oh and....

high life toast at midnight... it is the champagne of beers.



-hugs

weekend recap

so 2007 is drawing to a close and the last weekend did not disappoint.

friday was critical mass and i am glad to say we had another good showing, we didn't do a head count but it looked to to be between 60 - 75 people out for the ride. we saw a lot of new faces and we can't wait for 2008 to watch this ride and the bike community grow.

metha took some pictures, and put them up on flickr...



saturday we took it easy and a few of us met up to carve a couple of parking lots. i saw some people pulling off some sick moves, but unfortunately all we got on video were some impressive tumbles. this is a night i personally can't wait to grow, so stay tuned to 407fixedgear for more updates with pictures and videos showcasing our local talent.

sunday we had an impromptu ride down cady way trail followed by a winding jaunt through baldwin park. there was a lot of pictures being taken and from what i hear they turned out great. it will take a minute or two to get them up for you to enjoy, but as soon as they are available you bet you will see them here :)


2007 has gone from one or two bikes locked up downtown to struggling to find a place to chain up your whip. i am looking forward to see how much we grow in 2008!

see you on tuesday at the black cat hustle!

-hugs

End of Year Critical Mass 12/28/07

Same place same time, make sure you show up for the last one of 07! I spoke with Nick earlier today and he mentioned that this one is going to be longer ride like last months and that there are festivities planned for after the ride as well... Lets get everyone to come out and close this year off with a bang!


ez!

Florida Flurry Photos (Grandma's house check point)...

Shout out to Metha for hooking me up with the Flickr Photoset link....



ez!

is thursday too soon to start talking about the weekend?

i don't think so...

tomorrow i hope to see another good showing at critical mass! i will be riding there right after work, and i don't plan on getting home till the wee hours of the morning.

if you have never been out to our mass, it starts here.

when i get up saturday morning i will be nursing that hangover to make sure i am right so i can meet up around 7pm at the bull and bush for a (hand turned) london pride, a game or two of (steel tipped) darts, and a few hours of session riding. this saturday ride is what we started last thursday, but decided to move to saturday as not to have too many late weekday nights.

i know, i know, some of you are asking, "you go out every night, why do you care about this thursday saturday move?"

well it is simple... some of us old kids have day jobs and we need our beauty sleep.

(that and i want to get a crew to ride down orange ave after the fuzzz shuts it down on saturday nights, i just think that is fun.)

all that being said, enjoy this youtube video of riding in viet nam...



-hugs

backward mounted, backward circle wheelie barspins!

And don't forget the arm flaps. Oh that Serge, killing it for da ladies.

Toys for Tots Alley Cat Race in NYC...

Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays as much as I am; really feeling the time off. I apologize for the lack of activity of late but I've been up in Knoxville the last couple of days and I don't get back until the 27th. It's freakin' cold up here and let's just say I'm looking forward to getting my arse back to Florida.. :)

In the meantime, here is a Fat Lace blog entry on the Toys for Tots Alley Cat Race that went down Dec 22nd in NYC. All proceeds of the race went to benefit the Toys for Tots organization and from what Fat Lace is reporting, it was a lot of fun albeit it was damn cold.. I'm also including a link to a J Martinez photoset with lots of pictures of the race... Enjoi!

I also wanted to take this opportunity to announce that Hugh is jumping on board to help me out with the bloging duties. Along with Mike and myself, we promise to keep you guys current with all the happenings in the '08... Welcome aboard!

Hope everyone had a good one, can't wait to get back in town....



ez!

This is pretty damn amazing.....

If you have seen this then you have an idea what to expect but if not, man this is ugly. A nasty spill went down during the Boys Future Stars race at the Revolution 2 track cycling event in Melbourne Australia on Wednesday night 12/19/07. Amazingly, no one was seriously hurt...

Here's the link to the YouTube page if you feel like following the comments.. I'm warning ya though, there some serious brain trust action present in these comments so read at your own risk...



ez!

RIDE TONIGHT!

A few of us are meeting up tonight for a more trick oriented ride. The meet up point is the Barnes & Nobel on Colonial and Bumby Ave around 8:30-9pm. Lots of skids, parking garage bombing sessions and other shenanigans expected. Everyone welcomed...

No route planned but I'm sure we'll end up downtown somehow....



ez!

Sore Loser?

Watch @ the very end right after the guy who wins it crosses the finish line...


OUCH!




ez!

A skid widget for your OSX dashboard....

I've heard about this quite a bit ago but after chatting with a few people over the weekend, I noticed not that many people had heard of this interesting little widget for your Mac...

Skid Patch Calculator

Developers Description: Some chainring/cog combinations would cause the same patch/es of the tire to be worn every time you skid. Thus, your tire would be worn down to the canvas at the skid point long before the rest of it. This widget will help you to determine a combination that leads to a more even wear.


I installed it but ended up removing it because I didn't use it much.. Anyone else been using it?



ez!

Centurion

Here it is in it's original incarnation. If you know anything about Centurions, you know that they make awesome fixed gear conversions. Tight geomerty and long, horozontal dropouts. I forgot to mention size: I'd call it a 55cm: standover is about 31"- good for anyone 5'9" or taller.

BIKE FOR SALE: ON DA CHEAP!

frame/fork/headset/bottombracket/saddle/seatpost/stem/bars(w/tape)/crank(w/46Tchainring)/pedals/clips&straps/chain. I can throw in a front wheel if wanted, otherwise all you'll need is a wheelset and a cog.

It's a late 80's Centurion Accordo RS (Red/White). The components are (painted) black. It looks pretty sick built up- it was given to me in original 12 speed form so I converted it and used it while I was in between track frames.

As it was a gift from a kind heart after my bike (and myself) were demolished in a crash, I'll be passing this on for just the value of the components. We can talk price if you're interested. I'll post a photo shortly.

-michael (4079276635)

This is pure comedy gold...

as if the grape smugglers are not funny enough, he bounces when he peddles.....

"don't be accusing people of shit you don't know about.." ahahahahaha pure gold!



ez!

so what night are we designating as the "trick" night......

We're always too tired after BC to get our trickery on so we really need to designate a night to meet up.... Since Tuesday is the haul ass night, I nominate Thursday nights as the night for the fixed gear free styling session... Downtown sucks on Friday & Saturdays and even though Thursday is still pretty busy, it's not the cheeze dick haven it becomes on the weekend...

So lets get some suggestions going since we always seem to be talking about this after the ride on Tuesdays... what night works for you guys? I'm also still down for the sprint night if anyone is still interested...



ez!

Giro d Tampa......

Or Tour of Tampa for the Italian challenged... Andrew, Josh and I are going, any more 407 representation headed out there?



ez!

Lets do this thing!

ez!

Waiting for quiting time to roll around?

Lifted this off of John Prollys blog:

Demoncats pictures of the Shop Gentei Alphabet race. Good way to kill 30 minutes @ work....


ez!

Monday video goodness....

Hungover from the company Xmas party so I'm dragging arse a bit.. In the meantime, enjoy the videos.......

Fix Push Skateboarding

If you can't find the humor in this, then congratulations! You are the subject of the joke....... :)



Quicksilver Trick Session Scene

Tight short shorts over tight sweat pants? I'm so rocking that on Tuesday night!

Thanks to Metha and Andrew for the link to Fix Push.



ez!

MASH SF bike centerfold...

Some of you may have seen this as it's been out for a while but in case you didn't, here it be. All of the riders bikes in one big ass jpeg... This one is straight for the fan boys... ;)

Yeah, this qualifies as bike pron like a mofo......



ez!

Kid Robot X Nemesis Project bike....

Found this originally on Trackosaurus with very little information about the bike but via the comments section, I was able to find a link to the Nemesis Project Blog which talks about the project in detail. According to info on both blogs, the bike will be on display at the Kid Robot Miami store and has a rather amazing $6000 price tag. It's being discribed as an "art project" and as you can imagine, the interweb is ablaze with "discourse" regarding the merits of the project. In other words, the fan boys are defending like true Kid Robot Kool Aid drinkers while the haters are coming hard with the hate crimes. Regardless of your opinion though, you have to admit this is a rather unique bike...

Nemesis Blog Post (w/ all the gory details on the project)



ez!

I think Bike Snob might be on to something regarding this fixed gear apocalypse thing...

As various blogs are reporting, Kanye West has bought himself a track bike....

BSNYC Post
Prolly not Probably Post
Razor Apple Post

I have that same Mike Myers look on my face..




ez!

Clowns Liberate Bike Lanes......

Only in NYC are the clowns taking it to the streets! We need some of these guys here to educate motorists on the finer points of bikes and Florida traffic laws..




ez!

and you thought the beat slowed down?

hit it!

Probably the fastest BC Run so far... No stats as Methas bike corn-puter is still fuckered up but we all know it was F-A-S-T!

respect to the crew who made it out last night! as usual it was a pleasure...



ez!

It's Tuesday night.......

Lets get on it! Please notice the new departure time.




ez!

Traveling sound systems on bikes....

New York Times article on traveling b-boys and their mobile soundsystems...

Tip of the hat to Trackosaurus for the link..


ez!

overheard saturday night.......

First of all, I'm completely going to paraphrase the exchange between Andrew and cool guy in car... Before I do though, let me set the scene up a bit:

- traveling along a brick road in winter park in route to redlight redlight.. road is narrow, paved with bricks with about 13 people on bikes. Suddenly a ford focus, cheese dick rap blaring over the speakers, comes tearing around the corner narrowly missing Andrew...

Andrew: hey slow the fuck down asshole!

car screeches to halt, pulls up next to Andrew and turns down the music.

driver: what did you say?

Andrew: I said slow down and don't drive like a dick. it's dark out and you almost ran me over.

driver: (becoming visibly irate) who the fuck are you? why don't you get off the road?

Andrew: there are people riding bikes on this road, you can't haul ass through here. the speed limit is 20 mph!

driver: get off the fucking road then! you need to be on the sidewalk!

editor note: Florida law specifies bikes need to ride on the road and not the sidewalk. Not only is our friend here a douche bag but obviously quite ignorant of Florida law.

Andrew: you don't know shit! stop driving like an asshole!

driver: I wasn't driving like a jerk! fuck you!

at this point we begin to congregate by the car. Kevin comes quietly riding to the drivers side of the car unbeknown to the driver of the vehicle..

kevin (in calm but forceful manner): you need to let this go...

at this point the driver notices the amount of people gathering by his ride, looks at kevin and squeals off in his souped up focus... We all watch him peel off, dumbfounded by the exchange...


straight gangsta!





ez!

Orlando Bike Weekend T-shirts...

A lot of people have been asking whether or not there are any t-shirts left over from last weekend and if so, how could they go about scoring one. Well I spoke to Metha and Nick last night about it and from what they tell me, there are quite a few still left available for purchase. I believe they have sizes small through large and the price per shirt is $10. Hit them up via their myspace pages (nick - metha) or ask them about it next time you see them out...




ez!

Bridge Battle Race Photoset...

Next time someone bitches about how hot it was for the Florida Flurry, please refer them to this photoset...... Thanks!



ez!

Sunday Video Bizness 12-9-07....

Colin with some tricks from Jason Yim on Vimeo.


Chicago Fixed Gear Fall 2007 from Matthew on Vimeo.


Milan Alley Cat Race, from a riders perspective....





ez!

Grandma Party Bazaar

This is a cool little event that goes down in the Stardust Parking lot every so often. It's scheduled for Dec 8th (tomorrow) and should kick off around 11am or so.. Different vendors will be there displaying their wares along with music, food and other assorted happenings.. The last one was a lot of fun so I highly recommend you stop by, even if just for a little bit..

Get more info here!



ez!

Ok, who put the bullseye on my back?

Disclaimer: this is a rant plain and simple and the tone is meant in jest. Please take my opinions / biasness / generalizations I make with a grain of salt... Think of this as a really bad attempt at channeling BSNYC. The events I talk about in my rant really did happen though....


begin rant-------->

So last night Andrew, Peter and I decide to do a nice mellow ride in our neighborhood.. Nothing super fancy or fast, just get out and ride a little.. We were going to hit most of Audubon Park with a little detour in to Baldwin Park, cross over General Rees Drive and head in to the neighborhood east of Stardust and then back in to Audubon Park to finish it out. It would be about 4.5 miles or so and I figured this would be a good way to start getting my legs back after the ol' tumble. Well we head out and it's dark all ready so we fire up the blinky lights and everything starts off real cool.. 3 minutes in to the ride, we hit the intersection of Falcon and Chelsea and out of now where this douche bag in a full sized pick up turns right into me almost running my ass down in the process.. He skidded to a stop but had I not taken the evasive maneuvers I managed to make in a split second, he would have nailed me. Of course startled by the encounter between myself and a 2500lb vehicle, I let the obscenities fly. Perhaps my tirade scared the occupants or perhaps they just didn't care. Either way they they never bothered to stop or apologize. NICE!

So with the adrenalin still pumping through my system and my heart about to beat out of my chest, we kept riding through Audubon Park and headed on in to Baldwin Park. Well things didn't get any better there.. As soon as we enter the yuppie enclave, we dodged multiple vehicles running stop signs, a couple of cars driving with no lights on and last but not least soccer moms in expeditions who can't seem to fathom the basic rules of the road when dealing with bicycles... WTF man?!! Did these people get their drivers licenses out of a cereal box or are they that narcissistic that they believe they own the road? So what started out as a "mellow ride" through our hood, became an exercise in how to dodge asinine Florida drivers.... Seriously, Peter and Andrew can both vouch for me on this..

So I ask ask again; who put the bullseye on my back when I wasn't looking?

Kevin, I'm looking in your direction... All you peeps from Cleveland are dirty like that... :) j/k


-----------------> end rant


ez!

Some more pics for ya peeperz..

These courtesy of Andrew..



ez!

I wanted to post the u-tube version when it was up..

but the quality on this one is much much better...


Tracko from Trackosaurus Rex on Vimeo.



ez!

Ideas for other rides during the week...

One of the cool things this weekend was the number of people I talked to and the amount of enthusiasm so many had for more weekly rides. Talking to all these different people generated a lot of feedback regarding the Black Cat Hustle in addition to other rides during the rest of the week. For starters, some people expressed interest in creating two groups on Tuesday nights; one for the faster more experienced riders and another for those not wanting to push it the way the BC Crew does. This was brought up by a few folks who wanted to ride but where afraid they could not keep up with the faster pace. This is completely understandable but honestly, would be hard for us to organize since all of us are running in the faster group. Keep in mind that the main spirit of the ride was modeled after the Wolf Pack Hustle in LA, and as a result the pace is going to be fast. Those that can't keep up just continue and we will all meet up at the end point eventually. Moving forward this is still how we plan on running this ride but if someone else wants to organize a "slower" group on the same night, then got for it! Keep in mind these are not highly organized rides, there is no hierarchy of "leaders" that decide who gets to ride and when. We're just a bunch of guys who like to haul ass every so often. This ride was developed for the faster riders and will continue to stay that way but as I mentioned, we are not opposed to another group meeting up on the same night at the same locale running the same route at a different pace. We just don't have time to organize it is all..

Other ideas thrown around this weekend consisted of different rides for different types of riding. For instance, Justin told me a small group was meeting up on Thursdays to do more of a free ride / trick oriented ride around downtown. I am totally down with something like this as I'm usually pretty tired after the BC Hustle on Tuesday nights to get my trickery on. Again, this would be geared towards peeps who are down with the trick aspect of fixed gear riding and will not necessarily be a fast ride. Another idea proposed consisted of a night where we do timed sprints on a friendly competition level. Howard Middle School on Summerlin and Robinson has a track and field area that is not gated up we could use for a night of sprints. If not there, there are other potential places we could hit to do something along these lines. Friday was proposed as a potential night for something like this. Seeing how the spot in question is so close to downtown, we could then transition to any number of bars for refreshments...

Use this post as a soundboard; sound off and let us know if there would be any interest in doing some nights like this and lets get this shit going! I'm personally down with the free ride / trick night as well as the sprints...


ez!

Black Cat Hustle Dec 4 Ride..

Starting this week, the ride will now leave at 8:30pm as opposed to the normal time of 7:30pm. This is to better accommodate people getting off work and what not. The route is still basically the same with the end point still being BBQ Bar...

I'm not riding this week but I'll be there in spirit. This really sucks cause it's killing my perfect record for these rides.. 3 and 1 is just not cutting it...

Have fun, be safe guys!


ez!

Florida Flurry race results & recap

I meant to post this sooner but well, you know the rest... So with out further adieu:

Mens Top 3
1) Strictly Bobby
2) Dano (Retro City Cycles)
3) Ben Forshee (Locomotion Bikes)


Womens Top 3
1) Jenny K
2) Renee Boucher
3) Allie Whalen


1st Place Out of Town
Eric T Hires (St. Augustine)

If I misspelled any names sorry about that. Nick gave me the info over the phone...

Total number of people that registered came out to 152 with 116 manifests turned in at the end. Riders were given the manifest 20 minutes prior to the start of the race and we where all allowed to plan our route how ever we saw fit. There where a total of 11 checkpoints with a start (end of E. Ivanhoe Blvd) and an end point (Beta/Covert parking lot). At each point we had to do some task which when completed, a sticker was then placed on the manifest indicating we had visited that checkpoint. The tasks at the checkpoints varied from funny to just plain hated. One of my favorites was the one on Summerlin & Greenwood as it was by far the liveliest of the bunch. When we hit it early we got a shot of whiskey down an ice chute but the whiskey ran out quick and other drinks where then substituted. For those unlucky peeps in the back of the pack, they had the privilege of enjoying soy eggnog belly button body shots from a dude with a hairy navel. Lets just say the pictures are hilarious (dudes with hairy ass beards dripping eggnog, 'nuff said) and show the level of hi-jinks present at the stations. Other notable checkpoints consisted of pictures with santa, pictures with grandma, building "sand-men", slip-n-slide down a hill, grabbing mud from the lake and throwing it at a bench, answering x-mas themed questions @ city hall, hanging tinsel on a scruffy palm tree and last but not everyones most hated least, sand angels in the sand volley ball courts by the skate park. Oh how I hated this stop....

I had a blast racing the course and I ended up doing a lot better than @ the Rat Race back in July. I ended up coming in 13th which was cool with me even though I was aiming for top 10 placement. I dropped the ball when I couldn't find the sand volleyball court checkpoint at the end We rode in circles trying to find it and had I not noticed some riders going in to it, it would have taken even longer for us to find it. That's cool, next time I'll read the manifest along with the map instead of just concentrating on the map...

The after party @ the end point got started but it took a while for the tunes to get going for some reason. Food was catered by Black Bean Deli and there where kegs of beer for racers to enjoy. A pretty damn good band played a short set kicked off with a roman candle intro and everyone got swerved. A very good way to end an amazing day..

Massive respect to Nick, Metha, Adrien and all of those whose contributed in anyway. Everyone I spoke to had a great time and the effort you guys put in to this are truly appreciated by the O-town bike community. I'm looking forward to the events you guys have planned for the '08!

ok time for the pain meds; over and out............


ez!

More pictures from the weekend!

From the Tampa /St. Pete peeps...

Click me!



ez!

Orlando Bike Weekend Photos...

Julius set up a flickr account of pictures Melissa and him took this weekend. check it out here! BTW, Geri makes a mean sandwich @ Pom Poms in addition to being creative when having to haul beer around..

I know there were a lot of people taking pictures this weekend so if you have any, let me know.. I suggest setting up a flickr account and email me the link. In particular I'm looking for pictures from the checkpoint on Summerlin and Greenwood... Especially the eggnog pictures.. :)


ez!

yeah yeah I'm all right...

for the most part anyway...

My head hurts, my neck hurts, my left side of my body is full of road rash but otherwise I'm ok.. I came away with a concussion and 2 staples in my head but no permanent damage. It was touch and go there for a while as Michelle said I was having trouble remembering things that happened this weekend. I knew the important stuff (name, address things like that) but it seemed that for a while I had no recollection of memories from Thursday on. She said that talking about Critical Blast, the race on Saturday and the Black Cat runs with the crew helped me snap back and it was pretty uncanny how quickly I recovered all those memories once I started to talk about them with her @ the hospital.

Honestly, the last thing I remember was coming around the corner getting speed for my skid and then I was at the hospital talking to Michelle after the CAT Scan. I don't remember the fall or any of the events afterwards... I remember I was feeling uncomfortable about skidding on that road surface during the practice runs I did. The road was a bit rough and bumpy, thus making my back tire bounce around a little when I was skidding... I thought I could compensate for it but I'm sure that had a lot to do me eating shit; i.e. lack of confidence in what I was doing at the time... Based on the location of my road rash and the cut on my head, I'm assuming my back wheel drifted to the left during the skid and the bike threw me off because forward momentum was compromised at this point... Metha said I tried to get my left hand up before I fell but it got caught up in the bars and this is how I smacked my head. If anyone saw it hit me up because I'm still trying to fit the pieces together at this point..

I wanted to thank those of you that helped me right after the wreck.. I honestly do not remember any of the aftermath so if I forgot to thank any of you, I truly apologize. I heard Hugh and Nick had my back the entire time and that a lot of people there were very worried about my condition. I wanted to say thanks to everyone that helped and that I'm alive and kicking...

BTW, from now on I plan on rocking a helmet whenever I ride. You can call me Special Ed if you want but I makes me living with my brain so I need to keep that ish intact..



ez!

Beerstand

Trackstand session...

Footdown bizness!

Registration is open.

Critical Blast Recap...

Probably one of the biggest ones to date, guess-timates range from 100-150 people that actually showed up. I have no way of telling as it was a bit overwhelming trying to determine the actual numbers. I posted a picture of the mass getting together @ Loch Haven but it does little to actually show just how may people showed up... Seriously, it was massive! I remember corking at one intersection and just wondering to myself, where does this thing actually end? I was surprised with how a lot of motorists actually responded this time around. None of the belligerent actions we have encountered in rides past seemed to manifest themselves and most people seemed to be supportive. There where a few motorists acting like douche bags honking and flipping people off but the mass never got heated and took it all in stride. The general reaction seemed to be the more they honked, the more the mass cheered... When the Mass hit Bumby Ave, it was an amazing sight seeing the long line of blinking lights. If anyone has pictures of last nights ride, please feel free to send them over...

Some of last nights highlights included:
- the positive attitude all the riders had the entire time
- riding down Orange Ave
- the guy on the trike on the corner of Robinson & Primose. he seemed bewildered with the large amount of riders participating.
- riding up Bumby Ave
- after party @ Glory Cycles
- footdown contest with roman candles, included crowd participation in the form of dodging projectiles.
- fancy skid session, there where some serious skills being showcased
- DJ Masta Zach droppin' Jay Z's Big Pimpin and the Decedents in the same set
- bike throwing contest, had to see it to believe it. Trust, the shit was hilarious!
- meeting Nicks parents. They are by far the coolest peeps I have met in a while
- Hanging with the Black Cat Crew and getting a serious swerve on! We always seem to be rollin' dirty these days.. ;)

Massive respect to all of those that came out! See you all at the race and the after party at Beta / Covert..


ez!