phattire.net

Peace & justice

2012-01-26T07:39:00.000-08:00

These are Shepard Fairey’s latest two prints. I like them, though don’t find them as cool as his Lotus Diamond prints! I think they look a little flat without any shading. They are scheduled to drop for sale this Tuesday (1/31) at an undisclosed time at the Obey Giant website. I’ll be in Japan but will definitely be gunning for at least one of these prints. I had no luck trying to score the Occupy Protester print that he released a couple of weeks ago. Although my awesome sister, Mary, did snag me a copy of Time Magazine which featured Fairey’s print of Sarah Mason (occupy protestor) as person of the year. Thanks Mare!

Some pulp

2012-01-25T17:58:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago I was in a dollar store and snagged a bag of little green army men. I used to play with these all the time when I was a kid and I thought I'd use them in some sort of photo project. It's been done a million times before but I had fun doing it myself. I used my 4/3 camera and used the iPad for my processing. I'm going to love using this combo in Japan.

Merckxissimo

2012-01-25T16:07:00.001-08:00

I got home from work this evening around 5:30 and was surprised to find a large first-class mail envelope in my box. When I sat down on the couch and opened it up I was totally jazzed to find this small painting inside! I had forgotten that Georges asked me for my snail mail address a couple of weeks ago. I was really happy to receive this "card" from Georges and Rebecca. Georges is a great guy. I know him from his blog, where he posts cycling-based inspiration on a daily basis, and from racing in his ridiculously fun Bottle Ride (Race) he has organized and held for the past two years at en epic riding park just north of the city. He's an allstar-biker-artist-coolcat. I'll be framing this great Eddy Merckx painting and it'll be hung somewhere special here at phattire headquarters. Thanks for the card Georges!

Nippon. Right on!

2012-01-25T07:59:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Kawasaki is sending me out of the country for two weeks. This Saturday morning I'll fly for six hours, from NYC to Seattle, Washington. Forty minutes after I land in Seattle, I switch to a Boeing 767 and fly twelve more hours to Osaka, Japan. I'll touch down at Kansai Airport 4:30pm on Sunday evening. I'm sure my ass is going to feel SPECTACULAR after sitting for 18 hours. At least I get to fly business class on the way over there. On the way back, I'm stuck in coach. (How bad can THAT be? ... I don't want to think about it)

I usually don't get excited about big trips until the day before, but this time, I've been stoked and a bit anxious since I was first assigned to go a couple of weeks ago. I'll be staying 37km from the Kansai Airport at the Okura Hotel in Kobe. I checked it out via Google Maps' satellite view and I see that it's right on the Kobe waterfront! I hope to get some interesting pictures on the docks and maybe I'll find a fish market nearby to photograph. I'm already excited about figuring out how to get from the airport to my hotel. I have to buy a train ticket and I'm wondering just how much English I'll see when buying a ticket from the machine. Google Maps tells me it's a two hour train ride from the airport to the hotel. (Take a look) I have to transfer at Osaka Station to the Sannomiya line. By the way; I think its kind of neat that Kansai Airport is its own little island.

I'm looking forward to figuring things out and making my way through Hyogo. I will be working at Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) during the day, but the commute to and from KHI should provide some interesting morning and evening photos. I've set up my iPhone and iPad with international data plans so that I can use Google maps while I'm over there and also research as needed. Also, if any family or friends want to reach me, feel free.

Food. I love food. I think Japan is going to nail it as far as keeping my taste buds happy. Some of my favorite foods are sushi, various sea critters and steak. I'm sure I'll get my fill of sushi. And I'm positive I can find various types of tempura. And do I even need to mention that a fatty, well-marbled cut of that infamous Kobe beef is at the top of my list? Although I'm sure I'll be eating in a few restaurants with the customer and my Japanese counterparts, I plan to eat as much street food as I can. I eat a lot of it in my city; why not do the same in Osaka? If you have no idea about Japanese food here are some examples of typical Japanese dishes.
I'll have a free weekend while I'm there. Back home the Superbowl will be going on, but I'll be missing it. (GO GIANTS!) I plan on taking a train up to Tokyo for the day (See route above). This may be a bit optimistic as the train ride is nearly four hours long. But we'll see. I want to experience as much as possible during my fourteen days spent on the other side of the earth!

Pictures of the day

2012-01-24T17:05:00.001-08:00

Just a few images taken on my commute home from work this evening. I am loving the GF2! Also I can't say enough about the Photogene app for the iPad2. I used the app to make the collage below.

Four thirds mobile set-up

2012-01-24T10:23:00.000-08:00

An upcoming international business trip has me stoked about what I'm calling my new 4/3 mobile set-up. I'll be spending two weeks in Japan starting this Saturday the 28th, extending to Saturday the 11th. A bunch of research has enabled me to set up my iPad as my principle photo processing machine and shed light on an all new and ultra-practical work flow. Here's how it works: Using Apple's camera connection kit, I'm able to import RAW files from my 4/3 camera. From there I do my post processing via an excellent app called Photogene. Photogene lets me work with my RAW files and adjust a multitude of aspects to include levels & curves, white balance, noise reduction, viewing of EXIF data and modification of meta data and much more. On top of this, it enables me to re-size my files and export them to various places like my blog, Facebook, my Flickr account and even FTP them to my website's server! All of this while keeping my original files untouched for archival purposes.

While I'm in the Land of The Rising Sun, I'll be able to sort and process my photos each evening instead of waiting till I get back to the states!

New camera

2012-01-24T08:00:00.000-08:00

With the recent demise (sand caught in lens retraction gearing) of my Sony S90 a few months ago, I've finally saved enough cheddar to hit B&H for my new Four Thirds camera. Stepping into the four thirds realm is both familiar and exciting at the same time. Familiar in the sense that I am used to having full-manual control when exposing scenes and exciting because this new camera is so excellent. I'm talking about my new Panasonic Lumix GF2 shown at left. It has nearly all the control of a DSLR, yet is sized similarly to most of today's point & shoot cameras. The image sensor, though not as large as my full frame Nikon D700, is much larger than most point & shoot cameras allowing it to surpass them in both file size and image quality. Rather than go on and on about the specs for this camera I'm only going to tell you about what I think are the neatest features and let you get the full low-down over at dpreview.com. The biggest reasons why I bought this camera over a traditional point & shoot are: RAW file captures, interchangeable lenses, sensor size, full exposure control (f/stop & shutter speed, & manual focus), 1080i 60fps full HD video, SD memory, touch screen menu, all metal body, iPhone-like image browsing in play-back mode & lastly; size.

Below are a couple of images I took this morning while transferring from bus to train in Marble Hill.

Above left: f/2.5 @ 1/25 sec. Above right:f/2.5 @ 1/40 sec.

Picture of the day

2012-01-23T18:23:00.001-08:00

Soaked

Snowy morning

2012-01-21T05:33:00.001-08:00

I was woken by the sound of a plow rumbling up 190th street. That's a sound I don't mind waking to; it means we've got snow here in the city. Here are just a few snaps from my window this morning at 7:30. (Shot with my D700 using my 19-35mm) Looks like we'll be getting about 5" today. It's about time! I'll be out and about with my camera; most likely post some pore shots later today. In related news, I think it's pretty cool that NYC will soon have a real-time snow plow tracking system. Funny note: The person in the upper left photo looked up when I released the shutter; I wonder if they think I was spying on them.

Moldy rolls

2012-01-19T09:14:00.000-08:00

I was going to just toss this bag of moldy rolls when I got home from work last night, but then I thought I'd play around with them. I don't think any of these images are winners, but it was fun/gross to play with lighting. I didn't put any effort into making a backdrop, or perfecting studio lighting, though it was good inspiration for an upcoming military themed macro project. Stay tuned.

Houston by iPhone

2012-01-14T10:56:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in my last post; I spent a couple of days in Houston last week on business. I didn't take my DSLR, but I did use my iPhone to capture some of the buildings near the cross streets of Louisiana and Dallas. I wish I had a real camera with me, but these images give you an idea of some of the architecture in the area.

Haven't had a bath in 22 years

2012-01-12T11:09:00.000-08:00

I have to say: baths are amazing. When I think of simple pleasures and the finer things in life, baths now come to mind. Last night, in Houston, when I got to my hotel room I was stressed from a rough day spent working with my boss. I was eager to shower, change out of my monkey suit, and hit the streets for some exploration. While playing with the mixing valve for a steaming hot shower, the notion of a bath entered my brain. Why not? I was at a 4 star hotel, and the tub was spotless after all (I'd never take a bath in my tub!). So I dedicated the next 30 minutes to some much needed me-time. I propped my iPad up and played some Explosions In The Sky, grabbed a few extra towels and filled the tub. The next half hour was spent soaking, contemplating and reminiscing of the times when my 8 other brothers and sisters would take turns bathing in that old brick house outside of Pittsburgh. It was then that I realized it had been over 22 years since I last turned all pruney in a giant porcelain trough. Vivid memories came flooding back to me of evening sunsets and the sound of my siblings still running around outside. I could hear them through the open upstairs bathroom window . I remembered a time, I must have been 7 or so, when my older sister Molly shampooed my hair making me giggle as she lathered my noggin comically. And the water; oh the water! Grey with a day's worth of playing in the woods, catching grasshoppers in the garden and baseball with my friend Cody, down the street.

Many times since then, I've wished for a bath; after every race or long road or mountain bike ride, I think of how nice a hot bath would feel on my tired legs. Why haven't I bathed? For one, I'm 6' tall and the bath tubs in the places I've rented in Boston, Baltimore and New York were tiny! For two, those same bath tubs were never a place where I would want to submerge myself, no matter how clean I thought I could get them.

Anyway, baths are fantastic. I'll add a bath to my business travel routine from now on. As glorious as they are, 30 minutes is a long time and I simply couldn't take the heat after that. My body temp was definitely elevated. I looked like a lobster when I hopped out! ....mmmmm lobsters.

Saturday morning in pictures

2012-01-09T01:51:00.000-08:00

This past Saturday I was up and at em' for an early morning walk with the camera around Columbus Circle and the south end of Central Park. I checked out an interesting sculpture "Tornado" at the southeast entrance to the park, swung by Rat Rock and hit up the Apple store. I can't explain exactly why I feel a compulsion to visit the Apple store every several months. I don't need anything from them. Yet I'm attracted to their laptops and desktop machines; drawn to them much like Dreyfuss in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Anyway, I stared in amazement at the 27" iMacs for a few moments until the idea of a pretzel croissant at City Bakery entered my mind and I was able to snap out of it and head down to 18th Street. Ahh, the power of food. I have to thank Chris Kreuter for turning me on to these insanely delicious little morsels. Thank you Chris. Seriously. Before heading further downtown, I noticed an awesome little hot dog stand. The owner's nice orange road bike sandwiched between the stand and the boundary wall of Central Park is what first caught my eye. But then, I noticed pictures of Eddy Merckx on the outside; sweet! Though I didn't buy one of NY's classic dirty-water street dogs I did delight in the thought of Eddy Merckx pushing for his five Tour de France wins in the 70's, fueled by Belgian hot dogs.

Single Speeding in Allentown, PA.

2012-01-06T09:53:00.000-08:00

One aspect of my job that I really enjoy is the traveling. Last week I had to travel to the middle of Pennsylvania to audit a supplier Kawasaki is using for the WMATA Project. Since I had a rental car for last week's trip and a full day open for traveling/exploring, I packed a mountainbike and set off down the road. I got to Bear Creak Resort in Allentown, PA at around 1:30 and rode a single loop around the ski hills and lodge before calling it quits. I stopped often to shoot bits and pieces of footage with my iPhone to create the short video below. I was impressed with the trails, though I stuck to the main loop which traces the perimeter of the resort and measures only 5 miles. I was hard-pressed to make the climbs and keep my hands on the bars through the rock gardens on my rigid single speed machine but had a blast all the same. Snow flakes fluttered down through the leafless trees and snot froze in my mustache. It was 27°F and QUITE nippy! Overall I'm impressed with the video quality of the iPhone. Staying true to phattire low-budget production fashion, I used Windows Movie Maker to create this one.

Amtraking

2011-12-29T05:35:00.001-08:00

Another Amtrak ride down to DC. I'm getting quite used to this trip now. I always wish I could stop and explore some of the places I speed past; the old factories just outside of Jersey for example. Instead I sit listening to Peter Bjorne & John's Writer's Block album. I plan on mountain biking in Germantown, MD tomorrow morning. I haven't ridden at Schaefer Farm in at least six years and it is one of my favorite spots to ride so I'm dying to get the single speed out there ASAP!

Edit: I never actually got to ride at Schaefer Farm! Bummer!

This morning in pictures

2011-12-28T08:04:00.001-08:00

Washington Heights this morning at 7:30am.

A few xmas photos

2011-12-28T04:30:00.000-08:00

I actually spent a decent amount of time playing around with my Lionel O-gauge trains this year. I don't always get the train out though this year, setting it up and really examining each box car was really enjoyable.

Goal #1

2011-12-23T08:42:00.000-08:00

Looks like I have one bike related goal in my sights for March of 2012. The Red Hook Crit goes down on March 24th (incase you couldn't decipher that information from the adjacent image). More info here in the near future.

Happy Holidays

2011-12-23T08:23:00.001-08:00

It's nearly Xmas eve and I've been one busy guy this month. Work has taken me to Milwaukee (awesome town!), Charlotte (also awesome) and continues to send me to other interesting spots in the new year like Allentown, PA (not so awesome). But, still, I enjoy the experience of traveling and all of the interactions, foods and situations that come along with that. Milwaukee was a blast; I spent some time in the 3rd Ward which was full of hip & happening joints and gorged myself at a sea food market where I chowed down on a tasty lobster for only $14. You can't beat that price. I reassured myself that I simply couldn't afford NOT to eat my steamy little friend. The best part of it was that the lobster had a great fresh flavor. Now, I've been known to breakdown and shlep my water bug-craving ass into Red Lobster from time to time - and let me clarify this is only when I had hit rock bottom in my lobster addiction. I'm not proud of it, but I'm not exactly ashamed either. Red Lobster is like shwag lobster I pick up when I'm really fiending. Most of the time, if you want the good stuff, you gotta pay top dollar. So, to eat an awesome lobster for $14 was so right-on. The half-dozen Blue Point oysters I slurped down weren't bad either.

Look for a lot more noise coming out of this blog in 2012. This year has been a rough one on me; my lack of blogging these past couple of months speak to that. Here's to a happy holiday for everyone and a fruitful new year!

Noel

2011-12-12T11:04:00.000-08:00

Long time no post. I'm here though, as is the Xmas holiday. Though I haven't posted since November 11th, I can assure you my tree is up and the Lionel train has chugged around it more than a few times - Two traditional measures taken in hopes of generating at least a scoach of holiday cheer. This in spite of a years worth of crumby life continually derailing my usual festive noel-nature this time of year. I could use some tidings of comfort and joy (COMFORT AND JOY) or what have you. Still; I've been active. I've squeezed in a few mountain bike rides up at Sprain Ridge Park, a two night backpacking trip at Harriman State Park, a hike up Slide Mountain in the Catskills with an overnight at the Colonial Inn and a trip down to Baltimore to visit a friend this past weekend. On the other side of that coin (the inactive/sloth side) I've been tearing through episodes of AMC's Breaking Bad. A buddy turned me on to the show and I've since watched all three available seasons on Netflix and have only 2 episodes left of the latest seaon; four. If you've never seen the show, allow me to point you in the right direction. Warning; you will be hooked after one episode.

Dirt Rag #160

2011-11-11T10:10:00.000-08:00

I hear it all the time: "Enjoy the simple pleasures in life". Well, here's one of the simple pleasures I enjoy in life: Dirt Rag # 160. I'll never get tired of reading Dirt Rag.

Tear jerker

2011-11-04T05:31:00.000-07:00

I found this video over at Prolly's site. I think it's a fantastic short film and does capture the feeling you get when your bike is stolen. I can't imagine having my fixed gear stolen. Yowza. Enjoy.

Maiden voyage of the Mission 1

2011-10-29T15:35:00.000-07:00

This morning I met a friend at Sprain Ridge Park in Yonkers, NY to get a quick and early ride in before the forecast snow began to fly. At 7:30 this morning JP and I were dropping into some gnarly-fun singletrack. It was my first ride on my new full suspension bike. I must say, this bike is incredible. I need to add a few more PSI to the rear shock but other than that the bike rode beautifully. I was throwing it into some really sketchy rock gardens and it seamed to just eat it right up. I also hucked it off a few 3 and 4 footers with no problems. Love it! The only bummer about the ride was that I managed to twist my left knee pretty badly. I have never felt a sensation like it before - like strands of rope snapping. Ouch! I'm hobbling around (again), but I think another trip to the doctor is in order... Below is a quick video made from footage snapped with my iPhone.

New wheels

2011-10-18T11:57:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, I ordered a new All Mountain (AM) bike from Diamondback. I haven't paid much attention to Diamondback since around 1997 when I was enamored with their OCLV technology during their Rocketboy Campaign. You know, the good old days of '95 & '96 when Travis Brown (and his famous side burns) was ripping it up on the XC pro circuit. At any rate, I was looking for a good AM bike to ride at Blue Mountain Reservation and the Mission 1 seems to fit the bill. The Mission 1 has 6" of front and rear travel, both adjustable and both have lock-outs. The components are roughly, mid level and nothing fancy but the bike is 100% ready to rock as is. I won't be upgrading any of the parts until they break or prove insufficient for my riding. I'm so eager to take big hits with this bike. I've been so careful on the Cannondale when riding at Blue Mountain; now I'll have a bike that can take a real beating! It should arrive this Friday. Below is a photo of the bike and an exploded view of the 4-bar linkage system Diamondback calls their "knucklebox" technology.

Excellent AM skills video

2011-10-18T04:36:00.000-07:00

I stumbled upon this video the other day and really enjoyed it. In my 17 years of mountain biking I believe I've watched one or possibly two actual skills videos. Well, my eyes are wide open to them now. I actually learned a lot and found myself outside practicing my newly learned cornering technique. In this video Fabien Barel from the Mondraker Factory Team explains some really basic and helpful All Mountain (AM) skills in a way that is very easy to understand. The video editing is top notch providing many very clear visual demonstrations of each skill. I particularly liked the layering of videos showing Barel using proper vs improper cornering techniques at the same time. Techniques are slowed down and replayed for clarity and graphics point out where your center of gravity should be during each move. It's a lengthy yet excellent AM skills video showing how a little bit of correctly applied body movement can increase your ride's stoke factor. Enjoy.

The Bottle Ride - 2nd Annual Race

2011-10-10T10:24:00.001-07:00

It's Monday morning and I find myself in the office feeling both sore and good, not unlike other Monday mornings. Recounting Saturday's race, I wash down a couple of Aleve with a sip of mediocre coffee from the kitchen here at work. In my cube, I shuffle my legs a bit to keep my slacks from sticking to the giant raspberry on my right leg. I loosen my tie in hopes of reliving a little tension from my shoulders. What an awesome race.

Above left: my left leg in 2010 after The Bottle Ride. Above right: my right leg in 2011 after The Bottle Ride.

Saturday morning I raced in the 2nd Annual Bottle Ride at Blue Mountain in Peekskill, NY (See last year's race report here). This time, I raced on my rigid single speed. Why? Because I love they way it rides: the flex of the steel, the direct connection to every impact that travels from the wheels up through the frame. Again this year, Georges's efforts in the race preparation, organization, and enthusiasm really paid off! Where else can you find a free race, comprised of a bunch of random cool cats, strong riders, prizes and on trails as brutally epic as the ones at Blue Mountain? Nowhere, mon frere. And so again, this year I raced.

So how did I do? Racers were sent off at 30 second intervals; the race followed the time trial format just as it did last year. Just, like last year, I started off aggressively, over excited and clumsily. I crashed hard, 50' into the race in almost the exact same spot as last year. The start of the course skirts off-camber, along the side of a steep hill and runs through a large rock garden. This is where I stalled, balanced for a moment, then slowly started to fall to the right, down hill. Looking downhill at my landing zone I saw nothing but boulders! And over I went, unable to disengage my cleat from my right pedal. I fell in an almost sitting position, still clipped in on the downhill side. Without a smidgeon of grace and with my arms flailing wildly, I plummeted downhill reaching out at the last second, bracing for impact. Luckily my upper body landed in a wonderful little soft patch of leaves while my hips and legs landed hard on the rocks. Adding insult to injury, my bike came to a stop on top of me.

Calm down.

While I scrambled back up the hill to the trail, I noticed my legs were scraped up but other that, they felt fine so I was eager to get pedaling as soon as possible. A race is no place for standing still you know. It's also not the place for hyped up, adrenaline fueled, clumsy riding. I had to calm myself down and ride smarter. A few minutes further down the trail and I had settled into a rhythm and started to feel very "on". My lines through the technical sections were precise and smooth as I lofted the bike over small rock patches, logs and slippery roots. I passed about 6 people in the first half of the race, and was able to stay ahead of the people behind me which was a really good feeling. My legs were loosened up and I was feeling great. So I began to push it. When I reached the long climb up Ned's Left Lung I just put my head down and chugged up the hill with a steady but ambitious cadence. I puked up a little coffee from earlier that morning, without loosing my focus and continued to turn the cranks.

Half way up Ned's Left Lung, I lost the ability to clip into my left pedal. The 2-year old wings in my Crank Brothers Candy pedals seemed to be stuck in the "open" position and would not close around the cleat in my shoe. I stopped half way up Ned's Left Lung, a grueling climb over loose baby-head sized rocks, grabbed a rock the size of a baseball and gave the pedal a few hard blows (TWSS). the wings snapped back in place and I was able to clip in for a few more feet before the pedal failed again. This time I just kept riding. Riding with only one foot clipped in is very aggravating. Every rock and log I hopped, had my left foot flying off the pedal, so I had to take them much slower than I usually would.

In the end, I think I did pretty well. The winner won with a time of 45:15. I suspect my time was probably somewhere around 60:00, but I won't know until Georges posts the times. Regardless of my time, I had a great time and even made a couple of friends who I plan on riding with. You can never have too many riding buds. Lastly, I want to thank Georges for all of the work he put into the second, Bottle Ride. Thanks G!

2 new prints

2011-10-07T05:21:00.000-07:00

So, I've recently scored these two awesome Shepard Fairey prints below. What's extra cool about them is that they're both prints are signed and numbered. The one on the left is the poster that ATP asked Fairey to make for the I'll Be Your Mirror music festival. I went to that festival (Though not to thrash & mosh, but rather to see Fairey's Revolutions show) and it rocked. So, I'm glad to have this print because I was actually at the festival and saw the Paramount Theater he incorporated into the print; pretty sweet. The print on the right was released for sale yesterday and I was lucky enough to score it before it sold out. Though I don't find it as visually striking as some of his other prints, I do really like the message. And as my sister pointed out, those bright red arrows at the bottom of the print force your eyes to see the "large transgressions"I think I'll be getting both of these prints framed so they can be hung proudly at phattire headquarters.

Oh hell yeah

2011-10-03T15:06:00.000-07:00

Another excellent video by Marco Toniolo. Check out his videos on Vimeo, they're all excellent! This one in particular really makes me want to ride. This guy's got some sick skills!

Marco Milivinti's training track from Marco Toniolo on Vimeo.

Revolutions

2011-10-03T06:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I met my sister Mary at her frame shop in Summit, NJ so we could drive down to Asbury Park and see Shepard Fairey's album cover art show: Revolutions. Asbury Park itself is an odd, sleepy little town. Ocean Ave is the main drag along the shore with a boardwalk on the ocean side and all sorts of odd sights along the inland side. It reminded me of Cherynoble: old funky hotels, half built structures with concrete pillars sprouting rebar high into the air and several empty parking lots. Still, the boardwalk seemed to have a some energy to it and when you glanced around the entire scene, giant Shepard Fairy murals popped out at you in the distance. We walked around the area taking pictures of the art Fairey had posted here and there and then popped into the gallery to see his Revolutions show. I have to say, seeing his work full size and up close was really amazing. The detail he puts into the pieces and his seemingly endless creativity continue to impress me. Mary and I both bought the latest edition of his book Supply & Demand and even got it for about $15 cheaper than it sells for at the Obey Giant website; sweet! Below are a few images from the day and here is a gallery of all the images.

I'll be your mirror

2011-09-30T07:59:00.000-07:00

I scored this sweet new Shepard Fairey print while riding the crosstown bus through Central Park last night. Fairey was asked by ATP, to create this poster to help publicize this weekend's music festival: I'll Be Your Mirror. This print was released for sale yesterday but it had sold out immediately. However, there must have been a glitch in the Obey Giant website because when I checked back yesterday evening I was delighted to find it was still available! *Snag!* I think its pretty cool that Fairey incorporated the old Paramount Theatre in Asbury Park, into the print. Side note: I love the fact that I was able to buy this print using my iPhone; so convenient. Every second counts when trying to buy new Fairey pieces; they usually sell out in a matter of minutes!

Rather than describe the print myself, I'm going to cut & paste Mr.Fairey's own words here:

All Tomorrow’s Parties is a great independent music festival that does events around the world. I attended one in LA a few years ago to catch great shows by Iggy and the Stooges and Mission of Burma. ATP has a great concept of asking people or bands to curate the festival. They have asked people like Jim Jarmusch, Matt Groening, Thurston Moore, The Melvins, and for this year’s festival, Portishead. I love Portishead, so I was happy to be asked to create the poster this year. The festival is happening in an amazing building on the boardwalk in Asbury Park NJ, so I incorporated the building into the design of the poster. I’ll be doing murals, an art show, and DJ’ing as part of the ATP festival, so I’m getting to indulge all my passions in a concentrated way this week. Oh, Public Enemy is performing their classic sonic thunderstorm of an album “Fear of a Black Planet”… shake your rump and pump your fist!!!! If you don’t know what I’m talking about, improve your life immediately and get that record. Or, get to Asbury Park and check it out.

-Shepard Fairey

My sister Mary and I are heading over to Asbury Park, NJ this Sunday to check out Fairey's album art show titled Revolutions during this ATP event. He's created a lot of excellent album covers over the years, for some really great bands, to include the likes of the Smashing Pumpkins, Billy Idol, Tom Petty, and 311. I don't think we'll take in any of the shows but I'm sure we'll be able to hear them jamming out. We're more interested in seeing the Revolutions show; it's going to be fantastic and I'm pretty stoked to check it out!

I also found this little gem where you can download a mix tape of tracks from the bands playing at the I'll Be Your Mirror Show this weekend. Enjoy! [click here to listen/download]

Death on wheels

2011-09-29T07:19:00.001-07:00

Mixed in with my office mail this morning, was this screen printed patch I had bought on Ebay last week. It's a Shepard Fairey screen print from who knows when. He's not currently selling patches on his website and I'm glad to have scored this one. Looks like the future holds another trip to the Ecuadorian Shoe Repair Shop in my neighborhood. The guys at the shop have a sewing machine with a stout needle that can handle stitching through the thick rubber and Cordura material of my old messenger bag. It's always fun to pop in there and explain that I want them to stitch a patch on my bag. They're always happy to make a quick and easy $5.00.

Rock on

2011-09-29T05:23:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday I ripped around Sprain Ridge Park for a few hours on my singlespeed. Trail conditions were a little moist from the rain we received earlier in the week giving them a tacky/grippy feel. As usual it felt fantastic to turn the cranks and dip & dive through the woods. Riding a singlespeed through a damp forest can be quite surreal in that it is a very quiet experience. Twigs didn't snap beneath my tires and wet leaves helped to muffle my roll. I played around on this boulder for a few minutes before moving on. I wish I had the skills I used to have; I was once so smooth!

Picture of the day

2011-09-21T07:16:00.001-07:00

A combination of two images I took this past weekend while backpacking.

Backpacking at Harriman

2011-09-19T06:17:00.000-07:00

I spent Friday through Sunday morning backpacking in Harriman State Park in New Jersey. Friday night I took a 6:00 bus from downtown, across the Hudson River and into NJ where I met my friend Jay who drove us to Harriman. Our hike in to the Dutch Doctor Shelter was dark and the cool air was really comfortable for hiking. We hiked 2.5 miles by the light of our head lamps over gentle grades of boulder strewn trails. We arrived at Dutch Doctor Shelter around 9:00 where we met up with Mike, who would join us for the weekend. I made a lazy dinner of pepper jack cheese and pepperoni and we all sat around talking and listening to Thievery Corporation. The temperature was down around the mid 50's and made for extremely comfortable sleeping.

Saturday morning I woke up around 7:00, well rested, and brewed a cup of joe. I sipped my coffee while sitting on the edge of the shelter watching the sun rise slowly above the horizon. Rays of sunlight warmed my legs and pelted the eastern sides of trees in the woods before me. It was a beautiful morning. We packed up and set off west along the Tuxedo Mountain Ivy Trail to Claudius Smith Den. This trail took us over Tuxedo Mountain (1040') to the den which is actually a pretty large cave. I crawled up and through the cave stopping inside to enjoy the cool darkness and sound echoing around inside. I down-climbed a simple route on the the backside of the cave and was pretty stoked about the whole thing. I think caves are really neat.

Pushing on past Claudius Smith Den, we turned south down the Blue Disk Trail. This trail was pretty awesome as well because it splits and gives you two options: the "elbow brusher" or the "easy route". We all took the elbow brusher and enjoyed squeezing through narrow crevices and along harry ledges. This trail was mostly down hill. At one point we stopped for a break and I noticed a big hornets nest hanging high in the branches above. It was the size of a basketball. Sitting on some rocks we all snacked, drank water and talked about the beautiful weather and excellent trail conditions. We all enjoyed the sight of a giant tree growing from a ledge on the side of an equally large boulder.

A mile or so later we were hiking along the Kakiat Trail which routed us across Spring Brook. Hurricane Irene had caused so much flooding that the bridge across Spring Brook was destroyed. Remnants of the bridge were interesting... concrete pillars with re-bar and broken strands of cable sprouting up out of them. Across the brook, a log the size of a telephone pole held anchored to the pillar. The other end of the log was swept downstream by the current. We followed the brook until we found a spot to rock hop across about a quarter mile downstream.

After another mile and a half or so, we came across Stony Brook which is a boulder strewn river with several small waterfalls (10') and deep refreshing pools. We all filtered water from this brook and I climbed around taking pictures. The roar of the water filled the air and a canopy of very tall trees let light filter down through gaps in the leave cover high above. It was beautiful.

We hiked a couple more miles to the top of Diamond Mountain where we set up camp. The tents went up quickly and we all went about collecting firewood for the evening. It was about 4:00 at this time and cloud cover had me wondering if it was going to rain or not. The weather forecast had called for good weather but I had a feeling I was going to get wet. As luck would have it, the clouds blew by and the stars came out. Dinner was a freeze dried meal of spaghetti (Again, I have to say Mountain House meals are great). We all made meals around the fire and talked while Bob Dylan played from an iPhone. The three of us shared food and stories and kept the fire blazing for a few hours before calling it a day.

Sunday morning I woke up around 6:45. The sun was just creeping over the rocks in front of my tent highlighting the green moss on the ground just outside of my tent. I stared through the screen at my boots and water bottle I left outside overnight. Moments later I was outside stretching, rubbing my eyes and picking up sticks for the fire. The coals from last night's fire were still hot and the fire came back to life with a few hand fulls of kindling. I wasn't too hungry but I ate a breakfast bar with my coffee and then cooked up some bacon for the three of us. We broke camp by 9:00 and hiked the last 4 miles out to the cars. Great trip!

Experiencing zero gravity

2011-09-16T04:42:00.000-07:00

Stumbled upon this over at John Nack's Adobe blog. Totally love it. Really want to base jump now...

SS cyclocross bike 4 sale

2011-09-13T10:04:00.000-07:00

Of all of the not-so-bright things I've done in my life, ordering the wrong sized bike could be one of the worst. I say this because I am well aware of the fact that I ride a 59cm frame. But, last week I ordered & received a 58cm Motobecane singlespeed cross bike. I have no idea how I picked "58" from the drop down menu when I ordered it but oh well. Its a beautiful bike and I took my time setting up right. But, after one quick burn around the neighborhood I knew that this frame was too small. Rather than return the bike and rather than try to make the bike fit me I threw it up for sale on Craiglist. I'm asking $700 and I think she'll go pretty fast. This bike can be ridden as a fixed gear or with the freewheel. 16T cogs live on both side of the flip-flop hub.

Rocky Mountain Altitude RSL

2011-09-13T04:46:00.000-07:00

I've always wanted a nice All-Mountain (AM) bike. Something fully suspended that will climb without bobbing and sucking my energy but will also suck up the big hits and be able to take the big drops on the downhill sections. The Rocky Mountain Altitude RSL looks pretty awesome. 5.5" of front and rear adjustable travel and a solid frame design; nice. I can just imagine riding this thing up at Blue Mountain in Peekskill, NY.

Coney Island

2011-09-12T08:24:00.001-07:00

I spent Saturday afternoon at Coney Island walking along the beach, the boardwalk and around the roller coasters and other rides. As usual, there was no shortage of strange sites and sounds. I believe Coney Island may have the highest percentage of Carnies in the entire New York City area. All sorts of folks roam this place, ensuring that you will always see something interesting at Coney Island. People danced to music on the boardwalk, children were running in and out of the water and flying kites. I was avoiding shards of glass, feminine hygiene products and other nasty bits of garbage that make up the beach at Coney Island. Although the beach is filthy and chances are high of emerging from the water with a used band aid stuck to my face, I usually jump in and float around for a bit. The cooler temps and my self-preservation mindset kept me out of the water this time. Below are a few snapshots from the days stroll.

Saturday's road ride

2011-09-12T07:58:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning I took the road bike out for a wet 26 mile ride. I rode across the George Washington Bridge, into NJ and then turned south down to Hoboken. My friend Dave just got a new road bike and he was eager to get out on a real road ride but the weather foiled our plans. After meeting Dave and heading north out of Hoboken, the rain let loose. Twice we took cover under overpasses and debated between continuing the ride and finding a bistro or cafe in which to eat brunch. We had just agreed to head back to Hoboken to find some breakfast when Dave's rear tire went flat. We were so close to his place that we just bagged the ride. All in all I had a great ride. I stayed dry all the way back to Manhattan. The rain held until I reached my place and I was surprised at how good I felt on the road bike. All that time spent on the fixie lately has really given me some power down in my legs. I can't wait to get out in the woods on the mountain bike!

Getting cooler

2011-09-09T12:09:00.000-07:00

I'm not getting any cooler. I am what I am. The weather sure is though, and it's been great. Albeit rainy, this week has been pretty comfortable with temperatures dropping down into the 60's at night and maxing out in the mid 80's during the day. Not a lot planned for this weekend though I do hope to get out and put some miles on the road bike. Wouldn't mind riding a little dirt as well, but we shall see.

Not so fixed gear

2011-09-02T08:53:00.000-07:00

Friday at last and I feel great after another week or riding to work. I have an ideal seven mile commute. Not too short, not too long: juuuust riiiight. (that's what she said?)

With the onset of cooler temperatures I am really excited for fall to come. I enjoy commuting during the fall and winter much more than during the summer. I like the warrior aspect of it. I'm out there in the elements, completely comfortable, pedaling around the city.

I did have a mechanical issue this week. The lockring came loose on my fixed gear causing the gear (16T cog) to become not so fixed. It was a quick five minute fix to remove the wheel and honk down on the lockring, but it definitely scared the sh!t out of me. Aside from that I haven't had a mechanical issue in almost a year. Sweet. I must say, this is the first time I have used the Pedro's multi-tool for anything other than removing my wheels to fix flats. Worked great.

Fabric Horse U-Lock Holster

2011-08-31T08:43:00.001-07:00

I've been carrying my current U-lock for nine years now, and in those nine years it's home, while in transit, has been my back pocket. That's where it lives. Location is everything: From my back right pocket its easy to pull out when I need to shake it in a threatening manner or retrieve it to lock up my ride. My lock is my friend; my protector. I've depended on it for many years now and it's never let me down. When I stumble out of the bodega with my Red Bull, hoagie, Bike magazine and canned ham, I'm always relieved to see my bike safe and secure. Thank you my little steel friend.

While my lock does fit nicely in the back pocket of my shorts, pants and shants, last month I discovered a new product from Fabric Horse which piqued my interest: The U-lock Holster. My initial reaction to the holster was one of disinterest and snobbery. With a head-shake, a single "tsssssssss" escaped my lips. What's wrong with the back pocket? I grumbled.

Flash forward a month. It's August 29th and I'm standing at the counter at Mod Squad Cycles in Harlem. I'm wrestling a new mustache bar into my messenger bag and joking with one of the shop workers about shanking unsuspecting pedestrians on the way home with this oddly shaped piece of aluminum protruding from my bag. I'm about to leave when I spot a pile of these holsters on the counter marked: $9.99. So I buy one. What the hell I say. Living in a city of hipsters ensures a respectable resale value if I don't end up using this thing. Thank you Craigslist.

Now flash backward one day. It's August 30th, 6:15am. I'm rubbing a crusty eye-booger from my face while slipping my belt through the loops in my shorts. It is then that I spot the holster draped over the back of a chair. Oh yeah, time to use that ten dollar piece of seat-belt. Positioning the holster in the back, just right of center, I drop my lock in. As my elevator takes me to the ground floor I'm going over things I wasn't supposed to forget: dress shoes, dress shirt, khakis, a couple of slices of pizza from the fridge... then the door opens and I roll down the hall and out on to the street.

As soon as I throw a leg over my bike I realized, perhaps the single most important benefit of the holster, which is: ass pressure reduction. When you shove a U-lock in your back pocket it really presses against your ass. That pressure is now gone because the lock, no longer fights the curvature of your badonkadonk. It simply hangs straight down "off the back" (a position I am quite used to from my road racing daze). So, to the two Phillies at Fabric Horse; thank you, I dig it, nicely done!

Super Commuter Man

2011-08-30T07:02:00.000-07:00

This morning's ride in to work was fantastic. I left phattire headquarters at 6:25am and stepped out in to a cool 60° morning. Not a cloud in the sky; a bit of dew on the grass. I zipped off on the fixed gear taking Broadway north out of Manhattan, through the Bronx and into Yonkers. I'm really loving the new mustache bars. I was totally flying up Broadway this morning. I stopped for a quick moment to snap a couple of photos of the morning fog rising off of Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx (pictured above & below). 7 miles later I rolled through the gate at Kawasaki. At work, while I was passing my U-lock through my frame, a production worker approached my bike and I asking "Fixed gear?" which led to a quick conversation about messaging. Turns out, this guy used to be a messenger here in NYC. We talked for a quick moment before I went inside to find a conference room to change in. Now changed out of my commuting clothes, I am no longer Super Commuter Man but instead; a mild mannered QA Engineer.

Today's Yehuda Moon

2011-08-30T05:53:00.000-07:00

I rode to work this morning. I can relate to this Yehuda Moon comic. Though I don't usually fight traffic on the ride in to work; the ride home is a different story.

Mustache bars

2011-08-29T12:43:00.000-07:00

I picked up a no-name aluminum mustache bar from Mod Squad Cycles in Harlem today. I was actually looking for a Jeff Jones style Hbar or a set of Mary bars for my singlespeed mountainbike but ended up throwing these bars on a few blocks from the bike shop and really like the way they feel on the fixed gear.

They're much wider than my old sawed-off riser and they also position my hands a good two or three inches farther forward; changing my riding position a bit, but it feels really comfortable. I have the bars flipped upwards which puts me in a slightly more upright position and yet still feels aggressive and comfortable for applying a lot of torque in a sprint. I was able to chug right up Broadway coming north under the bridge at 125th.

Video: Rolling Clouds

2011-08-29T06:10:00.001-07:00

Though Hurricane Irene wasn't quite as exciting as I had hoped, she did send a bunch of rolling clouds through the city yesterday. It rained on and off but was also sunny here and there. The film below is one hour of footage shot from my window and sped up 32X.

Camera protection

2011-08-28T10:40:00.000-07:00

I made a quick rain cover for my Nikon this morning before heading out in the weather for some street photos. All you need is a one-gallon Ziploc freezer bag and some electrical tape. First I cut a corner off of the freezer bag, making a hole slightly smaller than the hood on my lens. Then I squeezed the hood through the hole and gave it a few wraps with the electrical tape. Lastly, I applied the same technique to the eye piece area on the back of the body. That's all there is to it. It worked like a charm and was comfortable. Plenty of room in the bag to change camera settings etc. I'll be keeping this bag and a roll of tape with my camera gear.

You call that a hurricane?

2011-08-28T09:59:00.000-07:00

Wow. What a let down. I suppose it's good that Irene didn't completely level and flood the Big Apple but I really was looking forward to fleeing to safety. Who knows what kind of adventures could have ensued. Instead. I awoke to a fairly bright morning sky with light wind and rain. No flying debris. No rooftops peeled back like sardine lids. No upside down cars. I grabbed the camera and set off for a little recon. No major damage. Lots of upside-down trash cans and small fallen limbs here and there.

Hurricane Irene: Bring it on.

2011-08-27T10:19:00.001-07:00

Well, I'm all set for Hurricane Irene. I'm actually really excited about it! Yesterday I packed up some survival/rescue gear and I have a bunch of water stored away in the fridge. Camera batteries are fully charged and I'm just kicking around the apartment reading a new book about modern-westernized Buddhism. I don't plan on going anywhere today. Even if I could, NYCT has shut down all public transportation effective noon today.

I plan on getting out and about with my camera during the course of the day. Below are a few photos from the rooftop of my building; nothing too exciting, just overcast with relatively week winds. These photos were taken at 11:00am this morning.

Riding in Bolivia

2011-08-25T05:57:00.000-07:00

Found this while browsing an awesome blog I follow: Dan.Gerous.net. Now I want to go to Bolivia.

Relating to Yehuda Moon comics

2011-08-19T06:14:00.000-07:00

Been following Yehuda Moon for a while now and can definitely relate the piece above. I got a call yesterday from the bike shop saying that my new Lefty (Lefty Speed Carbon XLR) has arrived and they offered me my choice of stem-steerer technology. Apparently the older style System Integration (SI) stem-steerer has quite a long lead time, whereas the new One Piece Integration (OPI) stem is the latest design, lighter, and readily available. I chose the newer OPI unit. Though, their "one piece integration" actually consists of two pieces. We'll see... I just want my damn frame and fork back so I can build it up and ride once again.

Above Left: SI Stem-steerer (Old design) Above Right: OPI Stem Steerer (New design)

Video from the Catskills trip

2011-08-18T04:43:00.001-07:00

I was finally able to get this footage together and uploaded to Vimeo. Below is a video from last weekend's hike at Hunter Mountain in the Catskills. I chose not to add a sound track to this and instead let it serve as a virtual hike right here on the interweb. This footage was taken with my Canon S90 and edited with Windows Live Movie Maker.

The latest from Danny Macaskill...

2011-08-17T15:53:00.000-07:00

Blows me away every time I watch him ride... Talk about skills!

Gear Review: EMS Thunderhead Jacket

2011-08-17T06:50:00.001-07:00

I typically don't post gear reviews on this blog. Gear reviews are something I always think about doing but usually don't because I feel it crosses that thin line between Interesting Bit o' Information and Nerd-dom. But, since I tend to live right on the border of these two great nations; why not?

Today I am reviewing my rain coat. Everyone needs one: Keeps you dry, keeps you warm, and perhaps most important: it enables you to make those midnight outhouse runs in the pouring rain. "Crap, I forgot TP again?!" I'm only giving this jacket a review because it works so well. It's saved me many a time my friends.

I bought this EMS Thunderhead jacket this past winter. I bought it to use both cycling and hiking/camping. So, for the past 8 months or so I've used this jacket on the trails, on the road, and under a backpack. It breathes really well, which is important when you've already invested in a bunch of moisture whicking under-layers. Your rain gear should breathe and release any moisture you create. It also has "pit zips" which sound a bit ridiculous but are extremely effective in cooling off your armpits and getting some airflow in there. One cool thing about this jacket is that it incorporates what EMS calls their "Sync" system. This means it has a snap & loop system for attaching liners to the inside of it. I have a liner and used it mountainbiking this winter; works great!

If I could suggest one improvement to EMS for the 2012 version of the Thunderhead rain jacket it would be: Add at least one chest zipper pocket. This jacket only has two traditionally placed zipper pockets at the bottom in front. When you're hiking with a pack, the hip-belt falls right over these pockets, making it a pain in the butt to retrieve items from them; like a camera for example.

Rainy backpacking in the Catskills

2011-08-16T10:18:00.001-07:00

I spent this past Saturday through Monday backpacking around Hunter Mountain in the Catskills. Hunter Mountain is the second tallest peak in the Catskills measuring in at 4,040' above sea level. My friend Jay and I enjoyed the weekend hiking from shelter to shelter in a relatively small area of the Cats. In three days we hiked a mere 9 miles total; nice & easy.

We got to the trailhead around 7:00pm on Saturday night. Stepping from the car, a fine mist hung in the air, a dampness, which would accompany us for the next two days and nights. Hefting our packs up and synching our hip belts tight, we set off into the damp forest. After entering the dark woods, we hiked only a few minutes before switching our headlamps on. Rain was not falling but branches and nettles obscured the trail and quickly soaked my shorts with their heavy wet leaves. Though the hike from the car to the first shelter was only 3 miles, the trail was, at times, brutally steep and the overgrown brush from either side of the trail made it difficult to find safe footing on the baby-head sized rocks below. Nettles stung the sides of my knees making them itch!

We reached the Devil's Acre Shelter around 8:30pm and met three guys from Boston who were occupying it. They had just finished dinner and washing dishes when Jay and I arrived. We made small talk, killed a ridiculously large and threatening spider, then ended up sharing the shelter with them for the night. Within a few minutes of arriving, the rain finally let loose and down it came in sheets. It rained on and off all night while the clouds rolled right through our campsite limiting our view to only ten or fifteen feet in front of the shelter. We all got to know each other a bit while Jay and I cooked our dinners and talked about hiking in the Catskills, Adirondacks and life in Boston. Without a fire there wasn’t much incentive to stay up all night so we all crashed around 10:30pm or so. A full moon shown brightly between quickly passing clouds reflecting a silvery glow down upon the rocks and plants laid out before us.

I woke up around 6:30am on Sunday morning. The rain had stopped. Large puddles had filled pockets within tree roots and the hollows of rocks and logs. A trench had been beaten into the ground below the roofline of the shelter where water had dripped for the last several hours. Though dampness hung in the air, the five of us in the shelter were warm and dry. I had slept like a rock all night and I felt well rested. I unzipped my bag, pulled on my boots, grabbed my camera and headed out to take in the morning’s scenery. Water droplets hung in spider webs and crystal clear droplets lined the stems and leaves of lush vegetation everywhere. All the while a dense fog floated about our campsite. It was a wet but beautiful morning in the Catskills.

At around 9:30am the three guys we shared the shelter with, set off on their way while Jay and I took our time packing up and watching a new hard rain set in. When the rain broke, we picked up our packs and set off for the John Robb Shelter, just three miles away. On the way to the next shelter we stopped at the fire tower on the summit of Hunter Mountain (Elevation 4,040’). We climbed the tower but the low flying clouds obscured any type of view. Looking down from the tower, I was barely able to make out the picnic table below. A scenic view of the surrounding mountains was definitely out of the question.

Pressing on, we reached the John Robb Shelter sometime in the afternoon. This is one of the nicest shelters I have ever seen. Built in 2009 it was in spectacular shape and kept us quite comfortable. We ate lunch in the shelter and pretty much napped for most of the day. During a break in the rain, we hiked down to a nearby spring to fetch more drinking water. I spent the rest of the day napping, snacking and enjoying the sites and sounds of heavy rain in the Catskills. Though we heard no thunder and saw no lightening, a steady roar of rain fell down upon everything, creating a lullaby that had me asleep by 8:30pm.

Monday morning we woke to even more rain. It had rained through the night in a relentless bombardment of big fat drops. Rain streamed from the roof and down in front of the shelter, blasting a trough into the ground below. This trough had morphed into a mote around the front of shelter, with a trickling path down through the rocks and over the side of the mountain about 20’ away. After spending most of yesterday and all of the previous night in my sleeping bag, I was eager to get hiking. The rain was not showing any signs of letting up so we decided to get moving around 8:30.

The hike out was really enjoyable. I hiked out wearing shorts, gators, a t-shirt and a rain jacket. Though it was raining pretty hard, the forest canopy created a bit of a buffer and I really didn’t get too wet. The hike was mostly downhill along a very smooth fire road. Though the trail was wide and smooth, it had also transformed itself into a river. A steady stream of water filled the trail. It was a sloshy hike out, but we reached the car warm and dry. Looking forward to next time!

The 3 A's of awesome

2011-08-07T16:26:00.000-07:00

A good friend, that I work with posted this on his Facebook wall. I enjoyed it so much that I wanted to share it with you guys (you guys being the world wide web). Enjoy.

Peace Doves

2011-08-04T08:18:00.000-07:00

Shepard Fairey will be releasing his latest work, the Obey Dove print set, today at a random time. I love they way these look, although I am a fan of almost all of his work. He is only releasing 325 of these numbered and signed screen prints and is selling them for the modest price of a mere $90.00. Though he has not released a statement describing his intended meaning behind the design of these prints, I can only provide my own uneducated interpretation of them. To me, the doves, a symbol of peace, placed squarely in the center of the concentric rings (bulls eyes?) could be interpreted a lot of ways. The doves may be an objective, goal or target or their placement could illicit a statement of being in harm's way. Perhaps the duality of war and peace? There is also a militant vibe about the prints; with the triangular shape at the bottom of each, liken to that of the USAF rank insignia.

At any rate, I am prepared to purchase these prints which should disappear within minutes of their release today. I have my homepage set to the Obey Giant store and will begin reloading the page around 1:00 eastern time which has proven to be his usual release time. Wish me luck!

Edit: Well, I missed these prints! I was well prepared but just not fast enough to beat the entire world wide web! They sold out in less than 60 seconds!

Update on the Lefty situation

2011-08-03T17:51:00.000-07:00

I stopped into the shop on the way home and spoke to the owner. He was like "we're gonna' make this right for you but here's the thing: There's no special tool to get the stem steerer out of the frame. Something's wrong with it. It should just slide right out. My mechanic just got back from a Cannondale training class and he knows what he's doing."

To which I replied: "Well, here's the thing; there IS a tool called the Ernie (and I pulled the tech manual that I downloaded from Cannondale's website from my back pocket) and its used for installing and removing Lefties. It keeps the stem-steerer straight so that you don't damage it, the bearings or the frame." He just said: "oh really? Can I keep this manual?"

My thoughts on this are:
A) He tried to bullshit me and can't be trusted.
B) He did absolutely no research of his own.
C) His mechanic never went to any training class or he lied about that.
D) I want to pour salt water down his seat tube.

He said that he will definitely pay for a new fork, stem-steerer and headset but cautioned me that he may not be able to get the exact fork (2010 Speed Carbon w/DLR - 110mm of travel). I just said, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. I def want the same or equivalent.

I do not feel that great about today's face to face interaction with the owner at all. But I will keep you guys posted. In the mean time I am limited to my only other mountain bike which is my rigid singlespeed. I love it but I miss my Flash!

I could really use a Lefty

2011-08-03T11:11:00.000-07:00

I recently mentioned that while out in Colorado I noticed my Lefty making a clunking noise/feeling and the lock-out was not working. When I stopped to assess the situation I found oil had seeped out of the bottom of the Lefty (all over my disk and caliper!).

I plan on mailing this up to Mendon Cyclesmith for repair but first I need to remove it from the frame. I know that there is a special Cannondale tool called the "Ernie" which is used for lefty installation & removal and I don't have one so I called my local bike shop (LBS) to see if they could remove it for me. They assured me that they could. I told them that it has an System Integration (SI) stem/steerer combo and asked if they were sure they had the tools to properly remove it. They said "yeah, sure our mechanics have the tools". Sweet! So after work I through the frame and fork over my shoulder and rode the fixie down to the shop.

They took it off my hands and immediately started unscrewing the clamps and wiggling the steerer/stem loose. I watched them to see how this special tool is used and what it looks like, but I didn't see any tool... Instead, I see one guy holding my frame upside-down while another guy uses a mallet to smack the shit out of my stem. They were trying to force the stem/steerer out of the head tube! I knew this wasn't right, but thought, well, maybe it just needs a tap or two...

Ten minutes later they're still whacking the shit out of my stem/steerer. Then they come to me and say: "We can't get the steerer out; we're going to have to destroy it to get it out.". I'm like "Woah woah woah!" I go look at what they've done and they had beaten the hell out of everything! The stem has a massive half-dollar size dent on the underside from all the hammering and the threads at the bottom of the steerer are destroyed from them trying to push it up and out of the head tube with some sort of pipe they had.

I was furious! I said: "you know there's a special tool for this right?" To which they replied "Special tool?".

I was so shaking mad... could barely speak. I was ready to punch someone/something! But, I kept my cool and didn't even curse, though I was so tempted to scream "WTF?!".

Surveying the damage here's what I saw:

1) The top clamp is badly twisted. They said: "Oh we'll straighten that out for you". Bullshit; you're replacing that. I'm not riding a fatigued clamp. What really sucks abou this is that the upper clamp is actually part of the upper carbon leg! So, they're going to have to get the whole upper piece from Cannondale.

2) The steerer/stem combo is toast. It's dented in many places and the treads are destroyed at the bottom of it.

They told me they will pay for everything but I will NEVER go back to this shop. I did not hear one apology or admittance of any wrong-doing. The owner was not in yesterday. But I did call him today to tell him what had happened. He rushed me off the phone saying that he'd pay for any damaged parts. I'll be paying him a visit after work today. All I want is for them to get my Lefty off and order the replacement parts no charge. When the parts come in, I'm sending them up to Mendon Cyclesmith and will charge the LBS for all costs.

The bike shop will remain nameless for now. Depending on how they handle this situation I may or may not flame them on Yelp, this blog, and mtbr.com.

Can you believe this crap?

I'm alive.

2011-07-28T10:43:00.000-07:00

Wow, I haven't blogged since June 14th. I haven't had a gap open up like this since I was shelled in my very first criterium back in 2006! Nevertheless I'm back. I've been really busy and to be honest, pretty unhappy so I haven't felt much like reporting. I'm going to make this blog entry a quick & dirty overview of the past five weeks. That being said; onward with the quick & dirty:

Work:

I've been traveling a lot lately. I've been auditing the Quality Management Systems of suppliers which Kawasaki has chosen to use on the WMATA 7000 Series railcars. These audits have taken me to some pretty neat areas in the following states: TX, NC, SC, GA, IL, MD & VA. I really enjoy auditing the systems of different companies. Their products and processes are extremely interesting to me and I really enjoy getting a close look at the state of the art technology these companies are utilizing. The project is now entering the final design stage and the car is going to look SHARP! At this point, it's a violation of company policy to release an image of the latest design, but as soon as the design is made public, I will be sure to post a few images; it's pretty sleek looking!

Hiking/Camping:

With all of the recent traveling, I haven't had that much time to get out in the woods. Two weekends ago however, my friend Jay and I hiked in to Island Pond at Harriman State Park in NJ. The hike in to the pond is only 1.25 miles of pretty brutal uphill, but the pay off is a refreshing pond. There are plenty of large rocks from which you can jump and there's a nice little island in the middle of the pond where you can lounge about and work on your tan. We had a really great time when we were there, to include cooking up some ribs and mac & cheese for dinner! The picture above was taken when I awoke in my tent at Island Pond.

Riding:

I don't know if I ever reported that the Lefty (suspension fork) on my Cannondale is busted. When I was out in Colorado, I blew the lock-out feature of this unit. It's a shame because I was really loving the Lefty's plush performance and the ability to lock-out the suspension on climbs and road sections. At any rate, my Cannondale is sitting in the living room until I get around to shipping it out to Mendon Cyclesmith (Lefty experts) in upstate NY for failure analysis and repair. In the mean time I have been riding my singlespeed (pictured below) whenever I get the chance. Last weekend my friend Dave and I rode at Sprain Ridge Park in Yonkers and had a truly epic ride! The trail conditions were perfect: dusty dry and practically empty. We didn't see another rider on the trails the whole time (3 hours). I was a bit hesitant to try out my tires (Kenda Small Block Eight's) for fear that a storm would turn the dusty trails to slimy booger-luge. But, the weather held and the riding was superb! I even busted out some trials moves from waaaaay back in the day. I was lazy enough NOT to post it on Vimeo, but you can download the QuickTime file here if you care to see me ride on picnic tables as if I were a 14 year old.

Lately, I've been getting out on the road bike after work. I get home from work around 5:15 which leaves plenty of time to skip across the GW Bridge and into NJ to ride north along the Palisades. Once in NJ, if you head 15 miles, or so, north, the riding gets very hilly. I typically turn around once I'm 12 or 13 miles out, making for a respectable (in my eyes) loop. There once was a time when I actually enjoyed riding hills. Those days are gone! So, these rides are pretty enjoyable! Also, I should mention that the fixed gear is riding like a dream. Ever since I gave the drivetrain an overhaul, it's been a tight and quiet ride. She's tip-top! I spent this past Saturday boppin' around Harlem and just really enjoyed exploring, getting lost and pretty much pedaling for the sake of pedaling (Sometimes I just head out the door without a destination in mind - spontaneity usually gets the best of me).

New biz card

2011-06-14T08:49:00.001-07:00

After playing with this idea for a couple of days, I was able to Photoshop myself a new business card. I like the way it came out. Much more hip than my previous one. The orange, white and black colors stem from my Baltimore roots (Orioles colors). The wings and chainring on the front represent the freedom cycling continues to give me. And the back of the card is framed with the view finder of a Pentax K1000, .35mm camera - the camera I first learned black & white chemical photography with.

Origin8 48T ring

2011-06-09T17:08:00.000-07:00

I put in 20 miles on the fixed gear today and let me just tell you: It was damned hot today! My goal was to find a decent 48 tooth single speed chainring and eighth inch chain. I ended up going with an Origin8 48T track ring and a simple BMX chain. I really like the rugged beefiness of running a robust drivetrain on the fixed gear. I don't trust standard chains under the kind of torque this bike gets. This weekend I'll swap out the rings and put the new chain on. The bike should be running dead silent again; I can't wait!

Fixing my hood

2011-06-07T08:15:00.000-07:00

Last night I took a nice spin around my neck of the jungle on my favorite city bike; my fixed gear. I've been riding my Bianchi Pista since August of 2004. Yesterday evening I wiped all the winter salt from the frame and took it out for a joy ride around my neighborhood and fell in love with the bike all over again. Although it rides great, it's drivetrain is a bit shotty. I'm running a 48 X 16 set up and the teeth on my chainring are completely whooped. There are no flats at the peak of each tooth, instead the flats have worn away to severe points. This also makes the bike a bit noisy. With a proper drivetrain this bike is dead silent. So, I believe I will be replacing the chain and chainring this weekend. The 16T cog on the rear hub is practically new so that's all good.

My major concern with this bike is the frame. During the last bottom bracket replacement, I noticed an considerable amount of rust dust built up in the bottom bracket shell. I really need to spray the inside of my frame with Frame Saver. I suppose some internal rust is to be expected after riding this bike to work through rain and snow over many years.

Picture of the day

2011-06-04T19:16:00.000-07:00

Taken at 2:30 this afternoon on the boardwalk at Coney Island with my Canon S90. 1/1250sec @ f/2.8, ISO 80.

Three days on the West Rim Trail

2011-06-01T09:18:00.000-07:00

What an awesome three days of hiking. Spoiler alert: we didn't complete the whole West Rim Trail. We did however, put in an average of nine miles per day. In order to complete the whole 30 miles of trail, we needed to cover about 13 miles on the first day. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. We all had a good time though, and when I say "all" I mean: Rob (who invited me along), Evan, Kristen, Shaggy, Lucky, Jess and myself. Here's how it played out:

Saturday:

Our plans to compete the West Rim Trail were foiled when all seven of us missed a turn at mile six of the trek. Where the trail just about doubled back on itself, we trudged forward in what seemed to be the right direction. Geographic features matched the contours of topo map providing a false sense of security. A couple hours later, after walking reluctantly along logging roads and not seeing any trail blazes, we knew we were off track. Much to our dismay, the GPS on a friend's iPhone revealed our true location: miles west of where we were supposed to be. Though we got turned around the first day, the views of the canyon, river and wildlife were quite amazing.

After hiking back to the trail we decided to call it a day. We had hiked about ten miles and we were all feeling it. Here's the strange part: while collecting fire wood we discovered that we were camping in, pretty much, the exact spot where we took the wrong trail. We set up camp, got a nice fire going and all sat around cooking dinner, talking and goofing off in general. The bugs weren't bad at all and we all fell asleep to the sound of a babbling creek next to our campsite. At about 4:00am I was woken by the sound of an animal brushing up against my tent. I think it was a raccoon. A loud shout and some hand clapping scared it off. After a few minutes I pulled my boots on and stepped out into the early morning to take a look around. I was expecting to see a raccoon staring down at me from a nearby tree, but no luck. I stood by the creek for a few moments before headed back to my tent.

Sunday:

Since our plans to complete the entire West Rim Trail were out the window, we decided to hike about 5 miles further south, camp for the night, and then take a shortcut back to the cars on Monday morning. Sunday's hike started off with grueling climbs, unforgiving switch-backs and nettles that poked your legs and made you itch! On the plus side, the scenery was excellent. The forest was exceptionally green and lush with vegetation. We hiked through sections where the ground was completely covered in ferns. Several overlooks presented themselves along the rim of the canyon and we all took a few moments to soak in the sights when the bugs weren't too aggressive. At times, the bugs were so terrible that you could hardly stand still long enough to fetch an item from your pack!

We set up camp in a secluded little campsite a little bit off of the trail. Another great creek flowed through the site and made for a great little resting spot. We sat on the banks of the creek dangling our toes in the soothing yet frigid waters. In the evening we ate and sat around the fire. A few rumblings of thunder got our attention and when lightening began to flash we knew we were in for a storm. As I laid in my tent with my head near the screened entrance, I looked up into the tree tops which were illuminated by the flashes of lightening. Inevitably, the patter of rain drops put me to sleep and I was out cold.

Monday:

By 7:00 we were up and at em'. We wanted to carry a fast pace out to the cars so that we could all get home at a reasonable hour. Rain from the night had soaked our campsite and made for a messy clean-up before leaving camp. I flicked slugs from my tent as I rolled it into a heavy wet mess. The sun was shining brightly and sent "God rays" down through the tree tops while mist rose from the creek creating a truly beautiful site as we hiked. I really didn't want to leave. At the same time, my mind was fixed on getting home, taking a shower and ordering a pizza. We cranked out the last 8 miles in about 3 hours.

When we were finished we all stopped into the Smoking Barrel for lunch. Greasy food never tasted so good! I'm sure we were the slinkiest, dirtiest people in the bar but we didn't care. Looking around the table I kind of laughed to myself while I looked at the mud, scratches and bug bites all over our bodies. We were a motley crew. I am looking forward to conquering the West Rim Trail either later this summer or next spring!

West Rim Trail 30-miler

2011-05-27T11:33:00.000-07:00

It's been a long week. A long week full of travel misfortunes. Three of my four flights were severely delayed and on three out of my four flights I was seated in the very last seat next to the bathroom. What are the odds? Nevertheless I was unlocking the door to my apartment at 2:00am this morning and crashed hard. After spending the week in South Carolina and Georgia I cannot adequately express how nice it is to be back in the Big Apple. I missed the hustle & bustle while I was in the south.

Though I'm glad to be back, I won't be home during this long weekend either. A coworker invited me on a 3-day trek he and his college buddies are embarking upon this weekend. I'm pretty excited about it and look forward to putting in some miles. We'll be hiking the West Rim Trail in Pennsylvania. Headed north to south we will cover 30 miles known as the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon. My gear is packed, camera battery charged and food has been picked out. I'll be eating dehydrated meals again on this trip, using my home-made alcohol stove. Minimal is the word on this trip: I'm bringing next to nothing with me this time. Ultra light all the way. I hope it doesn't rain the entire weekend!

Picture of the day

2011-05-21T21:03:00.000-07:00

I took this picture a couple of weeks ago while I was in Shenandoah National Park. Great gnarly
tree out in the middle of the field...

Rainy camping & newts

2011-05-17T09:43:00.001-07:00

Above: My tent; set up and ready for a storm.

This past weekend my friend Jay and I did a quick n' easy overnight on The Timp in Harriman State Park. Instead of taking the typical 3-4 mile route over West Mountain, we decided to take the easy way in and hike about a mile and a half in to The Timp along the 1777 Trail. Ominous weather threatened rain storms during the hike in and while we set up the tents, but it held off until after supper. Dinner for myself was one of Mountain House's dehydrated meals: Fettuccini Alfredo with Chicken. It was actually pretty awesome. I used my MSR Isopro stove to boil the 1 1/2 cups of water for my noodle & bird rejuvenation. Hanging the bear bag proved to be quite comical. It took us entirely too long to loop some rope over a bow and hoist our smellables out of reach of bears/racoons.

Above left: the bear bag. Above right: view from my tent Sunday morning.

Above left: flowers growing on the west side of The Timp. Above right: The 1777 Trail.

I have to say, the rain was a big plus on this trip. The past several trips have all been in fair weather. Both Jay and I have the gear for wet conditions and there's nothing quite like riding out a thunderstorm on top of a mountain under a few thin sheets of vinyl. The rain also brought out some of the cooler critters you don't usually see. Namely newts. During Sunday morning's soggy hike out, we passed several bright-orange colored newts.

Above left: Blimey! A newt! Above right: A newt in the hand is worth two in the bush.

Above left: Jay hikes past a withered laurel tree. Above right: green life carpeting the rocks.

Above left: Rain bring out the best in nature. Above right: a rock cairn marks the junction of the 1776 trail and the Timp-Torne Trail.

Until next time...

Shenandoah National Park

2011-05-10T14:27:00.000-07:00

I’m sitting in the Charlottesville Airport as I write this, perhaps the smallest airport I have ever been in. Looking out over the Blue Ridge Mountains I sit in a rocking chair, while I wait for my flight to Dulles Airport in DC. I’m reminded of my short-lived career as an aircraft mechanic as I watch regional jets landing and taking-off every twenty minutes or so. I’ve spent the last two days in Charlottesville, and had a really good time. The purpose of this visit was to audit the Quality Management System of a small company. The company will be providing the Vehicle & Track Monitoring Equipment for the WMATA (DC Metro) Project. Luckily for me, I finished early yesterday and today and took advantage of what this area of Virginia had to offer.

Above: I had to pull over a few times on my way to Shenandoah National Park. The mountains just loomed higher and higher over the farm country; beautiful.

Yesterday I drove to Shenandoah National Park and drove north on the infamous Skyline Drive. Skyline Drive spans 105 miles, the entire length of the Park and features over 75 scenic overlooks of the Blue Ridge Mountains. I entered the park about halfway up Skyline Drive and took it north 20 or 30 miles before stopping for dinner at Sky Land. It costs $15 to enter the park, however your receipt will get you in for the entire week, so I held on to that. This afternoon when I finished my work, I entered the park at about the same location and took it south. I stopped many times, got out, took pictures, meditated and even picked up a hiker who needed a ride. In general, I do not pick up hitchhikers, but being a backpacker myself, and seeing this hiker standing in the hot sun thumbing for a ride; I didn’t think twice about pulling over.

Above: A typical overlook along Skyline Drive.

I drove him to the southern end of the Park where he had started his northbound hike, four days earlier. During that 30-minute drive we exchanged several humorous stories of camping, fishing, loosing toenails and exchanged opinions on alcohol stoves and backpacking tents. Though I didn’t quite catch his full name when I dropped him near his car, he did say that he goes by the name of “Excuses”. It was nice meeting him and he left me with an even better opinion of Virginia than I had already gathered during the last two days here.

My flight to Dulles is just a connecting flight. From there, I catch another flight to Chicago. I’ll spend tonight and tomorrow night in the Windy City before flying home to NY on Thursday night. Looking forward to exploring Chicago; I’ve been there a couple of times before and had a good time. This time I plan to rent a bike and get more exploring in. I’ll be visiting a company, which will be supplying the passenger and cab seating for the WMATA Project. It may not be the most exciting facility, but I’ve been surprised before; you never know what to expect when auditing a new company. We shall see.

Colorado rocked my world

2011-04-25T16:06:00.000-07:00

Wheels touched down yesterday afternoon at LaGuardia Airport officially putting an end to my two day dream vacation. I spent two days riding with my good friend Hoffman in the Denver area. He and his girlfriend, April were fantastic hosts and really showed me a great time in the mile high city! The trails we rode were incredible! From the twisty, cactus-strewn, singletrack that dove down through the canyons and skirted the buttes of the desert in Pueblo, to the tight switchbacks and abundant water-bars (sweet launch pads!) in the dense pine forests of Three Sisters Park; it was all top notch, premium grade, deluxe singe track.

Friday at Pueblo:

Hoffman and I grabed breakfast at Chef Zorba's, a sweet little Greek diner around the corner from his place. A big ol' plate of Huevos Rancheros, some OJ, and thick bacon would be our fuel for the day. After that we threw the bikes on the car and headed south to Pueblo. My jaw dropped over and over as glimpses of the snow-capped Rockies came into view. Colorado is shockingly beautiful in every way. I don't know how many times I was smacked across the face with an intensely gorgeous site. POW! BOOM! SMACK!

The riding at Pueblo was insane... cactus and patches of grass were scattered about the desert landscape. Through it, a 12” wide strip of singletrack wove like a sidewinder over gentle grades around big bushes and down through canyons. The canyons were really exciting. I could sense them coming as I reeled in the terrain, but once I hit them it was like “Dayamn!”. Canyons are just filled with loose rocks the size of small dinner plates that clinked and clattered under my tires as I floated across them. Stepped ledges and rocks that jutted from the walls of the canyon at head height, had my full attention while zipping down, down, down... by the time we rolled out of pueblo, my face had formed a permanent grin.

Saturday at Three Sisters:

Saturday's riding was completely different from the day before at Pueblo. The topography is the exact opposite. It's very hilly, has a lot of pine trees, big boulders, TIGHT switchbacks, and lots of super-fun water-bars. The weather was a little cooler as well and I was glad I brought my wool jersey because the flakes were flying for a little while. At the same time, Hoffman and I were flying. Although he, much more so than I. I was really hurting from the altitude and had a hell of a hard time getting any oxygen into my lungs. I felt extremely week! After only 6 miles I could barely go on. That's pretty embarrassing to admit to the entire world wide web but next time (NEXT TIME!) I will be acclimated and I plan to hit these trails up again! (With a vengeance even! I'm serious. I have already packed a bag full of vengeance, exclusively for next time!)

A big thank you hug goes out to Hoffman & April for having me out there; you guys are the best!

Off to Colorado!

2011-04-21T06:56:00.000-07:00

Ever since the age of 14 or so, I've been drooling over magazines and videos that featured riders pedaling through dusty singletrack over the red rock and between cactus in the mountain biking mecca known as Colorado. By this time tomorrow, I will be one of those riders. As cheesy as this sounds: it is a dream come true. I'll be spending two full days riding. One day will be devoted to the famous trails of Fruita, Colorado, where I'll zip down famous trails such as Zippity-Doo-Dah, Chutes & Ladders, Joe's Ridge & Flight of Icarus. The other day will be spent on some local, epic Denver area trails that my buddy Hoffman has in store.

Last week I shipped my cannondale out to Hoffman's bike shop: Wheat Ridge Cyclery in Denver. He received it Tuesday and dialed it in for me. Now I sit in my cube at work, trying to focus on quality assurance documents but my mind keeps wandering towards the Rocky Mountains. My flight leaves from JFK Airport at 8:30 tonight... that's about 10.5 hours from now (if you're counting).

My only concern on this trip is altitude sickness. I live at sea level. Denver, known as The Mile High city sits at exactly 5,280 feet above sea level. In the past year, the highest I have been is 4,180 feet above sea level when I summited Slide Mountain in the Catskills this past summer. I felt fine. I'm just a little concerned. From what I have read, if I do my best to stay thoroughly hydrated, I should have no problems. We shall see!

Time Lapse: Clover Beneath the Bonzai Tree

2011-04-20T06:55:00.000-07:00

Another time lapse video that I made just for kicks. Short & sweet; no frills. 225 frames captured at a rate of one exposure every fifteen seconds and displayed at a rate of fifteen frames/second.

Day by day

2011-04-03T16:56:00.000-07:00

A time lapse video made from 3,446 frames. I used a Nikon D700 to capture all three scenes shooting at a rate of 4 frames per minute. I used QuickTime Pro to create the image sequences at a rate of 30 frames per second and used Windows Movie Maker to create the final video.

Lessons learned:
Next time I will manually set my white balance for more consistent exposures and also shoot at a much lower resolution.

Steeped

2011-03-28T15:13:00.000-07:00

Haven't felt like blogging too much lately. I've been immersed in the real world wide web of life. Immersed is a little light actually, a better term would be saturated or steeped in it. A lot has happened in the last month. I've moved for one. My new apartment provides a somewhat limited yet pleasant southern view of Manhattan. The picture at right was taken this past Saturday morning at around 8:00am.

Work has been hectic. Lots going on with the WMATA (DC Metro) project. Some of you (You = the two people who read this blog) may know that I work for a Japanese company; Kawasaki Rail Car. My heart goes out to the people in Japan who are still suffering through the devastating one-two punch [Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami] their country received on March 11th. It's a horrible thing to imagine, let alone live through. I donated some money to the Red Cross to help them out. I encourage you to do the same. (Oh look, there's a convenient Red Cross Donation link right at the top of this blog!)

I think that's all I have to say for now. Yup.

The Timp

2011-03-21T06:58:00.000-07:00

Saturday afternoon I got a call from a hiking friend asking me if I wanted to backpack at Harriman State Park. Having just finished laundry and some other chores around my place, I was stoked to get out of the city. Since we were only staying one night in the woods I was able to pack very light.

By 4:00 we were hiking along the Appalachian Trail. Our plan was to hike in to West Mountain Shelter and crash for the night. A nice 3 miles in and 3 miles out in the morning. When we were approaching the shelter we saw more and more tents which meant that the shelter was most likely already occupied. This turned out to be the case. West Mountain is a great mountain to camp on. It provides views of The Timp, the Hudson River and even the skyline of New York City.

Instead of crashing near the shelter we decided to push on for another mile and camp out on the Timp. We were pretty sure we'd be the only ones there as most people stop when the get to the West Mountain Shelter. Sure enough, we had the Timp all to ourselves. The views were amazing, there was plenty of firewood and we even found a couple of reasonably soft spots on which to pitch the tents. The topography of the Timp is really awesome, in that it's covered with huge boulders and has many little nooks where you can pitch a tent. Lots of different spots to look out over the mountains.

The full moon on Saturday night was quite intense. This particular night, the moon was the closest to the earth that it has been in the last 18 years. I wished that I had brought my DSLR and tripod but was happy to sit in the moonlight and watch the shadow of the timp as the moon rose steadily from the west. I was amazed at just how luminous the full moon was. Holding out my hand in front of me, I could see the details, wrinkles and folds. I sat on the Timp for quite a while enjoying the scene.

Dinner was a dehydrated meal of chilli mac with beef. I used my Pepsi-can alcohol stove for the first time in the woods and it worked flawlessly. I had tested it in my kitchen a couple of times but was eager to put it to use in the wild. I boiled water for my meal in less than 5 minutes and lit it up again for a cup of tea. We sat around the fire talking about all sorts of things, though Star Wars seemed to dominate the conversation. I guess the moon and stars had a significant impact on us.

I slept well in my tent. My 20degree bag kept me warm and I was out-cold (but warm!) for a solid 5 or 6 hours. In the morning I unzipped the front door and let the morning sun fall across the entrance of my tent. I could tell it was going to warm up nicely.

Breakfast was a dehydrated meal of granola with milk & blueberries. I was a little skeptical at first but it had a good flavor, the blueberries were real and I shoveled through it pretty quickly. I made a cup of coffee and sat on the Timp looking out at West Mountain and the Hudson River. Hawks soared through the air and I enjoyed my vantage point overlooking an awakening wilderness.

We broke camp around 11:00 and hiked the 4 miles out to the car. We ran into a lot of people on the way out and exchanged hellos. Everyone seemed to be stopping at West Mountain Shelter and had no interest in the Timp. They don't know what they're missing.

Ebb & flow after work

2011-03-18T19:28:00.000-07:00

Today was the first really warm day of Spring. Temps stretched up into the 70's and all day long I anticipated grabbing my bike and spinning the cranks for a while. As soon as I got home I did exactly that. I tossed my camera in my bag and took off for a little adventure ride. I crossed the George Washington Bridge into NJ, turned around and came back to NY. I love riding across this bridge. I always stop half way and look south over the Hudson River. Seeing Manhattan quiet and still from my vantage point far away and high upon the swaying bridge, fools me into thinking that the city is a solid, unmoving mass. In reality it's as fluid as the rest of this world. Cars and trucks pulse past me in both directions, in and out of NY, like blood pumping through the veins of the city. Each vehicle carrying life, experience, emotion... cause and effect. Myself; carrying the same.

Coming back across the bridge into NY I turned south to grab some groceries at Fairway Market in Harlem. The golden sun was setting over NJ and a warm breeze swept across my bare legs as I locked my bike. Before going into the market I sat on a bench overlooking the Hudson River and soaked up the scene. Kids played on a welded sculpture of a fishing rod's tip. Commuters biked north and south along the Manhattan Greenway. A mother sitting next to me, peeled grapes and fed them to her 1 year old she held on her lap.

Above: Children playing outside of Fairway Market in Harlem.

Above: The Jersey Shore silhouetted against the evening sky.

Above: A pair of sneakers hung in the sunlight next to a park off Broadway in West Harlem.

Above: The George Washington Bridge and myself.

iPad2 and mobile blogging

2011-03-12T07:36:00.000-08:00

It's 10:44 and I'm riding a bi-level train into NJ to visit my sister and drop a couple of prints off at her frame shop. I'm blogging with the greatest of ease on my new iPad. Yes, I joined the millions of others last night and stood in line for four hours to get the latest and greatest tablet from Apple. I have to say: this thing rocks! This tablet will replace my laptop on trips where I want to blog, Skype, edit my website, and edit photos and video. One of the coolest things about it is the SD card reader which allows me to transfer photos from my camera to the tablet, for editing and uploading via an FTP app to my website's server. That's exactly what I did with this photo I took this morning of a woman standing in Penn Station this morning. Awesome.

Home away from home

2011-03-07T18:14:00.000-08:00

I haven't written in a long time and let's just say that MUCH has happened. I'm not even going to try to catch the world wide web up to speed. As I type this, I'm sitting in a hotel in East Baltimore (Dundalk). I just got back from having dinner with an old friend I used to work with when I lived here in Baltimore. My good friend Michael Long is doing well. He was a mentor of mine when I lived here and had what I thought was a crazy life. I have since learned that life is in fact crazy. Go figure.

I'm here on business. I came down to audit the HVAC (Air conditioning) supplier that Kawasaki has chosen to use for the subway cars we are designing & building for WMATA (DC's Subway). The funny thing is that the project manager at the company I am auditing, used to be a coworker of mine when I worked at Rail Plan. It's been a while; things have changed and I've come a long way from working as an Inspector to becoming a QA Engineer. Yes, I'm patting myself on the back here. The audit is going well but I do miss NYC and want to get home.

When I got back to the hotel today the sun was pouring into my room and the heater was wafting the curtain up into the air. The natural light, mustard yellow carpeting and robotic features of the plastic heater begged to be photographed. I spent some time framing the scene with my point & shoot and really enjoyed myself. I love it when I get caught up in the moment and end up taking a zillion pictures of what some consider an ordinary sight. Like my grody bathroom series I took last year. I actually put together a nice little series of photos which I think convey a strong sense of place: the business man's home away from home if you will.

Breakneck Ridge

2011-02-21T18:42:00.000-08:00

Chris and I took a Metro North train about an hour and a half north of the city to hike at Breakneck Ridge. As I write this, I am thoroughly exhausted, so I will keep it brief. We were both surprised that there was snow on the ground. Not only was the ground covered, but there was a solid 10 inch foundation, glazed over in ice with 4 inches of fresh powder on top of it. A few hundred yards into the hike I stopped and put on my microspikes. The spikes dug in nicely and I had no problems getting footings. The views were pretty amazing from the 1100' purchases on Breakneck Ridge, Sunset Point and Sugarloaf Mountain. You could see the Hudson Valley, the Hudson River and the abandoned ruins on Bannerman Island. We hiked from 9:00am till 3:30pm, saw nobody else out enjoying the woods and had a great time. There were some comical moments. Most noteworthy was Chris' bold attempt to boulder a snow-covered rock pile in his climbing shoes. I had to fire up my stove to warm him up afterwords. (I have some ridiculous video footage that I'll have to post up sometime in the future). In the end, I would estimate we only hiked about 6 miles, but it was certainly slow-going for a lot of it. I'm really whooped! For now its off to bed.

Above: Chris warms his frozen feet and one of the many streams we crossed.

I will be in Baltimore for the rest of the week. My old stomping grounds. I'm looking forward to seeing Charm City once again and have plans to meet a friend for dinner tomorrow night. I'll see if I can't get out and snap a few Bmore snapshots while I'm there.

Above: Myself on the ridge and a map of the route we took for the most part.

Friday night climbing

2011-02-19T06:17:00.000-08:00

Ouch. Last night was another great night of climbing. My fingertips and toes are killing me in a “hurts so good” kind of way. Here's the quick & dirty:

I beat a V3 bouldering problem that's been laughing at me.
I zipped up two, 5.10a top roping routes and then got destroyed by a 5.10b route.

I gave the 5.10b route three tries but I couldn't get myself over the ledge, half way up the route (and the ledge wasn't even the crux of it!). Next time... next time... With all this warm weather we're having I hope to get down to Rat Rock in Central Park this weekend. I haven't climbed on real rock since last fall and I miss it.

As usual, the Friday night rock climbing session was followed by a greasy meal at the Ocean View Diner and a few good games of chess. Have I beaten Chris yet? No. I'm starting to get bitter about that! Playing against him is better than playing against a computer (slightly), but it's still discouraging when it takes me five minutes to make my move and he captures my pieces while salting his french fries. I'm getting better though, and games are lasting a lot longer than they used to.

Chris destroys me at another game of chess.

Bullets for breakfast

2011-02-18T10:00:00.000-08:00

It's Friday! What a week. Work's been insanely busy lately and I really busted my @ss this week. I'm glad that Friday is here and that I'll be climbing tonight in Brooklyn. Though this morning threw me a bit of a curveball. I stepped out of my building in a good mood at 6:10am. The warm weather was a big plus, and stirred up thoughts about riding the road bike this weekend. It's Friday which means I get to wear jeans and sneakers to work instead of the tie, dress shoes etc so I was really comfortable as I walked down my street. I selected the Give Up album by Postal Service as I walked to the BX7 bus stop. It's funny; that album usually reminds me of a really bad time in my life when I was in a horrible relationship and extremely unhappy. But, this morning, I was able to really enjoy it. I guess my position is different now, and my perspective has changed. Anyway, I was bobbin' along to the beats on the bus. When I stepped off the bus and crossed Broadway at 225th street in the Bronx, the clock on my phone assured me I was right on time for the train to Yonkers. Perfect. Down the steps I went to the station platform to wait for a Bombardier M7 to take me to work. Then I was struck by a very strange sight: a bullet. I said to myself: Is that a 9mm round? Picking it up; sure enough, it was! Bizarre right? Scanning the ground, I found another round. This one was a 38 Special wad-cutter. What's the deal? I pocketed them both and I suppose I'll chuck them in the Hudson River after work. I stood near a set of side doors on the way to work looking out at the Hudson River as we rolled north, Postal Service playing away in my ears. Today's busy, but going well. Looking forward to climbing tonight.

iPhone picture of the day

2011-02-17T18:33:00.000-08:00

iPhone photo of an R32 train at the 168th Street Station,
processed to look like an old Polaroid using the Shake It app.

Book Review: Turning the Mind into an Ally

2011-02-15T19:53:00.000-08:00

While riding the 1 train home from downtown this evening, I finished Sakyong Mipham's Turning the Mind into an Ally. Another Tibetan Buddhist dharma book, this one focuses on the practice of Shamatha (peaceful abiding) meditation. I found it incredibly insightful and provocative. Though I have been meditating for a meager two weeks, the book has greatly helped me tune my mediation and focus. The benefits of this one-on-one time with my mind are already revealing themselves. I've been much more focused at work. A heightened awareness of distractions and discursive thoughts has enabled me to bring my attention back to the task at hand; whatever it may be.

Sakyong uses the analogy of taming a wild horse when describing meditation and the wildness of our minds. He describes how easily it is for our minds to roam from thought to thought which leads us to feelings and emotions when meditating. It's so true. I am still bombarded with distractions when I meditate. The goal, (for me at this point) is to bring my thoughts back to my breathing. The distracting thoughts are perfectly alright. They're neither good nor bad; the important part is that I realize that I am thinking these thoughts and I return my thoughts to the breath. It is a challenge but a rewarding one. I'm working with my mind and it feels great. As I've said, I'm finding it easier to be present in terms of perceiving whats happening around me as well as in communicating clearly with people. My mind is becoming less busy! Hallelujah!

One thing I really liked about this book is how Sakyong speaks about the impermanence in life. He describes it as the unchanging truth of change. Everything is in a state of flux, so why not relax into the ebb and flow of life? This shouldn't be taken as a “well, hell, what can you do?” approach to life. It's more along the lines of the fact that the world is made of infinite moving parts. Weather changes, people die, people are born, what we like today is old news tomorrow, relationships grow and fade. Recognizing this makes us more in tune with reality, and we can relax. Permanence is so easy to attach ourselves to. But, when we fully realize impermanence we're no longer fooled by it and pain begins to fade. I can remember when I used to think: Gee, if I could just go back to Baltimore, things would be great. Life was so simple there. But in truth, it's all changed. Everything is completely different.

I'll leave you with a quote from the book where Sakyong speaks about impermanence:

Understanding the meaning of impermanence makes us less desperate people. It gives us dignity. We no longer grasp at pleasure, trying to squeeze out every last drop. We no longer consider pain something we should fear, deny, and avoid. We know that it will change. This is a very strong direction toward opening the mind of enlightenment. We've learned to look at what's in front of us. We don't have to keep imitating an idea of permanent happiness: “If I work hard, I'm going to make a lot of money, and then I'll be happy.” We see that happiness doesn't come about that way; it comes from cultivating the virtues that lead to enlightenment. Ultimately, it comes from wisdom, from understanding the unchanging truth of change.

Shants...

2011-02-15T12:09:00.000-08:00

While sewing a button back onto my trench coat this afternoon, I was reminded of my shant design I thought up years ago. Using needle & thread reminded me of how difficult they might have been to make. They were the ultimate urban riding shant (a cross between shorts and pants but not capris or "manpris"). They boast such handy features as heavy stitching, D rings, Velcro cinching and the ever-important leather crotch piece! Laughing at my sketch from 2007 I got a kick out of my "for long life" notation. Would there be a long life guarantee? Life of the pants? Life of the crotch? Life of the wearer's crotch? I'll have to work on the fine print...

Grinded

2011-02-12T08:02:00.000-08:00

Last night I met Chris at Grand Central Station after work and we headed over to Brooklyn Boulders for another Friday night climbing session. We seem to be getting better and better, which is pretty awesome. We both scaled a few 5.10a routes right off the bat and took care of a few tricky V2 & V3 bouldering problems. I love seeing improvement. I wish I had time to climb more than once a week though. I even ran into a coworker at the gym, who I've been talking to about climbing & mountaineering.

As usual, we wound up at the Ocean View Diner afterwords for a few games of chess. And, as usual, Chris kicked my ass yet again. I'm getting better though; my chess muscle is growing. We both had a laugh at the Friday night special: "Grinded" spicy chicken burger.

NY -> DC -> NY

2011-02-11T05:54:00.000-08:00

I spent Wednesday and Thursday in DC this week to attend a Project Status Meeting. As I've mentioned before, my company (Kawasaki Rail Car) is building new subway cars for the DC Metro. The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) has placed a base order of 428 new Kawasaki cars (7000 Series). It's pretty exciting to be a part of it, even though we are still in the conceptual design phase of the project. The cars are going to be pretty high-tech and very efficient. Some of the cooler features are things like complete LED lighting. No more halogen bulbs. Vehicle Track Dynamic Monitoring Systems (VTDMS) which will actually monitor the track for out of tolerance conditions and automatically place a cell phone call to WMATA to inform them of the nonconformance. There's also a camera system on these cars as well. Each car will have 5 interior cameras; one in each corner and one in the middle as well as exterior cameras so that the train operator can see what's going on in the cars as well as at the station platforms. The Train Operator Display (TOD) in the cab also displays the cars within the consist on a monitor and indicates any issues in real time: "Door 3L on car 5617 stuck open" for example.

Above: Union Station, Washington, DC on 2/10/1011 @ 11:55am

What does this mean for me? I'll be busy for the next few years. As the Quality Assurance Engineer I am responsible for generating and submitting quality procedures and plans for all aspects of the project from procurement to inspection & test. Additionally I'll have to perform classification audits of Kawasaki's subsuppliers which are located largely in the US (it's a "buy-American" project). The travel is fine with me, I love it, but each day I'm away from my desk means more work when I return.

I didn't get to explore too much on this trip. I got into my hotel around 6:00 on Wednesday night and worked for a couple of hours before going out for dinner. Though I lugged my climbing gear down to DC with me, I never got a chance to slip away to the indoor climbing gym in Alexandria, VA like I had hoped. The meeting on Thursday morning went quickly and I found myself on an Amtrak back to NY at 1:05pm. Maybe next time. But today is Friday and that means I'll be headed to Brooklyn to climb tonight. My mission: conquer the 5.10a route that laughed in my face last week!

Book Review: One City: A Declaration of Interdependence

2011-02-08T19:16:00.001-08:00

This past weekend I finished Ethan Nichtern's book, One City: A Declaration of Interdependence. The book instills, very well, one of the core beliefs of Buddhism; that we are all connected. This interdependence is explained in a modern writing style using pop culture references which make it a lot more interesting to read than confusing riddles with ambiguous meanings (what the hell is the sound of one hand clapping anyway?) I liked, that at the beginning of each chapter, he quoted an individual and then went on to apply Dharma teaching through their words. Perhaps, best exemplifying this with Dr.Martin Luther King Jr's quote here:

"It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an network of mutuality, tied together into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. We are made to live together because of the interrelated structure of reality... Before you finish eating breakfast in the morning, you've depended on more than half the world. This is the way our universe is structured, this is its interrelated quality. We aren't going to have peace on Earth until we recognize the basic fact of the interrelated structure of all reality."

I got an incredible amount of personal gain from this book. It's opened my mind to a new way of being. A more conscious, connected, appreciative way of being. It has brought what Nichtern calls "the real internet" into focus and has motivated me to better dial my thoughts in on what is really going on (internally & externally), instead of letting my brain jump from distraction to distraction. With this comes clarity and focus that I'm already beginning to see.

Continuity

2011-02-06T04:21:00.000-08:00

It's been a busy but great weekend. I'm Feeling good mentally and physically and I got a lot done. Friday night, I climbed with my friend Chris at Brooklyn Boulders. This was probably the best night of indoor climbing both of us have ever had. I took care of a 5.9+ route with a hell of a crux and cleaned a V2 bouldering problem that is 90% upside down. But where I "hit the wall" so to speak, Chris pushed right on, cleaning a difficult 5.10A route and a new 5.9 on the suspended, inverted, obelisk. Damn you Chris, you've raised the bar again! After BKB, we hit up the Ocean View diner in Brooklyn and played a few games of Blockus Duo over tasty (fairly) burgers before calling it a night around midnight. When I got back to my building in Manhattan around 1:00am I walked in through the trash room and snagged a lamp someone had thrown away thinking: I need a lamp like this, whatever's wrong with it will be fun to fix.

I woke up Saturday morning around 8:00 and went for a run. It was 38°F and misting but it felt great to run so early through my hazy, sleepy neighborhood. I made a loop around The Cloisters, passing the overlook that gave a view to upper Manhattan and farther off; the Bronx. For a while I jogged along looking down on the Hudson River through dense fog and mist. I got a small high from the sight of it and a generally good feeling swept over me. I finished 2.5miles later.

Let there be light:

Fixing the lamp was fun. I used my multimeter to determine that the foot-tap switch was the culprit. I couldn't get any continuity through the circuit when the switch was closed so I took it apart to see what the deal was. Inside, the foot-tap switch, I found corrosion and arching damage. When I dug deeper into the switch I found it was melted and badly damaged so I decided to scrap it and hard-wire the lamp without a switch for the time being. Today I'll take a trip to the hardware store and see if I can find a foot-tap switch for this baby. She works (the lamp's of the female gender, don't ask me why) but I need to find a switch if I want to avoid plugging it in every time I need it.

After "fixing" the lamp, I went in to work. The purpose was two-fold. I needed to pick up my W-2's I left in my desk and I thought I might crank out a few project letters while I was there. I ended up staying for five hours, working by the light of my desk lamp and the sounds of Morrissey, I cranked out nine project letters and felt fantastic when I left the office at 6:00pm.

Now it's 9:00am Sunday morning. I've got my laundry in the drier, a hot cup of coffee by my side and life is good. I plan to attend an Introduction to Meditation class at the Interdependence Project this afternoon, but other than that and watching the Super Bowl, I have no other obligations.

Lowest platform

2011-02-04T06:37:00.000-08:00

There's so much going on these days and I haven't been carrying my DSLR around with me. But I have been taking pictures with my iPhone. Using the phone is better than nothing and keeps my photographer's mind active. Though I can't expose what I see, the way I want to, the phone at least freezes the moment for me. And it really is true what they say: The best camera is the one you have with you at the time. So, with all of the iPhone pictures I've been taking lately, I decided to use my flickr account to hold my "iPhone only" images. I even threw a widget up on the blog here to link to my flickr iPhone account. I'll be using several apps to process the images, like the Shake it app that I used to create the Polaroid effect seen with this image.

This image was snapped at the 145th Street Station while transferring from the D Train to the A Train this past Wednesday night.

Mindfulness

2011-02-01T09:39:00.000-08:00

My friend, Chris, turned me onto a great book I'm enjoying: One City, by Ethan Nichtern. The book uses modern Buddhist wisdom to explain the interdependence of everything; the fact that there's no way to separate one's self from what is going on in the world. I'm halfway through the book but have found many insightful concepts and revelations. One of which, I particularly relate to is the idea of mindfulness and not "sleepwalking through the day". It may sound funny, but a lot of the time, I find myself thinking about, well, nothing at all. While this can be good for our sanity, this isn't particularly healthy. Here's what struck a chord with me:

What actually happens in those moments when we're completely lost in our heads? What happens to a mind that isn't settled or curious enough to investigate things directly and stay put long enough to actually understand what is in the frame of experience? To keep the plot clear and consistent, we plug filler material into those missing moments where we've been MIA. To create this filler material, we have to make a lot of assumptions about what is happening, both within ourselves and in the world we inhabit.

The deadliest thing about most assumptions is that they reside outside our immediate consciousness. They become like whispered mantras. They form an invisible superstructure for the development of all of our thoughts and actions. It's like looking at everything through a deep-blue lens: eventually you might get so used to it that you think that all color has a bluish tint. And that is precisely the root of ignorance.

When we start to assure ourselves that our assumptions definitely depict the truth, they become fortified into bullet-pointed ideology and bullet-proof dogma. The mind becomes enslaved, chained by a series of vague connections, images, and memories - evoked by the buzz-words of random thought. All we end up experiencing is the indirect idea of things - a hazy picture with low production values. And because the connection between an unexamined mind and direct experience is so flimsy, the power of persuasion over that mind is enormous. That mind can be easily sold lies - even by itself - and can mistakenly interpret those lies as universal truths.

Book review: Into Thin Air

2011-01-30T16:46:00.000-08:00

I finished Jon Krakaur's novel, Into Thin Air tonight. I tore through it in seven days, turning pages during lunch breaks, every time I sat down on the subway and until I couldn't keep my eyes open in bed each night. This book was perfect for me, covering areas of great interest: mountaineering, pushing limits, wilderness survival, natural beauty and respect for mother nature.

Krakaur takes time to introduce the members of his expedition, from the experienced guides and Sherpas, to the clients who's experience ranged from minimal to impressive. He takes a few chapters to accomplish this, but I would not say that the book has a slow beginning. His description of the mountain goddess "Sagarmatha" (Everest) and the personalities and backgrounds of the climbers involved, is both stimulating and crucial for the readers appreciation of the 1996 tragedy that unfolds.

This book had my heart pounding. Had my mind switched into survival mode. My eyes; nearly tearing up at times. Thinking: oh shit! with each unfortunate twist of fate. I imagined myself climbing the mountain, fighting the cold, concentrating my efforts on the summit and deliberating the decision to push on to the top of the world or turn back and head down the mountain. Krakaur did such a great job of communicating the mental, emotional and physical anguish of the expedition, that I could not help but feel the anguish myself. So, bottom line: I loved this book.

Everest and climbing

2011-01-28T11:31:00.000-08:00

I've been tearing through this Jon Krakauer book: Into Thin Air. It's a first person account of the 1996 disaster on Everest in which eight climbers died when caught in a sudden storm. The idea of climbing Mt.Everest is extremely interesting to me. It's actually exhilarating to read about the close calls, extreme environment and physiological demands put on the climbers. Reading it has sent me to the internet to research the areas Krakaur describes; the Khumbu Icefall, the Hillary Step and the Balcony on the South Col route for example. It's great to be able to pull up images and topographical maps of the areas I am reading about. I've also watched a few documentaries about Everest and some interviews with medical staff from the expedition, though I'm saving the movie based on Krakaur's book until I've finished reading.

I'm excited to get to the climbing gym tonight and take on a few bouldering problems. I'll meet my friend Chris at Grand Central Terminal and we'll head to Brooklyn for our weekly gravity games. Hopefully they have changed the holds on some of the walls to provide new challenges. Although, I hope that my new favorite 5.9+ route; the "suspended obelisk" is still there. It's a great confidence booster to be able to pull yourself up off the ground for the start of this climb.

Winter backpacking video

2011-01-24T19:05:00.000-08:00

Tonight I spliced together bits and pieces of some footage I took during this past weekend's backpacking trip. Set to the tune of Jim Reeves singing The Blizzard, I think it came out alright. I wish I had taken more footage. Some clips from inside the shelters would have been neat, and I flat-out don't have footage of two of the guys in the group (Sorry!). But, anyway, here is what I came up with in the end:

Trip Report: Hiking the AT in Harriman State Park

2011-01-23T18:16:00.000-08:00

I'm alive! I mean, I'm back! It was an excellent trip, even with a nasty cold. The entire trip was VERY COLD and windy and I didn't get too much sleep but it was exhilarating all the same. It was amazing to snowshoe over peaks, admire the views, and be surrounded by silent wintry wilderness. I spent three days snowshoeing with a full pack and two nights sleeping in stone shelters at sub freezing temperatures. I ate well and was prepared for the elements except for my sleeping configuration. Anyway, let's get on with the details shall we? (And by the way, here's the complete photo gallery for this trip [237 images])

Friday Paul swung by my place and gave me a ride to Harriman State park. There, we met up with Jay. With Paul's car parked at Lake Tiorati, the three of us drove over to the Anthony Wayne Recreation Center. Snowshoes were a must for this hike, so we strapped up, checked the map, and set off on our way to West Mountain Shelter a mere 3 miles away through the white forest. The snow was deep; averaging about 16” in most places and the snowshoes made for easy going, except for the occasional ice covered boulder section. The temperature was around 20°F but I was layered up nicely and fell into a comfortable and steady pace. I felt good and my pack was well adjusted as I continued crushing snow, maneuvering around trees, over logs and up through the boulder-strewn hills. When I stopped to look around, the woods were absolutely silent. All I could hear was the sound of my own huffing and puffing. As I scanned the landscape, puffs of steam coming from my nose and mouth billowed forth then evaporated into nothing.

Pressing on, we snowshoed up West Mountain. Passing a white blaze painted on a tree, Jay pointed to it with a trekking pole saying “AT”. Having just read a book about the Appalachian Trail, I looked at it, wide-eyed, with great interest and respect. I thought to myself: Wow, I'm glad to be hiking along this historic trail! (I've read a lot about the 2100 mile trail) When we reached the long exposed ridge-line of West Mountain the wind was whipping fiercely. The side of the ridge exposed to the wind, had turned to ice covered snow that shimmered in the sunlight and crackled loudly under foot. The protected side of the ridge consisted of deep fluffy, drift snow. The apex of the ridge showcased plumes of white powder that spun and twirled like disturbed air rolling off the trailing edge of a an airplane wing. It was a spectacular site. Though beautiful, I had to drop my pack and pull out my wind shell. Once I had it on the strong winds could not penetrate and I was warm and toasty once again. Comfortable and confident, I pushed on.

Along the ridge-line of West Mountain we trudged. All round us, tree branches were glazed in a spectacular coating of ice. As the wind blew, branches clacked and tinkled together, like natural mountain wind chimes. The west-facing sides of trees were completely coated in a thick layer of ice. Looking off to the west, Bear Mountain stood prominently before us and we could see the Hudson River winding through the valley. Marvelous. This ridge was a beautiful, yet deadly cold place so we pressed on, marching through the deep snow that sparkled like millions of tiny diamonds. Before I knew it, we rounded a corner and saw a sight for sore eyes: West Mountain Shelter. We approached it from the rear and as we rounded the corner of the entrance a Nut Hatch chirped and few out into a nearby bush.

West Mountain Shelter is a three sided, rock, lean-to with two fire places. It looks out over the Hudson River and The Timp (neighboring mountain). Jay and I were the first to reach the shelter and we were both pretty stoked. I dropped my pack and put on another layer to retain my body heat. The evening temperature was around 10°F and the sun was setting quickly. Moments later Paul arrived and the three of us made the shelter our home away from home for the night. I rolled out my reflective tarp, laid down a blanket that had been left in the shelter, and then my closed-cell foam pad. On top of this I laid my 20°F down sleeping bag. Boldly, I unzipped several layers and tossed a fuel canister in my shirt, next to my base layer. The chill of the metal fuel canister was shocking but soon warmed to my body temperature and became useable. (Isopro fuel is difficult to use in low temps, so you have to warm it up)

Just as I was about to fire up my stove to heat water for coffee, a Husky poked it's head around the corner of the shelter; it was Juno. Juno belongs to Ken who hiked to the shelter with Brian. Our group was now complete, consisting of 5 guys and a dog. Ken tossed me a Thermarest pad that I had agreed to buy from him and I added it to my cushy sleeping area in the shelter. With everyone settled in, we started making dinner. We were all eating freeze dried meals. I boiled water for my pasta primavera and threw on another couple of layers. I was really cold at this point and began hopping in place from time to time to get my body temperature up. I needed to get a hot meal inside of me. As soon as my water was boiling, I made my pasta primavera and started more water for my rice & chicken meal. I sucked both meals down and then took a hike by the light of the moon.

The moon was big, nearly full, and visibility was great without using headlamps. A good way to get your body temperature up, is to do some physical activity. So, Jay and I hiked back along the ridge-line to a scenic overlook and braved the blowing wind for a few minutes before running back to the shelter. Back at the shelter, I made a hot cup of Gatorade, slugged it down and got ready for bed. I changed my socks, adding a hand warmer to each sock while doing so. Next I stripped down to my base layer stuffing hand warmers down each leg so that I had a hand warmer on each calf and each quadricep. (A bit over-kill? Not hardly!) Next I threw on a wool sweater, my balaclava (insulated face mask/hat that covers your neck) and got into my bag, pulling the draw string down to a tight circle around my mouth and nose. I slept pretty well and didn't start shivering until 5 am.

At around 5:30 I was cold and had to pee. My bladder was full. When your bladder is full, your body has to work to keep that stored urine warm so it's best to get rid of it. As quickly as possible I unzipped my bag, jammed my feet in my boots and stumbled out into the blowing wind. The beauty and wonder of the bright full moon were wasted on me at this particular moment because priority number one was blasting a steamy yellow hole in the snow, with the force of a fire hose! A few shakes later, I turned and was bounding back to my sleeping bag like a drunken ninja wearing big unlaced boots. Checking my thermometer, it was 6°F!

Saturday morning we were up and at em' pretty early. I think it must have been around 8:00am or so when we were all melting snow for drinking water and eating breakfast. I've always been partial to peaches & cream instant oatmeal and enjoyed a couple bowls and a cup of coffee in the morning sunlight. The plan for the day was to hike to Fingerboard Shelter, a good 9 miles away. We all decided we'd see how we felt at the half way point, which was Brien Shelter. Eager to get moving and generate body heat, Jay and I set out about 15 minutes in front of the group. A quick check of the map showed a 500' drop in elevation in a little less than a ½ mile of ground. It was a very steep decent over ice-covered boulders, which was difficult to do on snowshoes! I developed a kind of controlled sliding motion, sort of like skiing but more like sitting on your ass and carefully maneuvered my way down through the steepest sections. This is difficult to do with a 40lb pack on your back.

When we reached a fairly level area I pulled my map and saw that we were at Beachy Bottom Creek. Seeing the creek, I filled an empty bottle and dropped a couple of iodine tablets inside to purify the water. As I was twisting the lid back on my bottle, I caught site of Ken and Juno coming up a slow grade. Ken filled his bottle and then we all set off again. We followed the red & white blazed trail and came to the Palisades Parkway which was odd to see after being alone in the wilderness for so long. As we stood at the side of the parkway, wearing 40lb packs, snowshoes, face masks and one of us with a Husky, I looked at the people passing by in their cars. They looked at us with interest. They looked warm. They looked comfortable. I heard a little voice in my head saying “Stop! Take me with you!”

We crossed all four lanes of the parkway, and were back in the woods again. We crossed a quaint snow covered wooden bridge over a trickling creek and began our accent up Black Mountain. The contour lines on my map were so closely stacked together that they almost made a solid brown line. For the next ¼ mile my calves screamed, my quads burned and my lungs heaved as I pushed myself nearly straight up the side of the mountain. I stopped every 20 feet to catch my breath and took a rest with my knees locked. Though while taking these breaks, my snowshoes faced up hill stretching my calf muscles in a very un-relaxing way. I pushed on. I topped out. I was pooped.

At the top of Black Mountain, we took our bearings and figured that we had about another mile to go before reaching Brien Shelter. At this point, we were all in agreement to stay the night at Brien. The temperature was around 14°F. Onward we trudged through what seemed like a maze of Mountain Laurel. I'd never seen this bush before. It does not loose it's green leaves and pops out against the white snow with great contrast. Pushing through the laurel, it whipped and snapped against the sides of our packs as we inched closer and closer to the shelter. Before we knew it we were descending straight down on to our shelter. AMEN!

Brien Shelter looked pretty nice. Half delirious, I chose a top bunk right off the bat. In my head, I was thinking: Boy this is great, hot air rises! (What hot air was I thinking of?) I froze on that top bunk. The fact that I am alive and writing this is a wonder to me. It was early afternoon when we got to the shelter. We were happy with our time, but hanging out at a shelter during the winter is not a whole lot of fun. There's only one thing you can do at a shelter during the winter and that is try to keep warm! I set up my sleeping area, laying down my reflective blanket, my pads and my sleeping bag. As I laid the bag down I wished each individual down feather the very best of luck in it's lofting and insulating efforts. (Don't let me down guys!)

Right in front of the shelter was a large pile of boulders, probably 60' tall. I needed to create some body heat so I made it's peak my goal. I convinced Jay to come along and boulder to the top with me and before I knew it, we were standing on top of the hill looking almost straight down on the shelter. A good little work out. I climbed back down, cooked dinner, threw on my microspikes and climbed back up to eat my dinner on the hill. It was great. As I inhaled steamy sporkfulls of hot beef stroganoff, a pilated wood pecker rattled the branches above my head. After a few minutes of introspection I felt myself getting cold again, so I climbed back down to the shelter.

It was now 6:00pm but I was so cold that I just wanted to get into my bag and shiver myself to sleep. Stuffing hand warmers into my socks, down my pants and scattered through my bag I kept warm for about an hour. The rest of the night was spent catching 20 minute snippets of sleep! I tossed and turned and debated getting up and going for a jog, and then tossed and turned some more. Each time I woke, I popped my head out of my bag and looked out into the woods. I wondered what time it was. I could see no difference in light or darkness from the last time I looked. I remember thinking to myself: It cold be 9:00pm, or 11:30pm or it could be 4:00am... man I'm freezing! The sound of 4 other guys snoring away, was very upsetting. Bastards! I wondered if Juno was awake; even if she was awake, she wasn't suffering like I was.

When I popped my head out of my bag, the last time, I noticed that the woods looked a little lighter than before. Yes! I was elated. The fact that morning was here meant that the sun would be doing it's job soon and I'd soon be getting warmer. Slowly we all got dressed and began the ritual of melting snow for water and boiling water for meals. I had a couple bowls of instant oatmeal, a few glugs of chunky slush water and quickly packed my gear. I wanted to get moving right away and generate more body heat. My body was slowly warming up, but my toes were frozen solid. Jay was ready to go, so we strapped on the snow shoes and made plans to rendezvous with the rest of our group at Lake Tiorati. Off we went.

The hike out, went quickly. Jay and I passed a group of about seven hikers who were out without snowshoes. They seemed to be having a hard time of it. We exchanged hellos as we watched them post-holing their way through the snow. Poor bastards. About 20 minutes later we spotted Lake Tiorati Drive through the woods and made a B-line for it. Taking this road knocked a good 1.5 miles off of our hike out. About 20 minutes later the rest of the group made it out and we all agreed that the trip was a great success. Some of us were quite comfortable, some of us weren't, but we all had a great time. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. If you're interested, click here to view a gallery of all of the snapshots I took on this trip (237).

I have to work the next five days. During that time, I hope to loose this cold I've earned. While the cold fades, I'll be planning a trip for this coming weekend. I'm hooked now!

I'll be on the AT

2011-01-21T07:52:00.000-08:00

I'm off for a backpacking trip along the AT in Harriman State Park. I'll be back on Sunday night. While you're snug as a bug I hope to be in the same shape, albeit in a rock shelter or in my tent over the next two nights. Despite a head cold that came on at the last minute, I'm still excited to be out there in the wintry wilderness! I'll leave you with a little Robert Frost.

The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree

Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.

Climb on

2011-01-20T05:05:00.000-08:00

Last night, my buddy Chris and I met for a late night of climbing at Brooklyn Boulders. We had hoped that less people would be climbing but that was far from the case. There seemed to be more people there last night, than any other night I've ever been there. Just the same, it was a good night of climbing.

We have a new strategy for climbing these days. Instead of starting off with easy top roping routes (5.7's and 5.8's) we jump right into the 5.9's. This way we still have power and strength needed for the smaller holds and maneuvers instead of getting to the harder climbs thoroughly exhausted. That being said, we banged out a few hard bouldering problems right off the bat. It felt great to nail the inverted V2 routes and put a positive spin on the night. Add to the positivity, the fact that we both bested the 5.9+ route on the inverted obelisk and we were both stoked! The inverted obelisk hangs from the ceiling like a giant stalactite, it's bottom at head height. You start off clinging to the bottom of it with all your might (liken to a booger on the outskirts of your nostril, if you will). Then you pull your self up with your arms and get your footing. lastly, you stand up and scale away. Feels great to conquer it. Great night for climbing, though my hands are beat today.

Furry: My Story

2011-01-19T06:25:00.001-08:00

Today, my sister Mary, emailed some of my "earlier work" to me, which I read with great interest. Though my penmanship, spelling and writing style were fairly similar to what they are today, I would estimate my age to be six years old when I wrote this. I can picture myself propped up at the kitchen table with a dull pencil in hand. My mind churning out millions of ideas for an action packed, adventure story and settling on a dark and sad story about a family of bears. Below, I give an overview of this fine piece of work, so you might want to scroll down and read the story before you read my synopsis.

Reading the story this morning (26 years later) I was transported back in time, imagining my little brain developing such a masterful story line. I began the story, innocently enough with a playful scene: Furry's difficulty in learning to eat ants and the unfortunate "heepings of dirt" that came with that. Perhaps learning a life lesson in his youth. And at this point in the story, life for these bears seems to be fine. But then, out of the blue, Mother bear is slaughtered by a rather excessive barrage of gun fire. Yes, it took 5 shots to bring her down. The same could not be said for poor Bushey, who's life was snuffed out with a single shot, preceded by the "klick" of a fateful round being loaded into the chamber.

At this point, Furry realizes his best bet is to stay inside the cave. Having seen what happened to his mother and brother, he holes up and waits out the hunter... (I chose not to describe the scene where Furry sits in the dark cave, shaking, rocking back and forth, while he watches his family being field dressed) It is now abundantly clear that Furry will be on his own. Though I'm sure the prospect of eating ants and "heepings of dirt" does not bolster his confidence in being thrust into self reliance. But, he pushes on with life, as bears do.

And so it happens that one day, he encounters a large, menacing, black bear and flees to the safety of a nearby tree only to find that, contrary to popular belief, his long nails prohibit him from climbing. (The timing of this discovery could not be worse!) His whining, "whining like heck" actually, scares the other bear into thinking that Furry's mother (now stew) would come to Furry's rescue. And so the story ends with long nailed Furry, with elevated hear rate, alone in the wilderness. His fate at the hands of mother nature.

Chow

2011-01-18T17:48:00.000-08:00

Looks like I've got my meals planned out for this weekend's backpacking trip along the Appalachian Trail. I'll be eating warm breakfasts & suppers with cold lunches. I figure: I'll be hiking during the day anyway and won't want to stop to break out the stove. The Mountain House freeze dried meals I'm eating are pretty good actually. I'm looking forward to trying a couple new meals this weekend. Yep, considering these meals have a shelf life of 7 years, they pack good flavor, lots of valuable carbohydrates and (here's the best part) they weigh next to nothing. The average meal weighs a whopping 2.5 oz.

Book review: Disgrace

2011-01-18T09:30:00.000-08:00

Two people have suggested that I read J.M. Coetzee's Disgrace. And so, I finally did. I tore through it in five days which is to say; I liked the story. Spoiler alert: there isn't a happy ending. It's quite unsettling in fact. But, you might have gathered as much from the title and synopsis on the jacket.

Disgrace is set in South Africa and tells the story of an aging professor, David Lurie, twice divorced, who has an affair with one of his young students at Cape Technical University. The affair quickly turns sour, is publicized, and facing sexual harassment charges, he resigns from the university. Disgraced and with no real plans, he leaves his home to live with his daughter Lucy, in the country. He is unfamiliar and judgmental of her folk/hippie way of life. Nevertheless, he stays with her and helps to sell flowers at the market, lend a hand at the animal shelter and tend the garden on his daughters plot of land. Helping at the animal shelter David develops empathy for animals; dogs in particular. However, trouble (another disgrace) soon falls upon them. Three strangers beat David badly, rape his daughter and rob their house. In a final act of indignity, the men shoot the dogs in Lucy's kennel. The police are notified and they investigate, however it is clear that they will not be helpful in bring justice to David and his daughter. His daughter becomes pregnant as a result of the rape and is forever changed by the events. In the end, so is David.

This book is kind of like a train wreck. It was not easy to digest, but with sympathetic curiosity I continued to turn the pages. The ending is very dark and final; true to life in my opinion. And the way that dogs are treated in this book is clearly a metaphor for the way people treat eachother in life. It's an interestingly grim story of harsh reality, brutality, severity.

Backpacking this weekend

2011-01-17T16:00:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm all set for this weekend's backpacking trip at Harriman State Park. Friday afternoon I'll rendezvous with 6 or 7 other guys (and a Husky named Juno) at the park and snowshoe about a 2 miles into West Mountain Shelter. We'll set up in the shelter (if there's not enough room, I'll pitch my tent in the snow) and make dinner. I'll be re-hydrating some freeze-dried pasta primavera and vegetables. It should get pretty cold that night, possibly down to the single digits but I should be fine. My bag is rated to 20°F and I have a thermal liner that will add another 20°F of warmth. Add to this the fact that I will be layering up before I hop in the sack and I think I'll be fine. In the morning we'll snowshoe 10 miles along the Appalachian Trail (AT) to Fingerboard Shelter. Awesome tidbit of info: West Mountain & Fingerboard Shelters are the oldest shelters on the AT! Saturday night will be the same routine: set up shelter/tent, reconstitute food, goof off with new friends and cocoon-up for the night. Sunday morning we will backtrack about 2 miles out of the woods.

I loaded up my pack this evening and it weighs a total of 35lbs. That's not bad at all. However, my water bottles were empty and I hadn't thrown in any luxury items (a can of Dinty Moore Beef Stew, candybars etc). Nonetheless, I'm sure I'll be able to keep pace with the guys I'm going with. I'm in pretty good shape. HOWEVER: In the event that I freeze to death (Hatchet Jack style) I am posting my route below. Who is Hatchet Jack? A mountain man from a favorite movie of mine: Jeremiah Johnson

Go ahead click it, it's honkin' huge I tell ya: