overall, I landed my first manual bar in months, possibly even a year. Sage was showing me how it’s done doing on the 3rd stair. Everyone was somehow getting their hop 3s in order. Sage got a gnarly shiner and took it easy for most of the night and then came back to destroy this one 7 stair. I wish I would of snapped a photo of the turndown he clicked. Ended the night with a sweet roof sesh. goodtimes.

Stop #1 Akron park. this place was awesome. We got here before the sun even rose. Jerm & I were little too tired to join in on the dawn session with Loughead, Slade, & Shilo. After the sun came out and warmed the frost off my bike we got into a pretty good game of bike with the whole crew. Eventually some local shredders came out and joined us.

We headed out to the first street spot of the day.
Slade with a double footjam.

Shilo brought up a cool idea for me to ride off this ledge into the wedge. I was a little scared but after seeing how the photo would frame up on Loughead’s camera I had a shred boner. I was attempting to pop off the little curved tranny into the wedge. The last time I went for it I completely divorced my bike and tried to tackle the wedge. I felt fine until I tried to bunny hop and felt like something was seriously wrong with my shoulder. I sat out,filmed and shot photos for the rest of the day.

alternate angle by Slade
Young Jerm and I were on the hunt for some Popeye’s as soon as the trip started. We hit up the local Popeye’s and regrouped looking for the next spot.

driving around we randomly found this rail. Shilo got his bike off the rack and everyone assumed the positions. I was really impressed with Shilo’s riding on this trip. He went in hard to get this rail done.

We were trying to get to a certain spot when the GPS was giving us the runaround. As usual we were on the look out for spots while driving semi-lost. Jerm came up on a sweet wallride down some stairs.

took him a couple tries and he even did a pain sprint after crashing hard once. Jerm came out victorious. Then Shilo wanted to put his mark on the spot too. here he is measuring it up or planking, I’m not really sure. haha

He decided to go for the catacorner route.

first thing in the morning, I’d say around 8 am. fresh out the van, with no warm ups, Shilo gets this sick Ledge drop. after having my own experience riding across a narrow brick ledge and now filming the clip wearing a sling made out of sheetz bags, I was really excited to see Shilo get this. the clip came out decent as well.
Later in the day we got to hit up this amazing school in Pittsburgh. I was beside myself with how awesome the spot looks in real life. I had to sit on the sidelines as my shoulder still wasn’t feelin hot. Justin KTS and his crew came out and met up with us. Those guys all are really good. They showed us how the locals do it.

Loughead eyed up this huge wallride and got it done. He was pedaling faster and faster and each time going higher on the wall.

afterwards, we went to another rail spot where Shilo was trying to get it in, Slade was trying the same rail the day earlier and neither could quite get it. In their defense this had to be the longest rail I’ve ever seen anyone try in person. Shilo one time even flipped over the bars when he put his pedal down.


after a couple more tries, Shilo tweaked his wrist when he got real close to landing it. So we packed up and headed to a local park.

This park looked like way too much fun, so I tried picking up my bike and seeing what I could do and not do with my shoulder. I was able to bunny hop. it felt like a miracle. I thought for sure I was going to be out for about 3 weeks.

all in all it was a great trip. ups and downs, getting lost, pulling U turns. everyone came through and got a little something. I wanna say ThankYou to Loughead for organizing trips like this and the rest of the crew for being team players and making the trip a success. Until next time!

Elephant.

Shyster

Things I’d Rather be Doing.

View out the window

Round and Round

The VA Trails were named because they were across the street from the Veteran’s Administration. A hospital for people who serve in the military. Back then, Lebanon didn’t have a public park. There was also the local BMX race track down the road a few more minutes. From what I’m told, local legend Frogger, found them and started the digging process, also along with him is old head, Corey Martin. Corey’s not really that old, He’s 30. but He’s been riding longer than anyone else I know from Lebanon. (that I know of)
(click photos to enlarge)

One day I think it was in 2005, Corey and I were there digging when we hear someone come down into the trails. It’s someone who obviously doesn’t ride. He tells us that the trails are going to be plowed in two days and to get all the stuff we wanted out of there. We didn’t believe him. I knew if he wasn’t bluffing I would need to snap some pics. So I quick drove back into town and picked up a disposable camera. I snapped the following photographs with intentions of putting them into panoramas. Two days later they were sure enough. plowed.

Everyone pretty much called this set the “first line” or “the line when you first come in” as when you first enter the trails. You would walk down a hill and blindly be standing in the bowl out so you had to be carefull. Once I jumped the first jump from the 44ds, everybody told me I was ready for the first line. It was hard at first, you had to get one crank as hard as you could before you went down this bumpy hill. It was like a ski jump. After that it was smooth and fun.

Here’s an angle looking back up the set from the berm.

The angle turning around and looking at the last jump. This thing was awesome. You could really yank back and ride it like a spine. This was also the only jump I could trick over. It was a table top since it criss crossed another jump. One-footed X-ups!

The Lil Jons were the second set I helped start with some other locals that weren’t ready for the big jumps yet. We needed something bigger than the Shepps but not as big as the mainlines. Jason, Dooks, Monkey, Baker, and I just to name a few, worked on these. They slightly hipped to the left.

Here’s a view looking back up the LiL Jons. The jump between the trees was one of my favorites. I felt like it had a cool vibe fitting perfectly inbetween the trees and hipping left.

The 44ds were the longest set. They ran from the top of the hill all the way down into some really big jumps. The first jump on the 44ds was actually the first big jump I ever went for. I could never get the whole way through though. The third jump shot people to the moon. Our buddy Pat, snapped his headtube off barely casing the second jump. He ended up with a broken nose and the jump was deemed cursed ever since.

Here’s a side view of them, that’s the 2nd jump on the left and the 3rd on the right. That third jump’s lip was always so well manicured. Too bad I could barely get past the second jump. haha.

The Shepps Set. When I first started coming to the VA trails all I did was help dig. Because all of the jumps where too big for me at the time. Eventually I got to start my own line so I could work up to the bigger ones. Everyone helped blaze the trail but one day when I was gone the guys built a shit load of jumps into it. I just wanted a few! This line was one of the funnest sets we had. Small, fast and lots of burms. It was named after Matt Shepps (RIP). Shepps was one of the kids from the younger generation of riders. This line became the gateway line to riding everything else there. If you were scared or needed to warm up, you started at Shepps’.

This is where the Shepps spilled out at, that berm was a lot fun to whip around, the jump after was hard to clear and the set ran out after that.

This is a look back up the set. Every jump was a table top, roller, or berm, But the first jump had a gap to it. So you still had to have the marbles to get the line started. After that it was gravy. Lots of fun on this.

This is possibly the biggest jump that existed there. I know it was over 20 feet and Corey and Dane tried it. Beyond that I’m not sure. There was also a set called the DJs that I didn’t take pictures of. That set was more of a straight line between the first set and the lil jons. They were big. I know Justin and Greg favored them. I ran out of exposures on the disposable camera before I could get to them.

Well there you have it. The VA Trails. A ton of people would come ride them during the summer. They weren’t the best by anymeans but it was a cool place where everyone met up and rode. A lot of times we would ride into town to ride street at Harding afterwards. I wanna give a special thanks to everyone who helped build them and anyone who had a chance to enjoy them. It’s things like this that I’d love to have around again.

photo graciously borrowed from: The DFL

January 18th, 2012, will be the largest internet protest in history. Thousands of sites across the internet, including some of the biggest in the world, will be blacking out and directing people to contact Congress to kill the web censorship bill, SOPA and PIPA.

PROTECT-IP is a bill that has been introduced in the Senate and the House and is moving quickly through Congress. It gives the government and corporations the ability to censor the net, in the name of protecting “creativity”. The law would let the government or corporations censor entire sites– they just have to convince a judge that the site is “dedicated to copyright infringement.”

For more info: AmericanCensorship.org
SOPA Strike: SopaStrike.com
SOPA Countdown: SopaCountdown.com

The DFL has a twitter, and tumblr where they keep you up to date with the newest issues coming out as well as submit your own DFL. free stuff is awesome.

​Around 11:30 p.m. on a Thursday night Miles Vendetti, Slade Staneich, Jerm Thomas, and I all loaded up in my van to head south for a little weekend roadtrip in order to escape the 30 degree temperatures at home. Originally we had planned to leave Friday morning but our excitement convinced us to leave a night earlier. Our destination was Richmond, Virginia. Miles and I had been there twice before; believe it or not Virginia was the first ever official roadtrip him and I had taken together back when we were 18. With everybody’s shit loaded up and the necessary driving aids consumed we hit the road south. Miles acted as navigator and DJ which meant he kept the electronic tunes (The Knife – Heartbeats, M83 – We Own the Sky) pumping on repeat and yelled at me whenever I zoned out and stopped paying attention to the GPS. Slade and Jerm posted up in the back seat and kept things more than entertaining. Jerm’s insight on life is amazing.

For this trip I had done quite a bit of research and had a good amount of parks and street spots lined up for us to hit. Some of the skateparks I had looked up I was a bit skeptical about so my plan was to scope them out at night on the way down to determine if we’d want to hit them in the daylight on the way back. Virginia has some weird rules when it comes to their free outdoor parks, i.e. “at least one hand brake is required for bicycle riders”. Out of all the parks I had planned 2 ended up being a blast, 1 was mediocre, 3 were subpar and crowded, 3 were unrideable, and 1 I’m pretty sure doesn’t exist. Pole Green Skatepark was really fun, the park was made out of all metal ramps that looked like they were welded by locals. The park was a bit slippery but we got the hang of it and had a fun early morning session.

Fredericksburg Skatepark was really fun and even had some new stuff that locals had built. It’s definitely a raw and rough park, steep ledges and haggard transitions. Mt. Trashmore ended up being full of pegless Dewtour faggots with brakes who just wanted to compare dick sizes the whole time. In all honesty if you use brakes for every one of your tricks then go kill yourself. The best park of the trip was easily Northside Skatepark in Norfolk, Virginia this place was a fucking blast! Street as fuck! A local in Williamsburg, VA gave us the hint so we headed farther south. It had just opened in October 2010 and was amazing. There was every street obstacle you could imagine as well as some massive bowls that none of us fucked with. The locals were all really chill as well. If you’re looking to take a trip I highly suggest the Norfolk/VA Beach area, lots of stuff to ride, nice weather, and multiple beaches.

​

Street success was 50/50; one of the biggest disappointments of the trip was finding out that Hippoland (youtube “hippoland skate”) had been demo’ed as well as the Richmond White Walls which we had had a blast on 3 years earlier. If we had more time I would’ve been down to search longer for spots but I didn’t want to squander time. Richmond’s Geometry Park had a ton of stuff to ride and we found some sweet i-beam setups outside of Virginia Beach. Basically the parks turned out to be so fun that we weren’t fiending for street, who’d have thunk?

​One of the best unexpected surprises of the trip was Slade having family in Suffolk, VA who offered us a place to crash. Originally we had planned on just camping in a tent and roughing it. Thanks to Slade’s aunt and cousins we had a backyard to crash in which actually lead to us being able to sleep inside on their couches and floor. The first night we were shown first hand some sweet ass southern hospitality…and got fucked up! I woke up the next morning by myself in the tent while everyone else had slept inside…eventful night (what kind of dick throws up in the tent? Ass.). We decided to hit up the beach quick the next morning to see the sights and do some corny picture taking. The next night was pretty chill even though the boardwalk was beat as shit, go figure its January. We saw a sweet Neptune statue and that was probably the highlight of the boardwalk. Once we got back to the house we all passed the fuck out grateful to be inside on couches.

By the last day we were all pretty worn out and dead from riding, lack of sleep, shitty food, and all around shenanigans. The drive home was chill and we were all glad to be back home in PA. I think we had driven a little over 1,000 miles in 1 weekend. After all the trips that I’ve planned over the past couples years (I think 11 total), whether they’re just weekend trips or entire week long trips, I’ve learned that the best parts tend to be the stuff that you didn’t plan. Having a loose agenda seems to allow for being more spontaneous than trying to rigidly stick to an exact route plan. I want to say thanks to the crew Miles, Slade, and Jerm and also thanks to Aunt Cheryl and Batboy for giving us a place to crash and feeding us!

I was really happy with how these came out. I was on a logo ripping kick after I did the rock and roll business cards and I was hoping we’d make the Sheets and Wawa Logos into shirts to give to good customers from PA and NJ.

I never could pick which place I liked more though. The Wawa tuna BLT with jalapenos are delicious.

• Padded tongue and mid-top collar
• Removable strap for stability
• System G2 heel insert
• STI Foam Lite level 1 footbed
• 400 NBS rubber outsole with internal dual density EVA midsole
• Variety of colors. New colorways every couple of months

Durability: 8/10
Design: 9/10
Price: $69.99 (the price can change depending on where you look and what colorway)

For quite some time I wanted to start building a quickcrete-type ghetto spot somewhere. After two unsuccessful attempts, a couple years had passed by when one day I noticed a photo from a local skater’s Facebook, I realized I knew where that spot was so I decided to go check it out. The abandoned location was only 10 minutes from my house and had been right under my nose all along. When I got the location I saw right off the bat that it would be ideal to start building. It was an abandoned site on property owned by the local steel mill. The remains of old buildings laid in piles, several consisting of perfectly good cinder blocks. To my surprise, there were already several ride-able obstacles left over from the mill buildings. I knew right away I wanted to build a quarter because there was a perfect spot to have a quarter with a subbox. During our first visit to “The Spot” there was already snow on the ground and I knew it would be difficult to work with the quickcrete so we waited a few months to get started.

Once we started having some 35+ degree days we began to build. We went to a nearby skatepark and traced the tranny of one of the quarters onto a sheet of composite plywood that I had. I took this home and cut out the 2 transitions that would become the sides of the quarter. The next step were to buy quickcrete and take everything to the spot. At the time I had a rental van so I didn’t give a fuck what I put inside it. We also stole a shopping cart to push materials around in, mostly moving cinder blocks. We set up the two wooden transitions in place and began to lay the cinder blocks. We filled the cinder blocks with stones and gravel and every couple of layers we’d put down some quickcrete to hold everything together. Once we had all the cinder blocks laid we went back and put down red bricks to dial in the tranny. After that we put dirt on top of everything to get an even smoother transition. The next step was to lay down some chainlink fence that would later hold the top layer of cement in place. Luckily we found all the cinder blocks, red bricks, fencing, and dirt all at The Spot. Finally our last step was to put down the layer of quickcrete that we would ride on. All of this was trial-and-error for us because we had never built a quarter before and had little experience with quickcrete. During this process we were also battling rain and cold conditions that were holding up building.

When the quarter was finally ride-able we were psyched! It wasn’t the smoothest quarter in the world but it was fun and worked perfectly with the subbox behind. It’s awesome to have a local DIY spot that everyone can go and hang out at and not worry about having to get busted. I’d like to say thanks to Slade and Shilo Staniech, Mike Cesario, Miles Houser, and anyone else that helped make this possible!

“This week the Internet woke up. Check out the numbers and screenshots from American Censorship Day. Over 80,000 Tumblr users called ther representatives. SOPA was a trending tweet in the U.S. and between the Electronic Fronteir Foundation, Avaaz, and Demand Progress (groups that are just now working together!) we sent Congress over 1,000,000 emails. The scary part? We still might lose.”

“The bill is backed by an unholy alliance of Hollywood, its unions, drug companies, and the Chamber of Commerce. They are pouring money into it, and they’ve been working on this for years. Yesterday, big players like Tumblr, Mozilla, Reddit, BoingBoing and even 4chan came out strong on our side. Now it’s your turn. We’ve got to dig in and go viral.”

head on over to AmericanCensorship.org and sign a petition.
photo cred: BenWentzel.net

The BSD guard has an inner aluminum cone that threads on to replace your traditional hub hardware. It then has a high density plastic outer sleeve to pop over top. I’ll admit that I was very skeptical of the plastic outer sleeve. I thought for sure I’d grind through it in a week or two. Actually, it’s real tough. The one I’m currently running I’ve had over a year. I have yet to replace the plastic sleeve, although I do feel it is due to be replaced soon.

I was an avid fan of the FBM hubguard for the longest time. So it was going to take a little coaxing to change my mind. As it turns out, the plastic is a great idea. Think of those recycled plastic benches that we all know slide so well. No snags or binds on grinds, and ice picks are a real dream.  This is the best hubguard I ever had, plain and simple.

BSD makes them in a variety of models for most popular hubs. They also sell the plastic sleeve separately.  So you can pick one up and keep rocking it with out dropping serious cash on a new guard.

Durability: 10 / 10
Design: 10 / 10
Price: $24.99 – pick one up here
conclusion: if you grind a lot, like to icepick, and/or don’t ride really rough ledges all day- pick one of these up. I doubt you’ll regret it. For more info head on over to BSDforever.com & read more for a detailed look at installation.

I’m really stoked that this new project is finished. I’ve been working on this for the past month or two. My cousin and I teamed up to create his new website, Regretstown. He wanted a blog to update with different catagories / characters / personalities. A little slice aptly named “Planet Bedrock” was created. With the idea that this is a little slice of his imagination. I figured I’d post this little behind the scenes look at what it took to bring the site to fruition.

the first draft had lots of errors and needed a second draft.

I illustrated the buildings with a finer detail. Looking to make it as clean as possible.

Here I took the basic illustrations we created and scanned them into photoshop and worked on a light source. After that I would build up the middle tones and shadows untill I got what I had imagined.

read more to see more to see the rest of how we built Regretstown or check it out for your self right here, Regretstown.com

^ Here I compiled all of the stages of creation.

I implemented the illustrations as sliced images through photoshop and exported them as XHTML. I then incorporated the background and title into the clickable menus. I used iframes to give the client full content control of their wordpress powered blog.

I used the iframe feature so I could build custom html pages with simplified URLs. Hoping to make it easier for viewers to remember where they are.





The content displays nicely in the iframe. it also looks nice on mobile. iphones / androids.

The illustrations create a very user friendly way of navigating around a blog via mobile. For more on the design and creation of the site, visit my Behance Portfolio. For more on the Regretstown, visit Regretstown.com

McLovin and I hit up the local park and filmed each other for a quick day edit.
song: Connie Francis – Eighteen