SPEED FIRST - SAFETY SECOND

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Good old days




For those of you who drive slow in the left lane, cut motorcyclists off, ride bikers' ass-ends(if you can keep up), or typically drive like a moron around people on two wheels - trends always come back around... I'm waiting for this one.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Thunder Valley - Lakewood USA

Motocross of Nations event in West Denver, butted up against the foothills of the Rockies. Great track and a rad weekend of motorcycles, fine women, racing in the dirt, and rowdy good times. Rode the bike up on Saturday, getting some shots in. Got a ride up there Sunday and I took off for the races without grabbing my camera. Probably a good thing, broke my camera the last time I drank too much.








The US killed it. Ryan Dungey dominated - taking 1st in both the MX1+MX2, and the MX1+Open class. Trey Canard had a decent weekend, thought he would've done better. And finally, Andew Short was leading the MX2+Open class, got passed, then knocked off his bike by another rider when he was in 2nd. Fell back past 20th place and still took 13th. The way he was riding on Saturday, he probably would've came back and took 1st if that hadn't happened. He murdered everyone in the qualifying. He also took 2nd in the MX1+Open class behind Dungey.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Denver - this weekend



- Motocross of Nations event in Lakewood, CO this saturday and sunday. Our Red Bull Rep is hooking it up, so as long as they don't feed me too many drinks, I'll have quite a few pics after the event(some quality, some not) - an open bar is always dangerous.

- Team USA has Ryan Dungey, who's the 2010 FIM Supercross World Champion and 450cc class AMA National Motocross Champion. The current 250cc AMA Motocross Champion, Trey Canard. And finally, Andrew Short, who is from the Denver area and is riding on his home track.

- Check out more at: http://www.redbullmxon.com

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Cannonball

Heading to Clovis, New Mexico to check out the pre-1916 Cannonball bikes that are stopping on their way cross-country. The bikes will be on display tomorrow at High Plains Harley Davidson in town. Just got a new camera, so I'll be taking a lot of pictures for future posts...

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

BornFreeChopTrip2010-1

Camping out under the stars our first night on the road, followed by a long night in Vegas - everything went well until we got closer to the coast...

This trip was trouble free from Denver until we got to Victorville, CA, where problems started occurring. Nick's voltage regulator took a crap, which was later fixed by Nick, Irish Rich, and Can't Stay Jose - and I noticed a crack in my exhaust just shortly down the road. Nick and Chris split off from Charlie and me just north of L.A., so Charlie and I headed over to Burbank to see if we could find someone who could help me out. Who you might ask?

Frank Kaisler...

I called Frank a couple times with no luck and kept in contact with Irish Rich, who was already in L.A. - wining and dining down in Newport Beach. Rich assured me that Mr. Kaisler was at Bob's Big Boy for their Friday Cruise Night, so I got directions from him and we headed that way.

When we got to Bob's, the first person I saw was Johnny Surprise. Now, for those of you who know Johnny - I don't really need to explain... This guy is a riot. Johnny greeted me and after finding out about the crack in my pipe, offered to let me come down to his buddy Koski's shop in Echo Park - Sunrise Cycles. I got a chance to talk to Frank, who offered to help as well, but we headed south to Koski's shop on our way to Long Beach for the night.

This Koski was a pretty kick-ass dude and I knew it from the moment we got on bikes and followed the guy through the busy L.A. streets. He tore off on a small, pink and silver evo chop in front of me and immediately I knew I liked this guy. Peeling out of traffic lights and ripping thru congested streets. We hit his shop and he helped get me fixed up. I bought the guy a 12 pack of Corona and he was cool with lending me a hand.

To Koski, Johnny, and the guys at the shop - thanks for everything.



The shop footage in this video is from the repair/beer drinkin at Sunrise Cycles - Tecate and Corona after a day of desert riding...

Check out Koski's work at:
http://www.sunrisecyclesla.com

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Cont...

More Mann art -
It's good to remember the guys who helped start a lot of what we all enjoy. Being around guys who know and respect the past has made me more appreciative of it as I've learned more and more. Trying not to take anything for granted that comes my way. I've been pretty privileged as far as those I've met and worked with in the motorcycle world.
David Mann was a great artist and a big part of the motorcycle scene throughout his life.
Check out the Church of Choppers blog link to Mann's eulogy by Tom Fugle, really cool stuff from another biker legend....



Friday, September 10, 2010

Thursday, September 9, 2010

David Mann

Tomorrow is David Mann's birthday, and Saturday is the anniversary of his death, so I'm giving him his due this weekend. Check out his website, lots of good info on him and his life as an artist and biker- http://www.davidmannart.com/


- this pic was taken from his website

Shankin fools... Coolest video ever.

Jimmy Hendrix, and the coolest video I'VE EVER SEEN. Always carry a knife with you.... Click play, then on extreme knife fighting picture - - - - -

Courtesy Extreme video



Right when you thought it was just knifes... oh no you didn't!
Mother-fucker pulls out a gun...

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Willie - Red Rocks

Rode the Chop up to Red Rocks Sunday night for Willie Nelson, Ryan Bingham, and Willie's son Lukas. Great show on a cool, mountain night. Red Rocks is amazing. If you've never been there and make it to the Denver area, hit this venue up. No venue I've ever been to compares to this place. I could go to the shittiest act at Red Rocks and still have a good time - the place is one of a kind...

The view from up-top, Denver in the background


Willie's son Lukas. I saw the both of them at Coachella over 3 years ago and his kid ripped the guitar then - he's even better now. Has more of a blues-rock style to him, but the kid is still country in a lot of ways that he plays

Willie took a little while getting going on the first song, Whiskey River, but he was pretty damn impressive the rest of the show. How a guy that old still gets down like that I don't know.. drugs I guess?

Friday, September 3, 2010

Ho-Ho-Holy Shit

One month ago today, Tuesday, August 3rd, was suppose to be a great day for me to get out and ride all over the Black Hills the week before the Rally. What started out as a nice day and breakfast at the Silverado, turned out to be an all-day, shit-storm. A storm that went from bad to worse, and never really seemed to stop - It was pretty wicked. Even after the storm had passed and left piles of hail and ice all over Deadwood, we still had to wait it out for the roads to clear. We didn't leave Deadwood until late afternoon. This storm dropped hail, some almost the size of golf balls, for a good 45 minutes and then some. Winds came through at 60 mph, which made you think this was gonna blow right through and clear up quickly. Nope. This thing stuck around and had me running down the sidewalk to save my bike(dumb idea), only to get completely drenched. So, I spent a good hour or so stripped down to my underwear in Casino bathrooms drying all of my shit out under electric dryers. After the roads had sort of cleared up, we headed back to Sturgis, getting soaked once more - just for the hell of it.

What started out as a sprinkle

Turned into hail, wind, and rain

Which, after all was said and done, made people... shovel

And turned, what was a trickling little creek, into a raging stream

Piled up in the gutters

And buried the grass

Merry Christmas


This is why parking your bike under something, setting a tent up on higher ground, or staking your tent down a little more can go a long ways when you're in the hills - or anywhere for that matter.

I've had a rain fly completely dissappear from the wind, seen bikes and tents get swept away by rain/mud, and plenty of tents go tumbling through a campground because they weren't staked down well.

Hell, last year a guy sleeping got knocked unconscious from hail ripping through his tent - storms in the Black Hills tear shit up.