Monday, 24 December 2007

08/12/07 - RADBMX Xmas Bash...

This was a big one for me, my first RADBMX get together (I'd missed the last 3 or 4) & to say I was excited was an understatement! The buzz on the site threads was good & it seemed that everyone who was going, was well up for it :-) Saturday came around & I spent most of my day dialing my bike & car & getting everything else ready to go. Ray, Mikey & I decided to trip up in the Scenic & by 4:30pm we were all packed & on route...

I don't get to see my riding buddies very often outside of when we are sessioning together so the trip up was a good chance to catch up & talk bikes/cars/life etc. We arrived at the park early & upon entering, it dawned on me that the last indoor park I had ridden was this one about 3 years previously! I was excited & feelings of anticipation about the park were rising as the last time I had been there it was some kind of Xgaymes stylee place that I didn't really enjoy in the least. After a quick piss & loiter in the entrace, we had negotiated the secret password for entry & we were in. My initial impressions were "yeah that looks cool" "Ooow I like that bit!" "yeah that's all good" & "nice mini" I was thinking a good session was going to be on the cards...

As more & more RADBMXer's filtered in & the Xmas Jam kicked off, it was like going back in a time warp to 'BACK IN THE DAY' central! I mean riders with their very own style!? - Front Brakes! - seatposts! one & all enjoying their riding & having a great time.

We mainly sessioned the mini for a good while which was nice, skatelite, fast but the coping was a bit 'proud' for my liking if I care to split hairs ;-) Ray was all over the park like a nitrous fueled duracel bunny in what seemed like one continuous 5 hour run! Boy got stamina indeedy ;-) I rode around the park & checked out the 'new' spine mini setup which was evil & would probably take me a good few sessions to get to grips with so I opted out on this occasion. Alex, CBCL & Mason Smith seemed to have no such 'issues' with it & they continued to rip it up good! I enjoyed going backwards a lot, 50/50's down the escalator. the spine with a flat bank on one side deal was good for a mess about & Milks & I came up with some cheeky little numbers on that. The mini got most of my efforts & I made some nice litttle bits on it. Milkey made some disaster stuff & was trying some wheel jam type nose picks on the sub on the back of the mini & also some sweeeet footplant tailwhips on the flat bank & almost to fakie too ;-) Ray was more or less just a blur of spinning & tapping in a 'Tas' stylee & was blowing minds with some of his 'Icantevensaythattrickletalonedoit' signature moves, he pulled one of the smoothest 540's on the mini I have EVER witnessed too (which was probably wrong way too) :-)

After a few hours my left thigh started to cramp so I stepped down for a break. I took a big tin of Roses chocs with me as a small token of Crimbo spirit & so I went on a pilgrimage around the park dishing out choc's to all in attendance & managed to get rid of half the tin. Everyone was having a good time & I don't think there was a bad vibe in the house :-)

Milks & I went for a mooch upstairs to look at all the old skool hardware that people had lovingly assembled & there was some rather impressive bikes to behold.













I think one guy (pkradman?) got most of the prizes for his efforts & also one the raffle too! How lucky!? After the draw & prizes were all dished out we decided to go do a bit more riding which continued until the ‘park ranger’ decided it was time we all went home. We said our goodbyes, loaded up the bikes & charged on home.

I met some good people, saw some old friends again & enjoyed some good riding at the RADBMX Xmas Party Bash & would say it’s the best doo I’ve attended in a good long while, just like the good old days.

Roll on next time...


Thanks to Mikey for the pics.

Sunday, 16 December 2007

Deranged...




..hey, at least it has skating and riding in there!

Monday, 19 November 2007

Pic of the week...

Had to post this great picture of Alex on his 'Old Fools' road trip to Cornwall last weekend.



RAD doood!

For more nfo & more pics, check out Doug Cains blog

Monday, 12 November 2007

Twice a day...

No posts for ages I know, well I haven't had anything to write for a while but last weekend I was determined to beat the winter weather & get pedalling.

I was up & out on Cinders (my aging 26") by 8:30am, I've been feeling ever the couch potato of late so I have decided to keep up regular exercise in the form of cycling, running & walking. so I did about 30-40 mins on the MTB which got the blood pumping & I soon realised just how much I'd lost the fitness as I plodded up that first hill!

After some shower/lunch/shopping action, I loaded up my 20" & drove to the park. No one of note out today & the way I was feeling it wasn't going to be a marathon by any stretch. After a quick warm up run & some advice given to idiot girls running about on the ramps, it was solo mission all the way. It was great to get out again, I get a real sense of well-being after I have done a few runs & the cogs start whirring over what to try next ;-) With an hours worth under the belt I was heading for me ma's for a well earned cuppa.

After which I crashed straight into the down & out of a sodding cold!

Cheers, sniff sniff..

Sunday, 7 October 2007

Sunday, 16 September 2007

New paint and some pictures

Yo yo yo.
How come pimp my ride uk is hosted by Tim Westwoooooood? He's such a goon. Gimp my ride? Anyway, I spent a slightly overcast saturday a couple of weeks ago painting my bike. For the first time in the history of the world, I actually took everything apart(except my grips, I couldn't be arsed with them, and my chain, cos my chain tool is a bit knackered). There was also some masking tape involved.



Next time I don't think I'll bother, the tape leaked a lot around the edges, and it was a pain in the arse. I did start to mask the engraved shield logo on the headtube up too, but soon got bored. dreadful. I think I should re-cover my seat, it don't quite seem to match. While I'm bitching, the white turned out a bit too yellowy for my liking, but tough.


I actually rode my bike on wednesday, and Chaz got all confused and rode Ian's bike. He did some nice no footed nosepicks, and I attempted to capture the front brake action:



Quite possibly the worlds biggest tweaker:

"Rare old skin" does not even begin to cover this dude. Mental much?


Dirty John goes high, this is a slightly old pic, I think Chaz has a different angle of the same thing somewhere.