Keep your eye on the ball.

tumblr_m6sfvfQVDo1qg39ewo1_500

Hello, and welcome to the week’s end, unless you have a weekend that lands on Wednesday and Thursday, which I guess would then equate this to the week’s middle.

Anyway, let’s get to brass tacks.

Right out of the gate I’ll post a standard communiqué from Josh of the RVA, that reads like so;

Hey yo,

You do a pretty good job of distancing yourself from the bro club school of bicycle journalism, especially over the long arc of the site. That said, thanks for your recent coverage of developments in women’s pro cycling.

I am super stoked to think that within the years left to me I might get to see women compete at the same level, with the same media coverage as the men enjoy. I’ll get back to that in a moment.

I may have mentioned to you that my wife and I and a few friends will be traveling to Spain for the UCI Road Worlds this September. It would be cool to sport some fly AHTBM gear for that, and I of course have some, but you have been dropping hints about new product and of course I want to look funky fresh correct and ready to party. So should I delay an order to wait for the new merch to drop? Looking for info here, not free stuff.

In any case, it turns out that Kathryn Bertine of ‘Half The Road’ fame may well be staying with us in Spain, and racing! We are all very psyched;

Clearly I will buy her some socks at least.

I hope this finds you and Demonika well.
Much respect,
-Josh (RVA)

PS is Evil ever going to release another kit?

While this contact was of a more personal sort, I thought it seemed like a good seque to the next bit, but I’ll first offer thanks for the acknowledgment, and also say I have no idea when Evil will release anything;
eviljersey
It’s a mysterious machine that generates product at a snail’s pace and on their own schedule. My only investment is to stand on the sidelines and wonder like everybody else.

But as far as AHTBM goods go, I’ll take the opportunity to at least include a teaser shot of a product that I’ve been in development of for two years, with my friends at that company called Swobo;
newgoods
Details I can include currently are that it’s not a jersey, and it’s not a bike, but it can fulfill roles relating to both or neither depending on the user’s needs.

We will have this item on display for varying forms of molestation, and/or abuse and/or possible purchase at the Interbike show in a week and a half.

I’m quite excited, because as I mentioned, we actually began putting this together a year ago this past December, and after dozens of revisions and texts and emails and a few prototypes, I think we’ve finally put together a final product that we both feel is suitable for our stamp of approval.

Ordinarily, I don’t set my sights too high on anything. When declaring all that I do as the upper echelon of mediocrity, I’m not just whistling Dixie, or describing my own career as a bike racer. However, in this instance, I feel as though we’ve completed something great, and I am looking forward with much anticipation to its imminent release.

Moving onto news that is rad (lower case) to news that is RAD (uppercase), and to circle back around to one of the previously mentioned women who hold up a fair share of sky, I recently came across the following image shot by Mike Albright of homie Tina Brubaker- (who because I can, I affectionately call ‘Manbreaker‘);
tb-1mikealbright
This is seriously one of the greatest photos of one of the greatest bike riders ever, and if I had the resources, I’d be proud to have it plastered all over the ceiling of my house.

With that matter being addressed, let’s now continue on into the mail bag for the standard array of randomness.

From Gypsy The Punk I got the following bit that might or might not be worthy of our attention, I guess depending on whether you’re into this sort of thing;

Velo Club;
tumblr_na7olkVLn21rcsglqo1_1280
Never mind context. Someone could build a PhD psych thesis on the body language alone.

I think you should do a series of paintings/Photoshop images with the faces of other great rivals over Mercyx and Anquetil’s faces.

Imagine the possibilities…

Armstrong and Ullrich

Laverne and Squiggy

Sid Vicious and himself

Gypsy

That final suggestion resonated with me, so I responded in kind;
tumblr_na7olkVLn21rcsglqo1_1280 copy
Then, a couple of weeks ago from Cranpa of FBM, I got an email filled with a dense selection of links, and a quizzical email that simply said this;

Re: The Summer Funs.

The Replacements have been on heavy rotation the last few weeks. Gary’s Got a Boner!

You know what makes my heart sing? A bunch of grown up people doing twisty twirly stuff on tiny bikes.

Which reminds me- Jason Metallikabal, Demonika and I did a ride into the long and lonesome the other day when I came across this;
forcranpa
There was nary a scuff or tire track upon it, indicating that it was virgin territory. I sent the aforementioned Cranpa a text with an open invitation to come for a visit, and to apply said scuffs and tire tracks for art appreciation’s sake.

Finally from Ben at Swobo, I got a tip of the hat with instruction that might can serve us all;

Make sure you get it right. I’d hate to see the results of doing it wrong.
knee
I’m standing here by my desk checking right now, but I seem to be having trouble with the handlebar position.

And I forgot my helmet.

Proper positioning is important, and clearly I’ve been doing it all wrong these many years.

As if I was running short on them, it would appear as though I have a brand new ball on which to keep my eye.
newlittleskull

Spread this like it's sick

Leave a Reply to beetarded Click here to cancel reply.

7 Responses to “Keep your eye on the ball.”

  1. Morgan August 29, 2014 at 5:05 am #

    Besides everything the best part of the photo of Tina is the woman in pink who is popping out of the pole and looking more EXCITED than anyone!

  2. Tcubed August 29, 2014 at 7:45 am #

    My Photoshop skills are nil, but my lady friend suggested that the Mercyx/Anquetil photo is clearly begging for bonnets, sun-dresses, parasols, and a right-proper woven picnic basket.

    • Stevil August 29, 2014 at 8:29 am #

      I like the cut of your lady’s jib, (and I mean that respectfully), but alas, her vision is way beyond my limited skill set.

  3. reverend dick August 29, 2014 at 2:18 pm #

    I love me some Jock and Eddy, for real, but I wanna talk about the gentleman in the black suit and white shoes?!? Damn. That is some stylish fat man action. It’s a lost art.

  4. scooper August 30, 2014 at 11:58 pm #

    I heart tina I heart tina I heart tina

  5. JoshRVA August 31, 2014 at 4:52 pm #

    Looks like I’m on the hook for some socks, huh?

  6. beetarded September 3, 2014 at 6:24 pm #

    half the time an architect builds some fancy building, it’s perfect for skating (like the district building SF) but they have no idea. Then artists, starving and jobless, go and build burning man sculptures and soap dishes — we need skate-able art sculptures, one for every spiral-ramped parking garage drafted up. C’mon I would major in that no matter what student debt I accrued. SKART
    ps anyone tried skating the flow trail in Tamarancho ( long boarding =no, skating)?