JJ

John Joseph New York City Urban Warfare Cro-Mag Training from Polygraph Productions on Vimeo.

Frank just made my day. Tell JJ titanium is for dentists! Saxo Supporter??

El Michels Affair Enter the 37th Chamber

Wu Tang covers CD by El Michels Affair is out. Get it. Wu Tang is for the children.
Instrumental covers of Wu-Tang classic? Sign me up. Definitely not adult contempory. Put this on and cruise. El Michel Affair are a legit group with an album out, but if you missed their Wu-Tang 45s here is a chance to get to get 15 servings-including Shimmy,Shimmy Ya, Uzi(pinky ring) and classics like Bring da Ruckus and Criminology.
Truth and Soul is the label.

Old Wainds Death Nord Kult CD

Old Wainds
are not afraid of riffing in the vein of classic slayer while still
delivering some klassic kult black metal. Production is solid (not unlike the
newest Nachmystium and this disc shreds.
Not total overdrive like Marduk or Immortal, but still
this could be the first "black thrash" record that lives up to the genre's
potential. The breakdown on bloodstained is sick. Have slept on their
previous releases mainly due to being burned by too much sub par russian and slavic black metal(nokturnal mortum for example). This is described as glacial, nordic,and frezing, but it sounded pretty good blaring on my car stereo one a warm sunny day.
Supposedly their previous records are in the more demented black metal vein
which receive high praise from aquaruis, but this is a harsh, straight
forward punch in the face. This is harsh enough to satisfy the most
orthodox black metallion, but is produced well enough to survive outside
the basement cavern in which you subsist alone.
Moribund gets the pleasure of releasing this klassic.
not Old Wainds, but kult and klassic none the less

Odds and Ends

This looks like it was a fun race.
Cool new book about NE Cross.
New Spot.
Old meets new.

Unrelated to cycling but epic in its own way.

Fail

Hour plus drive. Hour warm up. Felt good. Broken spoke in the first mile. Epic fail. First warm sunny perfect day of the year.
Had good fish tacos in Dover and thanks to Disfear, I managed not to smash my car into anything. Also resisted temptation to stop at random tattoo shop and get FTW tatooed on my forehead.
There's always the next race.

Stinking Lizaveta Sacrifice and Bliss

This is the new cd by Stinking Lizavetta a band I had pigeonholed as a Dischord related jazz band from Philly. Then I moved on. The Dischord relation is tenous at best-a record released by Joe Lally and maybe some tours together. The jazz thing is a little more substantial but doesn't really hint at what you are getting here. They have also been putting out records since I pigeon holed them, and based on Sacrifice and Bliss, I am going to have to track the others down. This 10 song shredder is their sixth album on At a Loss Recordings There is a real SST Flag/Ginn vibe filtered through some riffing that reminds me of Left Insane of a more stoned Blast. But it is also done with more prog/fusion noodling. Somehow it works. Maybe a less ironic Fucking Champs? Simpy Saucer vs Black Flag vs Mahavishnu but as a 3 piece with no horns. But good.....
These people tour their asses off and this would be pretty sick to see live. Nice to see a band that is pretty self contained and self propelled. Play shows, put out records, repeat.
You also have to admire the sort of untamed oddness of the Papadopoulos brothers. They seem like they could be the house band at Bilenky's bike shop.

Battankill

I guess this isn't really upstate, but it was a different state of mind. We were too sketched out to stop and take a picture of the "foreigners go home sign". They guy probably meant us anyway.

Knowing when the climbs and dirt were coming was supposed to be helpful.... Failed attempt at pro style below. At least the rain didn't wash it all away.


My career as a cycling photog is pretty weak. A careful scan of the front row will reveal all the riders who got called up. No call up for Tim Johnson or Adam Myerson?

Sram support. Always rad.

I pretty much gave up on the photos and just tried to enjoy the day.
I don't think the world needs another race report on this, but two things bear mentioning.
First off, I owe a giant debt of gratitude to the anyonmous hero who gave
me a bottle of water on MeetingHouse Road. A real American hero.
Second hats off to the 50 or 60+ Masters crew that rolled across the line
arguing. You think cyclists get less cranky as they age? Imagine racing
against the same guys for that long?
It lived up to it's reputation. Hard but worth it. Would do it again, but next time I want to hit Paris-Ancaster in Ontario the next day. Double the fun.

Parting thought. This race is tough, but I think it compares more to the Tro Bro Leon more than Roubaix. I guess Tro Bro Battankill doesn't really roll off the tongue.
The Tro Bro this year was won by BBox Bouyges youngster Said Haddou.