So, I finally got mobilized on my blog, first iPhone app I actually paid for but $2.99 isn't bad. This post is just a test to see how this little guy worked while I drink a bit of over proof rum I bought in Jamaica this past winter.

what better way to test the app than do a photo dump from my favorite photos in my lib.
















-- WNKV via iPhone

it's summer and time to chill out...got a CHUB

Yep it's summer out there everyone, bikes, beer and long weekends...Here are a couple great chill tracks which are perfect for mojito sip'n...

WEEN - Your Party (Natasha & Nicole props on this)


Low vs. Diamond (ditto on the props)


Got my CHUB hubs in the mail the other day with ti hardware, cant wait to get these guys built up...

Double Dead Guy

Been wanting to try this forever and finally found some here in Pittsburgh the other day, the bottle is rad, the logo is even radder (is that a word), and the taste is serious business.

Give'er here...

I had to take a shot of my 2 favorite things today.

Neil Peart - Ghost Rider - Ducati

So way back when i was a little kid, my first ever exposure to music was the band RUSH, my Dad was a huge fan because of the drummer...this guy Niel Peart. I can remember being a little kid sitting in the passenger side of his SAAB 9000, listening to Rush records....Some of the best memories being a little kid...

Well in life you are very influenced in those first few years and RUSH became one of my favorite bands. I am not really sure why though, I don't really listen to that much classic rock but something draws me to them. Neil Peart is one unique individual his drumming is controversially the best on earth, but it doesn't stop there. The guy is a legitimate bad ass and not the 'I'll punch in your face type'. He rides his BMW motorcycle from gig to gig all over the world, talented cyclist, lives in a cabin in Ontario, and overcame some serious adversity in his life. How he dealt with it was even more legit...

Neil wrote a book a few years back titled 'Ghost Rider' lost his wife and daughter in a 6 month span, and decided instead of curling up in a ball that he would attack the mess he was in, how he would do this was via motorcycle...I really believe how you handle a bad situations defines you as a human being. The way I look at it you have 2 choices, curl up in a ball and feel sorry for yourself or give it hell doing whatever you do. Option 2 will always come out on top...I have to applaud the guy, getting me to read a book is an impossible feat, and I did read his book. Actually finished it on the beach in Malibu a few weeks after graduating college. None the less, the guy dealt with some serious shit, and did so via interstate highways, I am a true believer in therapy by road. There is something about driving that makes you figure out life...

So here I stand, at yet another cross roads, thinking about taking a bit of inspiration for Sir Peart. Experiencing a similar situation to he, I think it is about time to step it up a notch...I have been looking at Ducati's and think it is time to purchase a monster, something about the raw spirit of this bike draws me to it, i have the time to get to the west coast and back this summer (Matt you gonna be home?). Wish me luck lets see how this goes.




quick vid of the man himself, just watch it, i think you will appreciate...he is a magician.

aluminum sex!

This bike has been a long time coming, Matt has been campaigning the covert for a while but transition stepped it up a notch in launching this new iteration of the bike. I don't understand why the rest of the bike industry does not take a hint from the great folks at transition bikes, they are consistently putting out exactly what people want in a great mountain bike...clean lines, durable goods, and great customer service service. Not to mention they were gracious enough to invite us out to Belingham Washington this summer to hang out at the factory and ride the local stuff.

the other day i received a comment on my face book account that was something to the effect of 'man you love transition don't you'...I do, and I could be on any bike i want at this point in life, i choose to ride them because they are a rider owned company that knows how to build a fucking awesome mountain bike. I will be ordering this bike in the next few days.

See what people are saying about this bike here

moab - fruita - junction

Quite a few mountain bikers travel to both Utah and Colorado each year to ride Moab and Fruita simply because the riding in both states is world class. What most people miss when they get to into either town are the true gems spending most of their time on the over hyped, overridden, and least interesting trails. Each of us made the same mistakes when we were rookies riding in the west but we have learned…This past week was the absolute best I have had on a mountain bike in the past 12 years. 6 rides in 3 days with no rest except for food and beer.

We flew into SLC where Justin picked us up and we immediately headed into the Wasatch with a full moon. Got into Fruita at about 3 am mountain time where Matt and his buddy Richard were waiting with some serious IPA’s. The next morning we got up and hit some of the favorites in Fruita which were pretty good but the wind was blowing us off the ridges. ‘Moore Fun’ is pretty rad and advertised as the ‘most technical trail in Fruita’, well it’s pretty technical but we smoked it, worked out the cob webs and got ready for the next day.

The second day was spent in Grand Junction which is littered with great trails with big exposures and some pretty epic steeps. After calling some buds who had run the trail system out here before we found the trails and took off. Matt, Justin, and I found some great steeps that were a blast I felt like I was in the original Kranked movie when ‘skiing’ your bike down cinder steeps was cool.

After finishing up our loop at junction we jumped in the car and headed west for Moab. Getting into town rather late we decided it was a ‘good idea’ to sprint to the top of amasa back (about a 3 mile climb) so we could hit one of our Moab favorites ‘Jackson’s’. I had serious reservations about the amount of light we had getting on the trail at about 6:30 but in matt’s cool and collect manner he said ‘dude we are fine’. Well with dark looming I stepped up the pace and got us to the top at about 7:15 when we started heading down. If you haven’t ridden Jackson’s you need to it is one of the best trails in Moab but you need to be on your game. It contains some technical and exposed sections that are only feet from a 500 ft plummet into the Colorado river below. That said we finished the trail brail style with the last half mile in complete darkness. Jackson’s is best ridden at sun down with the low light reflecting off of the red walls of the canyons that line the Colorado can only be described as ‘epic’.

Once we got back to the car, my gimmick ‘glow in the dark’ pedals were actually glowing, never thought I would get to use that feature but hey whatever. Justin powered up his stereo with a metal band called ‘the sword’, Bob proceeded to throw running start metal fists at the silhouettes of the giant cliffs above Cane Creek road, you would have had to have been there.

The next day we woke up, fired down some pancakes and headed up to porcupine rim. Probably one of the most ridden trails in Moab, the best portion lies above the normal drop point. Due to heavy rain and snow pack we couldn’t ride the descent into porcy proper. It’s pretty funny to think back to our first time on porcupine rim, we all almost died due to exhaustion which im sure the 30 hour drive the day before didn’t have anything to do with but regardless it’s a great ride. Back to town for pizza and beer and a quick rest, then back to the bikes.

I really wish I could talk about the final trail we rode in Utah but I can’t. Started out riding high desert bermed corners with ledge drops scattered through out. It was the kind of trail that had me laughing while carving turns and roosting desert dust. Took a break halfway down with a few PBR’s which was probably a mistake. The remaining few miles were some of the most technical of the entire trip. Massive rock step downs, exposures, and drops.

Each year we seem to find more to ride and push the envelope in Moab. Is it North Shore style gnar? Absolutely not but make no mistake there is some challenging stuff in Moab that forces you to be on it. I guess I’ll have to wait until the fall to get my next Utah fill. Justin, see you then.

worlds most perfect automobile...

I am a huge Audi fan been one for years, I finally got to the point where i could purchase one of my favorites this year the s4. That said Audi's latest gem, the R8 has gotta be one of the cleanest vehicles on the road and this guy took it to another level. Total storm trooper look but oh so clean...

Audizine is a great forum check out the feature from GR8 Ghost HERE

Kick out the jams…

So the reverend talked me into going to see the Kings of Leon the other night here in Pittsburgh. I was a bit skeptical for a few reasons:

1. It was a big arena show which I haven’t been to in 10 years
2. Tickets were pretty pricey (more than $25 is to much)
3. I just wasn’t sure they were my gig to see live.

Well they exceeded all expectations, the show was awesome the stand out tracks were the first 2…They started off with ‘crawl’ and went directly into ‘my party’ which are my 2 favorites. One note, there was to many college kids with hollister shirts and fedoras, standing their with their chicks sporting miserable faces doing this stupid sway. This is rock n roll kids not maroon 5, get with it.



Oh and another song that I absolutely loving right now THE BRONX – Inveigh, one of the best full lunged yells I have heard in a while right around the 2:22 mark. Check it:

It made the river taste like whiskey!!!

I have been living out of a laptop and a backpack for the past few months it's been nuts, so when I landed in Pittsburgh yesterday from a trip NYC for business i wasn't surprised when I got a txt to get to the HE IS LEGEND show in Pittsburgh at a spot called the moose lodge.

I love he is legend and despite wearing a neatly pressed oxford shirt and a blazer i had to make it. Luckily i had a black t shirt in my bag. Talk about contrast Manhattan to a grungy metal show in a super blue collar spot in Pittsburgh, i don't know what end is up anymore.

spring is good...and so is Iggy Pop

So fresh off a trip to europe I got back to the US and immediate gathered my life together (my life being my bike) and shipped it to Salt Lake City. 1 Week from today the gang and I are meeting in SLC, driving over to Colorado to ride Fruita, then heading back to Moab.

It seems like every year I am taking a new bike out west positive it is 'the bike' for the job. This year is no exception, but i think i nailed it this time my 05 heckler frame with some juicy bits. I pretty much have it exactly where i want it, it can climb all day and haul ass in the rough stuff with no complaints. Here she is:

Frame: 05 Santa Cruz Heckler (found this in the back room at the shop)
Fork: Fox 36 Talas
Wheelset: Mix of chris king and dt hugi laced to velocity rims with atom lab white spokes
Tires: An old favorite tioga 2.3 yellow kirin - sadly they dont make them anymore but i stock piled them
Cranks: XTR
Drivetrain: x.0 x.9
tubes: yes
Chain: some German gold thing (this is about as loud as i get)
Pedals: odyssey purple plastic they glow in the dark, seriously.









I associate everything to music, and right now Iggy Pop - I Wanna Be Your Dog is getting the nod, i was watching Transporter 3 the other night and fell in love with this song.

word cannot describe this

please please please take the time to watch this...

'I can tell you keep yourself in good shape'

copenhagen...bike vids...rock n' roll

I am off to Copenhagen and Sweden for a few days with my twin bro's and LG, it should be pretty ridiculous and i will update my blog while i'm there (i think) but who really knows...i gave up beer and pretty much drinking for a while to healthy out but i anticipate getting into some weird stuff over there.

so check out this new Barred For Life teaser, i am so excited about this video, it's so new school its old:


Barred For Life Teaser 2 from Bjorn Aunet on Vimeo.

And one more item here, this band crashdiet (there is a German umlaut in there somewhere).They were doing this revamped hair metal sound that was pretty fresh until the lead singer hung himself. buzkill

Springs Slopestyle Footage

Check out this video Don Hampton put together of the slope style demo late summer this years. Came out really good they really captured some of the great light that we had in the late days. The shot of Spangler getting loose with the paintball gun his hilarious. It is pretty cool to see those lips my brothers and built getting some coverage…we broke our backs for about 2 days shaping and packing…Brunger came up big with the atv water hookup.
'that was crazy, ok white flag'


While I’m talking about springs, it was in the last decline issue here is a quick shot of the spread. It was a good time riding and shooting with those guys that weekend (minus the rib i broke). 7 Springs has some serious management issues let’s hope the guys running the program this year pull their head out of there asses and realize the great potential they are sitting on if they would just commit to it. Hopefully we will be building there again this summer.


I found some crazy unreleased cky tracks last night…Songs like ‘Tunnel’, ‘Drag Me Down’, and ‘no one hears you’. I have been a long time fan since basically high school and never heard these songs until last night, awesome.

There new album Carver City comes out May 19th 2009 apparently it’s amazing we will see.

josh pekich

so back in high school when i was building bikes for a living this annoying kid used to always stop by the shop and ask for tools, his name was josh pekich. well josh and i ended up being close buds and he is one of the most dedicated trail builders and riders i have ever met, creative style, great eye and smooth. he just got a full page spread in dig and deserves some props. congrats bro.

it's funny because everything josh was mentioning was pretty much our life growing up in the neighborhood

Check out the last quote, i have been trying to figure out how to say the same thing for years and josh nailed it. 'I would like to be the only art director in town that goes home and cruises around on a little kids bike after work'...words to live by, there isn't a damn thing wrong with having a real job and being a killer when the 9-5 is over, it will keep you real, i promise.

gorillapod!

So after a few to many red stripes in jamaica i clicked the 'buy it now' option on a gorillapod (been wanting one forever). After a 3 week transit time from japan i got it and started playing around with it. The thing is awesome, allows you to put your digi slr in some crazy places (in my case top of a door and pull up bar). It's great because you can shoot super low iso speed and slow shutter to get some great results...here are my first attempts at glory.
The Device

Livingroom

shoes! my sb's

doing work aka acting like it

being an idiot all snowed in

romantic

old school lust

So I walk into the shop yesterday and there it is my old school object of lust a 1997 Trek Y Five-0, I remember sitting in my room listening to Jethro Tull when I was about 13 just staring at this bike in the catalogue pissed off because I would never own one. It's so funny how your tastes change over the years...It was cool as hell to see this just sitting around though...

throwback brothers

my brothers good buddy dan posted this pic of them and the rest of their crew back when they were knee high but working at woodward camp and building better lines than most 18 year old guys around here.

here is the hilarious facebook screener

this makes me feel funny in the pants

gallardo playing in the snow, do me a favor and just listen

christmas, jamaica, land slides, and more punk bike

merry christmas managed only 1 mall trip this season, i say i win, favorite shot from last years

i am off to jamaica on saturday for a week of nothing but cliff diving and snorkeling no bikes, computers, or cell phones

looks like global warming if you believe in it is taking a toll on our favorite technical singletrack here in pa


one of the most miserable points of punk bike

norcal legend Mark Weir

brunger's efficient pedaling bike, custom fab disk tabs and sticky dh tires

then it all went sideways

here is the video of me getting broken off at the punk bike...