I'm on a diet.

Sort of. I got a little heavier than I wanted to over the holidays, so I decided to do something about it. So far, I have lost a decent amount of weight, and so to reward myself, I got a tattoo of the Empirebmx crown on my wrist. Why? Because I like the design, Tom and Tina have been amazing to me over the years and because I am pretty sure that I can justify it because my name means "the crowned one". It works, fuck you.

I wanted to review "Owned" by Props for this entry. So I will. Stew Johnson filmed most of it. Alex, Tom and Stew stayed at my house for a moment during the filming of said video and Stew used my daughter's pink Hello Kitty blanket to sleep with.

What you need to know:

-Alex's part is so fucking rad. Good song, great riding, fast, pedal, great hair, effortless, fast.

-Tom Villarreal's part is similarly rad. Not as frenetic as Alex's part, but still good. There is some scary shit in there.

-Jason Phelan's part is good, it didn't stick with me. I started to drift here.

-Dan Foley's was also good, but again I wasn't just going nuts over it. He's obviously really good, but I just wasn't feeling it and went to get a beer out of the fridge.

-Drew Bezanson. Fuck it. Quit riding. This isn't even real. Fuuuuuuck. What? That's right. He did that. Oh my god. Whatever.

Next review will be Killjoy. I need to shoot some damn pics this week.

Hair of the Dog...

So this is the 4th video by the Innocent Bystander crew, and to be honest, I never watched the first three. No real reason why, I just never did. But I watched this. Several times. Austin Phillips is blunt force trauma on a bike. He is brutal and harsh and awesome to watch and behold. It seems like he would need to actually take breaks from riding to allow his form to heal so he is ready for the next thing that he wants to assail. I do not know if this is actually the truth, but I choose to believe it.

The music in this thing falls within my circle of interest. And with the song that plays for Jake Hunter, all I could think about was how mellow the track was vs. the frenetic pace with which Jake rides. It probably should have caused some cognitive dissonance, but it didn't.

There aren't "bangers" in this. Rider's parts don't end with dead man shit. Instead, it is more of a "done riding, let's get that beer" feel. Very down with that.

Also, as Wheelie Nelson from BMXBoard points out, footplants need to be done more.

Watch it for free or go buy it for sure.

BUY IT HERE AND GET A SHIRT, TOO.

The last day.

This was the last picture that I took of 2011.


It was of Michael Tetro, and he just happened to show up the park on a day that I went by myself because anymore, I just go alone. I was glad that he was there and I enjoyed having someone to ride with, because riding alone does get old. We talked about going to Austin together in the spring, which would be an excellent journey. Then I had to go because I had to get ready to go get drunk for New Year's Eve. As it turned out, I didn't really get all that drunk. I had some SoCo, a beer and that was that. A low key end to a year that was all over the map for me. My son started Kindergarten, my daughter got picked to go to Finland and my wife decided to learn how to dry, grind up and encapsulate placentas.

Anyways, I'll end this with one of the cooler parts of 2011 for me...



That was pretty neat.

Look at this fucking guy...

Majestic. Like a lion on the arid plains of Africa.


Jake Hunter filming the Grindstaff for the upcoming Angry Penguin video. I think. I forgot to confirm that. I was too busy doing wallrides and screwing around with shitty feeble grinds.

Procrastination puncuates the still night air.

And I thank god you're here.

So Mica took a pic at a spot of me and my bike.

That is the new SFA. She's a beauty and I figured that I would forgo the rundown of parts because ultimately, I am lazy.

Last weekend, sweet dudes from Nashville came by and did some shredding. Tyler Fredrick had some knee surgery, but he was clearly feeling better. I wasn't set up totally yet when he flew by, but I clicked it anyways...


Then my camera got fixated on Dave Williams because he rips and is 5 foot 5 and rude as hell.

Don't fuck with Ohio.

Tyler Pollari paid a visit on his way to Florida to hang out with his little brother. For those unfamiliar with Mr. Pollari, I highly recommend watching this...

OHIO IS BAD ASS.

He also rode the park with us and hit up some of our finer wall ride offerings-







A very Dixie bike check up next...

UPS doesn't always deliver.

My neighbor across the street is waiting on a frame and it is 7:52 at night and even though the tracking number says "out for delivery", things look grim. I feel really bad for him. Maybe tomorrow. I've been there...it sucks because time passes so slowly when you are young.

Rode our quaint little dirt jumps yesterday. Shot a couple of Timmy Lewis getting going. Since he sent me a text asking if I could get these to him...here they are.




The Johnson City boys came down to ride. Jake and I had this conversation about Twombolts...then his broke. I am not taking any blame for that.

Here, they enjoy coffee during happier times. I knew going to Maryville was a bad idea.


Also, I got some photos published on the ESPN action sports site. So, that was cool.
Searching for Bobby Fisher

AND...UPS JUST SHOWED UP. Kids are rejoicing.