Your moment of Zen.

Let's take a moment and distract ourselves with a few items. Feel the floor beneath your feet or the chair beneath your seat, bring yourself to center, and take five deep breaths. 

 Now then, I've been spending a bit of time watching Joshua Charow's video series about long time New York art spaces;

This series reflects Joshua's upcoming book 'Artist In Residency' in which he documents these last remaining artists in their spaces in and around New York City.

Watching these has made me reflective on makers' general accessibility to space in this post-tech world. Having spent the last 30 years in the Bay Area, I watched industrial spaces get sucked up with head-spinning quickness to both the tech as well as cannabis sectors. I looked high and low for a cost effective live/work space, as I do still, and I'm here to tell you from the front lines, I just don't think that dream exists any longer. 

Cities of all sizes are no longer equitable for artists of any kind, and coupled with the rise of AI, means dispersal in every direction, and dissolution of creative communities, which I think is an incredibly sad thing for us all. I certainly have no solution, but will continue to plod along in whichever subterranean room I can potentially afford because I can't imagine any other way.

Now, moving on to this post from October is which I was pleading to know who Bob Burbanks was;

And why at one point during the 80s, he was everywhere;

Well, after randomly waking up to the Bones brigade documentary (which I saw in the theatre upon its premiere, bit didn't clock this particular moment) the mystery was finally solved;

I can finally rest easy, and maybe someone reading these words now can too.

In other news, did yinzers watch VDP's 49th WC win and 180th pro win this weekend at Benidorm?

Ok, I'll give it to you that he’s the GOAT, but a one handed wheelie across the finish line?

I'd say him being (even an extremely loosely associated) Shimano teammate to me is one of the more exciting developments in my cycling life thus far. I love him, and though he says World's will mark his retirement, I can't help but wonder if he'll keep dominating for another season or two. It seems like the limits of his skill and strength know no bounds. 

But hold on… Between the mens and women's podiums, there was not a cycling cap to be seen;

I realize there are much bigger concerns in the world today, but I still feel a degree of disappointment at the inclusion of baseball caps on the steps.

Unrelatedly, as I've been fully disassociating recently, I began thinking about the four grades of bike rides, as far as my perspective goes. This has come up in conversation a few times recently as well, so I figured I'd take the opportunity to write about it here.

Firstly, there's 'the bebop', the name for which I got from one of my bartenders who grew up non Louisiana. A bebop is an easy pedal during which you likely don't even raise your heart rate. There are bar stops, and a burrito in the park, and maybe looking at a gallery. There's the occasional bottle flick, maybe a skid on some grass, or some errand running because you forgot to buy coffee for the last three days. A bebop is a lot of things, but above all, is definitely a ride when cycling related clothing is left at home.

Then there's 'a cruise'. A cruise might include a bit of light ripping, perhaps SPDs are sometimes involved, and all of the other qualities of a bebop as well. There could be some trails, or maybe not. You might session a gully, or jump an exposed root. A heavy bebop can blend into a light cruise, just as a heavy cruise might turn into a light rip.

For example, a cruise crew (or if you will, a Portland Scrü crüse crü looks something like this;

Which brings me to my personal favorite, 'the rip'. A rip involves considerably more risk to life and limb than a bebop or a cruise, but is definitely not generally as risky as a shred. Let's say a rip is like a light to medium weight shred, though the lines between a heavy rip and a light shred are pretty blurry at times;

I love a rip because I can turn it into a shred whenever I want and bring it back again, where as once you're in shred territory, you're committed to it, and I hate commitment.

Finally, there's 'the shred', which includes far more risk. The scale of shred can include a heavy rip on your local trails all the way to a full day in Whistler or Downiville. Bones are more likely at risk in a shred, and your hand-eye coordination gets tested far more frequently.

So, apropos of nothing, really, but I think this is the scale of different rides I tend to engage in a relationship with. I looked for photos with which to illustrate these words, but everything pretty much looked like a heavy cruise to a shred, and I don't think I have any photos of a bebop because those are akin to a phot of someone playing air drums, but I suspect you, dear reader is picking up what I'm laying down.

This has long been developed over decades at this point, and I would imagine the terminology might vary by region or language. If anyone has any that they'd like to include, please feel free to comment below or send me a direct message. 

Lastly, with all of that certainly in one eyeball and out the other, here's the brand newest episode of Revolting;

Sit, grounded on the floor, and breathe through it with us. 

Ommmmmmm…. And I'm out.