Off to Interbike

We are leaving to Interbike in the morning so this may be my last post, depending on how things in Vegas go. Lets hope all goes well, we have a safe trip, and Digger Davis doesn't get arrested (look at him last year!)

My photos are now online

Thanks to the recommendation of Matt Lolli, I am now using Flickr to bring all my photographs to the net. You can be sure I'll be using the 20mb a month I am permitted, so bookmark the link.
I WILL BEGIN POSTING PHOTOS ON MONDAY SEPT. 26TH
Tyrant BMX on Flickr
You will notice that all my photos have a TYRANTBMX watermark on them. I hate photo thiefs, so if you want to use a picture of mine e-mail me a request for a clean one.

Guilford Session

So I went to the Guilford Park today to meet Don Pavelka and Craig Samuels from Madison. The fellas are back in CT for a week on vacation from school in Rhode Island. I brought David Blachura along to add a little MTB flavor to the session. Right from the "get go" it was the Don Pavelka Show! Tailwhips over everything, downside whip, no footed x-up, can can x-up, 360's......basically it was never ending. This kids bag of tricks is bottomless! As for the rest of us, we had a good time. I did a wallride that was kinda cool, David was doing sprocket/fork grinds and hucking himself over huge gaps, and Craig was doing some sweet tables and distasters to 180's out. Anyway, it was a rad session and the weather was ideal. I am so glad fall is here!

That's a no footed can can.....can you say extended!


Tailwhip transfer from 6 foot to 5 foot


Spine to far side of the hip gap with a 270 X-up thrown in for fun


Craig with a table over the hip


Me wall slapping out of the hip

If I can't sleep, I go ride

So I woke up at 4:45 this morning at couldn't fall back asleep. I'm such a spazz that I decided to pack up my bike and camera gear and head to the new Westerly Park for sun up. I heard its a skaters only park, so why not go early to avoid any B.S. I got there and it was just barely light, but was still able to see hundreds of tire marks and skids. Whoever said it isn't bike friendly is out of their mind. This park was super fun with a lot of original obstacles. Anyway, I got a few cool pictures below so enjoy.

Killer sunrise at the skatepark


The new Westerly Park

Back on the streets

Once again Matt Lolli and I went out on a late evening street mission. We really didn't ride all that hard, just kinda tooled around and shot a little film here and there. Anyway, I'll keep it short...there's a decent pic below that Matt shot with my camera. Come back in the future for more photos or go to Matt Lolli's Blog. He'll have a bunch of great shots up this week.

Mini stair gap to wallride - Photo by Matt Lolli

Team Tyrant

For the longest time I've sworn against having a team to represent Tyrant. I just enjoy doing what I do and marketing it to people who like something small scale and underground. I have a small website up, super basic and clean, and I can't believe that I keep getting dozens of e-mails from kids asking me to sponsor them. Don't get me wrong, I love the fact that I have supporters, but sorry guys, I can't "sponsor" you. I'm not looking to discover the next Dave Mirra and have him make me millions. My goal is to enjoy my screen printing hobby, design some rad stuff, and have fun doing so. Everyone wants free stickers and free shirts and free hats.....how about you pay my car insurance bill and I'll give you a free shirt.....hows that sound!

Hard hittin' New Britain jam

So today was the New Britain Skatepark jam and it was super fun! There must have been at least 50 people there, and at least 25 were riders. Anyone who has ever ridden New Britsky knows the bowl it totally lame, so some locals dragged and flipped a quarterpipe over to add some flavor to the place. It was nice to see some faces I haven't seen in a while. As usual people were going off and I got some pics. The highlight of my day was taking a sip of my Mountain Dew and getting a mouth full of soda and bees.....and getting stung on the tounge. WOW did it hurt! Anyway, that was the worst injury of that day so I'm not complaining. Enjoy the photos, maybe they'll motivate a few of you un-named riders who haven't been riding your bikes lately to get off your ass!

Don Pavelka with a pretty table

Brandon W. with a man size fakie air

Nolan Parent gaps out of the bowl to
flipped tranny and back into the bowl

Mercenary Steve with the gap to tranny to gap from the opposite side

Bongi with a fuf on the quarter as it
sits in the middle of the bowl

Yet another jam

Word on the street is that there is a jam at the New Britain Skatepark on Sunday. I don't know when, I don't who is showing, I don't know if there is going to be food like at the Newington Jam. All I know is New Britain Skatepark at Stanley Quarter Park on Sunday.

Pipe Dream Part II

So the full pipe mission was a success........well we made it there. After leaving Connecticut at 4 AM we made it to the full pipe by sunrise with just enough light to tie the ropes and rappel in safely. After 20 minutes of labor to get myself, my girl, and my bike into the basin we were shocked to see tons of water in the pipe. I thought the pipe would be bone dry seeing it hasn't rained in over a week, but all the cracks in the basin walls are allowing water to flow in. There was a stream running through it about 4 inches deep and a foot and a half wide. The walls were also cracked in numerous spots inside the pipe itself and water was seeping in like crazy. Even with the 20 pounds of cat liter and shop broom we brought we had no chance against the water. I made several attempts to ride the pipe, but kept slipping and falling. There was also very limited light, the pictures look like its the middle of the day, but its really 6:30 AM with a flash. The trip to the pipe was a success but no riding really went down.....although my girl and I slipped and went down at least a half dozen times each. All in all it was a great adventure, to bad we didn't get the sick riding photos we were looking to get.

We've made it to the basin just after 6:00 AM.
Time to monkey around the fence and lower ourselves in
(Just for the record, its a 3 story drop!)

We're in the pipe just shy of 6:30 AM

Inside the belly of the beast. According to the maps I
obtained this pipe runs miles underground.


Mission accomplished!

Pipe Dream

So I just finished stuffing my pack with the last items for tommorows stealth mission to the full pipe. As usual I over did it and brought every possible item I might need. I've heard a ton of rumors about climbing fences and scaling 30 ft walls so I'm fully outfitted and ready for anything. With 160 meters of climbing rope, 2 bags of cat liter in case its wet, a full size shop broom, flashlights, my camera equipment, and my bike I should be set. My girl is coming along to shoot film and act as my safety net if I happen to get hurt. Check back tommorow evening for photos and details of the mission.

M-Town quote of the week

"What the f**k are you looking at!"
(A street walker yelled this to me as I stood inside the shop and stared him down out the front door as he harassed passers by for money) Gotta love the Street Urchins.

Oh Shit Schmidt!

So I went over to Schmidt's trails after work today, the so called Wayside Trails. I'll be honest with you, I didn't expect a heck of a lot...maybe a medium sized 6 pack and a few rollers. Well props to Schmidty, the Wayside Trails are rad and I was actually too much of a weenie to jump the better portion of them. These trails require no pedaling, are downhill and fast as hell, have a 6 foot tall berm at the start to generate speed, and are big....like 15 foot gaps and 6 foot lips and landers big. Check out the pictures below to see some of the action. Since I didn't put in an effort riding I put in an effort as camera man and actually used a little bit of my monkey skills to ape my way up some trees for some cool overhead shots. Check it out!

The berm shoots you mach 5 into the first set


The first set....a 4 foot lip to 6 foot lander


The all too popular "Schmidt Whip"


Making the 15 foot gap look effortless


12 feet overhead as Schmidt rips out of the berm


10 feet overhead as Schmidt rips into the berm


Schmidt.....the trail boss!!!

Wethersfield Skatepark grand opening!

So I heard a rumor that the Wethersfield Skatepark is opeing the first or second weekend of October. I plan on taking a spin by to check out the progress made. This park is a public park and they are allowing bikes ALL THE TIME! The park will include an 8 foot bowl, a few hips, rails, and ledges. Keep checking in here, I'll poste details as they come to me.

Death of MSX

So I stopped by the MSX Trails this morning before work and was sick to my stomach. All the hard work and effort put in by the "cool" locals to make the trails look good has been destroyed. The new jackasses who ride our trails have cut down all the lips and landers, thrown garbage everywhere, and stolen all of the "community" tools. What really cracks me up is that a few of these kids rant and rave how they went to Woodward. Their moms and dads obviously wasted their money because they've turned our 6 foot lips into 2 footers....you sure your not getting Woodward confused with the Girl Scout Camp you really went to! Grow a set and ride some real jumps...the jumps we build! I hate trail rats who have no respect!

The places BMX takes us

The other night I went on a solo mission to a spot I've been wanting to ride for some time. I planned on going at sunset after the work day had ended so I wouldn't be spotted; it takes a bit of hiking to get in. I took a few artsy photos along the way and posted them below. Its awesome discovering new spots and riding obstacles that the average human would never imagine riding a bicycle on.

Stunt Show a HUGE success!!!

So I went to the Tri-County Fair today in Northhampton, Mass. to ride with the EXES (East Hampton Extreme Sports Show) team. We put on 3 shows and drew a huge crowd at the fair. My bag of tricks is pretty damn empty, but a couple kids were killing it. Aaron T. from East Hampton, Mass. gets better and better every time I see him, this kid has tons of tricks. Andre P. was throwing down the flips and flip variations. Hector Terremoto of Bulldog Bikes was pulling all sorts of tricks out of his bag, and even after taking it hard a few times he came back to throw a can-can backflip. All in all the fair was a blast and thanks to Matty Still at East Hampton Bike (www.EastHamptonBikeShop.com) for inviting me to come shred. I had a hell of a time just like I always do when I hang out with the East Hampton crew!!!

(I'll add the names of the riders and captions in the morning. It's 1:07 am and I'm dead tired!!!)