Street Riding / Up On The Sun

Well, here we go.... There was a lot of street riding happening over the last few days, bikes and skateboards. It started Thursday night over at Reciprocal Skateboard Shop on East 11th Street, see: reciprocalnyc.com , while I was swilling some Fosters oil cans with John, and Jeremy was playing the Tron pinball machine. All of a sudden I saw this reissued Santa Cruz Slasher deck in the window and once I stood on it, I feared I would have to have it.....and I took it home that night. There was quite a bit of test riding on 11th Street with John and Greg to get the board just right. Those guys are excellent and expanding the store as I type this. More skate gear, more pinball machines, more fun! I took my new board to work Friday and did a lot of riding around the store, Union Square, downtown NYC.....loving it. I saw that The Meat Puppets were playing and decided I had to go. Jimmy P was down for the experience so it was on.....click play:





I rode my lil' Cannondale Capo street ripper over to the club on Bleecker and I was ready for the rock....and they brought it. The Meat Puppets tore the place apart. They killed it. I loved it. Jimmy P was blown away. Extended jam version of Up On The Sun. They even played a wicked Beach Boys cover. The Kirkwood brothers are alive and well. We walked out of the club afterwards and were basically speechless, from the rock. Awesome.

Saturday night street ride to Bushwick. Yep, Ed Pastorini, the infamous downtown muso was playing at Goodbye Blue Monday in Bushwick so we guzzled some beers and had dessert first before heading out there. Ed was superb. Playing all new songs including Smooth Maria, about flat spots on the moon. Yep, that's Ed. It was a surreal evening.....eating fried chicken off of garbage cans on the street in the ghetto, then ripping over to the Saloon in Billyburg where Nicky 2 Shirts works and swilling more delicious beers and chilled shots of Jamesons. How did I get home?

NYC Marathon Sunday. Who knew I'd be going to view the Marathon? Rode to mid-town, parked, locked up and went into the crowd like being immersed in a cloud or a fog of people that like running or like someone who likes running. I like someone who knows someone who likes running. Wow. How did I pull that one off? The Spaten on 72nd Street made everything ok, followed by a fun ride downtown to the EV for more cold beers and fish and chips. Yum. I have to say, it was a great day! NYC is the place to be....

Monday afternoon Tour De Brooklyn. We made up our own tour. After a lunch in the sun at McCarren Park in Williamsburg, we jetted off through Brooklyn.....around Bed-Stuy to Clinton Hill, Fort Green, Prospect Park loops, Prospect Heights, around to Park Slope, and back over the Manhattan Bridge to the LES, and finally landing at the Blue & Gold for beef stew talk, Tom Petty on the juke box, and enough Rednecks that we lost count. My life's pretty good. I ride, bikes & skateboards. Snowboarding season's around the corner, ayuh.

John, at Reciprocal, building my new board

My lil' street machine....yes, it goes fast.