Summer Vacation!

Summer is the season for fun! Yesterday we saw Sly & Robbie perform twice in one day! Amazing... Here's a clip of the free lunch show in Brooklyn.....featuring Bunny Rugs from Third World on vocals:



I love Summer! And I love Summer riding! Warm weather. Dry riding conditions. Long days.... We've had some stormy weather lately,  but still lots of great rides. Mountain rides, road rides, street rides...all good. I like them all :)

June saw a slew of killer mountain rides. The annual Fat Tire Festival at Blue Mountain was a big success! Knowing that the trails at Blue would be packed, Jason, Gil, and I decided to roll farther North and ride the legendary Ninham trails first and then head to Blue for the Festival. It had rained and was therefore steaming hot and slippery in the woods. Ninham was brutal, but we loved it. I was just getting used to my new Kind Shock (KS) Lev adjustable height seatpost. What a great product. It really works and instills mad confidence. It does take some getting used to.....hitting that lever throughout the ride adds a new variable, but it's worth it! The Fat Tire Fest at Blue was great. Our pals had set up camp there so we rolled right in and set up camp on their blankets while Jason hooked up with Tom to demo a Niner R.I.P. 9 RDO. Big mtb day and a great time had by all!

June was the month that LG graduated from Rocky Point to Glacier Ridge on LI. She gets better on every mtb ride. A true athlete with a great future in cycling....mtb and road. She gets it and she's killing it on the bike. So great to watch her get better and better :)

We had a big Waywayanda ride with the whole crew and it was so hot and steamy that it felt like a Brazilian rainforest in there! Crazy. The trail is awesome. Very technical and never ending. There were some technical issues in the beginning of the ride, but we got everybody fixed up and took down some miles of trail. There was some lake swimming after the ride :) Yep.... More trail tails coming soon...

Gil and Jason at Ninham

Tom and Jason at the Niner Booth, Blue Mtn

 Our Gang. Fat Tire Fest 2013 Blue Mtn

LG in her new Specialized kit

 

Trailside repairs at Waywayanda

Niner R.I.P. 9 RDO

Believe the hype. This bike is bad-ass. Gil, Brian, and I saddled up and drove out to Ringwood to meet Tom, the Niner Rep. Tom got a size run of RIP RDO's and we rode them all....S, M, and L. Is the rear end stiff? Hell yes. Does the bike rail turns and destroy rock gardens? Yes. Does the CVA suspension pedal great and inspire confidence? Yes. I am no yes man, but this bike performs. It was also my first real trail ride on the new SRAM XX1 drivetrain. Pretty impressive. Full carbon frame. Light and stiff. Look here for more info: http://www.ninerbikes.com/rip9rdo The R.I.P. 9 RDO does not disappoint. Go Niner. Rip it up.

Tom's shop littered with Niners :) 

Setting up and getting ready

We shuttled to Skyline in Tom's truck. Brian and Tom

 Post ride evaluation

Rally Round - 650b - Ride Between The Lines :)

 Press Play

The in-between. There's lots of talk about it recently. Size does matter. Choose your camp. 26, 27.5 (650b), or 29. Which one is for you? I've gone to 29......and there's no turning back for me. I did watch the transformation as Gil converted his Intense Tracer from 26 to 27.5. Intense sells a rear dropout kit that converts the bike to 650b. Pretty cool, and convenient. One week we rode the Jungle and Gil was on 26, as usual. The next week we went back and he was on 650b. He climbed better. He rode the rock gardens better. He was faster all around. Amazing. Which one is for you? Are you over 5' 4"? If so, you're prolly suited for the 29er camp. Are you a jumper or downhill rider? You like to flick the bike around and ride stunts etc? 27.5/650b could be your jam. It's all good. As long as you're out on the trail ripping....who cares. 26" mountain bikes may be history sooner than you think. Some bike companies don't even make 26 any more. Pick your choice and rip it. Rally Round.

Gil and Ari at Jungle Habitat getting ready to ride

The 650b debut!

NYC is turning blue with bikes

Oneness

It's a feeling.Oneness. I seem to be searching for it, always. Maybe we all are.

 The soundtrack to today's mountain bike ride - Lir - from Dublin

Ronan - Guitarist/writer for Lir

Oneness: A state or condition of perfect harmony or accord.

I touched it today. I felt it a bit while I railed my Spot Longboard singlespeed 29er around the turns at Glacier Ridge as fast and hard as I possibly could. It was a solo mission and Lir was rocking in my headphones.....driving me. I was alone, in my head, and I was thinking. Dangerous, I know. Striving for oneness. I want everything to come together just right. I want my mountain bike ride to be just right. Good weather and good trail conditions. A good cup of coffee in the morning. Good nutrition and hydration. A good night's sleep. And my bike running like it's supposed to. So I can let it all out on the trail. All of my pent up aggression. All the negativity that gets internalized on a daily basis in my New York City life. A metamorphosis. Synthesis. To create positivity and good energy from all the chunks of life dumped into my grinder. It's a delicate balance. I want that oneness in all things. In my life. Love, work, family, friends, fun.... I'm putting all those pieces together.....and I like it when it works. It feels really good. And then I want more of it. And for me, it starts and ends with the ride. The ride is the roots and the foundation of my existence. Mountain, road, commuting, skateboarding, snowboarding.... Like Bunny Wailer said There can be no stems, leaves, or branches without the roots. Riding is my roots.

One gear

9 pack at Jungle Habitat

Max and Cody (from Maine), not Max :)

Winter 2013

Finally.....it snowed.....and it snowed.....and then it snowed some more. We got Winter. And we ate it up. The quick trip to Jamaica was awesome. 4 days of riding mountain bikes and Bunny Wailer on the beach in Negril. Ahhhhhhh.... Bless up.

Bunny Wailer, the legend:

JA was a  great break from the cold and the excellent snowy winter we had on the slopes in the NorthEast. We got 13 days on snowboard/skis and they were all good :) I do love snowboarding. Thank you Sos for making me try the T6 board. I rode faster and harder than ever. As snowboarding wrapped up and we rolled into mountain biking, I took the vibe straight to the trail. Looking down (or up) the hill, finding the line, ripping the trail. Gil, Jason, and I got right back to Ringwood, Jungle Habitat, and Blue Mountain for some hell raising rides. Cool mornings, heated up in 5 minutes, banging through rock gardens and tuning up the old mtb skills again. It's great to be back in the woods. Mountain biking is like the oxygen that I need on a daily basis. For real.

The view from our room at the Magic View Motel :)

 My favorite film this year

The T6 at Magic

Sos on the hill

LG at Windham

Feel the Magic

The view from our room in Negril, JA

 Jason and Gil at Ringwood

Hooters on the way home...

Gil doin' some business

Riding.....Into the New Year

Okay okay.....I know. Here we go!

Try this first. Going to Jamaica in 2 weeks! Talking about JA history and ting....



Riding...yes, I have been doing it, not writing about it. Bad, I know. Post hurricane a lot of the local trails were banged up so it took some weeks to get the trails back in shape to ride. Thanks to everyone who does trail maintenance. We salute you.

Got 5 days in a row down in Southern MD at Thanksgiving! Ayuh. It was good. Real good. Riding and fried chicken every day with a bushel of fresh, local oysters in the mix. JC and LG mobilized and riding the trails and roads of St. Mary's County was excellent. The new Amira in the family (Miriam?) got her road debut. I finally got to ride Rosaryville after all the years of talking about it. Bonfire Oyster Shucking with Go Bag headlamps on = Fun! Skateboarding around NYC a lot getting tuned up for snowboard season. Finally got a board I've been coveting for over 10 years! The original Deathbox Doug "Pineapple" Saldino pro model and signed by Doug! Bid and won it in an Ebay Auction while I was attending a Christmas tree trimming party. I scored the trim :) Love it. The board rips. Had it set up at Reciprocal in the East Village NYC by Greg. Been up to Blue, Glacier Ridge and most recently Ringwood (in the snow). Variable terrain out there for sure, but still riding to be had in between snow and weird weather. Just got 3 days of snowboarding in Vermont at Bromley and Magic. Great riding, great conditions, great company. It's good to be back out carving turns. Need more. Snowboarding is the jam. It is. Commuting, skateboarding, riding the indoor trainer, snowboarding, mountain biking. Gotta ride as much as possible. Need it. It's like oxygen. It is. Really.

3 Lefty's at Blue Mountain

Ari at Glacier Ridge

 LG's new Specialized Amira

Morning In Southern Maryland

Bonfire Shuckers

We picked these up on the way to the trail....really.

JW belt driven

Rosaryville, MD featuring multiple equestrians

Singlespeed miles in MD

My new Pineapple deck with John at Reciprocal

I like skiers too :)

Yum. Local VT syrup at Stoddard's

  

Magic Mountain Londonderry, VT

Mr. Greenjeans at Ringwood

Jason at Ringwood. Snowy, variable terrain. Ayuh.

Post Apocalyptic Riding

I rode at Blue Mountain Today 11/11/2012. It was amazing. I felt alive again. Man.... Hadn't been in the woods for 2-3 weeks? Can't even remember...seems like forever. Somehow I felt powerful, not lame. Maybe the storm(s) gave me strength? I was crushing it. As hard as I could. Needed it.

Hurricane Sandy fucked things up around NYC and then some.... We camped at my place in the East Village with no power for 4 days and then the party continued when JW couldn't leave cause he couldn't get gas to drive back South. Zombie Apocalypse Go Bag Top Ten..... Miner's Light. We had em' and we used em' every day. Bikes were the way to get around after Sandy wrecked things. Wicked dark around lower Manhattan with no lights though...even when we rode with lights on our bikes. Creepy...people stepping out of the darkness, rats, other riders with no lights. It was freaky. We survived. Couldn't get gas to drive to the trails...to ride. Lots of trees down on the trails.... It got cold and snowed with this Noreaster "Athena". Now it's over 60 degrees. Scary. I like warm weather so I'm accepting this 2 day reprieve and just riding. Resuscitating myself. I'm still here. Tougher, more resilient.

3 Lefty's on the roof after Blue

Me and The Bean on the trail at Blue Mountain

Hurricane Sandy Command Center....

before the power went out

Lots of bikes at the DL

In my hood.....life continues

Breakfast

Lunch :)