more maine

was up in maine for a few days-rest, relaxation, and riding.






only thing missing was some other dudes to ride farther with.....next time

"war-weary nation"

This photo puts a lot of things in perspective.
From this Memorial Day photo series.

epics in minutes

Epic rides in Maine are easy to put together. And when your fitness is questionable, epic rides can even be short.
Here is how to make even a short ride EPIC.
You need a dirt road and preferably a dirt climb

Now that is a good start, but epic? Just one dirt climb with no support vehicle or photographer? Not going to cut it, but what if.....

Black and White! That has to up the epic factor, but even still there has to be something more you could do. It was dry and hot-so no epic weather. You had no mechanicals, no issues(except for getting chased by a poodle which is definitely not epic). There has to be something to make this photo more epic...

Sepia Tone! That is the ticket (maybe Hipstamatic, but I aint got it) Sepia tone, the same shade as the photos of this road taken in 1910-and it is still a dirt road. Bamn! Now that is how to make it epic.
Thanks Sepia Tone!

OFF! take a stab at compared to what

There are too many things I collect (or accumulate or hoard....) Records-obviously, vans, records with vans on the cover, and records featuring covers of the song "compared to what". Leave it to OFF! to combine all of these oddities into one 7" record. Never mind the fact that you could get the single with 2 different covers on 2 different colors of vinyl! I was definitely curious about how a band whose entire recorded output was only twice as long as the average length of the song "compared to what" would approach this funky classic

So here is an example of what Compared to What usually sounds like

OFF! make the song their own and if you didn't know the lyrics to the original, I don't think you would realize it is a cover. Sounds like OFF!
A good OFF! single, but not a crucial cover of one of my favorite songs.

cheating

Living in the heart of Mad Alchemy country it seems like cheating to try other embro, but it is hard not to stray....
Like micro-brewers, embro makers are springing up all over the place. And no one drinks just one kind of beer, right?
Northwest Knee Warmers I liked the tin can. I liked the name. So before I could regret it, I ordered some Aren-Burn.


site here
Packaging is very cool. It looks good. Smells good. With time running out on the warm embro season, I took a relatively overcast and chilly day to test it out. Slapped it on and rolled out for about 3 hours. This is pretty subtle for something called Aren-burn. Did the job and cleaned up with no reactivation post ride, but I was hoping for a little more fire. Anyway cool company, check it out.
As far as hoping for more of a burn...The weather did me a favor by remaining chilly and overcast. Rain storms threatened for the morning ride. So I decided to go old school and break out an embro I hadn't used in a while. Freddy's Choice. Freddy who? Freddy Viaene. Belgian of course. Maybe his work as a soignuer for Lance and Floyd hurt his business as an embro maker cause I don't see this stuff around much anymore

Sportsbalm was the manufacturer. It goes on a lot more liquid than say Mad Alchemy. Shine is pretty good. I remembered this stuff being good in the wet so I slapped it on and rolled out. Too me this is a classic Belgian embro. Over a 2 hour ride, it kept the heat level high. Rain held off, but I was reminded of it's reaction to water when I was showering. Any moisture is a reason for this stuff to reactivate to a pretty nuclear level. My legs are still a little hot a few hours after. The liquid aspect of this embro is way more like naplam than suntan lotion. So beware. Good embro to have for wet days, but I feel like once this bottle is gone, I won't be seeing it again.
So there you go, 2 times in the last month I have cheated on Mad Alchemy.

Underdog and a trip down memory lane

The Underdog 7" was one of my favorite records back in 87. Got it in the mail. it was so good I mail ordered every record New Beginning put out. Even took it to college. And that is were things went wrong. There was some random NJ skinhead that wanted to be friends with the skaters. He loved all the lunkhead NYHC stuff and he loaned me the Warzone 7" and the Sick of it All 7" too. For whatever reason, he didn't have this so he borrowed it. But he never seemed ready to return it. Til finally he admitted that he broke it one night when he was drunk. Don't know if he threw it or stepped on it or what, but when I got it back, it had a big chunk missing out of it. I liked the record so much, I still kept it. After about 20 years, I sold the cover on Ebay and exorcised that demon of a bad memory.
This dude was the primary reason I never liked skinheads or New Jersey.

Appreciate the Boston cover in the video, if you didn't make it that far.

craftsman needs an under the sink tool kit

had to clean out the tools under the sink. to the left are the keepers that will return(minus a hammer and pipe wrench) to the left are the excess screwdrivers....
do they multiply on their own? and I don't think the random excess tool bucket in the man cave needed anymore screwdrivers. this is worse than the plethora of orphaned,adopted, and or lost and found allen wrenches that turn up everywhere......