THIEVES LIKE US

A JOURNEY OF EPIC PROPORTIONS

2010-06-26T18:07:00.000-07:00

Soaking. Fucking. Wet.

After working 7 days a week for 6 months, a couple of fucked up shipments, holes punched in the wall, bad spoke measurements, several unnecessary trips to Harris Cyclery, tons of bottled water, more driving than I prefer to do, several long conversations, and a good chunk of money.....I finally have my GEEKHOUSE bike. Apparently, in the bike industry, nothing goes right. At least not the first time around. I don't think there is a single aspect of this bike that was right the first time. It was a pretty stressful process for all involved. And were it not for the friendship, patience, creativity, and passion of a slew of people, I would not have a story to tell. So thanks Tom, Jason, Josh, Wei Wei, Steph, Nao, Marty, Brad, and Greggles.

VEGAN DOUBLE STRAPS! Thanks to Joshua at OPEN.

I talked about this beast a little bit in my last post. But let me get in to some of the nitty gritty details of what I was looking for with this bike. First off, Marty is one of my best friends, and a truly great talent in the frame building business. He might not be the most punctual. But he fucking nails it every single time. If you haven't seen his bikes yet, definitely check out his FLICKR. While many other builders are trying to be the next Sascha White, Marty stands firm in his belief that you have to pave your own road, and define your own style. (For the record, both Marty and I LOVE what Sascha/Vanilla has done and are doing.) And Marty has done just that with GEEKHOUSE. His bikes are a wonderful combination of class and off-the-wall-ness.

Braze-on cursive Geekhouse logo. The clear coat over this bike just makes it look incredible. (You'll have to wait for complete build shots to see the sick placement of this logo.)

Anyhow, I went to Marty with an idea to build a bike that I had been designing in my head for nearly a year. I was envisioning something classy and crisp. But with slightly relaxed geometry. No toe overlap, and putting me a bit more upright in the saddle. My daily whip is a Bridgestone keirin bike that is basically super twitchy, responsive, tight and racy. So I wanted something different. But the zinger was that I didn't want curved tubes or for the bike to look like it was all loosey-goosey. I wanted a bike the looked different than it rode. And since I was getting a custom bike, I wanted it to be obviously custom. So I went with an integrated seat mast, as well as a custom one-piece bar/stem combo, something Marty had not done before. Luckily, he was up for the challenge. (And a challenge this bike was!)

The seat post mast. Custom! Machined in Cambridge! SICK.

Top view.

The beginnings of the bar/stem. One of the many headaches that my bike gave Marty.

The result is simply stunning. It literally is the realization of exactly what was in my head. Only now I can ride it. There will be full pictures to come later. But here are a few from my phone of the process, and the finished product. I want to thank GEEKHOUSE, SUPERB, and quite frankly, MYSELF for making this bike happen. It's a real piece of legit artistry.

OH. And I went to NYC for the 10th Anniversary of the Bicycle Film Festival this past weekend. What a fucking adventure: Emergency Rooms, stolen bikes, 3 am after parties at strange Chinese restaurant/shopping mall/karaoke bars, miles and miles on the bike, tons of vegan treats, record shopping, and almost ZERO sleep.

I AM A PASSIONATE MAN, WITH PASSIONATE FRIENDS.

2010-06-08T20:09:00.000-07:00

My MASI road machine.

I have been riding bikes my whole life in one form or another. Whether it was the standard BMX bike as a kid. I had a Huffy Sigma, then a Haro. Man, I remember that Huffy SO WELL. I used to ride it everywhere. Anyhow, the Haro was a little more serious. Then my dad bought me my first mountain bike. It was a weird soft-tail beater thing that he got probably at a garage sale or something. I remember being really mad and ungrateful because it wasn't what I wanted. But it grew on me and I had that bike for years.

Pretty sure I had some crappy road bikes after that, but I mostly was skateboarding at this time and moved away from bikes. I actually got pretty fucking good at skating, which I will save for another time. I got back in to bikes about 12 years ago when I ended up in FL and didn't have a car for about 7 years. The skate scene where I lived SUCKED, so I bought a used Panasonic road bike with an old Campy group on it. It was lavender and beautiful. That fucking bike got stolen ON MY FUCKING BIRTHDAY. I replaced it with another used road bike that was not nearly as nice. Which then also got stolen. So a month or so later I got my first NICE road bike. A Cannondale CAAD 6 with full dura-ace group. I got really in to riding on that thing. I was putting in about 100 miles on that thing per week. When I moved briefly to NYC I got my first fixed gear. A guy I worked with was the messenger for the company, and gave me his old Surly. What can I say, I was hooked. I rode that thing all over the island of Manhattan. I even used to strap a crashpad on my back and ride to Central park to go bouldering after work. (MESSAGE TO NYC FIXIE PEOPLE: You think you're badass? Try riding down 5th avenue in 5 O'clock traffic with a crashpad strapped on your back.)

Mmmmm.....SRAM FORCE.

When I moved to Boston I left my 40 lb. cruiser/grocery getter behind and brought only my Cannondale. I didn't have a clue where to ride, and nobody to ride with, so the poor thing sat a lot. I ended up selling it and then getting a Specialized Langster. Not a terrible bike. I upgraded components and gave it a custom paint job. Up next was my Bridgestone, which was a labor of love. My friend Adam taught me how to build wheels, and I really put a lot of time and money in to this bike. That bike still makes me smile, and I have been on many many adventures with it. But I was beginning to feel the itch of the long open road again. I needed a geared bike. I missed my Cannondale. So I got a Masi 3vc Team Edition. Which then hung on my wall as just a frame/fork for almost a year until I finally had the money to build it up.

That's some hipster bullshit right there.

There was really only one thing missing (Don't say a mountainbike, that's not gonna happen. Or Cross bike. I am terrified of riding Cyclocross for one reason only: It looks like so much goddamn fun that I am afraid if I did it, I would stop climbing.) So what was missing? A CUSTOM BIKE.

Enter close friend, gentleman, and avocado hater: Marty Walsh of GEEKHOUSE bikes. I will make this already long-winded story a little shorter by just saying that I am really pumped to be able to create a bike that is exactly what I want. From geometry to color, to style, to fit. It's a pretty amazing process. Marty is really down for whatever. Which is cool. He isn't too snobby about what you want. And what I want is a tad bit unorthodox. But I figured....fuck it, if I'm getting a CUSTOM bike, I'm gonna get a CUSTOM bike.

My Geekhouse frame all tacked up and hanging on the wall at the shop.

Integrated seat post, custom one-piece bar/stem, braze-on polished Geekhouse logos, and custom powder coated rims. Those are just some of the features. I am very psyched for this thing to be done. It's mostly finished....mostly. The polishing of the braze-on logos will take hours.

The mock-up of the bike. Color is way off. As you can see from the image on the right, I am going for ZERO toe overlap.

THE OLD IS NEW

2010-06-06T18:25:00.000-07:00

My last post was sometime in February. It's actually pretty amazing that I even managed to keep it going that long. Back in December of 2009 I took a second job, bumping my work hours up to 70+ hours a week, and 7 days on. I did that up until this week, taking less than 10 days off that entire time. It was brutal. My life came to grinding halt. As did my health, fitness, and ability to really participate in the things that I love the most. After about 6 months, I had had enough. So this weekend was my first weekend as a single-jobber again.

So I will be able to put some more time in to this thing here. I have been busy with other things as well. I have been DJing regularly, and that's going pretty well. You can check out more about that here. I have also been pounding away at expanding the Boston Rock Gym empire. There's a ton of news on that front. But nothing I can really get in to just yet. Here's a hint: HEART OF STEEL 2011 is going to crush anything New England has ever seen. More on that later.

I also have been doing some serious bike investing. I finally put together the road bike, and OH MAN is it gorgeous. Pics soon. And in even more exciting news, I paid for my custom Geekhouse bike! I will be documenting that whole process as well.

For now, I am back. And I give you THIEVES LIKE US VOL. 8. I have basically been obsessed with all the excellent fuzzpop and shoegaze and goth rock stuff that has been coming out lately. So I thought I would put together a little mix.

TRACK ORDER:

1] Anathema
2] The Mary Onettes
3] Butterfly Explosion
4] Black Tambourine
5] Ceremony
6] Cold Body Radiation
7] Solemn Novena
8] Team Ghost
9] Soundpool
10] Depreciation Guild
11] Future Islands
12] HURTS
13] Cold Cave
14] The Big Pink
15] The Radio Dept.
16] The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
17] Fungi Girls
18] Singapore Sling
19] Gliss
20] Ride
21] Blessure Grave
22] Entertainment
23] A Sunny Day in Glasgow
24] The Fauns
25] Have a Nice Life

DOWNLOAD THE MIX HERE.

IF IT'S DEAD, IT'S BECAUSE YOU KILLED IT

2010-02-19T20:28:00.000-08:00

Sorry I missed last month on the monthly mix gig. But I had A LOT on my plate with the Heart of Steel comp and what not. If I get around to it, I will make a second mix for this month highlighting some of the dark, broody music that encompassed the finals soundtrack for HEART OV ZTEEL. For now, here is Volume 7.

Pretty simple. I have been hearing a lot of talk lately about how hardcore is over, or punk is dead. Or whatever. Blah, blah, blah. So I thought I would go through some of my favorite tracks from current hardcore/punk oriented bands. So here you have it, 25 tracks proving beyond shadow of doubt that things are alive and well. Maybe you will listen to this and think a lot of the music sucks. But it's not really about that. Hell, a lot of the bands in late 80's and early 90's sucked too, but it's pretty undeniable that that was a high point for punk and hardcore. So the moral is, if you don't like these bands, START YOUR OWN FUCKING BAND. Don't sit around and whine about how shows back in the day were so much cooler, or how punk is totally dead, yadda yadda. If it's dead, it's because you killed it.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE MIX

MINDSET
ON
HOW WE ARE
OFFSIDES
CULT RITUAL
WASTED TIME
PUSHER
GLASSES
PUNCH
CONFINES
PAINTBOX
SOCIAL CIRKLE
REHASHER
ARMALITE
RVIVR
THE ICE
DOOMRIDERS
LOTUS FUCKER
PAINT IT BLACK
NO FRIENDS
STRIKE ANYWHERE
NATIONS AFIRE
BREAK EVEN
TITLE FIGHT
THE LOVED ONES

INSPIRATION

2010-02-19T18:26:00.000-08:00

Every once in a while, through the endless murk and mire of product, videos, and concepts...one will arise that is so goddamn awesome it almost defies description. I refrain from reposting every frigging cool video I find on the internet. If you want a site for that, there are plenty out there. But this one I have run in to just so happens to combine many things which are dear to me. Cycling, the mountains, travel, good music, social activism, and radical clothing.

It is no secret that Rapha makes extremely expensive and equally awesome garments for cycling and lifestyle. So when their Spring/Summer 2010 line was made public recently, I gave it a look. Nothing completely out of the ordinary. Just really well thought out and designed apparel for the cycling community at large. But then I found this video:

TRANSIT ELITE from Dave Christenson on Vimeo.

Wow. I mean. It makes me want to go out and order one of the damn sweaters right this second. I love a brand or product with a story. And not just some contrived story for the sake of having a story. Because I'm sorry, but there is a difference between a "theme", and a "story". Something many brands seem to get confused about. Rapha has completely nailed it with this one. Good work guys. It's really great to see someone not only do things well, but do things GOOD. If you take my meaning. My only beef is obviously with the use of Cashmere and Wool. Then again, I suppose some people's version of social justice only applies to humans. Sad.

Either way, the video is superbly crafted, as is the sweater. As is the entire concept behind it. More brands should put at least half this much thought in to what they do.

IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT

2010-02-19T08:12:00.000-08:00

So, as I posted last....I went to see a really stellar show at Great Scott in Allston. The bill was: Megasus (RI), Howl (RI), Iron Age (TX), Skeletonwitch (OH), and Doomriders (MA). Needless to say, this is a strong bill from start to finish. It was actually pretty hard to say what band I was even there to see, if you take my meaning. It was sold out, which I suppose is not saying too much in a club this size. But whatever. All in all, the show was phenomenal. It's nice to go to a show where you don't leave the front of the stage once all night.

I missed Megasus, but had heard good things about them. I picked up their LP on the way out the door based solely on the artwork alone. As it turns out, the record is good too!

MEGASUS ARTWORK. Total purchase inducing.

Dre with the metal hair!

Howl was getting ready to play just as we walked in the door. I have to say I have a tiny little soft spot in my heart for Andrea, their guitarist as we were very close friends years back when we both lived in Gainesville, FL. I remember when her boyfriend at the time was teaching her how to play guitar and we would sit in her bedroom listening to Ire records and he would teach her chords and what not. Ahhh memories. The moral is it's really awesome to see Dre ripping it up in an awesome band all these years later. Howl's music is really awesome, and sort of reminds me of a more metal and less sludgy Neurosis....or something. My only complaint was that they took too long to set up, and then their singer decided mid-song that he wanted to swap guitars. So he just stopped playing and there was about 6 minutes of down time. Sort of ruined the energy of their performance. Either way, go get their EP, because it's fucking radical.

Iron Age....KVLT?

Up next was Iron Age. I made the comment about how I thought it was pretty cool that there was a hardcore band on an obviously predominantly metal bill. Stupid me, since last I heard Iron Age, they had obviously gotten their hands on some black metal records. Because everyone in the band had grown their hair out, were clad in metal shirts, and their singer had changed his vocal stylings from the sort of gruff Cro-Mags thing they had going before to some sort of shitty screechy metal thing. They also had obtained a new guitarist whom apparently just wanted to "get dusted", listened to shitty racist black metal (Graveland), and made some comment about how he wanted to see the girls up front get kicked in the face. I'm sure this is all really hilarious to someone. But it's not to me. They were still awesome live. Their new songs are good as hell. But the reality is that Iron Age was much better when they were a hardcore band.

Skeletonwitch

Skeleton Witch. Man, Ohio is a funny place. Not sure that there is anywhere else in the country where a band like this could come from. Very melodic, shredding, dancing guitars. Basically every metal stereotype is used, abused, exploited, and embraced by these guys. And while normally this would bug the shit out of me. It works really well for them. Like...REALLY WELL. Their drummer even had TWO KICK DRUMS with obnoxious heavy metal artwork painted on them. Hahaha. Spiked bracelets, long hair, denim vests, and comments telling the crowd to "get drunk, smoke weed, and EAT PUSSY." I am not kidding. I couldn't make this shit up. And I'm telling you, even if these guys are total poseurs....it fucking works, and they were amazing. Albeit a bit monotonous, but still great. I had some tracks by them but had never seen them live. Get in to it.

Doomriders.

Up last, Doomriders. First off all...Nate Newton has turned in to a goddamn lumberjack since last I saw him. Holy hair! Anyways....as I said, this was a very, very solid bill. So it's pretty amazing how Doomriders managed to get on stage after all of these great bands played AND STILL BE ABOUT 500 TIMES BETTER THAN ALL OF THEM COMBINED. I don't give a shit what anyone says "Darkness Come Alive" is one of the best songs in the last five years, hands down. They tore through a maddeningly awesome set. I have no other words. Get their records.

Thanks to all the bands for the great show. Thanks to Steph for taking the dope pictures.

GREAT SCOTT!

2010-02-17T07:38:00.000-08:00

So, last night I went to a show at Great Scott here in Boston. I had never so much as heard of the bands. And I must admit, in my somewhat jaded old age, it's been a while since I have dropped coin on a show where I knew zero about any of the bands. Here is how it shook out:

Some band from Brooklyn called GROOMS played. They were....fine. Sonic Youth was a good band, I get it. But I'm not sure I would start a band based on that notion alone. But whatever. I have sure as hell seen worse bands. Apparently they are a "noise-pop band from Brooklyn", uhhhh right.

Up next was a Boston band called YOUNG ADULTS. And I am not finna lie....they were awesome. I am not entirely sure how I would describe them...I guess "post-punk" but ew, I hate terms like that. Honestly though, you need to check this band out. Immediately. They are going to get big, promise. Don't listen to me though, check out their demo for free HERE.

So all in all it was a nice night out. Could have been a heck of a lot worse, that's for sure. I would have pictures of the show too, except that my partner in crime went to all the trouble of packing up her bag, stopping by her house to get her flash, swapping lenses, and FORGETTING HER SD CARD. Oof.

In other news, tonight there is an absolutely amazing show taking place at Great Scott. If you don't go, you might be an actual idiot. DOOMRIDER's new album "Darkness Come Alive" is my pick for best record of 2009. The show starts at 9. See you there.

GOOD.

2010-02-11T13:23:00.000-08:00

For those of you that are local here in Boston. I have for the past month or so been DJ-ing at The Model in Allston. To any of you whom have come out to hang, dance, and support....thank you so much.

I plan to continue do it. It's every other Sunday from 10pm-2am. I play pretty much whatever the hell I feel like, so there aren't really any restrictions. I am pretty sure one night we went from Slayer to Kanye West. Which is either the best or worst thing ever. You decide. At any rate, in my constant need to stay busy, put things out there, do things new and exciting, I have started a blog for the night. Bookmark it, and check back often, as we will be recording our sets each week and posting them on the blog for download. Plus we will be scouring the music world for the best new tracks, and we will probably share them with you on the site.

CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE GOOD BLOG.

If you haven't come out yet, please do. It's a great time. And it's free. Tell your friends too. Obviously, I am trying to get this thing going. Any help is much appreciated. Here is the current flyer for our party on the 21st.

DECOMPOSED METAL SKIN

2010-01-31T15:30:00.000-08:00

Holy frigging crap. After over 80 hours of work, countless hours of route-setting, countless hours of fore-running, 6 thai meals, 7 packs of CRANK FOREARM FUEL, and at least three days of actual real craziness the Heart of Steel 2010 comp is finally done. Over 170 competitors entered the arena on January 30th to try their hands at the boulder problems. There was free food, drink, pumping beats, free shirts and racebags for each competitor, and more climbing than you could shake a stick-clip at. AND THAT'S JUST THE QUALIFYING ROUND.

After the qualifiers were done, it was time to relax, enjoy throwing out thousands of dollars in gear, raffles, and more. And to watch the premier of Taylor De Lench's climbing film "SICK. Climbing in New England". There was a super finals to determine a tie-break between Zeb Engberg and Michael Bautista. In the end, Michael made it to the finals round to compete against Rob D'Anatasio and Vasya Vorotnikov. For women, it was Sidney McNair, Sasha DiGiulian, and Francesca Metcalf.

Never being one to do anything less than totally and completely off the wall and insane, we filled the gym with about 400 spectators, blasting industrial and black metal music, and eerie red lighting and smoke. The center-piece of the event was "The Dark Crystal", a 6.5' x 3' swinging/spinning feature that I designed in collaboration with the guys at Brewer's Ledge. This feature literally blew the minds of the finalists, and the onlooking crowd. It was pretty awesome to watch it all unfold. In the end, here is who took away the most money:

MEN:1st Vasya Vorotnikov, 2nd Michael Bautista, 3rd Rob D'Anastasio.

WOMEN: 1st, Sasha DiGIulian, 2nd Francesca Metcalf, 3rd Sydney Mcnair.

I'll let these amazing shots from George Lucoozi/ASA Photographic tell the real story.

Sasha DiGiulian flashing her benjamin at the top of Women's #2

Sasha DiGiulian Reaching for the cash on Women's #1

Michael Bautista flying on Men's #1

Francesca Metcalf trying to decipher what the hell to do on The Dark Crystal.

The Victorious.

HEART OV ZTEEL

2010-01-21T07:02:00.000-08:00

One other reason I have been so out of touch lately is because my primary job The Boston Rock Gym is hosting our second annual HEART OF STEEL bouldering competition. I have been putting unreal amounts of work and thought in to this. It's my baby to be honest. I have the help of some seriously talented individuals to bring the climbing community what I'd (perhaps foolishly?) like to think is the most exciting climbing comp around. If you live anywhere near Boston, or even if you don't I highly recommend coming. We have thousands of dollars in gear to give away, free food, fun, excitement, and more surprises. Here is the official press release that has made the rounds all over the climbing world. It was written by my good friend Kaleigh. She is the best.

++++++++++++++++++++++

Climbing enthusiasts everywhere, mark your calenders: on January 30th, 2010 the Boston Rock Gym and Evolv will host the second annual HEART OF STEEL bouldering competition. Flaunting a $2,400 cash purse in addition to a gorgeous line-up of prizes provided by a flock of industry leading sponsors, the HEART OF STEEL appeal speaks for itself. And, believe it or not, this year's sequel is guaranteed to upstage last year's inaugural jaw-dropping throwdown.
"Big cash prizes and good competition mixed with incredible event organization make this one of the most well run and unique climbing competitions going on," explains one of last year's HEART OF STEEL finalists Jon Glassberg, "HEART OF STEEL is setting the standard and breaking the mold for competition format and style. Period." Glassberg's thrilling performance earned him third place overall in the men's Open division last year. Glassberg is shifting his focus this year by joining forces with the Boston Rock Gym's elite team of route setters rather than entering the arena as a competitor.

HEART OF STEEL's distinction as New England's premier indoor climbing competition was imminent in its countless hours of preparation the first time around. But within the dawning moments of its preliminary competition, HEART OF STEEL proved itself capable of revolutionizing the face of indoor climbing competitions not only in its district, but nation wide. The triple digit turnout was littered with strong, revered climbers; the routes were as futuristic as the concepts that breathed life into the HEART OF STEEL brainchild; Manowar's 'Heart Of Steel' (the song after which the competition earned its appellation- a reference appreciated by fans of metal music) pumped adrenaline into the iron-clad veins of every participant, climber or otherwise. The tone had been set and a vision had been realized. "I love it when a competition has a style and a theme and becomes something that spectators and non-climbers can latch on to and really associate with," says Glassberg. And this year, we can only expect a fine-tuned version of something that was nearly perfect to begin with. But overshadowing the many aspects of HEART OF STEEL leading up to its main event is the highly anticipated game show style finals round that really awards this climbing competition its rightful badge of honor.

If for no other reason, you won't want to miss HEART OF STEEL for its outstanding display of a finals round. The event's most notable distinction is its groundbreaking strategy for distributing cash prizes to the top female and male athletes of the day. Exponentially increasing denominations of cold hard cash are taped along the course of each finals problem, baiting each competitor to shamelessly duke it out amongst the others in an outrageous episode of sheer plastic-pulling pandemonium. Bathed in spotlight, each competitor is challenged to pull as many bills as possible off of the wall, creating their own personal cash pot. "Instead of being awarded a check for finishing in a top position, you can complete a finals boulder problem and have the cash in your hand as a direct result of climbing well in the moment. A tangible reward that is very motivating to climbers," Glassberg said.

In addition to the generous cash prizes, there's a whole slew of killer swag provided by some of the climbing industry's top sponsors. Just some of the loot up for grabs this year include three crashpads; two Nemo tents; sleeping bags, packs, and softshells from The North Face; Evolv shoes; rope from New England Ropes; Petzl harnesses, and more. Additionally, there will be free coffee and hot chocolate, free food, video games, and sponsor tables to take advantage of during down time.
The HEART OF STEEL competition is quickly becoming a benchmark for innovation in the competitive climbing circuit, and everyone made up of the industrial-strength vital organs to handle it is encouraged to be a part of it. "The Boston Rock Gym knows how to throw a party," Glassberg assures us.

All photos courtsey of ASA Photographic

HOLY MOTHER OF GOD

2010-01-21T06:42:00.001-08:00

Sorry everyone. This month has been bananas. I have not been climbing, but I have been training like crazy. I took a second job and as a result have not had a day off since early December. 7 days a week, brutally windy and cold weather has kept me mostly indoors, huddled up. Although I have been getting on my bike a lot. As it turns out, if you are dressed right, riding in single digit weather with double digit winds is honestly not that bad.

That said, for most of the winter, I was trying to figure out what the hell to wear for shoes. I needed something for cycling that would be waterproof, warm, and ride-able. While preferably not looking like total shit. Oh, and I'm vegan, so no leather. Quite a tall order. I had looked at some clipless shoes. LAKE makes some awesome ones. But I don't want to have carry extra fucking shoes with me everywhere (work, etc.) and the reality is that as soon as I get off my bike on to the icy sidewalks, I will be skating all over the damn place.

Well, as luck would have it. The Swedes come through. Just like they do with EVERYTHING. Anyhow, TRETORN makes some amazing gore-tex kicks that are also insulated and look absolutely great. They fit perfectly in to toe cages, and ride really nice. They are waterproof, windproof, insulated, and comfy as hell. I picked these buggers up and have not taken them off since. Unbelievable warmth. All I need is a pair of regular socks underneath in even the most brutal of conditions. I got the black hi-tops. Which keeps the laces out of the way of my chain ring, and provides a little extra coverage and integration between the bottom of my pants. They are not cheap. But definitely worth it. They are on sale at Sneakerstuff, check it.
The other must have item for me, is my Arc'teryx Fission SV. I had the pleasure of working closely with the brand for a while when I was the outerwear buyer at The Tannery in Harvard Square. And I got this baby for free, which is nice since they retail for something nuts like $650. However, with 500 grams of primaloft insulation inside of Gore-tex waterproof, windproof exterior shell it's worth it. I have had mine for about 4 years and it still kicking. Perfect for riding, ice climbing, mountaineering, etc. The fit is awesome, the hood fits over a helmet. This thing is unreal. Get you one!

The only thing left really is something for my legs. I have some OUTLIER pants that I love, but I can't reasonably wear those every single day. I have just been rocking jeans with base layers underneath and that seems to work fine. Anyone have any suggestions?

MOTHER RUSSIA

2009-12-30T17:14:00.000-08:00

At some point this summer, I came across what can only be described as "the best synthpop/new wave EP of all time." by a Russian band called TESLA BOY. The cover art alone is enough to justify this claim. According to their Myspace page, they have recently finished work on their debut full length which will be out in early 2010. They have just recently released the music video for one of the songs off of their EP. And while I don't think it's the best track, the video is essentially amazing. I'll let it speak for itself. Go find everything you can by this band.

ELECTRIC LADY BY TESLA BOY from FIRMA on Vimeo.

MY GIFT TO YOU.

2009-12-24T21:55:00.000-08:00

Ok, it's not really *my* gift. But, if you haven't already heard of them, DELPHIC hail from legendary Manchester, UK. The town that produced the likes of: Morrissey/The Smiths, Joy Division, & New Order among others. That's a serious fucking crowd to hang with. And anyone who knows me knows that those three names happen to also occupy slots on my top 10 artists of all time. Well, with the release of DELPHIC's debut and highly anticipated full length "Acolyte", I am going to have to find someone to bump off the list. Because DELPHIC just gave me an eargasm. For serious. This record honestly fits the bill. And there was no hurry either. These lads took their time with this. Releasing a few singles in 2009, most notably "Counterpoint" which was featured on THIEVES LIKE US Volume 1. So when Acolyte comes out on January 11th, you people had better be in line to get it. I promise it won't disappoint. Here's a teaser:

KRIS KUKSI UPDATE

2009-12-22T20:16:00.000-08:00

A few posts back, I mentioned that art of Kris Kuksi. Which is essentially mind boggling. I came across this video, which gives you a more 3-dimensional idea of just how utterly INSANE his sculptures are.

So impressed right now.

Kris Kuksi - "The Plague Parade: Opus 2" Walkthrough from Arrested Motion on Vimeo.

IT CASTS A SHADOW

2009-12-18T16:01:00.000-08:00

Last night, it was 7 degrees out. The windchill was -2 due to the 34 mph wind gusts. I rode across town to meet some friends for dinner. It was, to be certain, the coldest bike ride of my entire life. My hands were essentially hypothermic and bordering on frostbitten when I arrived at the restaurant. My body worked so hard so fast to get heat and blood to my extremities that I essentially passed out when I walked inside. It was utterly insane. The best part was that I knew that I had to turn around and ride home. The snot froze to my upper lip, and my skin was on fire by the time I returned home. So serious. Weather like this is definitely grim. It makes you understand how those Norwegians can be so totally evil all the time. This type of weather definitely makes you want to sit inside and listen to dark moody music. Or at least, that's how I get.

Which brings us, dear readers, to the matter at hand. THIEVES LIKE US Vol. 6. I present it to you in all of it's cold, frostbitten glory. 25 tracks to sit at home alone next to the space heater to.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE MIX

TRACK ORDER (by artist):
1] Fever Ray
2] Ulver
3] Kite
4] Assemblage 23
5] Destroid
6] Bella Morte
7] Cold Cave
8] Former Ghosts
9] Monumentum
10] The Mary Onettes
11] The Cure
12] Bauhaus
13] Danzig
14] Gerard McMann
15] Carpathian
16] Gothminister
17] Psyclon Nine
18] Wumpscut
19] Sisters of Mercy
20] Sixx
21] White Lies
22] Editors
23] SunnO)))
24] Joy Division
25] Nine Inch Nails

Oh, and speaking of riding bikes and black metal....in case you missed these....it's pretty great/horrible/hilarious/embarrassing/awesome/awful.

THE FRIGGING SHIELD

2009-12-12T18:36:00.000-08:00

OK. I will admit it. I am a climbing addict. I may not be the strongest. Or the boldest. I might not have the greatest climbing blog in the world. But damn it, I love this stuff. I get a little obsessed. A tad wacky perhaps. Fixated. Etc. A couple years back, I saw some footage of Jason Kehl climbing a beautiful face at Little Rock City (now Stone Fort), in Chattanooga, TN. He ended up calling it The Shield, and the bugger goes at V12. It became pretty evident to me straight away that this was a world class beautiful cumshot of a boulder problem. Later on, some Sportiva ads surfaced featuring Kehl on the very climb. The photos made me even more interested. This thing looked freaking amazing. The beginnings of my obsession surfaced around this time. A little later on, rock climbing legend and sexiest man alive John Glassberg posted a video of his ascent of the boulder. That was it. I wanted in. Badly. Maybe it was John's ravishing good looks, and my insane jealousy at my inability to ever be as unstoppable handsome as he is. But either damn way. I needed to climb The Shield. There was just one obvious problem. I live in Boston. The Shield is in Tennessee. Well, this past month I went to the Southeast to see my family (read: TO GET MY HANDS ON THE HOLDS OF THE SHIELD.) So what did I do in the few weeks leading up to the trip? I tried to ignore my back injury and get my finger strength up to par. I closed my eyes at night and saw this freaking boulder in my sleep. Ridiculous.

Day one: Straight from the car ride from Grovetown, GA to the boulder field. Waste lots of times on old favorites like the Cleopatra-Cinderella traverse (v9), Super Mario (v5), Redhouse (v7), Tri-star Crack (v3), Deception (v7), etc. Finally, I work my way back to The Shield. It's really a sight to see. I was a little giddy. I took a snapshot with my iPHONE and sent it to anyone whom I foolishly thought might actually give a shit. (If you were the recipient of one of those picture messages, I'm sorry ok? I WAS EXCITED. WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME????) I toyed around on a couple of the moves. But my companion had to be to work, and I knew that if I sat down to give it real effort, I would not be able to drag myself away. TOMORROW SHIELD. TOMORROW.

Day two: We had to semi-sneak in to the boulder field on this day because a bunch of uptight, elitist hillbilly fucking retards think they own the boulder field. And that's all I'm going to say about that. Warm up. Head straight for it. Not much time today. But amazing temps. Worked out the opening/easier moves in two attempts. One I got in to the crux, I was utterly baffled. I had use a "lifeline" as if I was in some game show to call John Glassberg for some beta. Jesus, old school rock climbing purist types would have been embarrassed to see me on my iPHONE at the foot of the boulder discussing the nuances of a heel-hook versus a toe on the crux move. But you know what I have to say to them? Technology is freedom mother fuckers. It's fall. Decorative gourd season. Now you're either ready to reap this freaky-assed harvest or your not. Get out of the way, I'm trying to find some 3g network service so I can watch the video on YOU TUBE dammit. Must. Get. Beta.

At any rate, I worked out the crux. Which is very, very difficult and involves a long ass throw off a heel hook that is at about chin height. And you're moving in to a completely shitty flat hold. Sweet. A little dismayed at this point, sun was going down and I had not yet stuck the crux.

Day three: After some snow, and fighting through about 3564529812 climbers to get back to the boulder, I much anticipated a send. The conditions were great. If anything, it was too cold. Something asinine like 27 degrees. I made it to the crux with nearly no effort and almost stuck the move my first attempt of the day. I was having a hard time keeping my fingers warm. After a few solid efforts, I was left by myself with just 1 crashpad. A less than ideal scenario for this thing. I eventually stuck the crux move, and nearly did the boulder, only to have my foot pop sending me flinging from the boulder. GAHHHH! NEXT ATTEMPT IT GOES.

I waited too long. 30 minutes of spotting my friend on Deception proved to be too long in the hideous cold. I got back on and it became clear very quickly that I was done for the day. My muscles were utterly and completely frozen.

I admit it, I am an addict. I will buy a plane ticket to bum-fuck USA to climb on a rock. AND FAIL. But is that failure? Is traveling with visions of standing on top of a physical and mental challenge failure? Is it crazy? Am I demon? Etc.

I think not. I'm going back. The Shield will fall.

THE SOUTHEAST IS ESSENTIALLY FUCKED.

2009-12-08T23:05:00.000-08:00

Ok. I'm sorry. But seriously? The Southeastern United States is a pretty awful place. I love the climbing there. And I have some dear and sweet friends whom (for reasons beyond my grasp) still reside there. I spent about 10 days kickin' it down there in the "red states". I flew in to Asheville, NC to visit my family. I have to say that Asheville, NC seems like one of the more useless places I have ever been. Then, it was off to Augusta (technically Grovetown), GA to see my favorite family in the universe: The Cones. I got disgustingly and violently ill at their house for 24 hours. I am at least 95% certain that I almost died. Then, it was off to the main event....5 days of climbing (in a row. OOF.) in Chattanooga, TN. Which is decidedly the only place in the Southeast I could even consider living.

My goal: To climb The Shield (V12) at Little Rock City. Or Stone Fort. Whatever the hell they are calling it these days. My secondary goal: to climb the most beautiful lines I could find. More on goal #1 later. For now, let's tackle the pesky business of finding gorgeous rocks to touch.

Right up the road from some of the more well-known bouldering areas is a small satellite area called Pep Boys. This place boasts some of the most incredibly scenic climbing I have seen since the Buttermilks and Rocklands. I crested a hill at one point to see a lone football-shaped boulder leaning right over the creek.

WHOAH.

"Oh dear god that thing had better have climbable features on it.", I proclaimed as I scrambled down the slope toward it. I hopped across the creek on some rocks to arrive at the foot of what is, to be certain, one of the most gorgeous climbs these tired old eyes have ever seen. Not too hard. Maybe V7. But holllyyyyy smokes was it a looker. Three holds to the top. And a big, committing last move. All the while a gurgling creek whooshes behind you. Beautiful.

In almost a hurry to get on this thing.

First move is a really nice drop-knee on subtle feet to cross to the first crimp.

About to set up for the last move to the lip.

There were some great little warm ups and moderates scattered throughout this boulder field as well. Kaleigh had committed herself to a really fun little roof problem with a pretty heinous top out.

Roof!

It seems tall when you're from FL.

HEY ASSHOLES

2009-11-25T08:16:00.001-08:00

I'm gonna go ahead and say it: "Because it tastes good" is no longer going to fly. Here is what you're supposed to think you're eating:

What are we, a nation of 6 year olds? Throw a happy cartoon of a jolly turkey ready to be eaten and we actually go for it? Embarrassing.

And here is the fucking reality:

I'm off to North Carolina and Georgia and Tennessee to see family, friends, and boulders. Eat like you actually give a damn people.

MIND OFFICIALLY BLOWN

2009-11-19T07:32:00.000-08:00

I came across something. An artist by the name of Kris Kuksi. There are really no words that I can add to these sculptures.

(Click on the images to enlarge them and also have YOUR mind blown.)

I can only assume it takes approximately ONE MILLION HOURS to complete one of these sculptures that is some manner of 3-D hybrid of H.R. Giger and Hieronymous Bosch. Truly amazing. Art man. Art.

I'M A PERSON JUST LIKE YOU...

2009-11-18T19:48:00.001-08:00

Thought I would share this. Last night on FOX News, they did a segment on Straight Edge. I'm not sure what the weird-o phenomena is with major news randomly wanting to do segments on SXE, but it seems to happen every couple of years. Lots of local people here like Sweet Pete from IN MY EYES, and Chris Wrenn of BRIDGE NINE RECORDS.

In addition, the EDGE movie is making it's rounds. Having just finished it's US premier tour, it's now on it's European leg. I was out of town for the Boston premier, so I haven't even seen it. I am eagerly awaiting the DVD. Has anybody seen this? Is it any good?

I fucking LOVE what Ian says in the beginning of that trailer. So good. It's cool to see old SXE dudes growing up, being old, being Edge and being psyched about it. Whether it's Chris Wrenn who is definitely giving more back to the hardcore scene than he probably ever got out of it. Or whether it's Sweet Pete whom simply states that he will always be Straight Edge. Or even if it's the guys who made the EDGE movie taking their time and energy to document the scene. I'm glad to have been a part of the hardcore and straight edge community.

HIGH FIVES AND STAGE DIVES!

ANTI MOVEMENT, ANTI-ANTI

2009-11-18T08:32:00.000-08:00

I hate to be "that guy", but please help out my friends and go vote on the ANTI-SWEDEN jeans. ANTI SWEDEN JEANS are on the competition called ISPO brand awards.

CLICK HERE TO VOTE

On the left side, you see the list of "WHO`s HOT" , scroll down, click JEANS, and you will see this image above, click the red square on the left, "RATE IT!"

Also, check out the ANTI-SWEDEN site for more darkness.

DEFEND THE DARKNESS HERE

2009-11-17T21:00:00.000-08:00

Here we have it. THIEVES LIKE US VOLUME 5. As usual, I am keeping a theme of sorts. Twenty five tracks of metal. From MANOWAR to AOSOTH. IN FLAMES to BAPHOMET'S BLOOD. The grim, the fast, the slow, the sludgy, the dark, the evil. Enjoy.

TRACK ORDER (by artist):

1]MANOWAR
2]KATATONIA
3]SENTENCED
4]IN FLAMES
5]SAMAEL
6]DISIPLIN
7]KHOLD
8]GLORIOR BELLI
9]ABSU
10]IMMORTAL
11]ENTOMBED
12]VEER
13]I.C.E.
14]AOSOTH
15]KATHARSIS
16]TYRANT
17]BAPHOMET'S BLOOD
18]ANAAL NATHRAKH
19]FUKPIG
20]ROTTEN SOUND
21]AGRIMONIA
22]WOLFBRIGADE
23]CELTIC FROST
24]COLD WORLD
25]JESU

*NOTE: Please do not waste your time telling me how IN FLAMES is not metal, or how ABSU was wayyyy better before they "sold out", or that Left Hand Path is a superior ENTOMBED album to my choice from Clandestine. I don't really care. I am not trying to impress the metal elite. If you want to have a conversation about the KVLT and the GRIM, ask me about "LEFT HAND PATH" (not the entombed album.)

CLICK HERE TO GET THIEVES LIKE US VOLUME 5

UNTIL THE LIGHT TAKES US

2009-11-08T19:12:00.000-08:00

In keeping with my metal mood as of late, I bring to you the trailer for the documentary UNTIL THE LIGHT TAKES US. This movie is sure to knock the socks off. There has been a ton of interesting coverage of the Norwegian black metal scene. Whether it's Peter Beste's photographic journalism, or VICE magazine (barf.) doing some rather candid interviews with Gaahl. Plus of course the controversial book LORDS OF CHAOS, which is supposedly also being turned in to a documentary.

This film is opening in Providence on December 4th. Who will go see it with me?

Also, I found this little interview with the filmmakers.

Until The Light Takes Us * AFI Film Festival Los Angeles * Aaron Aites * Audrey Ewell from RealTVfilms on Vimeo.

PRODUCT REVIEW:TIMBUK2 Hemlock pack

2009-10-29T15:22:00.000-07:00

So my friend at TIMBUK2 sent me one of their new HEMLOCK backpacks. What instantly struck me is that this bag is damn good looking. By far one of the best looking rolltops out there. The second thing I instantly noticed is that there are no waist or sternum straps. This was incredibly dismaying. I basically wrote the thing off and figured it would be uncomfortable. I was wrong. Really wrong. This bag is hands down the most comfortable pack I have ever ridden with. I have loaded that thing up with groceries, bike parts, climbing gear, coats, etc. and even when it clocked in at about 38 pounds it was still massively comfortable, didn't shift one bit, and sat right where I wanted it to. The minimal strap design turns out to be this pack's blessing rather than it's curse. I took it on a 50 mile ride with about 25 pounds in it and loved it. And the fewer the straps, the less shit there is to flap around in the wind. The HEMLOCK is a standard bucket style rolltop, with a few added bonuses. There is a padded laptop sleeve that you can access without having to take the entire pack of or open the rolltop. There is also a nice little stash pouch on here too. Cinch straps on the side have proved to be useful for me too. I was a little worried initially that they were excessive, but I have cinched down my load, and even used them to strap a climbing rope to the outside of the bag. The external pocket has pretty basic organization in it for pens and other random things.

One of many trips to the farmer's market
where I stuffed the bag to the brim with produce.

Here are my issues with the HEMLOCK: The outer pocket is really poorly designed. The closure system on it (velcro) coupled with the shape of the pouch and shape of the flap DO NOT integrate well, and if you want an even remotely tight seal, you have to put some effort in to it and fold the sides in before you velcro the flap down. The light hanger on the back is too near the bottom of the pack. Every time I sat the bag down, the light lifted right off the hanger. If any of you have ever owned a bike light, you know those damn things are hard to keep around. Always getting lost, broken, etc. Anyhow, the rolltop has the same issues as the outer pocket: weird integration between rolldown, velcro, and extra fabric that needs to be folded in. Also, that main strap on the top is wayyy too long, I cut about 4 inches off the strap to keep it from flapping around. Lastly....why the hell is this thing not waterproof? Seriously. Put some vinyl on the inside and call it good guys.

All in all, this is my current go-to pack. Just the right size (they sent me Large), sleek, sharp looking, and comfortable as hell. It's a shame I'll have to revert to my Chrome if I want to ride in the rain. I'd like to see some of those minor revisions made, then they can rename the pack the "Gavin".

AYN RAND WAS FUCKING DUMB.

2009-10-26T15:03:00.000-07:00

Alex Honnold trying not to lose his shit on Half Dome

I have come as close as I want to epic climbing disaster. I have seen my life flash before my eyes free-soloing. I have taken horrifying falls. I have made my own stomach curl up in to my throat on the top outs of higher-than-high boulders. I have been lost as hell in the woods of the high country above Yosemite Valley at night trying desperately to find my way back to the car. It has been said that climbing is a selfish pursuit. Whoever said that is either A] Not a climber, B] A complete jackass, or both. Climbing is only a selfish pursuit if the person climbing is selfish. Saying that climbing is a selfish pursuit is like saying buying a car in your preferred color is a selfish act. FREE-SOLOING is a selfish pursuit. The things you put at risk doing such a thing take a certain measure of "fuck you world" in order to swallow deep and grab those first holds. Which is all at once an honorable and courageous act, while at the same time about as childish and stupid as running around yelling "mememememe me me me!". Which isn't to say I disapprove, or have not dipped my hand in to my chalkbag and took off up something without being tied in. It's just to say that when you do so, YOU BETTER MAKE FUCKING SURE YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING.

Why am I talking about this? The topic of free-soloing has hit home (literally) lately, as my best friend, climbing partner, and roommate has just broken his ankle in an attempt to solo Supernova (5.14b) at Rumney. Max wrote all about his epic experience on the Boston Rock Gym blog. It has since been linked on ClimbingNarc. Free soloing seems to be getting a shit-ton of press lately. Whether it's the recent death of world famous ropeless climber John Bachar or all the rave of Alex Honnold, and I think it's really important that we keep all this shit in perspective. People like Honnold are definitely asking for it. I'm sorry, but he is. I wish him the best of luck in all of his climbing endeavors. His free-solos are awe-inspiring and downright impressive. But they are also mind-numbingly stupid. Dying doing something you love is in a way amazing. But really only in a cheesy poetic way. Outside of that, it's actually pretty ridiculous. I mean, wouldn't you rather CONTINUE to do what you love?

That said, it is extremely important to note that on the topic of free-soloing, my opinion does not matter. Much like when I told Max the night prior to his accident "I don't think it's a good idea.", I am sure that if someone whom cared deeply for Alex Honnold told him not to do what he does, he would likely smile and nod, and go do it anyhow.

When trying to explain Max's injury to a non-climbing friend of mine I was asked "why the hell would you do that?" While I couldn't speak specifically for Max's motivations, I could answer the question:

"We as climbers want to push the limits. Our limits-both physically and mentally, we want to push the limits of what is possible as a climber, we want to reach new thresholds and hew heights-literally and figuratively."

"But why not just tie in?" my friend asks. I had to put it in terms he could understand:

"When you and I get on our fixed gear bikes and go tearing through the busy streets of Boston without brakes people think we are insane. But we get it. We know our limits, we feel in control of our bikes and the situation we are putting ourselves in. We love the exhilaration and pureness of the fixed gear bike. The simplicity of it, and yes, at times, the riskiness of it all."

He nodded. Now it made sense.

Steph Davis well in to the "no fall zone" sans rope.

And that's just it. Us weirdos out on the lunatic fringe of society are always pushing our own limits. Whether it's to increase our heart rate, boost our own egos, or simply because we think-and have sometimes convinced ourselves-that we are invincible. Steph Davis once said that "free-soloing is the ultimate display of control." I can't say I disagree. But it's important to recognize that the potential for accident-which is to say-things that are *outside* control is not finite. Shit can, and certainly will happen. The more you free-solo, the more you put yourself out there to push those limits, those physical and mental bounds, the closer you will get to that scary edge. A scary edge that falling off of can land you in emergency surgery with a smashed ankle, bug-eyed and laughing with your friends at how close of a call you just had, or dead.

The late Mike Reardon.

One important thing that Max touched on in his little screed about his experience is something that I have as of yet to see mentioned in any other public forum on the topic of free-soloing is how it affects those around you. In his case it was his employer, friends, roommate, etc. The Reel Rock Tour fails to mention in it's heart-warming interviews of Alex Honnold and his mom just how awful it would be if he died. How it might devastate those around him. Those stories are saved for the obituary issues of Climbing. Where numerous people chime in to tell their stories about John Bachar or Derek Hersey. It seems as though we maybe glorify the acts of free-soloists until it's too late. Perhaps more articles should have been written calling Mike Reardon a moron. Perhaps not.

Climbing is not a selfish pursuit, it's an amazing and fulfilling lifestyle and activity that can bring people together, form the strongest of bonds, and teach you a million lessons. It is also inherently dangerous. The lesson of injury or death from free-soloing is not a climbing lesson, it is a life lesson. Cherish what you have, love what you do, and don't be stupid.

Maxim asleep in my car on the way home from the hospital. Glad you're ok pal.

THE PURGING WIND IN MY HAIR

2009-10-26T14:36:00.000-07:00

As the past few months have been somewhat of a living hell I have come to depend on late night bike rides. They are a gorgeous thing. Particularly as the weather has gotten to be my favorite. Cool and sunny during the day, and downright cold at night. Crisp fall air in my lungs is one of the most refreshing things I can imagine. This month's mix is intended to be plugged in to on a bike ride. I made this specifically to fill my ears (and yours) with an epic crescendo of riding goodness. So grease your chain, put on your helmet, plug in your headphones and ride hard.

TRACK ORDER (by artist):
1] Assemblage 23
2] Styrofoam
3] The Fauns
4] The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
5] The Jesus and Mary Chain
6] Doves
7] Tesla Boy
8] Editors
9] Lola Angst
10] Frankmusik
11] Discovery
12] Infadels
13] Fugazi
14] Third Eye Blind
15] Misfits
16] Paint it Black
17] No Friends
18] Doomriders
19] Watain
20] Air

A few notes:

a] Yes, that IS a Third Eye Blind song stuck right between Fugazi and The Misfits. No, I am not trying to be ironic. I love that band.

b] Tesla Boy is by far the greatest thing to happen to synth music since THIS RECORD came out.

c] No Friends are the best thing to come out of Florida since the Averkiou album. If you are unlucky enough to be trapped in Gainesville, FL for "The Fest", No Friends are playing. Go see them. And make fun of all the assholes in flip flops drinking PBR.

d] Doomriders "Darkness Come Alive" gets my vote for greatest album of 2009. Go buy it.

e] The Jesus and Mary Chain *still* kick ass.

f] This video for Air's "Sing Sang Sung" makes me want to die it's so good.

AIR MUSIC VIDEO SING SANG SUNG from MATHEMATIC SAS on Vimeo.

DOWNLOAD VOLUME FOUR HERE.

TOO GOOD NOT TO STEAL

2009-10-22T01:02:00.001-07:00

I love my friends. And I love climbing. The fact that I get to hang out with the goddamn geniuses involved in this video makes me the deepest and most sincere kinds of happy.

Max: BRG V13 from David Wetmore on Vimeo.

OPEN HOUSES + INJURIES

2009-10-21T23:55:00.000-07:00

That's me out front. BECAUSE I AM SO FAST.

I meant to get some of this stuff up earlier this week, but the week has turned in to some kind of evil beast that I have no control over. So here it is late Wednesday night and I am talking about last weekend.....At any rate, this past Saturday, I awoke to a splendid fall day. Crisp air, sunshine, light breeze. Holy wow. What to do, what to do? Go to Rumney*** with Max and Dave to potentially make my injury worse? Or do a 50 mile ride out to Holliston with some homies to the A.N.T bike open house. For reasons I will not go in to here, I opted for the ride. It was absolutely fantastic. The New England foliage is totally bangin' right now.

There were at least two hills that my poor little legs did not want to ride up. But I soldiered through and even kept up with the people on Geekhouse's new cyclocross bikes. Upon arriving at A.N.T., we were greeted with plates of vegan brownies, little containers of candy corn (gross), hot apple cider, and friendly smiles. Mike really has an amazing shop, full of character and nice bikes. After some mingling, we all stuffed our faces with indian food and then returned to the plates of cookies and brownies.

The real festivities got underway when the tricycle race and trackstand competition began. The Geekhouse posse threw down with Marty taking 1st in the tricycle race (I came in 2nd), and with Greg, Tom, and myself taking 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the trackstand comp. Greggles and Marty both had the burden of lugging trophies home in their bags. Sucked for them. The glorious burden of victory I suppose.

After arriving back in to town, we all went straight to The Fringe Movement open house. Because really, what else is there to do besides open house-hop all day and get free drink and food. And maybe even win A COUPLE FUCKING TROPHIES while you're at it? The Fringe Movement is essentially a giant warehouse of awesome. Some good friends have all managed to bring together the most radical and talented and creative people all under one roof. Which is inspiringly insane to me. That lasted most of the rest of my night.

Ian builds really REALLY amazing bikes.

Brian Hollingsworth of Royal H cycles. He makes great bikes. Like this next one in the works with THE MOST BRAZE-ONS of all time ever on any single bike.

***Oh, and max broke his ankle trying to free solo Super Nova (5.14b) at Rumney.

NOSTALGIC

2009-10-10T15:32:00.000-07:00

I totally screwed my back up about three weeks ago falling from the final moves of my project at Rumney up in New Hampshire. I also exploded something in my wrist. Naturally, I made the smart decision and went to Bradley the next day and sent The Prow (V10) and tried hard on Suspect Device (V11). Then trained hard in the gym the next week. End result...Maxim woke up early this morning and headed to Rumney with Dave and I sat it out because my back feels like hell on a stick.

After a long and beautiful ride in the breezy Autumn weather, I came home and made the universe's largest salad and toyed around on the world wide interwebs for a while. I came across a video of pubescent phenom Adam Ondra doing boulders in South Africa. These problems are fan-frigging-tastic, and the video quality is awesome. It makes me miss South Africa. Watching these videos made my fingertips sweat for another go on Caroline (7c+).

Rocklands Season is well over with at this point, which means (in my head) that we are on the downside of the hill before Rocklands season of 2010. Max, Dave and I are definitely heading for the boulders next year. And I expect it will be an amazing trip. I can't wait to get back and send some unfinished business.

In other news, Ray of Light in this video....for all intensive purposes looks like it's the Something from Nothing of South Africa. Seeing as how Something from Nothing in Great Barrington, MA is my favorite boulder problem of all time, Ray of Light looks enticing to say the least.

Me on Something from Nothing days before I sent. Photo by Glassberg.

Head over to DEADPOINT MAG to watch the video of Ondra in South Africa in all of it's hi-res glory.

RECORD OF THE MOMENT

2009-10-09T23:11:00.000-07:00

This one comes from my friend Justin at THUNDERLIZARD. Some amazingly fun and energetic old school hardcore from....Florida? Ha! There is little information out there about this band or this record. All I can tell you is that it's fucking awesome melodic hardcore. Here are some facts I managed to dredge up: The singer went on to play with another great band Clair-Mel and the guitarist went on to play with End Of The Century Party. Apparently, Steve Heritage from legendary band Assuck drew the cover for this EP.

Regardless, download it here and enjoy it time and time again:

AWAKE!-Beliefs 7"

COMMUNE

2009-10-09T23:02:00.000-07:00

Ok, so this video has essentially made the rounds at this point. I think even HYPEBEAST has it. But it's really excellent. An exciting idea that appears to have been well coordinated, well filmed, and well executed. This concept appeals to me because I think this is something fairly new to the (already fairly young) fixed gear scene. As a climber, I have traveled all over. Even to other countries to meet complete strangers. And that common bond of climbing has brought us together and held us together like glue. There is little weirdness, and whatever cultural differences there are become merely an aside to the fact that we love to climb. So it's good to see this being showcased in the urban cycling scene. Not to say it has never been brought to light before, but if NIKE is on board, you know this is pretty huge.

At any rate, enough from me....check out the trailer:

LONDON TO PARIS from Amazing Grace on Vimeo.

MAXIMUM BLACK

2009-09-26T22:57:00.000-07:00

So as of late, I have been really enjoying sleeping at night. Granted, I usually get 5 hours of sleep or less. But man, I really *enjoy* it. Part of the experience has been being in MY OWN PLACE after couch surfing and living in my car for over a month. So settling down in my own bed has been a real treat. Lately, I have been very interested in finding what I like to call "freddy music". You know how in all the Nightmare on Elm Street movies...all those fucking kids talk about is how they can't sleep or they'll die. But they always fall asleep anyhow? Well, that's the kind of sleep I want my music to induce. The kind of sleep that I couldn't resist even if I was being chased by a scary pedophile with bad acne and a Cosby sweater.

So this month's mix installment is just that. Music to fall the hell asleep to. Now, let me make it clear, that if you are not the kind of person who likes to fall asleep to music, this is probably going to be no different. So don't whine. I should also make it clear that these are not the most exciting songs on the planet. If you're looking for good exciting jams, check out VOLUME 1 or VOLUME 2.

As usual, the track listing is important. By track 20, you should be engaged in a deep, dream-like sleep. (And maybe getting disemboweled by a dude with blade-fingers.)

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FILE: thieves like us volume three

(BY ARTIST)
1] Apoptygma Berzerk
2] Architect
3] Aerosol
4] Asobi Seksu
5] Washed Out
6] Mew
7] The Daysleepers
8] Strip Music
9] Airiel
10] Alcian Blue
11] Kings of Convenience
12] Jose Gonzalez
13] Ola Podrida
14] Vitesse
15] Antimatter
16] Jesu
17] Ulver
18] Anathema
19] Gregor Samsa
20] Bohren & Der Club of Gore

*Disclaimer: Apparently, I like the whole Shoegaze revival stuff.

*Disclaimer 2: I know that Jose Gonzalez song is so cliche' that it even get played at fucking Barnes & Noble and Whole Foods. But fuck it.

CONNECTICUT

2009-09-23T22:13:00.001-07:00

Spent the day in the woods near Hartford CT. Beautiful weather.

John "The Hagg" Haggerty came along for his first bouldering experience at Bradley.

Max hung out and shouted at The Hagg a lot for not climbing "smart."

This rock is shaped just like an arrow!

LOOKING GOOD = CLIMBING SAFELY

2009-09-23T21:59:00.000-07:00

If you look good, you feel good. If you feel good, you climb well, if you climb well, you don't fall. LOOKING GOOD IS CLIMBING SAFELY. Truth. With that said, here are a few suggestions on recent products that are sure to fit both the climbing needs, and the looking good needs.

Up first is Nike ACG's 3 layer K2 parka. Holy smokes. While Nike would not be the first brand I would look to for quality outdoor gear, this jacket is amazing looking. And undoubtedly performs well. Plus it pay homage to the 1978 ascent of the might K2.

Nicely done Nike. Points awarded. We still won't forgive you for all the bullshit you make though. Speaking of producing bullshit, my pals at OUTLIER do nothing of the sort. Which is being proven yet again by their new Canvas pant. These guys do not fuck around. They make simple, functional, classy digs. Quality build. Good materials. Great fit. No joke.

Design in any form is simple: a solution to a problem. Nike ACG and OUTLIER have nailed it here. Excellent work. Now if I could just get my hands on some disposable income.

CRAP.

2009-09-02T09:03:00.000-07:00

It's been almost a month since I posted anything. The end of August has been like a blastbeat on a black metal record-unrelenting, and only masked by the screams of the anguished vocalist. Lord in heaven.

At any rate. The weather here in New England is getting what I like to call "holy fuck awesome". Highs have been in the low 70's and it's been breezy any sunny. This weekend will be my fist time climbing outside since forever ago. So I am psyched. I'm feeling pretty fit after training for the entire monsoon season we had. I got on my bike a ton though. Which is good.

In some climbing related news, friend and New Englander Phil Schaal has recently sent "Jade" V15. I knew this kid was strong, but holy shit. Good job dude. Keep an eye on Phil's blog to catch the video of sendification.

I have high hopes for sending "Suspect Device" V11 at Bradley, CT this fall, as well as maybe getting some work done on "Roses & Bluejays" V13 at The Great Barrington. Both of these problems are really, REALLY fucking good. And after my send of "Something from Nothing" this past fall, I think I can make things happen. I'd also like to polish off "Dr. No" 5.13d at Rumney. That freaking thing is getting to be the bane of my meager climbing existence. So wish me luck on that shit.

In some random and fairly unimportant cycling news, I have recently switched both of my fixed gear bikes to plastic toe clips. I randomly was given a pair, and had always been hesitant about them. But I have to say, I will likely never ride metal clips again, These things are softer, more comfortable, don't scrape, and have the same pulling power as the metal ones. Admittedly, I have heard some scary stories about them ripping off the pedals, but I can't imagine how that would happen if the straps are tight. Whenever I apply resistance, at least 90% of that resistance is taken by my straps, not the clips.

At any rate, I would highly suggest checking a set of these out. All-City makes some in lots of colors. But really they are all the same danged things made in Taiwan and re-branded.

IT USED TO BE SO MUCH FUN

2009-08-13T21:55:00.000-07:00

Not that I remember, or was even alive. But admittedly, when I think of the big races like Le Tour, or the Giro, I think of helmet-less dudes in woolen cycling jerseys zipping along cobblestone roads having to stop at wells to get their own water, riding lugged steel frames, and carrying their own damned inner tubes in their pockets. These races now are all spandex, lycra, support cars and carbon fiber. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I love watching the races.

BUT.

Imagine if it was still like this:

MASH UP SLAMMER JAMMER

2009-08-08T19:56:00.000-07:00

Ok. So, carrying on here, I have completed August's mix offering. Here it is, the THIEVES LIKE US mix, Volume Two. The first installment was primarily electronic focused. Making all of you bob your heads and tap your toes while speeding to your favorite summer climbing spot. Volume two is offering something a little more diverse. I don't promise that everyone is going to like every single song on here. You just wait until I make the THIEVES LIKE US KVLTEST BLACK METAL mix. Then most of you will really wonder what the hell is wrong with me.

As a post script, I have to give a shout out to some of my music savvy pals who introduced me to a couple of the jams on here, which I am now passing on. This is one of the many things that is so wonderful about music!

DOWNLOAD LINK: http://www.sendspace.com/file/g3qh9h

As usual, track order is key (by artist):

1] The Airborne Toxic Event
2] Datarock
3] Better Than a Thousand
4] Gallows
5] Inquisition
6] Count Me Out
7] Paint it Black
8] The Hope Conspiracy
9] Cancer Bats
10] I.E
11] Nachtmar
12] State of the Union
13] Peter Heppner
14] The Daysleepers
15] Built to Spill
16] Bit Shifter
17] Cylob
18] Milke
19] Elke
20] Seabound

A few notes: Peter Heppner is the vocalist for German synthpop band WOLFSHEIM. Check them out. The BIT SHIFTER cover track is on the Weezer tribute album available here. The AIRBORNE TOXIC EVENT song is amazing, and every other song by them sucks. So don't bother.

LOST & FOUND

2009-08-08T14:34:00.001-07:00

Finally got the last batch of pictures off of the camera. Some on there that I had forgotten about. A good sequence of the Sunset Arete Traverse in Rocklands, South Africa. This thing is V7 or so, and is rather tall. We had (as you can see), one tiny lousy little crashpad with us. Falling was not an option.

UNHOLY PANTS

2009-08-05T21:46:00.001-07:00

As long as we are talking about pants...let me throw this little update at you: Not too long ago, I mentioned the most amazing jeans of all time ANTI-SWEDEN JEANS. Well, they have just recently finished a commercial for the pants. And it might be the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my life. Pay close attention to the shadow at the beginning!

OUTLIER CLIMBER PANTS

2009-08-05T20:38:00.000-07:00

The irony here is that these pants are actually designed for cycling. Not climbing. I bought these pants at Bicycle Film Festival in NYC earlier this summer, and instantly knew they were going to become a favorite. These things are probably about as close to the perfect pairing of fashion and function as you can get. A nice slim fit, made from 4Season Lotus soft shell fabric, these things stretch, repel water, breathe and look damn good. The reversed yoke reduces the normal friction areas that would be a problem whilst riding...or rock climbing for that matter. And the curved waistband keeps your thong from hanging out when you're riding or topping-out on your favorite boulder problem. It's also worth mentioning that these pants are made in NYC. OUTLIER has a no-compromise aesthetic using nothing but the best fabrics and quality construction right in the Big Apple. As a result, the prices are a bit steep for the average climber/cyclist. These pants clock in at $180. But frankly, are well worth it. The biggest problem in the outdoor industry for years has been it's lack of ability to keep up with the rest of the universe in regards to fashion and lifestyle. If you go to any outdoor retailer trade show, most people there look like some sort of urban hippy poser. It's really a shame. And unlike most other fringe sports like Skateboarding, BMX, etc. climbing has nobody doing anything that even remotely relevant on a fashion level. Unless, of course, you are in to bedazzled tee shirts (Not that there's anything wrong with that.). The moral here: The outdoor industry needs a swift kick in the pants. It needs to catch up with the rest of the world. There is no reason why you can't have fantastically functional clothing that also looks amazing and is fashion forward.

The bad news? Luckily there isn't much. The only things I would change here are the back pockets. At least one of them needs to have a closure of some kind, and they are just as stretchy as the rest of the pants, so when I am riding, I feel like my u-lock and/or my wallet are going to fall out. Outside of that, these things are freaking genius. They ride amazingly, they climb amazingly, and they look and fit awesome. They also come in a lighter weight summer-time fabric (which I am wishing I had right about now.), and they also made some killer shorts as well. (What's up guys...send me a pair!)

Outlier is killing it. Super fine craftsmanship, great product, and killer style. Hoodies, hats, pants, shirts. Get in to it.

TO THE SUMMIT!

2009-07-27T20:48:00.000-07:00

Man, what a weekend.

I slept for maybe 5 hours all weekend. And none of it was in my own bed. I think I spent about 80% of the time on my bike. The other twenty percent was spent either getting unintentionally involved in some manner of madness, or eating. It all started WAY too fucking early on Saturday morning. The alarm went off and I got up to drive to the middle-of-nowhere hippytown Connecticut to help Brooksie sell lots and lots of amazing TOTALLY SWEET vegan treats to hippies, yogis, potters, and other weirdos. All in all, a relaxing day in the sun with a giant table of vegan treats in front of me that I couldn't eat.

(The following pictures were taken with an iPHONE. I feel the need to make this disclaimer thanks a certain someone who has given me a complex about not being good enough.)

I found boulders out front of the Boston Children's Museum. Of course we had to stop and say hi.

There are at least 2 semi-quality boulder problems on these things.

I can not do any tricks.

Except for a no-hands trackstand.

Then it was off to meet up with the Geekhouse boys for a night of riding, eating, telling stupid stories and other random adventures. I ended up riding around Boston with Joe until some unholy hour and crashing in his spare bedroom for like 12 minutes until we had to get up to go compete in the George Street Major Taylor event in Worcester.

The view from less than 1/3 way up.

There is really no word to describe how daunting of a task this race is. It's only something like 500ft. A time trial sprint....UP THE MOST RIDICULOUS HILL EVER. An average grade of 18% with the steepest bit (conveniently located at the top of the climb) clocking in at a hellish 24% grade. SHO MY GOD. There were around 150 competitors. Riding on super expensive bikes, three person tandems, BMX bikes, track bikes, touring bikes, and one dude even attacked that hill in a really big crappy wal-mart mountain bike in nothing but sneakers and platform pedals. Due to poor planning, Marty and I shared a GEEKHOUSE bike as well as cleats for our shoes. We swapped out the rear cog and mashed up the hill on a 46-20 gear ratio and I think we did bloody well. Marty beat me by 2 seconds even after taking a nasty spill half way up on his first go because he is an amateur and can't handle the bike he built with his own two hands. Marty's entire family rides, and his dad and younger brother both raced as well. Overall, this event was great fun. And I will definitely return next year to beat my time this year. (Which for the record, I got because of BAD ADVICE from Marty.) I can definitely shave AT LEAST 5 seconds off my time. Anyhow....whatever.

Me just leaving the starting line. Before shit got *difficult*.

Approaching the 28% grade. So steep.

Marty at the starting line.

Ladies and Gentlemen, MARTY WALSH.

Second go, much better. WOOO!

Um. That's really quite a hill.

After that we went back to Marty's parents' house and stuffed our faces with vege-kebabs, boca burgers, veggie dogs, and sprite. Then headed back to Boston for an evening of riding, eating, and movie-going. Turned out amazing. THE HANGOVER is a surprisingly good film. Unless, of course, you're a ritard.

I'm heading to San Francisco for some friends' wedding this weekend, but when I get back there's a lot of cool features coming for THIEVES LIKE US. I have confirmed the interview and video session with GEEKHOUSE, as well as one with OPEN. So those should make for some insightful and mildly entertaining reads/views. So keep checking back on that front. I also have some product reviews coming up...which I will reveal more about later.

I JUST CUMMED

2009-07-23T18:29:00.000-07:00

RECORD ROUNDUP

2009-07-22T19:53:00.001-07:00

ell. It seems as though there has been a slew of new/new-ish records to come out lately. All of which you should own. I am not going to post any of these for download for several reasons: 1] A lot of them were released by my friends, or friends of mine are in the band. SO you should actually support them. 2] It's too much danged work. 3] There is NO excuse to get THIS MUCH great music for free. Ok, here goes:

PAINT IT BLACK-Amnesia EP

Even if you had been living in a cave, or on the space station, I would still find it hard to believe that you have not heard of this band. If I had to make a list of current hardcore bands doing anything relevant, the list would be depressingly short, and right smack in the number one position would be PAINT IT BLACK. This EP is certainly no exception. PAINT IT BLACK have always somehow managed to capture raw, in your face, blasting hardcore energy, and seamlessly meld it with anthemic, melodic, sing-alongs. My personal favorite is "Nicotine", which is probably the perfect version of what I just described. Get this record. Now. Stop reading this. Go. or rather, GO!

COALESCE-Ox LP

I will not lie. I fully expected this record to suck like some sort of industrial super-powered vacuum. I am nauseatingly tired of reunions, so-called triumphant returns, and comebacks, that I will probably puke my fucking moustache off if one more mediocre 90's hardcore band announces a tour, a record, a show, or that the band members are even still friends. However, I stand corrected with this record. COALESCE has returned with a record that drags you across the floor by the collar and then throws you against the wall. Honestly, most COALESCE records with the exception of "Functioning on Impatience" and the "002" EP were an utter freaking bore. But this record is awesome. One thing I am unsure of is that this record has some "singing" on it. Not sure if I am a fan. My friend Nate says it gives the record some "breathing room". Which I don't disagree with. Then again, Nate also said his band is touring with COALESCE, and then immediately posed the important question of "What is this, 1993?" Sometimes, Nate makes jokes.

NARROWS-New Distances LP

This band might be a bit of what is referred to in the biz as a "supergroup". Featuring members of Unbroken, Botch, These Arms are Snakes, etc. you can see why they might get that title. Deathwish Inc. put out this record, and while that label can usually be relied on for quality stuff, this record really busts out the jams. And more importantly, I would say that Deathwish does a good job of putting out a lot of records that sound identical, so this NARROWS album is a fresh cut for sure. I feel like maybe if I was a critic/asshole, I would call this album "post-hardcore" or some such non-sense. But really, I am neither a critic (for sure), or an asshole (debatable). So I will just call this record "totally awesome". It's really hard to listen to this record and not think "Whoah, this guys voice is the realness". Find out for yourself.

NARROWS: GYPSY KIDS (2009) 872 x 480 from My Black Cat on Vimeo.

THE LEGENDS-Over and Over LP

This band has been around for a long time. All their records sound completely different. Their last album "Facts and Figures" was a synthpop wondergem wrapped in Scandinavian goodness. The Album before that "Public Radio" was a masterpiece mash-up of all the best bands of all time (Jesus & Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine, New Order, The Cure, etc.), and before that, "Up Against the Legends" was essentially an amazing garage rock record. This time around, THE LEGENDS are offering up an almost over-the-top tribute to shoegaze sounds. But in a very poppy way. It's almost hard to describe. But man, it makes a whole danged earful of sense when I listen to it. Also, you should look into the related bands: CLUB 8 and ACID HOUSE KINGS. You will not be disappointed. Unless, of course, you don't like good music.

DANANANANAYKROYD-Hey Everyone LP

There is something about DANANANANAYKROYD that makes me really want to hate them. Perhaps it's the fact that they all look a little TOO DAMN HIP. Perhaps it's the fact that there is a Siberian Husky in their music video, and it makes me violently jealous. Either way, this band is really really damn good. It's like an updated version of Cap N' Jazz meets some modern version of mid-90's emo-core. God, actually, now that I read that, it makes the record sound like the worst thing of all time ever. Just get the danged record.

VNV NATION-Of Faith, Power & Glory LP

I make no qualms about my insatiable lust for all things synthpop, gothic, and industrial. I have been a huge lover of VNV NATION ever since I was first introduced to the politico-posi-goth beats on "Praise the Fallen" back in 1999. And every record of theirs is completely amazing in it's own right. This newest offering is my favorite in a while. And makes me think that perhaps, if Laibach were a synthpop band, it would probably sound an awful lot like this. Also, I just saw them live for the 5th or 6th time, and they effing KILLED it. SO good. Feel the sweet sweet beats, enjoy the empowering positive lyrics, embrace the darkside. Victory Not Vengeance.

GOD HELP THE GIRL-s/t LP

BELLE & SEBASTIAN's frontman held a contest. Yes, a goddamn contest to pick out some of the female vocalists for this little offshoot/side project thing. Never minding the fact that that might be the single-most ridiculous pseudo rock star bullshit I have heard in a long time....this record is a gem. And while BELLE & SEBASTIAN might very well be the most uptight whining pretentious shit of all time, it's undeniably amazing. And GOD HELP THE GIRL pretty much follows suit. The only other artist to pull of this kind of image and snobbery without deserving to be publicly flogged was MORRISSEY. And I think that's saying something. God help us all is more like it. We are helpless against music this good.

CITY SLICKER

2009-07-20T20:52:00.000-07:00

It was nice out.

I met up with Joe. Who dresses well.

We rode our bikes all over Boston.

We helped Zack and Josh from OPEN do some fun charitable work for an incredible organization called Cyclekids. And by "work", I mean we all raced each other in a room full of rich people and got free food and drinks.

Then we went to Charlie's in Harvard Square where they have nothing remotely interesting for a vegan to eat. But The Tour was on the TV, so we stayed.

Bridgey and I barely made it to the last train home.

Unrelated.....

THE DEATH OF COOL

2009-07-15T10:25:00.000-07:00

Well, this is it. The concept of riding a single speed/fixed gear bicycle being at all socially relevant or valid is officially done. The final nail in the coffin has been hammered in with one swing by Urban Outfitter's new online "bike shop" (barf). As most of you know, UO is where trends and brands go to die.

I don't want to sound like a hater. Because I would rather people be riding just about ANY bike. But really? Urban fucking Outfitters? To think that they give even the tiniest amount of shit about the local, national, or worldwide cycling culture is laughable. Plus, it's lousy stuff like this that puts good builders who are truly offering a custom experience to the customer at risk. Not to mention all of the awesome local bike shops that would be able to sell these kinds of lower end bikes to people. What a freaking shame.

I am not "too cool" for Urban Outfitters. I shop there on occasion. This is bigger than that. This is about Urban Outfitters yet again co-opting something special and turning it into a huge, embarrassing failure. There are about a zillion examples of this in UO's history. And this is certainly no exception.

All I am saying is, please check out any number of these fine custom bike builders before you give your money to people who are so crooked that they probably have to screw their pants on in the morning.

GEEKHOUSE

VILLIN CYCLE WORKS

INDEPENDENT FABRICATIONS

IGLEHEART

HUFNAGEL BIKES

and about a million others....

And if you live in the Boston area, consider going to an actual bike shop where someone might shake your hand and you might get grease on your palm. Neat!:

OPEN

CAMBRIDGE BIKES

JRA CYCLES

and about a million others....

A DIFFERENT KIND OF SUCCESS

2009-07-14T20:19:00.000-07:00

Just as I was beginning to think this was no longer a climbing-related blog, the clouds broke and I made a run for Rumney. I hadn't seen the sun in so long that I half expected to burst in to flames like some creature of the night. Much to my surprise (and probably everyone else's chagrin) I am still alive. A daywalker. Just like the rest of you.

And while I might be good at making vampyric metaphors, I am apparently no good at sport climbing. Sunday was my first day outside since I was half way across the danged planet. And after monsoon season, it appears as if I have lost most of my ability to climb hard. Or something.

At any rate, the weather was fantastic. A little humid for me, but still quite good. And Alexa and I had some more goes at our projects (Good Earth 12c, and Dr. No 13d respectively.). Alexa has been working on this route for a while now. She took a horrifying fall off it last season and smashed in to the wall behind her consequently filleting her arm open like a freshly caught fish. After much coercion on my part, she has gotten back on it this year and is about as close as is humanly possible to sending the rig.

Alexa getting serious on Good Earth (12c)

As far as my little boltering project goes...before I left for South Africa, I had that thing all stitched up, and merely had to leave it be due to getting rained out. And thought for sure I would get the thing over and done with Sunday. Boy, was I wrong. I don't even know what happened. A poor showing for certain.

My good pals Nick and Caitlin whom are here for the Summer from Gainesville came along, and took some shots of me getting my ass beat like a Chinese gong:

CONVERTIBLE

2009-07-10T07:42:00.000-07:00

As promised, here is the THIEVES LIKE US mix, Vol. 1. It's nothing super fancy. The tunes on here are not hard to find. I am not trying to impress anyone with my pseudo-music intellect. i am sure I will have plenty of obscure tracks on forthcoming mixes. But now is not the time for that. Indeed this mix is a fun-time mash-up of jams that would provide a soundtrack to the kind of summer we all hope we have. Track order is important:

1] JUNIOR BOYS-Bits & Pieces
2] MINITEL ROSE- Zombie Lady
3] PASSION PIT-The Reeling
4] JUPITER-Starlighter
5] PHOENIX-1901
6] PET SHOP BOYS-Pandemonium
7] ANNIE-Antonio(Fred Falke mix)
8] VNV NATION-Defiant
9] FRANKMUSIK-3 Little Words
10] DANGER-00:01 (Feat. Vyle)
11] LA ROUX-Going in for the Kill
12] SALLY SHAPIRO-I'll be by Your Side
13] THE OTHER TWO-Selfish (single mix)
14] KITE-Ways to Dance
15] DELPHIC-Counterpoint
16] NEON NEON-I Told Her on Alderaan
17] LADYHAWKE-Danny & Jenny
18] SOVIET-Radio Kursk
19] CLAN OF XYMOX-Heroes (pop version)
20] ANORAAK-Nightdrive With You

HERE IS THE DOWNLOAD LINK (Someone let me know if for some reason this is messed up.)

Geekhouse cruiser. This thing is fecking beautiful.

In Other news, I have just confirmed an exclusive interview with my good pals at GEEKHOUSE BIKES. I am going to start trying to do some video interviews with people whom I feel are doing things that other people should know about. Inspiration, after all, comes for free. And Marty and the rest of the GEEKHOUSE crew are doing some amazing stuff and I am pumped to do a feature on them here. I have other interview features in the works, ranging from music, to retail, climbing, and fashion. So keep your eyes peeled.

SISSY FINGERS

2009-07-07T22:31:00.000-07:00

A few things worth mentioning, to those of you who take the time to read this here blog:

1] There have not been any climbing updates because I have not climbed outside since I got back from South Africa. This is massively depressing. There are 30 days in June, and it rained here 27 of them. This is not a joke. Today is July 7th, and we have had 4 days of rain so far in July. Also, not a joke. I think that God has a sick sense of humor and when I die, I expect to find him laughing. Funny thing is, the joke is on him. Because he isn't real.

2] I am working on some pretty cool features for THIEVES LIKE US. I am going to try to move towards doing some slightly more journalistic style entries. Not just me rambling about how much I love tofu and black metal. I can't give too much away. But it should make for some exciting reads.

3] I also have decided to try to put together a regular MP3 mix on here. One per month. It seems like I am constantly being asked for/about new music. And I like making mixes anyhow. So why not bribe you people in to visiting my blog regularly by making free downloadable mash-ups of sweet sweet beats? Seems like a perfectly reasonable thing if you ask me.

TECHNOSURFING

2009-07-07T22:15:00.001-07:00

I have recently gotten a few iPHONE apps that I think are worth mentioning here. For those of you whom have iPHONES, you should look in to these. P.S. They're all free.

Cycling Grub: This application is essentially a collection of streaming cycling news. Everything from brand blogs, to velonews, to BBC cycling, to Trackosaurusrex. It's really quite nice. And allows me to stay up on things without having to do anything more than tap and slide my obsessed little fingers. Now, if someone would just make something like this for climbing. I'd be all set.

iMAP MY RIDE: This program simply uses your GPS to track, log, and time your rides. You can then create a profile on their website, and all of your data is stored there as well. Set training goals and more. This program gives you detailed readouts on time, speed, distance, etc. Plus maps the entire ride. Genius.

Vegan Yum-Yum: In case you A] Are not vegan, or B] Are Vegan but have been living in a frigging idiot cave, then you should know that Vegan Yum-Yum is probably the raddest vegan cooking blog on the world wide interwebs. Basically, this is a mobile version of the blog. Tap and scroll through to see amazing photos of the dishes, ingredients lists, and instructions. I have already used this. My personal favorite feature is the ability to check off which ingredients I have in the application to make my trip to the grocery even easier. Brilliant!

Vegan Steve: This is a simple vegan food/restaurant locator. I haven't had too much opportunity to use this, but it seems really good, and works pretty much anywhere. Although the database is most thorough in the US. It simply uses the GPS in your phone to provide you with a list of vegan food options nearest you, along with reviews, prices, links to sites, etc.

FEELS GOOD TO LOOK GOOD.

2009-07-07T21:56:00.000-07:00

If you watched the Team Time Trials tonight, then you know what riding a bike really fast on a technical course looks like. But, did you catch what Lance's TT bike looked like? I fucking did. It was co-designed by Marc Newson, an incredible industrial designer who has worked with G-Star and has done everything from uniforms to furniture. Anyhow, I like the idea of art, design, and cycling coming together like this. Not that it's anything massively new. But nonetheless.

TT Bike for Lance Armstrong designed by Marc Newson

Lance also had a bike done up by Shephard Fairey. Ya' know, the artist that once was anti The Man, and essentially now *is* The Man. OBEY.

INDEPENDENCE

2009-07-04T09:24:00.001-07:00

Le Tour starts today. Yessssss. Woke up and watched pre-race coverage. Astana is looking solid. Clearly the team that will be talked about. Lance says he is not his strongest. Whatever the fuck that means.

Also, tonight:

SHO MY GOD.

THERE'S JUST SOMETHING ABOUT HAVING FUN

2009-07-01T21:00:00.000-07:00

There is so much going on in the cycling scene right now. Not that it's a newsflash, but man. Even right here in Boston there is some AWESOME stuff going on that I am happy to be as much a part of as possible. Hopefully more info on that front later.

In other news, Morehart Films is about to drop a movie. And if it looks half as good as the trailer, then it's going to be awesome. (Oh my god, is that a fixed gear fastplant at 00:39? So good.)

THE REVIVAL/KEEP ON KEEPIN' ON from morehartfilms on Vimeo.

"In the name of good times, great spots and progressive riding, we are proud to announce that we’re packing our bags and hitting the road. Armed with HD cameras we’ll be heading out in search of some of the best riding North America has to offer.
Beginning on May 16th, 2009 we will be touring eastern cities, starting in Toronto then heading to Montreal and finally arriving in the Big Apple. We aim to reveal the riding and culture that exists within each one of these amazing cities. Filming is also underway in Vancouver where the locals have been pushing hard to lay down some of the best lines ever seen on a fixed gear. Along for the ride are some of the most progressive riders on bikes today, including but not limited to:
Tom Briggs, Duncan Lewis, Sam Miller, Tom Mosher, Ryan Nariata, Eiichiro "TenTen" Temmyo, Torey “HFwido” Thorton, Wonka, Wayne Morehart
and Many More."

As long as I am talking some hipster cycling trash, in case you didn't know, designer Steven Alan has teamed up with NYC's Chari & Co. to release this fucking masterpiece:

"The latest riding enthusiast to try his hand at bike-friendly gear? Steven Alan. Alan's new flannel riding shirt—designed in conjunction with Lower East Side track-and-fixie mecca Chari & Co.—has a long tail to cover your ass and a Velcro-fastened rip-open chest pocket that's been relocated to a messenger-bag-friendly position. There are also sweatshirt-style ribbed cuffs on the sleeves, sturdy snaps on the placket, and what's being called a "hunting pocket" zippered into the back. Unless your cycling is a lot different than our cycling, we're thinking this is more for a banana, an MP3 player, and a portable pump than for, say, upland game—but then again, who are we to tell you how to roll?

About $220, available in October"

Lastly, this video makes me want to go out and ride my bike. Badly. Excellent song choice.

Fun With Bikes! from Patrick Lawler on Vimeo.

FOR THOSE ABOUT TO COOK

2009-06-30T21:45:00.000-07:00

I SALUTE YOU!

So, over the last bazillion years of being vegan, I have spent a lot of time cooking. I love to cook. I nearly wasted an entire college career at culinary school. I think that cooking is one of the most rewarding things you can experience on a daily basis. More importantly, I think it's a really smart move (especially if you give a crap about what you put in your body/what you are supporting with your money) to cook at home as much as possible. It's really the only way to have complete control over what goes in to your meal. Don't believe me? Check out THIS HORRIFYING ARTICLE about vegan restaurants in LA. For those of you who know me, you know that I am a bit of a food snob. I firmly believe that what you eat is one of the most important and far-reaching decisions we make on a day-today basis. That said, I would like to share a recipe of mine that I have refined over the years. It's simple, fast, versatile, and has made more people than I can count say something to the effect of "This is the first time I have ever liked tofu!"

I WIN.

GAVIN'S TASTY TOFU EXPLOSION JAMMER
..............................................

1 block of extra firm tofu
1 tablespoon of vegan margarine (you can use olive oil, but I have found a small amount of margarine to make the final dish less oily)
1/4 cup of soy sauce (alternately try using Bragg's Liquid Amino Acids if you want a saltier outcome.)
1/4 cup of nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon of oregano
1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper (or more, or less depending on how much of a sissy you are.)
pinch of garlic powder (don't use fresh garlic. garlic powder disperses the taste better.)
fresh cracked pepper to taste.

First of all , I use a non-stick pan. The reality is that tofu cook horribly and rips to pieces in even the finest of stainless steel pans unless you use copious amounts of oil. So I recommend a non-stick, or at least a very well seasoned cast iron skillet for this one. I cut the tofu in to small little blocks, not cubes. They need to be thin enough to not stay mushy on the inside. Pre-heat your pan over a medium to high heat with the margarine in it. Once the tofu is cut, put it in. You want to make sure the heat is high enough to brown the tofu fairly fast. But not so fast that the inside is not done. You will have to experiment with how you like your tofu. I like mine to be cooked, but to have a definite difference between the browned outside and the softer inside. (But NOT MUSHY. This is the #1 thing that people hate about tofu!) As the tofu is browning, add the garlic powder, cayenne pepper, and oregano. Make sure you stir pretty regularly (I like to take the pan off the flame and flip the tofu by flicking the pan with my wrist cause it looks fancier). Just as the tofu is becoming a tiny bit crispy and golden brown, add some fresh cracked pepper and turn the heat down to medium-low. Add the nutritional yeast and the soy sauce. Keep over the heat and stir regularly until the soy sauce has reduced and the tofu is covered evenly. serve on sandwiches, with rice, on a salad, or eat on it's own!

This particular time I served it with some spanish rice and a salad. Mmmm.

So I just have one question....who wants to come over for dinner? (Seriously.)

REAL TALK

2009-06-30T10:14:00.000-07:00

So, I know my last post swore that I was done with South Africa. But the article in The New York Times today was just too appropriate. One thing I have been trying to explain to people since my return was how stressful the environment was. The massive disparity between classes. There is essentially no middle class. You are either wealthy and well-off, or desperately poor. The Government infrastructure is incredibly lacking and is still very young (a mere 15 years since the official end of apartheid.). Anyhow, just watch the video here:

RAMPANT CRIME AND VIGILANTE JUSTICE OUTSIDE JOHANNESBURG

Later on, I will be posting a recipe! MMMmmmmmmm.

A SOUTH AFRICAN ROUND UP

2009-06-23T20:57:00.001-07:00

Getting my landlegs back.

Ok ok. This trip is getting a little bit stale. So I am going to post the remainder of the good pictures. And move the hell on with my life.

Cornelia on some random amazing boulder.

Brooksie doing it right.

Mick up on top of Green Mamba.

Sticking it on Pinch of Herbs (7c+)

Warming up highball slab style.

Brooksie on Angel Wing

Swear to god that I have done zero editing to this photo. UNREAL.

The infinity pool at our cottage at De Pakhuys

Miles and Cornelia's rental car trapped. Disaster!

Cape Town.

Praise be to Allah! Good vegan food in Cape Town! Rejoice!

The only bike I saw in South Africa.

Sunset over Durban.

Koba at the arcade in Durban.

"Berg" means "mountain" in Afrikaans.

Koba at the rest stop being unstoppably cute.

RAIN OF TERROR AT BFF

2009-06-22T08:47:00.000-07:00

Storming the Williamsburg bridge.

This past weekend, I headed to the kick-off of the Bicycle Film Festival in New York City. It's worth noting that the weather called for 100% chance of heavy rain FOR THE ENTIRE WEEKEND. This is not really the kind of thing that inspires a great deal of confidence when it comes to tooling around the streets of Manhattan on a bike. But I wasn't going to let that stop me! So I packed up my waterproof messenger bag with hardshells, lots of extra shirts, bike lights, PRO BARS (mmmm), extra inner tubes, and my copy of The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. As luck would have it, I sat next to someone on the Chinatown bus who may or may not have had swine flu. He had the most hilarious incessant hacking/screeching/whining cough I have ever heard. Realistically, that neither adds nor subtracts from the tale....but whatever.

The BFF block party was a rainy sloppy freaking mess, with people pretending to care about the vendors simply so they could step out of the rain into the vendor's tents. Even so, the block party was good fun. Lots of people hanging out, lots of amazing bikes rolling around, and some fun events. A few kids on 700c bmx fixed gear bikes bored us to death with extremely lame displays of 12 inch bunny hops and watered down versions of tricks that would be AWESOME on a BMX. In fact, they were awesome on a BMX. I know this because just before the fixie dudes made us all yawn, the BMX comp went down. The BMX freestyle and trick comps were ri-damn-diculous.

This guy was CRUSHING it. He won the contest by sailing a 48" bunny hop.

Some BMX freestyle action. It was soaking wet. Dudes were eating asphalt HARD.

The weekend otherwise consisted of my friends and I getting utterly gluttonous on some vegan food at New York favorites Cafe Atlas and Pukk. Atlas is equipped with a giant glass case full of Vegan Treats. Which makes my stomach come equipped with a sensation of insatiable desire to visit The Vomitorium. At any rate, when I wasn't on a vegan binge/purge cycle, I was riding my bike around in the rain, watching bike polo, seeing some girl more drunk and messed up than I have ever seen anyone in my life, and lots of other weird and wild times. All in all, a great weekend.

I somehow ended up at a party where people were *actually* wearing glow sticks. I took this crappy picture because I know that anyone who knows me would never believe I would go to something like this.

Rather literally The Calm Before the Storm. This was at 5:30am. It started raining 3 hours later and did not stop for almost 16 hours.

The Lock-Up outside the after party.

Morning after ride with the Geekhouse boys. Joe was feeling a little rough.

A friendly game of bike polo in the park.

THE GREAT ELEPHANT ENCOUNTER

2009-06-18T09:08:00.000-07:00

So, as I have mentioned already, we had a bit of a um....run-in with a massive elephant in Kruger National Park. So, for those of you who don't know, Kruger is basically a HUGE wildlife preserve (about the size of New Jersey). You drive in and are on your own. Stay in your car, keep your windows up, etc. I would argue that a majority of the vast park is so remote that if something happened to you, you would be essentially fucked unless someone else happened to come driving by. That said, the encounter went something like this:

We pull up and stop because I spot an elephant eating on the side of the road. Maybe 30 feet from the car or so. We all start taking pictures, etc.

"Hey Miles, he doesn't look so psyched. Let's go."

"Hang on, I just want to take a couple more pictures." Miles continues taking some shots. Elephant is not psyched. Just wants to eat this tree he is munching on.

"HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!!!"

Miles slams on the gas. We speed off. Hearts pounding. Camera still clicking away. Whoah. That was close.

Elephant standing RIGHT WHERE OUR CAR WAS.

You know that scene in the god-awful movie TROY starring Brad Pitt where he kills that dude with one strike of the sword, and then stands there in front of the entire army screaming "IS THERE NO ONE ELSE???", I imagine that's what the elephant was thinking.

Annnnddd....back to eating my tree.

AT THE END OF THE WORLD

2009-06-18T08:23:00.000-07:00

Walking in to the climbing.

I've been home from my trip to South Africa for over a week, and I still have more pictures and stories. We documented the trip pretty well, and our two days of sport climbing at Waterval Boven are no exception. First, I think it's important to understand the town of Waterval Boven to get some sort of grasp on what climbing there is like.

Waterval Boven is a small town situated on the edge of the Escarpment on the banks of the Elands River above the 75m Elands Falls. Hence the name which means "above the waterfall" in Afrikaans. This town is very very very small. You can drive from end to the other (all the while getting funny looks from the locals) in 5 minutes. It is remote. And it is becoming increasingly impoverished. The area was originally established when the railway came there. Since then, the rail has not been traveling through, greatly effecting the local economy. Nestled right in the middle of town is a climber's hostel called Roc N' Rope Adventures. This place was fantastic. And if you ever find yourself in South Africa with a hankering for some sport climbing, definitely check out Roc N' Rope. The accommodations are really quite nice for a hostel, and inexpensive.

There was only one store in town, they had food that was the most unnaturally colored food products I had ever seen!

We played what was, to be most certain, THE MOST intense game of Jenga of all time. Ever.

Miles and I had SO MUCH FUN at Roc N' Rope!

At any rate, the climbing itself lies up on the mountainside from town. The only way to get there is by driving up the worst road known to man past a huge garbage dump where you will see rabid dogs. We drove up this road in a $100,000 Mercedes. Hahahahaha. I'm not kidding. Then you park at some random farm (how anyone lives at the end of this road is beyond me), and walk down into the climbing area. We got hopelessly lost on day one, but finally managed to find the climbing after some bushwhacking.

Little Routecards. How cute!

The cliffs are not very steep, and consist of the most unrealistically orange sandstone I have ever seen anywhere. It really feels like you are climbing at the end of the world by the time you actually rope up and are 60 feet up looking out over the valley. The climbing itself was not very steep, and sort of blocky. Really technical with lots of terrible feet. I found that a majority of the climbs really should have been trad climbs. They would have been very easily protected, and a real blast for placing widgets. Mile Cone: Army of One explained that most things are bolted because the cost of trad gear in South Africa is easily two times what we would pay for it in the States. While the climbing was not exactly my style, I still had an amazing time. I had been itching to get on some rock, and all the climbs were great. Plus the setting and the views were beyond insane. It's important to note that I had basically no concept of the grading system there, which is the same one they use in Australia and New Zealand I believe. So I was basically getting on things that looked fun with little to no regard for grades. This worked for and against me on more than one occasion. All in all, this was an awesome few days of climbing.

Some crazy hard thing. With the first bolt like 20 feet off the ground.

Brooksie on Gravy Train. Quite the view.

The most horrified I have ever been on a rope was on this climb. I wish I had it on video.

Miles Cone: Army of One's triumphant return to rock climbing!

IL GRANDE FAUSTO

2009-06-14T20:45:00.000-07:00

There is really nothing I can add to that.

DISAPPOINTMENT, EXCITEMENT, AND ANNOYANCE IN THE BOULDERFIELDS OF SOUTH AFRICA

2009-06-12T06:10:00.000-07:00

Getting in the zone.

I've been climbing for about 8 years now. I've traveled an awful lot, seen lots of things, climbed lots of places. One thing I have consistently been impressed with is the global climbing community. Everywhere I have been, I have always met incredible and friendly people. With the common bond of climbing, it has always seemed to me that I could make friends everywhere I went. The climbing community is small. Real small. Let me give you an example: While sitting on the deck at a climbing hostel in Vaterfal Boven in South Africa, I am introduced to two dudes from Portugal, I casually mention that I have a good friend from Oman who now lives in California. These two guys knew him!? I'm sorry, but it is mind-boggling to me that here I am on the other side of the planet, and I randomly run in to two people from another country who know my friend. Wild.

I will say, however, that at Rocklands, I was massively disappointed with the Americans I met. it was the first time in my climbing career that I have met any other climbers and been left with a really bad taste in my mouth. Very strange. I did, however meet a group of guys from the UK whom I climbed with all week. These were good people. I hope to see all of them again.

One of the other boulder problems I had my sites on was Caroline, a classic 7c+ at the Roadside Boulders. I had done several problems of this grade that week, and felt very strongly that this one would be relatively easy. It is about 10 moves on a fairly steep rock progressing up two lines of shitty pinches. Seeing as how I had spent the last 6 months with Mike, Max, Dave, and others training on a 50 degree wall using nothing but the world's shittiest pinches, I felt confident that this problem would go.

DAY ONE: I went up to Caroline for the first time at the end of day one, still high off my send of Ulan Bataar. Even though there was only about an hour of light left, I was pretty impressed with the line, and immediately set to work. The UK boys were using some pretty lousy beta, which worked well for them since they were all much stronger than me. I spent most of the hour sussing the moves and figuring out my own beta. Which involved an unorthodox yet effective heel-hook start.

DAY TWO: After warming up and exhausting myself on the world's hardest 7a, I stepped up to Caroline again. No luck. Every dumb thing that could happen did. I fell from the last move twice. This was obviously a bit frustrating. The crux move was killing me. Very low percentage for me. Why can't I do this boulder? Seriously.

DAY THREE: RAIN. In South Africa, the mist/rain combo is called "Moth Rain", because it's like a swarm of moths. The rain doesn't really fall from the sky in drops, it consumes everything in a swirling mist. Woke up bummed but went to the Fields of Joy boulders to enjoy a day of highballs and classic moderates. At about 3:30, it was clearing up substantially and I made a run for Caroline. With a 40 minute hike and just 2.5 hours of light left, this was a gamble, but I was willing to take it. The boulder problem was SOAKED. Dripping. Well eff. I had hiked all the way out there, I might as well try it. I immediately took of my sweatshirt, and began drying the problem off, chalking holds. Surprisingly enough, I got about 80% of the way up the thing, which was encouraging since these were probably the worst conditions imaginable. I also sussed out some incredible toe-hook beta for the crux move which made it easy as hell. Siked!

DAY FOUR: Didn't spend much time on Caroline this day. Had my mind set on other things. But the 7c+ had shut me down for three days, and was looming in the back of my mind. Anyone who knows my climbing habits knows that I can't let things go. I tried it a few times but for some reason my foot was coming off the big foot hold??? BAH!

DAY FIVE: Last day. Leaving in the morning. NO retreat. NO surrender. A Muerte! I have to point out that at this point, I had been climbing for about 12 hours a day, 4 days straight. This meant that after about 2 attempts on Caroline, I was halved over sitting on the ground wincing in pain as the tendons in my arms swelled up like balloons and were throbbing. Praise be to Advil. My beta was working really well, but I had to take 15 minute rests between each attempt to let me skin and tendons relax before another go. Honestly, why was I not doing this boulder problem? I couldn't figure it out. I could get on at any point and do every single move, in any combination of links. But whenever I started from the ground, something went wrong. GAHHH! This boulder problem was becoming all consuming. As the day progressed, I got more and more exhausted. The only thing harder than the stupid boulder problem was letting it go, admitting defeat. Which, after about 7 hours, I finally did at 5pm. Failure. Shut down. You lose. Do not pass go. Do not collect $500. Thanks for visiting. Fuck you very much.

It's ok though. Because in the end, I climb for the experience. Sure, standing on top of hard boulders, or clipping the anchors of difficult lines is always pleasing. But really, this trip could not have been ruined by Caroline. The settings, the (non-American) people I met, my travel companions, the climbing quality, etc. All of it was second to none. And Caroline will be there when I go back next summer. HA!

The sunsets we saw walking out after epic defeats on Caroline.

Finally, I leave you with this gem. It became the theme song for the trip. And let me tell you, there is nothing like having people sing this song to you while you try hard:

ULAN BATAAR

2009-06-09T18:08:00.000-07:00

In my research of Rocklands, I found several boulders that I wanted to climb. Right at the top of the list was a 7b+ called Ulan Bataar. By all accounts, this was one of the best problems of that grade on the planet. Not to mention the fact that if you had to design a boulder, it would probably look something like this one. About 15 feet tall. Mildly steep. One line. No cheater holds. The only way this problem could be better would be if it went straight up the steeper section at the top instead of breaking left. But the sad fact is, there are not any usable hold on that steep bit at the top.

My goal for this boulder was to flash it. Which seemed incredibly reasonable to me. I made the 40 minute hike to the boulder on day one and warmed up on area classics like "One", and "Roof On Fire". Then made my way to Ulan Bataar. It was taller than I had imagined, and one thing worried me about my flash attempt...the footholds. They are really, really bad. I padded it out, stepped up, and went for it. I made it about half way up when my foot cut. Damn. I think it took me 2 or 3 more tries before I sent. And I must say, it truly is one of the greatest problems I have ever done. A really massively incredible boulder. Although it would have been nice to flash the bugger, it's hard to get upset about anything with the surroundings and the quality of the climbs at Rocklands.

iPHONE SHOTS

2009-06-09T10:38:00.000-07:00

Well, it might not be as fancy as the new iPHONE 3G-S, but I did take a lot of pictures with my iPHONE (Including all the pictures that have been posted so far). Here are some of my favorites:

Koba (pronounced Kwiba) is Miles and Cornelia's oldest daughter, and probably the most easily excitable kid and travel companion I have ever met.

Water Buffalo Skull. Grim.

These birds were really cool, and super used to people. There were tons of them all over when we stopped to eat.

Ok. WHAT. THE. FUCK? Horrifying. Disturbing. Scary little plastic toy....with a penis??? What kind of toy is this?

This is Iberia Airlines Idea of vegan breakfast: soggy, tasteless, cold steamed asparagus and artichoke hearts. At least the book is good. Probably tastes better too.

As a result of above pictured airline meal, the VERY FIRST stop was the grocery store for...you guessed it: Soy Delicious ice cream.

THEY COME FOR PEACE THEY COME FOR WAR...

2009-06-09T03:42:00.001-07:00

It's about 6:45am, and I have been up for a few hours. This whole jetlag thing really sucks. Good news is, I am now afforded some time to get some more pictures ready and do some more updates.

First, in case you did not see it, here is video footage of Victoria Pendleton at the 2009 World Championships this past March. This girl is built for speed, it's pretty amazing. Check out the attack at about 1:30.

In other radical cycling news, the first issue of THE RIDE is available for free download. This is some very well-executed stuff, and I highly recommend it. Here is what their site has to say about the publication:

"The Ride is an all encompassing read. We know that most people who share our obsession with bikes don’t want to be pigeon-holed as roadies, freeriders, track racers, BMXers, XC riders or even commuters. They are just riders. So we wanted to create something for them, and also for us. Something that crosses both cycling and international borders.
The idea was to create a journal of personal stories. Bikes have changed people’s lives in so many ways and we wanted to gather a small selection of these tales. We didn’t want to give reviews or race reports, we wanted to get under the skin and expose the passion that flows through riders veins."

Sweet. I'm editing some climbing photos and other things from the great South African trip of 2009. Expect those and more a bit later on.

MAJESTIC BEAST!

2009-06-06T11:44:00.000-07:00

Just got back from Rocklands. Which is by far the best bouldering I have ever experienced. I will have to post photos and epic tales later when I have more energy. The internet at De Pakhuys did not like Macs. So this has been my first opportunity to update in about a week. Which will undoubtedly mess with the timeline of these entries. Oh well.....

Getting as close to dangerous animals as possible being a valid form of recreation is, I suppose, incredibly debatable. Kruger National Park is insane. We have somehow figured out a way to experience wildlife using the equation of: "Figure out what will kill us, and then, back it off just a little bit. I WANT THE THE MAXIMUM ALLOWABLE DOSE OF DANGER." Either way, Kruger National Park is a total mind-fuck. By all means, let me explain:

In the last two days I have been charged by an elephant (which nearly made me crap my pants, no joke.), woken up to the sound of lions growling on the other side of the fence behind my tent, chased apes away from food stashed at the camp site (They chase back. they are not afraid of people. AT ALL. I have video evidence to be posted later.), fallen asleep to the sound of hyenas outside the tent, watched in horror as I viewed some incomprehensibly stupid woman hang out of her window to take pictures of a lion-a lion that could have and probably should have killed her just to prove a point-a mere 4 or 5 feet away, stood and watched packs of SCARY looking hyenas patrol the campsite just on the other side of the electrified chickenwire fence, and seen animals that I assure you are MUCH more impressive, majestic, and intimidating in their natural habitat than they are at a zoo. Watching the African sunset behind a family of giraffes as they cross the street RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOUR CAR is-I promise you-a much more intense experience.

Roadside Zebra

A brief list of the animals we saw: elephants, lions, hippos, rhinos, water buffalo, kudu, impala, hyena, warthogs, monitor lizards, birds of paradise, mongoose, baboons, blue apes, giraffe, secretary birds, crocodile, bats and more. It's important to note that by "saw", I mean:they were so close that more than once we were quite nervous about whether or not we would survive the encounter unscathed. There is something un-nerving about coming over a hill and seeing two huge rhino in the road. And, um, they don't like being surprised.

Fruit Bats under the canopy where we ate lunch.

However, the most fascinating animal I witnessed was the South African Camper. A rare breed of mammal that brings utterly exorbitant and egregious amounts of low-end camping gear for a two day trip. Multi-tiered gas stoves, huge rolling campers with convoluted aluminum pole set ups with gazebos, add-on rooms, extra tents, drying racks for clothes, plug-in freezers and fridges, mess kits, dish soap and folding tables, lawn chairs, mattresses, lamps, stools, and even salt and pepper shakers.

In one day I went from avoiding 20 lb. piles of elephant dung and watching warthogs root around in the grass to sprinkling pepper on my veggie burger. Like I said, a total mind-fuck.

Sunset in Kruger

Lots more to talk about. Miles and Cornelia got stranded in Clanwilliam when they tried to drive their rental car through an overflowing stream at 6am this morning. Oof. Lots of climbing pictures and photos of "The Great Elephant Encounter of 2009" are on his camera.

One final note: Did you know South African rest stops are equipped with fucking TRAMPOLINES???? Come on America. This is probably the best idea of all fucking time, why are we not in on this? First thing to do upon return home: Craft a strongly worded letter to Obama re: USA road travel and trampolines-how together they can save the economy.

HOW TO DEAL WITH EVERYTHING

2009-05-25T16:03:00.000-07:00

Somewhere above South Africa(n't)

Let's get some things straight here.

1] The *actual* number of people you can fit in an 11 passenger van is 25 + luggage. This is no joke. Not only am I serious, but it's not even rare or remotely bizarre. Quite normal in fact.

2] Trust me, your house does not suck. Don't believe me? Let's try an exercise: Get up. Now walk over to the nearest wall. Knock on it. Did it fall over? Is it made of cardboard? Now, go outside and look up at your roof. Is it being held down with large fruits or old spare tires? If the answer to any or all is "NO", then your house does not suck.

3] Your neighborhood does not suck. Don't believe me? Look outside your window. Is your house surrounded by any of the following: Barbed Wire, Electrified fencing, Attack dogs, or a wall no less than 8 feet in height? I'm guessing no. Well. The house where I am staying, as well as every house here, has ALL of the above.

4] Remember that time in elementary school when the black kid moved in to town and was in your class and everyone was sort of weird about it? Guess what, that was not awkward. Trust me.

5] Do you know what "necklacing" is? It's when you tie someone's hands behind their back, throw an old spare tire around their neck, fill it with gasoline, and light that shit on fire. Necklacing-to be certain-is for people whom are not interested in fucking around.

6] Monkeys are not scared of you. And they want your food. No matter what.

7] You have not lived until you have driven through S. Africa with the window down listening to THIS BAND on your iPHONE.

8] Running 56 miles in under 10 hours is beyond fucking insane. And the person who does it in 5:23 is not human. Remember that scene in Terminator where Arnold cuts his forearm open and peels the skin off and has a cybernetic endoskeleton underneath? I will bet everything that if we cut the guy who won the Comrades Marathon (56 miles) open, he will look the same.

9] When you arrive in South Africa, you do not ride an elephant to your final destination. I know, I was bummed too.

10] It is entirely possible to be vegan in South Africa. There's just one catch: IT FUCKING SUCKS.

They played La Roux in the Johanessberg Airport. La Roux! Crazy.

The Indian Ocean is warm and beautiful. Unlike all the food I have eaten in the last 4 days.

That's Real Talk.

Ok. It's something hellish like 2am, and I have to get up in 5 hours to drive for 3 to go sport climbing at some place I can't spell. It's supposed to be magical. Many more pictures to upload. I'm learning a second language, I sound like an idiot. Newsflash I'm sure.

DEPRIVATION & DELIRIUM IN MADRID

2009-05-21T14:05:00.000-07:00

Madrid. Chilling. So tired. Trying to find vegan food, thank you iPHONE.

Photo by Miles Cone, Army of One.

Aloha amigos! Como Estas?

Prior to arriving in South Africa, me and my posse had a layover in Madrid.

When booking our flight, we had the choice of either a 9 hour, or an 18 hour layover.

At first, it seemed like a magnificent idea to hang out in the beautiful city for almost

a whole day. It would break up to trip to South Africa in to a 7 hour and then a 10

hour flight. Good plan right?

Some key factors have been left out in the planning process: Sleep, showers, and

overall energy. This resulted in falling asleep at dinner tables, collapsing in parks,

swollen feet from walking 12 miles in a day, fear, loathing, and madness.

But Madrid was amazing. Beautiful. Perfect weather. And great food.

It is now 11:24pm on Thursday in South Africa and I have slept essentially ZERO

since Tuesday morning when I woke up and left.

Me and Koba at Logan airport. Before the life was drained out of me.

Iberia dinner. Gross. Mrs. Dash? Really???

Barajas Airport is totally insane. I thought we took a flight to the future.

Bathrooms in Madrid win.

Weather in Madrid wins. Madness and exhaustion had begun to settle in at this point.

Architecture in Madrid wins. I didn't even know what day it was or what my name was when I took this.

Favorite picture from Madrid.

Vegan food in Madrid wins, there's a FUCKING FLOWER on my veggie burger.

This was the view from the park in Madrid where we quite literally collapsed from exhaustion.

Bicicleta.

How the girls in Madrid manage to keep their legs as nice as they are, and still manage to eat FROSTING BURGERS is a wonder beyond imagination and science.

Waiting for plane to South Africa, with the most sore feet of my life. 40 hours, no sleep.

Headed off to Durban for the weekend to chill near the Indian Ocean, watch Miles Cone, Army of One race in a double marathon (56 miles. That's effing nuts.), and do whatever else. Then coming back to go sport climbing in Strubens Valley on Monday. Then off to Kruger Wildlife Preserve for two days. Holy crap, I love this vacation.

A DEAD HEAVY DAY

2009-05-17T21:06:00.000-07:00

So. One more day. To pack, to wrap up loose ends. To cross my fingers. To clear out the last of whatever is left in my refrigerator. To give hi-fives. To muster my strength and climbing fitness. To enjoy any sort of vegan treats that will not exist to me for the next 3 weeks as I travel across South Africa. I had really meant to get back up to Rumney to polish off Dr. No (13d) before I left, and had things all set to go for Saturday morning. But pre-trip to-do lists prevailed and I had to bail. Then on Sunday, a second attempt was made only to be shot down by rain. Rain which normally would not prevent one from going to Rumney. There are plenty of quality rock climbs 5.12 and higher to be played on even in the most serious of rains. But as my luck would inevitably have it, Dr. No is essentially a glorified boulder problem, and the crux involves gripping for dear life to a crappy sloper at the lip of the climb. Rain. Crappy sloper. No good. Or as my good friend Jon Glassberg has been known to say "Maaaann, fuck those wet lips." I'm pretty sure he was talking about climbing, wasn't he?

Dr. No (13d), a soon to be long forgotten climb, somewhere in a place known only to me as "The Americas"

At any rate, Dr. No will just have to wait. I have lots planned for my trip, and evidently, there are plenty of boulders at ROCKLANDS to keep my mind occupied. And I would wager that in two weeks from now, I will not even remember what country Dr. No is in:

H O L Y S H I T. That's a lot of boulders.

I'm serious when I say you should keep checking back. I will be posting what I can only imagine will be some amazing photos. I am not even that great of a photographer. But let's get serious for a second...on my agenda, Lions, Elephants, Great White sharks, 1400 ft. trad climbs (solos???), scenic paradistic (is that a word? I just made it up) vistas, two of the cutest little kids of all time, and more bouldering than I can ever begin to comprehend.

Dr. No can wait. Only a few concerns here: I am flying on Iberia Airlines? Has anyone ever heard of this? Am I going to end up on an island with John Locke? Fuck. Can I update my blog from that island? Also unrelated. New Star Trek movie is good as hell. And I honestly could not possibly care less about Star Trek. I'll update from the road.

Live Long and Prosper.

RECORD OF THE MOMENT

2009-05-15T18:29:00.000-07:00

ALTAR OF PLAGUES are a metal band from Ireland. This already sounds like it's going to suck, I know. But bare with me here. ALTAR OF PLAGUE's new record "White Tomb" almost defies description. It conjurs up words like black metal, ambient, epic, atmospheric, chilling, and dare I even use the cliche' word grim. But it's much more than a black metal record. It has hints of more progressive sounds not entirely unlike NEUROSIS or JESU. Their Myspace page has this to say about the album:

"Inspired by the unique land of the Burren, Co.Clare, "White Tomb" explores current global condition. Earthly connections have been lost; everything is draining of character and colour.

A White Tomb remains."

Sounds serious doesn't it? This record IS serious. With songs clocking in at around 15:00. It takes some serious sonic aptitude to keep me from falling asleep. But don't take my word for it, just click below to download the album in it's entirety and enjoy it for yourself. You will not be disappointed.

ALTAR OF PLAGUES-White Tomb

MEAT IS FOR PUSSIES

2009-05-13T21:13:00.000-07:00

I mean. Kinda. But not really. New York Hardcore legends Cro-Mags' singer Jon Joseph thinks so. Dude is almost 50. And fit as a fiddle. He has also just finished a book on vegetarian nutrition, training, and fitness called "MEAT IS FOR PUSSIES." While I can't say I agree with that as a title that screams open-mindedness or outreach, this is Jon "Bloodclot" Joseph of Cro-Mags we are talking about here. At any rate, the book will be available from Punkhouse so check it.

If this short video (and the title of the book) provides any insight in to what the book will be like, than I think it is safe to say it will be the best/worst book on the subject of all time:

John Joseph New York City Urban Warfare Cro-Mag Training from Polygraph Productions on Vimeo.

For those of you whom may not know who the Cro-Mags are, please...do yourself and everyone who loves you a favor and go buy this album:

EVIL GENIUS

2009-05-11T21:34:00.000-07:00

I have a pretty obvious obsession with Scandanavian things: synthpop bands, cold weather, hot people, excellent design, black metal, among other things. Here are a few more specific keywords you might consider typing in to Google and see what you think: Let the Right One In, Gentle Touch, Skitsystem, Vvork, Tyrant, Lene Egeli, and Watain.

The Norwegians have really outdone themselves with a new brand called Anti-Sweden. Makers of True Norwegian Black Denim. (HA!) They collaborated with a friend of mine whom I consider to be one of the most talented illustrators out there right now Justin Bartlett. The jeans are...to be certain, completely amazing. Simple, a great fit, comfy, and with a hidden darkness that the only the wearer knows about.

And as long as I am at it, Justin who did all the insane illustrations for these jeans has also just made a new shirt/re-usable bag combo for purchase at SHIRTS AND DESTROY, whom ironically are just up the road from me. Annnnd just like an episode of Seinfeld, I bring this post full circle. Also check out more of Justin's meticulous design and illustration at his site VBER KVLT.

WHEN GOD TURNS AGAINST YOU, THERE'S NOT MUCH HOPE FOR SUCCESS

2009-05-09T21:47:00.000-07:00

I should forewarn you that this post, and probably this blog in general will not be only about Epic Sends, big numbers, hard grades, first ascents, or other typical climbing blog spew. As a climber, I am interested not only in the numbers, the FA's, the hard sends, and so on and so forth, but also the PROCESS. Projecting something. Trying hard. Falling. Failing. Waking up early on a weekend with less-than-ideal weather conditions and little-to-no money for gas and going climbing anydamnways. Braving the swarms of spring time New England black flies and slipping all over a goddamn wet slab while trying to build a dry pedestal from little boulders so your climbing partner can reach the start holds of his project. Getting back on a climb you took a terrifying death-defying fall on last year just to prove that you are at least marginally badass. Free soloing the chossiest, sketchiest, wettest 5.5 in the world so you can get good shots of your friend on their first 12c. These are the things that make climbing so special and so consuming.

Today was one of those days. Rain forecasted. Humid, hot, flies so thick you had to belay with a hood cinched up around your face. But. It was a really excellent day. Regardless of the fact that Max, Alexa and I all had to retreat due to the fastest moving hellstorm of all time. The skies went from blue and sunny to apocalyptic in about 2 minutes flat, which then forced Max and I to have hurried final attempts on Parallel Universe (14a), and Dr. No (13d) respectively. But then we had the pleasure of hauling ass down to the car in Cambodian jungle rain. Which was fun. And I feel certain that both Parallel and Dr. No will go this week.

Alexa on Good Earth (12c)

Me staring down Dr. No (13d)

Crux move on Dr. No (13d)

Wetness the Fatness

DREAMRIDERS.

2009-05-07T21:33:00.000-07:00

Check it. Free to download on iTUNES this week only is the incredible documentary DREAMRIDERS.

"DreamRiders is a documentary film featuring Bill Roulston, a divorced father teetering on a mid-life crisis and Nico, his eighteen-year-old son teetering on the edge of manhood. Ten years past a devastating divorce, a growing gap between them has birthed a quiet desperation in Bill to reclaim the love of his son. He proposes a bold plan to rekindle their relationship: a 4000-mile odyssey across America from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic…on bicycles. Bill, dreamer that he is, has never been on an overnight bicycle trip in his life. And Nico, who has never ridden a bike further than ten miles, agrees to go."

Highly recommended. God I love bikes. And movies. And free stuff.

TRAINING

2009-05-07T19:53:00.001-07:00

In less than 2 weeks, I head off for South Africa. Now, to be certain, this trip is going to be amazing for many reasons. But one of the things I am looking most forward to is bouldering at The Rocklands for over a week. In the last year, I have achieved things I never thought I would in my climbing. I did my first V11 this past winter, and am centimeters away from summiting a 5.13d. I am 100% positive that this has all been achieved through one simple equation:

Try Hard + Train Hard + Get Psyched= Climb Harder than you ever would imagine.

Now I know, this sounds totally obvious. But really, I don't think people realize how much of a difference there is between a session at the gym, and a *fucking session*. I realized the missing ingredient for me all these years was trying things that were vastly outside of my ability while I am training. By sitting under the steepest bouldering wall in the gym 3 nights a week, and trying moves and problems that are for the most part, utterly absurd, I have made myself at least 35% stronger in the last year. So I feel like I am ready for The Rocklands.

I will be posting photos, videos, and updates on here of the 3 week excursion to South Africa as often as possible from the road. I think it's going to be totally insane. I can't wait.

RECORD OF THE MOMENT

2009-05-07T19:23:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to candycoat it. I LOVE HARDCORE. I honestly can not think of another form of music that possesses the energy and passion of hardcore. That said, it is a fairly rare occasion that a new band springs up that actually strikes me as great. REVEAL THE TRUTH, however, strike me as just that: great. Hailing from Florida, this band pumps out 7 jams on their self-released demo "Courage". This demo plows through energetic songs not entirely unlike Youth of Today or Side by Side. None of the songs clock in at over 1:45, making it even more reminiscent of older hardcore. This record is soon to be released on clear vinyl 7" on NO! records. But is available for download for free now:

REVEAL THE TRUTH-COURAGE DEMO

I'M ON DRUGS!

2009-05-06T21:06:00.000-07:00

Nah, just kidding. I dig music.

If you do too, you might want to stick around. I'll be talking about it a lot. And climbing. And bikes. And probably food. And politics. Also, if I ever post anything on here that even remotely resembles haiku or poetry, please come to my house and fuck me up with a blunt object.

(I'm on drugs!)

SICK BIKES ARE, WELL. THEY'RE SICK.

2009-05-06T21:00:00.000-07:00

This shit right here is definitely worth watching.