As one who is well versed in self-hatred and the arts of negativity... I sometimes forget just how many great friends I have. It's pretty easy to slip into your own world of suck-a-tude, taking for granted people in this world do care about you. Some even think pretty highly of you from time to time. I am reminded of this time and again but it still takes awhile to sink in.
Over the years I have made some great friends through mountain bike riding. Two of the kindest and most generous folks that I am lucky enough to have met are the Adams family. You can always count on Bryan for some sage advice and Steph for a snide quip or a good story...with or with out a few beers. I have been on countless rides with them and many a camping or racing adventure as well. They have always made me feel at home and part of the extended bike family they have. I'm still not sure what I have done to deserve to be in there good graces, but I am very lucky to call them friends.
A huge thanks goes out them both for becoming my official bike sponsors in 2012 I still can't believe my luck!
I will keep my sponsors and the rest of you posted on project "Crimson Ghost'
Another solid weekend of riding with k.rider saw the debut of Black Thunder White Lightning. It was only a gravel ride but i have to say that I really like the bike. There are only a couple of minor tweaks that are needed and it will be good to go.
For the uninitiated: DIY as a subculture could be said to have begun with the punk movement of the 1970s. Instead of traditional means of bands reaching their audiences through large music labels, bands began recording, manufacturing albums and merchandise, booking their own tours, and creating opportunities for smaller bands to get wider recognition and gain cult status through repetitive low-cost DIY touring.
So just how does this apply to the whole cycling world and this 'team'... Simple it doesn't take a genius to figure out that the status quot isn't really where I fit in. A wise man once coined the lyrics "out of step, with the world..."and I guess you could say I've kind of clung to those words as a badge of honor for most of my adult life. I have always felt like an outsider looking in on things. I guess that is what made me a great observer. I tend to memorise things and places...to a freakish degree actually.
j.rider and I have been on a few cycling teams over the years and always struggled to find the perfect fit. With that said some of the best times I've had on bikes was with those teams and folks we met along the way. A few season ago we got to see the local scene start to sprout some DIY clubs and that is what planted the seed. It has been a cool processes to witness from my point of view, coming from a punk rock background and playing music for years it really resonated with me.
It's time we think the group of jerks responsible for our little piece of DIY. TEAM SEAGAL
The Death Riders don't claim to have superior attitudes or wrist snapping qualities... But rather just healthy record collections, more than the legal limit of band and rock gear trivia and the ability to add a song to almost every post you can come up with. So there you have it, the birth of "Deathwish Racing" Thanks to all the members of Team Seagal for the DIY kick in the teeth!
There’s a difference between interest and commitment. When you’re interested in doing something, you do it only when circumstance permits. When you’re committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results (Unknown)
You have to train you mind not to give up, to keep suffering. (Levi Leipheimer)
I was doing a basement session on the trainer while watching the Minutemen documentary "We Jam Econo" and realized that pretty much sums us up as well.
We Ride Econo.
To the uninitiated it is pretty difficult to explain. Essentially, we are doing things our way. There is respect and even admiration for how others are doing their thing but it many ways it is not for us. We Ride Econo.
Slow news day here at the Death Camp... Just the usual pre-season stuff, rigs being built and tuned in, supplies being ordered and what not. The Black Death kits have been tweaked and are ready to go to full production. Nothing else is fit to print just yet... Yeah Yeah I hear ya, less talk more rock...
Gravel Grinder Playlist 1.0
Cursed - 1974
Kiss It Goodbye - target practice
Every Time i Die - emergency syndrome
NORA - scars are supposed to last forever
A Life Once Lost - firewater joyride
Coliseum - children of our own creation
Maylene & The Sons of Disaster - memories of the grove
Deadguy - pins and needles
Turmoil - killing today for a better tomorrow
108 - martyr complex
Ringworm - the cage
As I Lay Dying - forever
Will Haven - climbing out of this bottle
Buried Alive - six month face
Doomriders - heavy lies the crown
Every Time i Die - floater
Glassjaw - siberian kiss
The Minor Times - the pugilist at work
A Life Once Lost - vulture
Kiss It Goodbye - choke
Norma Jean - murderotica
Coliseum - detached
NORA - wave goodbye
Coalesce - vehicle
Pusher - don't cry messiah
Converge - when forever comes crashing
Kiss It Goodbye - helvetica
The Minor Times - +++
Dead Swans - thinking of you
A Life once Lost - surreal atrocities
The Minor Times - casket city lights
Coliseum - no benefit
Ringworm - razors line
Doomriders - come alive
Botch - spaim
As I Lay Dying - 94 hours
Breather Resist - just do it Doomriders - black thunder
Coliseum - skyline fucker
Cave In - crossbearer
Every Time i Die - logic of crockodiles
Will Haven - egos game
Trap Them - pulse mavens
A Life Once lost - detest
Breather Resist - a social workers nightmare
Cave In - terminal diety
As I Lay Dying - the darkest nights
Doomriders - ride or die
Poison The Well - botchia
Turmoil - playing dead
Deadguy - die with your mask on
Trap Them - the protest hour
Botch - to our friends in the great white north
A Life Once Lost - rehashed
108 - guilt
Glassjaw - pretty lush
