Last Jam of '09

Yesterday was the BRING•A•CAN JAM at The Lot and we collected a bunch of goods for the local food pantry. A ton of riders showed up and everyone had a great time. Sadly, late in the day Aaron Tauscher from Mass. went down hard on a huge tailwhip and broke his tibia and fibula, each in 2 places. Aaron was admitted to the hospital and in heading in for surgery today to repair his leg. Good luck bud, heal up!

Jam Photos: CLICK HERE

Hector bringing his lawnmover to dirt


















Rumor has it Aaron had a hot nurse.
At least it's not all bad!

Blachura's A Beast!

So Dave cracked his 3rd frame of the year yesterday!...and blew up his Fox fork! Anyone who has seen Dave ride knows he's pretty smooth, so it's not shotty riding and choppy landings that have done his frames in. Despite Dave going through 3 this year, I can't talk any smack about the Sinister frame he is riding, it's burly! I think the problem here is the fact that the frame is aluminum. Dave goes big and if he does happen to crash they're usually pretty nasty. Aluminum is too stiff and brittle...you don't see any BMXers riding aluminum. A custom cro-moly version of the Sinister frame is in the works for Dave and he'll have it in a few weeks and hopefully that will take the abuse he dishes.

Cross in Durham/The Lot

Yesterday was another day full of bicycle madness! We checked out the Laurel Bike Club cyclocross race at the Durham Fair Grounds. I ran around snapping photos of Lolli as he rode to a 3rd place finish in the singlespeed race. After the cross, I headed over to The Lot for the rest of the day to photograph the guys jumping motos and bicycles, start a small bonfire, and just hang out. I was told today that I won't be riding till at least March...ugh! However, I did get the OK to start running so I'm getting out there tonight to start a training regime to get my a$$ back in shape!

Cross in Durham Photos: CLICK HERE
The Lot Photos: CLICK HERE

2 days, Tons of Riding!

So this weekend was pretty nuts...and it's not over yet! T and I headed out to watch the CT State Cyclocross Championships yesterday in Cheshire. We had a small crew to cheer on Matt and Doug of Team Ghostship giving 'em hell in the single speed race. The guys rode well on a somewhat muddy course and Matt took the Holeshot Award winning a lovely 24 oz. brew. Matt also deserved the Best Dressed award in his usual black shirt and red tie. Yesterday night, we headed to Haven to snap some photos and hang out with regular crowd. It was nice to see Matty Still and Stan down from Mass. once again...they're becoming regulars at the park. Tiny TYRANT was going off throwing down some mean ice picks, hop whips, and boosting in the bowl. Everybody was having fun and the session was pretty low key. With it being 60 out yesterday I hope everyone got out to enjoy the sunshine and ride! I'm off to the cyclocross race at the Durham Fair Grounds this morning...no sleep for the wicked!

CT State Cyclocross Championships Photos: CLICK HERE
Haven Photos: CLICK HERE

Matt gunning for the holeshot!












Tiny TYRANT ice pick

BRING•A•CAN JAM

We're capping off the Thanksgiving Weekend and 2009 with one last Jam. Please come out and bring some canned goods which we'll be donating to a local food shelter. Help out those in need this holiday season!...and have fun doing it at The Lot!

East Hampton Skatepark Update

Well it looks like we earned out place at Sears Park and received a positive response regarding this years temporary skatepark. We're hoping to move onto bigger and better things for 2010 and it looks like Ruth Plummer at Parks & Rec. and the town is in our favor. All in due time!

Read this article: CLICK HERE

Milnes in Beantown

Quarter Productions put together and edit of fixed ripper Sean Milnes busting out some tricks in Boston this past weekend. Check out this edit, I think it is really well put together. Props to Sean for yet more exposure. Sean will be rocking some fresh TYRANT threads this Winter and into 2010, keep an eye on this dude!

Open Bicycle - Sean Milnes from Quarter Productions on Vimeo.

Another Tuesday at Haven

Super fun session at Haven last night! Some of the Mass. guys came down which is always a good time and everybody was blasting big tricks.

Haven Photos: CLICK HERE

Cristian Maya wall slap at height!

Baltic Night Session

Bry, Blachura, Steve Morse, and I adventured out to Colchester to check out a few street spots I'd noticed the last time T and I were out there. The place ended up being pretty lame and a bust waiting to happen with 4 cops eying us up in a 35 minute time period. Steve mentioned how we weren't that far from the Baltic park and they have lights on at night so we packed up the cars and headed further East. The Baltic park is really sick, such dialed free form cement transitions and a stellar hip. What a super fun Monday night watching the guys get rad!

Baltic Night Session Photos: CLICK HERE

Closed Fist!

So I'm making progress...the hand is healing nicely. I'm able to make a lightly closed fist and my flexibility is improving in leaps and bounds. 2.5 more weeks in the brace!!! Can you tell I'm anxious to ride...too bad it's gonna be months still.

A Good Fall!

Jake has cat like reflexes! Any other person would of likely died bailing on a helmetless flair mid-rotation on cement, but Jake landed on his feet and landed it next try clean! Maniac! I've been sorting through some photos from this past year getting a "Best of 2009" album ready to post in the next month or so. I think this crash/bail was the best I saw all year!

Jewett City Prison Park

So I've been hearing rumors about another rad Paprocki cement park opening in Jewett City, CT. I did a little research and found some info...then came across this crushing blow of an article: READ THIS! I can only imagine how much money was wasted on all this high tech security crap when it could of been used for another $10K of concrete in that park. Doesn't really matter anyway...no bikes allowed, you need a pass to get in, 6 foot fence, and there are security cameras that have a direct feed to the State Po! Hell, sounds like a skatepark built in a prison yard to me! What they failed to mention in the article is be careful bending over to pick up your boards...Bubba's waiting!

Sean on Prolly

Check out Sean Milnes and TYRANT getting a shout out over on Prolly Is Not Probably. If you haven't checked out the site before, please do so, some of those fixed dudes have serious skills! Thanks for the plug John!

What A Weekend!!!

Wow, this weekend was so much fun! The weather was ideal, tons of riding went down, and nobody got hurt...you really couldn't ask for much more. We kicked off the weekend by meeting up with Hebrank and friends in NoHo for some veggie dinner and lots of story telling...always a good time. Saturday was an early one...Steve, Bryan, and I headed over to the Wayside Trails early and did a little clean-up before the jam at noon. Saturday's jam was kick a$$! Lots of riders showed up and everybody was having a good time flowing through the jumps. Props to Schmidt and his work crew for getting that place dialed and running smooth for the jam. We hung out at the trails almost into the darkness and then a few car loads headed down to Haven for the evening session. It was super fun riding with the Mass. crew all day. Matty Still, Aaron Tauscher, and Chris Traverse were riding great at the trails and the park. Thanks for coming down guys! Sunday I met up with Schmidt and we headed down to hang out, film/photograph with fix-style rider Sean Milnes. Sean hucked a huge gap which I filmed and the footage will likely be turning up in a new fixed video due out soon...which is rad for Sean! After some street jibs, we hit up Edgewood Skatepark for a while and ended the session at Rudy's for some tall boys and frites...yum! Such an epic weekend, can't wait for the next!

Wayside Trails Jam photos: CLICK HERE
Sunday Fix photos: CLICK HERE

Schmidt getting gnarly at his trails, Wayside


















Fix-style Sean Milnes spine huck

Long Live the Backyard Ramp!

From 2002-2004ish we rode Ryan Howard's backyard ramp pretty regularly. The ramp was attached to Ryan's house and built on his lower back patio. Sadly, the ramp was recently torn down so the Howard's house could be renovated with new siding and a patio upgrade. There were a ton of fun sessions on that ramp and a lot of burly tricks thrown down. I'm working on a little web video featuring riding and skating from the ramp back in the day...I'll have it up sometime next week.

Tony 80's style footplant on the house

New Tiny TYRANT Flick

Brandon Begin has posted a new self edit containing clips from this Summer. Check it out, the kids has gotten really good!

Web Video 5 from Brandon Begin on Vimeo.

Rehab Thumbs Up...kinda

So I'm 39 days post surgery and I'm hoping to get the thumbs up to start intensive rehab and PT on Wednesday. I was told the brace could potentially be coming off and I'd be put in a less invasive neoprene brace. It's going to be a slow, painful process, but patients is a virtue...especially if I want to get my full grip back and start riding again come March. No hitchhiking yet, but the joint is getting flexible and feeling pretty good.