As I peel back the layers of my life.
To say that I’m a hoarder would be an exaggeration, but to say that I have hoarding tendencies would probably be right on the money;
(*Note*- This is not my house. You can tell because I don’t own a microwave.)
Going through my various boxes and envelopes and folders, I’ve uncovered a number of treasures. Of course there was the letter from Mark ‘Gator’ Rogowski which I presented on Monday, but that was just a scratch on the surface.
I have magazines, and slides, and piles of the ridiculous, some of which I will present to you now.
Upon opening a large drawing pad, a number of illustrations I’ve done fell to the floor. These were two I did for the 2002 SSWC shirt and poster;
Then there was one I did for a BIKE Magazine ten year anniversary shirt, and one which was done more recently for an article on doping in the first issue of Paved;
Possibly because I knew the irony that it would one day be saturated with, I also kept an actual test that BIKE did of the then revolutionary Shitbike;
I didn’t read the review, but I’m pretty sure no matter what it said, the conclusion was that the bike sucked.
I also found the issue they did on which Big Dave graced the cover;
This was also noteworthy because I think it was the only time a black guy appeared on the cover of any bicycle magazine, ever.
In that same issue was proof of the point I made on Friday that Rick James (R.I.P.) was indeed a fellow disciple of dirt;
Digging deeper I came across the founder and president of The Pretty Boy Modeling Club®, D Squared and his modeling debut;
I think it’s safe to assume he wasn’t wearing any pants.
I then uncovered piles of oldish punk magazines;
I’m still waiting for some tapes and flyers I traded out of the Flipside classifieds.
Discovering the discoveries continued. Cracking open folders of long since forgotten memories I stumbled upon number plates, race medals, and most importantly, photos of toddlers pouring keg beer;
This young man’s name is Tyler, and he’s the son of one of the five Amigos (Northern California’s premiere orange jump suited one speed team, natch). He began attending one speed camps as a bald little grub of just nine months old.
As I stated elsewhere on the interwebs shortly after scanning this photo, you don’t get much more old school than that.
Now at sixteen, he’s followed in his dad’s footsteps and can be found ripping around California’s Gold Country on his own one speed, and making his old man (shown below, enjoying a quiet night of cocktails out with JMac) proud as proud could be;
I found a photo of Ian Marshal and me drinking responsibly and crushing all comers at Schwinn’s Sea Otter Classic Sting Ray race in our lord’s year of 1999 or there abouts;
At the conclusion of this event I did a powerslide under the team Rav4 and broke a rib.
Always profhessianal, never not.
To the winner goes the spoils, and as we all know, the victor of all of the Singlespeed Mountain Bike World’s (and some of the Singlespeed Cyclocross Worlds) walks away with a tattoo. At the event we organized in Downiville in 2000, Robert Ives suggested we mix it up a bit and actually brand the winner.
That year’s race was won by Travis Brown and Ms. Stella Carrey. In my bag of archives I came across the scabs Stella carefully peeled off of her inner bicep and taped to an index card;
Historically significant artifacts don’t get no historicalier.
Funny thing, when I pulled them out I initially thought they were alphabet soup letters until the smoke cleared and I actually remembered where I was.
I also found one of the only known samples of photographic evidence that I was ever actually employed as a bicycle messenger, shot at the 1996 CMWC;
This of course was back in the dark ages when the CMWC was attended by actual bike messengers, not to mention that this was when there was still such a thing as bicycle messengers;
I found an even older photo of me shot at the Berkeley art museum banks;
Both of these images were clearly shot before the advent of color photography.
Of course pulling all of your treasures out is only half of the process. You then have to carefully pack them;
and then seal and label the boxes for safe storage and transport;
As for the random bits and pieces more recently tucked away in my computer, the lot of you no doubt watched the World’s elite men’s race this weekend in Koksijde, (Cockside. Hilarious) which looked more like the Belgian National Championships;
I kept switching back and fourth between the French and the Flemish feeds, all the while listening to the song-like qualities of Peter Webber and Greg Keller’s commentary;
It was an unbelievable race…
Actually scratch that. It was purely believable as the Belgians absolutely kicked the crap out of everyone else who attended, as most folks expected that they would. Sadly, the one favored to win, Sven Nys didn’t emerge victorious, but rather his countryman, Niels Albert held tough with consistent and incredible six to seven minute laps to pull the win and his second rainbow jersey;
Unfortunately my internet connection shit the bed (I believe that’s the technical term for what happened) near the end of the bell lap and I wasn’t actually able to witness the finish as it occurred.
I’ll just have to file my pile of screen shots away in my box of memories.
Though there are many things of both a physical as well as virtual nature I may hoard, it’s obvious I have fairly exquisite taste in inventory.
Good luck w the move!
The picture of those scabs may be the coolest thing you have ever bestowed upon the internets.
I think Major Taylor was on the cover of ‘Safety Bike Quarterly’ back in 1897. But Big Dave was the first to grace a cover in color!
I think you should write a book of cycling/getting rad stories and call it, “From What I Can Remember…”
I was bummed that Nys popped. Was really hoping for a Albert v. Nys battle, but great a victory nonetheless for Neils.
The first picture looks like some of the homes that I have to go into and work on their appliances..
I also dig the old skate photo,, man a curb and a banked wall could be hours and hours of fun..
The Art Museum Band, hell yeah. Backside ollies over the grass. As far as I know the shitbike’s namesake, Sully, was one badass dude with real-to-God pig valves in his heart. And he kept on ticking. There’s got to be some kind of symbolism there–hopefully his heart job had a better legacy. …What a treasure trove. You need an archivist!
If memory serves, that sea otter was where we first met. I wandered back to the DFL camp after spectating at the stingray derby, and a couple hours later your brown B.U.S.S flew over the fence at the top of the steep hill. You drunkenly followed,with a wobbly handshake. It was nice meeting you then, and nice of you to bring back memories.
Stevil…I’m guessing that’s an Alva or Dogtown deck?
I never owned a B.U.S.S, but I’ve thrown quite a few. Curtis has the right idea with the book title.
As far as the deck goes, I couldn’t begin to guess. I remember the board, and even the screen print I put on the bottom of it, but what it was originally, I have no idea.
Lots of fun stuff. Berkeley? Maybe it was a Fogtown deck?
Damn it Stevil!
A bit of respect there,
Softrides are things of grace & beauty.
Well the road ones are, I have no experience with the off road ones but now I have a new challenge to get one for my collection.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/68143042@N06/sets/72157628907139667/
Thanks for posting the review, information about these beauties is scarce.
Sully used to ride those with slicks on the sloppy trails of B’ham. And he was still faster than anyone.
He still rides one around the hills of Pacifica, pig valves and all.
Abdul ruled! $40, 3 grams (not 3.5) in a Fed-Ex envelope……God love “The Kid” ps this sunday is his death-a-versary ride….
Stevil, we might be twins, not unlike Danny DeVito and the Governator. I’ve got have all my back issues of Bike (from issue #2) until Ferrintino quit being the editor and it started to suck. That Funk issue was one of their best. I had that Fisher that D2 is modeling. And, coincidentally, I was flipping through an old issue of Dirt Rag and it just happened to be the one with Travis Brown and Stella getting their “brands”. Stella just might the toughest person ever, getting that brand on the INSIDE of her arm…
Don’t write BIKE off quite yet. Sure, they’ve had their ups and downs, but the crew that exists there currently, and with Brice and JPHNH at the helm, it’s as good as it’s been in years.
Damn those skabs skeeve me out. Did you eat one yet?
I also need to “trim the fat”
so often I “thin the herd” then look for something and regret that I had throw it out or gave it away
that said… I am tripping over stuff that is not worth the space it occupies