30+ miles, it was nice to sit and relax and take in some caffeine and fill my oversized gut. After this short break, it was back on the bike and some more asphalt under my tires. All this with a big grin. Mmm.

Rattling Scare

Ok, these guys bum me out. It's true I have a phobia about snakes and living in Southern California confronts me with that issue once in a while. Now, I tend to expect these guys a bit more when I'm riding my mountain bike, but when I'm riding my road bike, I really get freaked. I'm not exactly sure why, since I see them quite a bit since I ride in the east county once in a while and I travel through the canyons, but maybe it has to do with coming up on them so fast, sometimes 20 mph, and often when I'm just cruising with my tunes going in my ears. I'll look up and panic hits me. I'm always worried I'll have the snake in my path and have to swerve around him and get splattered by a car, or fly off in to the side of the road, or go flying by with my legs lifted up around my neck. Either way, not that awesome.

Luckily, most of the ones in the road have no idea about the dangers of cars, and soon resemble a flattened skin that you could make in to a pair of cowboy boots or belt instead of the plump, death-striker that I have nightmares about. This guy was all plumped up and sitting way in the road just outside of the bike path I was riding on. His tail was pointed straight up in the air and he looked ready. I took my time and gave him lots of room, but after going around, I noticed he wasn't looking so hot. He had a small dried up red stain next to his head, and was laying motionless. Even dead, the thing made my skin crawl. Tastes like chicken? Hmm, not sure, but I'll let others do the preparing.

Carbon Fiber Wheels

I'm pretty much a geek when it comes to bike stuff, especially the expensive, exotic stuff that I probably can never get my hands on. The word geek is a slang term, noting individuals as "One who is perceived to be overly obsessed with one or more things including those of intellectuality, electronics, etc." Yeah, I pretty much fall deep in to that category. What caught me was this set of carbon fiber wheels. They are a tubular set and I’ve never heard of them, much less ever seen them before. I was just sitting back, enjoying a nice cold beer at the bike shop, when I glanced over and saw these. The super nerdy, gears in my head just went nuts. I had to take a close inspection. 


Everything is carbon fiber; from the hoops, to the bladed spokes that are glued to them, to the hubs. In my hands, they seem like they would be pretty stiff, and the weight was crazy. These things were stupid light, probably around 1200 grams for the set. It was like holding up a balloon in the air with my fingers. Of course I instantly bombarded John Coleman with every imaginable question in my search for more knowledge. He said that basically they are a new company and the wheels are pretty untested. They are light as hell and just came on the market. Hmmm.

OLMO

Old steel road bikes are just gorgeous and the ones with lugs get some extra attention from me. The ride is smooth as butter, and the older ones usually have traditional geometry that is perfect. No weird, "comfort" angles or dimensions. Unfortunately, those older steel bikes are heavy. But, that's not really the point. Like an old Ferrari from the 60s, the pure beauty and ride is a joy and unless you are climbing over some crazy mountain, that weight isn't really an issue and those bikes can still hold their own in a group ride or local crit (okay, I guess it depends on what level).

I came across this old OLMO and it had just been restored. The owner had it painted and it was sitting in the rafters waiting to be assembled. I had to check this gem out. It's probably from the '80s. Sorry about the quality of the pics, since they are off my old iPhone, but no camera could really do this frame justice anyways. It was painted by a true craftsman, and is flawless. It looks like the painter even decided to forgo the traditional stickers and actually painted the logos by masking them off. The lugs have a metallic dark gray that is amazing and has a great depth to the color. The color scheme is tasteful and classic and the chrome fork adds just enough flavor to top it off. The attention to detail shows the original builder's craftsmanship. If I had one criticism, is that I wish it had a nice metal, front badge. Seems weird that it is absent from this frame.

Yeah, it's a minor detail, but something like this needs a good hood ornament. I'm not sure if it had one originally or was always absent, but the steer tube seems a little bare. Wish I could take it for a spin.

Ryan Smith in Biarritz

I was on tour with the DC skateboarding team promoting the DC skate video. We had to do 16 stops in 30 days around the world. We were bouncing from place to place and the team was partying like rock stars. One of our stops was in Biarritz, France which is a pretty cool town on the beach near the border of Spain. It's amazing and reminds me a lot of the beaches in San Diego- okay maybe La Jolla. Ryan Smith was turning pro at the time, and had tons of energy. Like most skaters his age, and confronted with way too much money and no responsibilities, things can get a bit dicey. Often by mid day, he'd be deep in to his 4th or 5th drink and his shirt would almost always come off, in public, at a restaurant, it didn't matter. His jeans were always sagging, and needless to say, it always looked like he was just in a train wreck.

I usually had my cameras to document the trip and I decided to grab my Hasselblad and a roll of film and a slaved strobe. When I got home I decided to cross-process it to make it a bit more "unnatural." He was drinking Heineken and it was perfect for the hot summer day. Heineken in Europe tastes better than what we get here. The green bottles let UV light in faster and the beer we get tends to be a bit skunkier with the extra time that it takes to get to us- well at least that's the rumor. Maybe it just tastes better when you are sweating balls. Anyways, I had a few too, and we had to hustle since we were preparing to go to that night's premiere with over a 2000 screaming kids waiting to see the movie. That was always followed up with some extravagant dinner, then late night party with VIP status. We'd start all over again the next day. Ah, to be young again. Buzz, buzz.

Dave Mirra

I worked at DC Shoes for about 7 years, and a lot of that time was spent hanging out with the athletes and shooting photos. Dave Mirra is one of those guys that has a talent for 2 wheels and he does things on a bike that I would never think of trying- in fact I barely understand half of what he does. I've stayed at his house and witnessed some pretty mind blowing things he would do on his heavy-as-bricks bmx bike. I've also seen him slam so hard on the ramp, that the platform we stood on would shake under my feet. He would often just dust himself off and climb back up the ramp to try it again. He didn't always walk away from it though, and he's got a list of injuries to show for some of it, including breaking the ball end of his arm off at the shoulder. When it came down to shoot him with some of his X-Games medals, I could only think of some sort of Mark Spitz rip off shot in the studio. Halfway through the shoot, I had him grab it with a fist and shove it in the camera lens. I think it captures his personality and style a bit better. We used it in all sorts of advertising including Rolling Stones magazine. We had a few beers together in those days.