just riding along

Jacarandas.

Wed, 22 May 2013 09:39:11 -0700

Jacarandas.

Sharrows. #bicyclingcommute @bicyclingmag

Thu, 16 May 2013 20:34:51 -0700

Sharrows. #bicyclingcommute @bicyclingmag

Most days, I ride to work across a massive urban sprawl, from...

Thu, 16 May 2013 11:16:24 -0700

Most days, I ride to work across a massive urban sprawl, from one corner of Los Angeles to the other. I make the 33 mile journey each way, with the aid of public transportation (train), in less time than it takes by car. While so many people only see the back of the car in front of them, I get to see the city in such a unique way; by bicycle. This photo is from one of my favorite spots; Aviation Boulevard, as it passes under the flight path of LAX, only a few hundred yards from the edge of the runaway. The first time I rode through here and a plane was passing, I ducked. #bicyclingcommute @bicyclingmag (PS- there was no zoom used in this photo, the planes are that close)

Inspired by a mid-century jazz album cover. Original Photo...

Sun, 12 May 2013 18:52:41 -0700

Inspired by a mid-century jazz album cover.

Original Photo credit: Kira E Theesfeld / Abigail Thomas Photography

At the beginning of this road, we hit the edge of the pavement, it begins to crackle under our...

Thu, 09 May 2013 10:15:00 -0700

At the beginning of this road, we hit the edge of the pavement, it begins to crackle under our tires, the ping of rocks being pinched by rubber and air pressure. With a symphony of shifts, the pace picks up, just a bit. Taylor and I split a slower rider; he goes right, I go left. We converge on the good line, passing more riders, riding the way that we ride. Somewhere in the middle of that road, we pass a gentleman on a 20 year old Cannondale mountain bike, who we’d remark later was moving quite well, but was surely wondering why he just got passed by a hundred road bikes on a gravel road. At the end of that road, everyone we had just passed, and then some, pass us as we stop to eat pickles.

Photo

Sun, 05 May 2013 05:01:40 -0700

I found this fragment in my phone. I stopped, somewhere out of the mountains, and pecked it into a...

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 14:36:03 -0700

I found this fragment in my phone. I stopped, somewhere out of the mountains, and pecked it into a note, then forgot about it.

The air is thick with the smell of… well shit, I don’t know. Mountains. Forest. If this were a Rapha skin product, it would break down all the specific flora comprising the aroma that fills my nose and lungs. Just smells like a forest and mountains to me. I’m rocking, spinning slower than normal, putting in less than normal, watching my heart rate teeter. I’m not supposed to be going this hard, this far, this high. I’m going less hard, less far, less high than I normally would. I am faster, and it is easier. I could be faster yet; that wouldn’t be any easier. The rhythm of Joy Division in my ear makes keeping a rhythm easy. I watch the guy in front of me stay one or two curves ahead. I don’t need to catch him. I only need to ride until 2 hours and 30 minutes flashes on my Garmin and then turn around. 5 hours total. I am awaken from my rhythm by a gnat. Damn things love my face. Maybe it is the same one that always follows me, always in my face, always being assaulted by a poof of breath, forced up by manipulated lips, up past my nose.

More shadows. #campy #campagnolohoods #campagnolo

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 10:57:21 -0700

More shadows. #campy #campagnolohoods #campagnolo

We are for that.

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 10:57:22 -0700

We are for that.

For most of my childhood, our backyard was (way) foul territory of a baseball diamond, with a little...

Sat, 06 Apr 2013 17:20:00 -0700

For most of my childhood, our backyard was (way) foul territory of a baseball diamond, with a little set of bleachers and permanent concession stand. On any given Saturday or Sunday, for the whole summer, I’d look out my bedroom window; looking for the tell-tale smoke coming from the chimney above the grill, full of the hot dogs and bratwurst that made a baseball game a baseball game. I’d run over, checking the scoreboard for the inning and start my search for the man who was easy enough to find if you knew to start at his usual seat; first or second row of the bleachers, last seat on the first base end. If he wasn’t there, you could follow the scent of his cigar, or sight of his cigar smoke. While today I recall him being the oldest man alive, he was probably as old then as I am today. The deal was simple: $0.25 for a foul ball, $0.50 for a home run ball (home run territory was a much more treacherous for retrieval). We would wait at the corner of the park behind home plate, ready to pounce towards any ball brave enough to leave the park. When too many kids were chasing down the left field side, I would sometimes scream, “That’s my yard! Stay out of my yard!” One day, I got smart and learned how to ride on two wheels and that day I feasted on as many hot dogs and candy as $1.25 would buy.

-when I was asked for a bio, for my Muur page, I wrote what you see there now. I immediately panicked that it didn’t make any sense, in its not making sense. So I wrote a backup, a more traditional piece, about a time in my life when bikes weren’t everything, when nothing was everything, except everything.

Kwaremont, No. 3.

Sun, 31 Mar 2013 10:20:36 -0700

Kwaremont, No. 3.

#rvv

Sun, 31 Mar 2013 03:35:35 -0700

#rvv

Years of making sandwiches with a wrench, got my very own...

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 10:22:00 -0700

Years of making sandwiches with a wrench, got my very own signature shirt from @freebirdvelo. Thanks Jenny!

kapelmuurindependent: Newly old stock: 2013 Kapelmuur...

Sat, 23 Mar 2013 14:08:42 -0700

kapelmuurindependent:

Newly old stock: 2013 Kapelmuur Independent T, an homage to the fabled 1973 team, Kapeletti Racing. Available for pre-order until Sunday at www.freebirdvelo.com

Please support my club, and a great artist (Freebird Velo). Buy a shirt. Pre-order ends Sunday, March 24th.

Shadow. #campy #campagnolo #campagnolohoods

Sun, 17 Mar 2013 10:22:00 -0700

Shadow. #campy #campagnolo #campagnolohoods

I am an agonist.

Sat, 09 Mar 2013 15:37:00 -0800

Some might say that the postcard was cryptic, but I understood.

What I had always believed to simply be some self-deprecating humor, regarding the company one keeps, turned out to be a resignation from the Friars Club of Beverly Hills.

That would do me no good for my response. I wanted no confusion that I was accepting the invitation to join Kapelmuur Independent.

Fiction.

Sun, 03 Mar 2013 13:54:00 -0800

On the morning of October 25th, 1972, Eddy Merckx arrived at the track in Mexico City, only to learn that the start of his hour record attempt would be delayed due to a problem with the track. Knowing that he only had about one shot at this, and knowing his body like he did, he knew that he needed something in his stomach to get him through the next however long this repair took, before he would dig deep for exactly 3,600 seconds. He asked a mechanic, in broken Spanish, for a peanut butter sandwich, and hurry. The mechanic knew finding a piece of bread would be unlikely, so he pulled a warm flour tortilla from his own bag lunch. He then grabbed the only thing he could find, the same wrench that was just used to install the wheels on the orange beast that is now on display at a train stop in Belgium, to spread the peanut butter. Eddy would eat that peanut butter quesadilla, and break the hour record less than two hours later. Some would say that the wrench saved the day, and the record belongs as much to the wrench, as it does to Mr. Merckx.

Title. (at Cinefamily)

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 22:29:00 -0800

Title. (at Cinefamily)

Contributed some words and photos to the new magazine, Bunyan...

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 09:45:00 -0800

Contributed some words and photos to the new magazine, Bunyan Velo, which officially published last week. Very excited to be part of their Issue No. 01.

Photo

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 18:44:12 -0800