MONSTER TRACK WEEKEND!!!!

picture by Blake Man, I am beat. Exhausted. Windburnt... What a weekend. Seriously. This is why NYC rocks. A week ago, Carlos and Squid "canceled" Monstertrack via teh internetz. Kids from all over's hopes were crushed while the organizers scrambled to recover the energy and organize a "word of mouth" race. Friday was Goldsprints. I've never done this before and was quite intimidated by the whole ordeal. You're essentially on a stage with a huge projection screen behind you. There are two of you, two bikes, two rollers and your forks are locked into a bracket. The organizer yells "GO!" and you spin your ass off for 250 meters. About 250 people or so showed up, 75 raced and it was a 5 hour event. I went 5th and got a 16.53, which held onto the 4th place for most the night. Then a few dudes came in and resorted the boards, bumping me down to 6th which is where I stayed. It came down to Pablo and Chaz from Portland. Chaz beat Pablo in round 2. The next day was the side events. Sprints, long skids, trackstands and freestyle. The main race followed afterwards and we all met up at Rockstar Bar for the Awards. Sunday was Velocity where Messengers, City Riders, New Jacks and Seasoned Track Riders were pitted [heh] against each other in 20mph headwinds and 30 degree temps. Ultimately, at the end of the weekend, the "Dart" guys did pretty well: Wilis got 4th in Monstertrack. It was his first NYC Alleycat and his first time racing MT. I held 6th at Goldsprints Tony won the freestyle events Luke won a few of the track events and ultimately finished 2nd overall I got 2nd in my first track race

Pre-Monstertrack Peel Sessions

Jose Martinez has upped some pics from the Pre-Monstertrack Peel Sessions. Good times! Thanks Jose! More here, on my Flickr. Click on the images to view them larger! See you guys at Goldsprints tonight.

Monstertrack DVD Available Friday!

Video's here!

Monstertrack Weekend - UPDATE! Rain INFO!

So everyone knows by now that Monstertrack has been canceled. Well, the race itself has been canceled, the side events are still on. That being said, this weekend will be epic on all counts. Here's the breakdown:

Friday March 7, 8PM Goldsprints at Third Ward 195 Morgan Ave. Brooklyn

Saturday March 8, 1PM Hosted by King Kog Meet at Rockstar Bar- South 5th St. at Kent Ave. Brooklyn Group ride to Meeker/Union under the BQE (Covered area- RAIN!) SPRINTS, Skids, Freestyle, Stands, Footdown! Fun! Awards and Afterparty at Rockstar Bar!!

Sunday March 9, 12PM Velo City Track Competition at Kissena Velodrome Booth Memorial Ave near Kissena Blvd. Queens

Trent does it again...

Nine Inch Nail's foreman Trent Reznor has released a new album... online, for free. Well, for free you get 9 tracks. For $5 you get 36 tracks.... Read his release below: "Nine Inch Nails presents Ghosts I - IV, a brand new 36 track instrumental collection available right now. Almost two hours of new music composed and recorded over an intense ten week period last fall, Ghosts I - IV sprawls Nine Inch Nails across a variety of new terrain.

"Trent Reznor explains, "I've been considering and wanting to make this kind of record for years, but by its very nature it wouldn't have made sense until this point. This collection of music is the result of working from a very visual perspective - dressing imagined locations and scenarios with sound and texture; a soundtrack for daydreams. I'm very pleased with the result and the ability to present it directly to you without interference. I hope you enjoy the first four volumes of Ghosts."

$75 gets you this deluxe edition. and $300 gets you the deluxe edition + vinyl! He's also using a Creative Commons License.

Massive Air + Gap = Huge pinch flat

Massive Air + Gap = Huge pinch flat Originally uploaded by John Prolly

Philly was a blast this weekend. Got some sick video and it was great to ride with the guys... No one threatened to shoot us this time either!

Monster Track Main Event Cancellation

Saturday March 1st, 2008 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE The organizers of Monster Track 2008 have decided, after careful consideration, to cancel this year’s main race. This decision did not come easy and was debated at length. Our reasons are many but the overall factor was that the race has become unmanageable due to the large participation and our concern for the participant’s safety. As many of you know, Monster Track started as a race held for a small, close group of NYC bike messengers. It has now become an overwhelmingly all-inclusive event. This, on its face, may seem like a positive direction for a race but in the context of a solely track bike alleycat it brings many problems. First and foremost, the safety of the racers is compromised. We believe that this is not a tenable position for race organizers. Although the main race is canceled, please join us for Gold Sprints on Friday evening, Fixed Gear Competition (track stands, skids, footdown, freestyle, sprints, etc.) on Saturday and the Velo City Tour, at Kissena Velodrome on Sunday. Schedule of Events: Friday March 7, 8PM Goldsprints at Third Ward 195 Morgan Ave. Brooklyn Saturday March 8, 1PM Fixed Gear Comp and injured messenger fundraiser at Rocky’s South 5th St. at Kent Ave. Brooklyn Sunday March 9, 12PM Velo City Track Competition at Kissena Velodrome Booth Memorial Ave near Kissena Blvd. Queens