Sometimes the Black Market is not for everyone.

In regards to Saturday’s video, I received a whole array of responses ranging from heart felt thanks to “you ruined my whole weekend”.
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One of the communications that expressed dismay was from The Gnome, to which I responded
“I guess everybody has their own kind of closure. I was just taken with the fact that this guy was at one time a bad man. Someone who did a big stretch, yet was finally able to be shown that somebody loved him unconditionally and it changed him for the better. As he put it, Oden was put on the earth to do a job and to help fix him, and that’s what he did. I thought it was brilliant and heart breaking and above all, a great reminder that we have tens of thousands of encounters in the life, and you never know which one is going to have that profound effect on you.”
I don’t regret posting the video, but I think I regret that anyone would have hard feelings about the fact that I did, let alone that it was ever made.
The death of a loved one is an endlessly fascinating thing to me in that I feel as though I have to process those types of thoughts for when I have to contend with it myself. Of course there is nothing that can truly prepare you for that inevitable day, but if I can always keep in mind that above the hurt, and above the profound feelings of loss is simply that I was extraordinarily lucky to have had the being in question’s presence in my life, and hopefully because of that presence, ended up becoming a better human being for it.
Someone, somewhere is crafting the standard “you should stick to bikes” email, so I suppose I will now take that cue and get back to it.
Like, for instance this clip that was sent to me from Hurl Inc.;

I can relate.
Due to my previously mention physical incapacitation, aside from watching other folks crash their bikes on the internets and spinning my brains out in the confines of my garage, I’ve taken it upon myself to learn some finer points of Photoshop. As any self respecting, developmentally arrested 39 year old would of course, I began with attaching random male genitalia on the faces of my friends, but then graduated to altering magazine covers to suit my fancy;
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As well as this shot of the previously mentioned Hurl;
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I’d like to think that by the time my recovery is complete, I will be something like a low brow Michelangelo of the electronic arts, and my production of alleycat race flyers will be full speed ahead.
Moving on.. Last week I briefly discussed the incredibleness that was ‘Triplets of Belleville’, and concluded that it was a movie no self respecting bike nerd should go without seeing.
This got me to thinking about classic bike films. Not the standards like ‘Breaking Away’, ‘American Flyers’ or (shudder) ‘Quicksilver’, but one of a different sort of ilk. Ones that tended to inexplicably fly under the radar.
Like for example, another that I also saw shortly after its release was Pepe Danquart’s glaring look into the 2003 Tour and Erik Zabel’s Telecom squad in Hell on Wheels;

Never before has a documentary peeled back so many layers of a team, and the personalities therein, while simultaneously describing the intricacies of the race’s history.
Secondly, the way in which the film was shot is unparalleled, giving the viewer the feeling of actually being immersed in the peloton. It’s a staggeringly honest depiction of the relationships and dynamic that occur behind the scenes of what is arguably the grandest spectacle in the bicycle world today.
If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it, and if you already have, then you should, again.
Plus, Zabel is a bad ass, so you’ll have that going for you.
Now then.. On to other topics.
There is a fellow I know named Tanner, who seems to surround himself with good looking people. Have you ever known anyone like that? It seems every time I’d see him, whether it be in a street fight in Vegas, or out on the town with his new bride, the people around him were handsome. So with that being said, I suppose it shouldn’t have come as much of a shock to find out Ron “Chewey” Moffit was actually Tanner’s father, (seen here with Mac and her tounge);
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As a fitting tribute to his old man, Tanner pulled out all the stops recently and got his portrait tattooed on his flesh;
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That right there is as true a sign of devotion and love as I can figure..
However I did ask him what his folk’s reaction was to such a gesture, to which Tanner flatly replied “I think my mom was a little disappointed because she realized that her husband doesn’t look as good.”
The family that gets tattooed together, signs contracts for reality shows together.
Now in closing, I’d like to mention that I’ve recently been in touch with Lanolin from Ritte Van Vlaanderen, and I am excited to announce that he has agreed to take some time out of his increasingly busy schedule to be subjected to an interview with me.
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Photo by David Pountain
I anticipate great things to occur as our minds meld, and think that it will be an excellent way to kick off All Hail The Black Market’s 2010.
.. Or it will totally suck.
Either way, you’ll hear it here first.
I don’t know about you all, but 2009 wasn’t that sweet. I mean, it’s not like we had plagues of locusts or anything, but with the exception of this here web log project, it just generally kindof flatlined.
With that being said, I would like to offer my most humble thanks to you all for sticking around and helping to make a go of the Black Market. It means more to me than I can express.
So here is to kicking the crap out of baby new year and making 2010 the best one yet.
That is except for 1998… 1998 was pretty awesome.
Until next year,
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29 Responses to “Sometimes the Black Market is not for everyone.”

  1. pedalman December 30, 2009 at 8:56 am #

    Wow Stevil, between ruining races for everyone and ruining peoples holiday weekend, you sure know how to wreak havok. Maybe you should change the sight name to “All Hail the King of ruination”.

  2. uma December 30, 2009 at 9:16 am #

    You should stick to whatever you want to stick to. You don’t have to justify yourself! Sharing your thoughts about the film and your reasons for posting it made me all teary eyed again. Those folks who can’t stand to read about anything real are going to have to deal someday and it won’t be pretty. Death and loss never are. But grief? Grief is beautiful… a beautiful, shining representation of the meaning and appreciation of that relationship. (Yup I just said your beauty is showing.) You want I should take care of them naysayers? You just point ’em out.

  3. Gnome December 30, 2009 at 10:17 am #

    So, after our discussion, I reviewed Oden’s vid and I fell inline with what you have to say about it. The video is a good thing, but because it has so much power, it of course is going to shake up some souls.
    Thanks for posting it.

  4. Herb Endotone December 30, 2009 at 10:26 am #

    Great Scott!
    you’ve exposed Wonder Woman’s true persona. We’re all doomed now….
    ps. ’98 was pretty awesome, wasn’t it?

  5. Troy B. December 30, 2009 at 10:28 am #

    Simple people like a simple reality; good guys v bad guys, heroes v terrorists, black or white, no gray, no caveats, etc. The film featured a guy who paid his time to society and realizes how it has played a part in his own growth…beautiful.
    Who among us can point a finger and fault another human being for their past. Many of us were fortunate enough to just never get caught and pay society’s price for our youthful indiscretions, (sorry about the pick-up truck Duke).
    Add to it, clearly the subject of the film,like many of us, find it very therapeutic to get on his bike, go for a ride, clear his head, and let the demons out (the “bike connection” for those who missed it). There, another spoon feeding for the masses. Keep postin’ bruddah.

  6. unknown backstory December 30, 2009 at 10:31 am #

    I thought the video was really touching. The hard part with something so personal, watching from the comfort of my desk, is that without any backstory you don’t know what’s going on. Is the dog sick? Why was this person a bad man before? Little things like that might help. I’ve lost a few furry friends in my time and it’s never easy. Here’s to a better decade….. at least Bush is gone.

  7. Cory December 30, 2009 at 10:32 am #

    Heart Wrenching. It doesn’t help that i have a dog named Odin. He’s spoiled rotten and getting lots of loves right now.
    Thanks for posting that video. Your bike stuff is great but i can get that anywhere. I come here for the entertainment, even if it sometimes comes in the form of tears.

  8. Chris B December 30, 2009 at 10:35 am #

    You’ve seen Overcoming right? It might even be better than Hell On Wheels, just to see what petulant little shits Basso and Sastre can be to Barnje Riis.

  9. Stevil December 30, 2009 at 10:51 am #

    CB-
    You know, I never did. By the time that movie crossed my radar, I was so incensed with Riis, that I ignored it completely.

  10. slappy December 30, 2009 at 11:50 am #

    incensed with Riis? coming clean a decade late for the sake of his squad, and continuing to keep them on track to be BAD, i dunno in this tortured world it seemed pretty solid moves to me

  11. Loudass, Esq. December 30, 2009 at 12:21 pm #

    Nah, 1999 was The Year:
    1) First annual SSWC in SoCal, with bottle-rockets-in-the-fire party at Kenny’s house and subsequent divorce
    2) Poaching Sea Otter while Robert rode a 16″ child’s bike, with vomiting and getting chased by course marshalls
    3) Swobo Clown Party
    4) Beer/chips/porn feed at the Napa World Cup, and then getting escorted out by the Sheriff after narrowly avoiding arrest for vandalism
    5) Rick Sutton screaming that we’re blackballed for life from all his races due to the aforementioned
    6) Playing “what’s the most disgusting thing Stevil will stick his hand in to get $10” at Paragon Machine Works after the Crusty Cup
    7) White Trash Party
    8) Interbike/my bachelor party, wherein we intiated the first Double Down night, complete with drunken strip show by Stella and mechanical bull riding
    9) First Hellacopters show in USA, with Jay Mak falling down stairs to bathroom at Slim’s due to cheap bourbon
    In fact, the only thing that sucked about 1999 was Stevo getting killed on his motorcycle.

  12. Stevil December 30, 2009 at 12:31 pm #

    Right you are Loudass, but two corrections- The Hellacopters played two years earlier at The Kennel Club. I was there with Grumpy Jake, and spent the night on some chick’s kitchen floor, and I actually ended up eating that huge flap of skin off of Kenny’s friend’s hand for ten dollars. The Hail Bop Comet was making some wacky shit go down.

  13. Loudass, Esq. December 30, 2009 at 1:12 pm #

    I forgot about the skin eating. That’s how zombies happen, bro…

  14. reed December 30, 2009 at 2:18 pm #

    1992 for certain, before they hired the dooouchebags where i used to work. they just hired me… anyone that’s denying their humanity isn’t human, so why care? posting doesn’t ruin anything, reading it might, but if you’re too stupid to click on something else in your cubicle, then that’d be your problem, eh? skippy nude ears!

  15. Tony Two Times December 30, 2009 at 2:57 pm #

    Maaaaate – That vid was awesome. Totally agree with your sentiments of the passing of life. It is the one reality we all have to face. Problem is most people try to avoid or delay facing that reality. Hence the complaints. Besides you’ve got a bike site and there was a bike in the vid !!
    1994 was better than 1998.
    T2X

  16. curtis December 30, 2009 at 3:02 pm #

    2009 kicked ass. actually, no. i kicked 2009’s ass. i mean, it was such a weak year, it wasn’t hard.
    that dog video made me cry, but i won’t hold it against you. it was a damn good video.
    did i see you riding your cross bike on porter/soquel today? i work on main street and i’m usually on my track bike, but today i was in my coffin (a really old camaro).

  17. chad December 30, 2009 at 5:59 pm #

    bottom line is that was a quality video. well shot and edited and it got the point across. I don’t need the details to identify this with my own struggles in life. at moments like those strength and love are pure. Saying goodbye to anything is tough.

  18. Bluenoser December 30, 2009 at 6:49 pm #

    I watched one bud of mine eat an undigested cocktail weenie that another buddy puked up on a hotel carpet.
    And he did it for free.
    -B

  19. pilder December 30, 2009 at 8:54 pm #

    word. put up whatever you want, and nobody has to look at it, and if they do, they can’t blame you. you can lead a unicorn to beer but you can’t make ’em drink

  20. thirsty December 31, 2009 at 3:10 am #

    Oh Yeah, Marianne Berglund. Putting that one (back) into the spank bank.

  21. bryant December 31, 2009 at 7:49 am #

    It was a great video. I love dogs and bicycles – they make life so much better. Keep in mind – we read you because you surprise us. Keep it up!

  22. BikeLemming December 31, 2009 at 8:24 am #

    Hey Stevil, I’ve been hibernating, nestled in my little cave, shoving bon bons in to my furry little mouth. What did I miss?

  23. Stevil December 31, 2009 at 8:28 am #

    Some people call it hibernating, some people call it institutionalization. Potato, potahto.

  24. Crank December 31, 2009 at 8:32 am #

    Never hesitate to act. You can always apologize later. Lance is a dick, always was, always will be. Are you going to Frostbike?

  25. JP December 31, 2009 at 12:52 pm #

    I didn’t watch the Oden vid the other day, had a feeling it would hurt. Just watched it. Yep, it hurt. I think I’ll let the pooch sleep in the bed tonight.
    Hey, Happy New Year all y’all!!

  26. Stevil December 31, 2009 at 1:29 pm #

    Curtis- Yeah. that was me, unless you saw another individual riding a cross bike, wearing a hotdog costume. Thanks for not throwing an empty beer can at me, as is typically customary for folks driving really old Camaros.

  27. Bikebuff December 31, 2009 at 11:02 pm #

    Stevil,
    Thanks for helping me feel, it is nice when some of the deep stuff gets released.
    Thanks for bringing me back with the Watz up Sex-iiie video, good to have a laugh after all that crying and dog hugging!
    Bikebuff

  28. Chad January 5, 2010 at 9:55 pm #

    More suggested viewing:
    “Sunday in Hell”, obviously. (And to a lesser extent “Le Course en Tete”)
    “Race Across the Sky”, surprisingly. Great cinematography and some touching moments.

  29. doods January 6, 2010 at 10:21 am #

    front page news, for sure.
    boy loses puppy, goes for a bicycle ride, has a good cry.
    all the jail tats in the world can’t prepare for this life lesson.
    deep.