Slush: Ride baby, Ride!

So spring is in the air… well at least it is over here. I have my Langster Steel

And I am ready to go. Indeed though I am far from home, I still vividly recall my most favorite job ever, when I was a bicycle messenger back those many years ago. I still ride, but it is no longer my 9-5. Ahhh, so it is this time of year when it becomes what Primo and Guru call a “Daily Operation”. Yes, it is a fixie and yes, it is all the rage among hipsters. But, I really don’t groove on titles and labels. I don’t consider myself a “hipster” but that’s only because the term is used usually in a pejorative way and I am not to be maligned… But whatever the label, riding is fun! Get your bike and come out and ride!!! I have seen a lot of bike parties pop up in the last couple of years. I have been invited to one next month. I look forward to checking it out. Riders have always been really cool, chill folks so it should be fun (I’ll probably blog about it ).

Below is a clip to a movie I have heard about but never seen, “Empire [Begins]“. I guess it is this generation’s “Search for Animal Chin” if we can equate today’s (fixie) cycling with the 80s Skateboarding… maybe?
(yes, I skated my ass off in Brooklyn and all over NYC back then.. still a little now… anyway…)

Slush: Cuil Theory…

It never ceases to amaze me how creative people on the internet are. Here is this site I found about “Cuil Theory”. It was derived by the interesting characteristics of the results from one of the new search engines named Cuil. Anyway, I have to give these people credit for creativity and an A+ for execution. I wonder how the big dawgs at Cuil feel about this?
Here is the sight CuilTheory

Slush: Stolen…

Yes… I have been a victim of a crime. My beloved motorcycle was stolen last night from my parking spot in my apartment complex. I loved that bike… by they way, her name is Heidi. Seriously, what the heck is going on!? It would have been worth them stealing my bike if I could have been there with a baseball bat. I am pretty numb right now. I guess I should do some deep breathing and keep it moving. I have very little hope that it will be recovered or that if it even does that it will be in one piece. Oh well. If you happen to see a jet black 2006 Honda CBR 600 RR zooming buy with racing stickers on the lower left and right fairings, Sato rear sets, steal braided brake cables, Galfer wave rotors, Ohlins steering damper and Greg’s customs powder coated license plate holder… call the cops! Mean people really do suck!

Slush: Cyclepaths…

Ah yes… growing up in NYC was the best time in my life. My youth was filled with all the sights and sounds and magic of the city. From my uncle taking to me to underground clubs – to going to block parties groovin to DJs in the park – to fancy (and not so fancy) restaurants – to trips with my mom to museums, plays, parks, etc… and interacting with all the great people; New York still is and always will be my favorite place on earth. Growing up I was quite a precocious kid. I was also a very active kid, some would even say hyper. I guess, on the surface, I was a typical second generation Jamaican growing up in Flatbush Brooklyn.

I went to a special math and science magnate high school named Stuyvesant (#1 High School in NYC!!!). My fellow brainy schoolmates, with their eyes firmly fixed on the internship prize, were shocked when I turned down an internship at a lab at Columbia…. You see, I had other plans for my summer than being locked up in a lab being someone’s lab troll all for the sake of decorating my college application. So, between my freshman/sophomore, and sophomore/junior years I rode the streets of Manhattan as a bicycle messenger. [sigh] That job, still stands as my favorite job ever! You were outside and truly free! Cab drivers were your nemesis and it seemed like every day they’d try to take you out on purpose. You surfed through the city cutting through traffic like a hot knife through butter. I would marvel at the older pros that transformed riding into a real art. I learned a lot about riding from them but more than that they gave me an basic philosophy of life that is a strong part of who I am now. You had to think fast, you had to be fluid, you had to just flow through the concrete canyons; “Be the water”. It was spritual and liberating… and, yeah, you got the chance to flirt with lots of beautiful women, especially receptionists (though they never took my 15/16 year old self seriously). I swear, the women in NYC are among the most beautiful in the world, and the receptionists have always been a little above and beyond the call of duty. I had so much fun those summers. I rode hard and saved my money from the first summer enough to buy my beloved turntables and mixer and carver amp (from Canal St. of course). I still have those turntables to this day (Technics 1210s – they’re indestructible)! As the future would have it I was none the worse for the wear, in fact I would bet that I got more out of my summers, in terms of living and future rewards, than doing an internship that I’d have probably forgotten about by now.

I was trolling around the web and I saw this YouTube video and it took me right back to those days and inspired me to write this entry. Ahhhh…. Man, I was just as crazy as these guys. Thanks whoever you are for capturing this so well and putting me in such a *perfect* mental place. Enjoy… and the music is pretty cool too. If you know who the music group is lemme know, I am always looking for good tunes!

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