Mr. Freeze

Winter is upon us and that means indoor riding, road trips, la belle province, more hockey, woodstove heat, and ski hill madness. This winter will hopefully be the best one yet. We have already done Woodward, which was great. A nice get away for a good price. Only thing that trip was missing was more time to recover and ride more. These trips indicate either one of two things for me; I am truly getting old and it's catching up ever so quickly, or I don't ride enough to be used to a bit of abuse. Here is some more randomness from the past 2 years. Le Taz has some great new ramps and the box jump finally works. Seriously, get ready for the best winter yet! Kijiji yourself until you have gear for every sport and activity possible.

Jorden gets dangerously close to my lens

hard drive randomness

Here is an assortment of random photos from the 'ol hard drive. I have to mention Papanack zoo. It's located near Plantaganet on highway 17. It's seriously the best zoo I have been to. They pride themselves on donations and animal rescues. The place is really inexpensive, never crowded and has the best animal lineup. At one point they had the only wolverine in captivity as far as I know. They had to put titanium fencing like 8ft underground, otherwise he could potentially escape. They seriously have it all. And they have a great daily itinerary for the animal feeding. DO go to this place. Don't be stupid. Get off your stupid phone or facebook for a few hours and go there next spring. Right after the snow melts, the animals are very lively as it is not too hot. The animals here are visible and well looked after. This place makes the Toronto Metropolitan zoo look like a war camp from WW2. PLUS, you don't have to walk 8km's to see all the great stuff. BEST ZOO around by far. Anyways, lots more on the hard drive to come. These were all shot with Canon 40D. Speaking World Wars, wear a poppy at least today. It's the least you can do for the freedom you have. Thanks vets; I wouldn't exist without you!

How close have you even been to a lion? Did you even see one at the Metropolitan zoo? Doubt it

Don't fuck with Chuck

Hallowe'en has come and gone. It was an awesome week as you can see from this first pic. I played a bunch of hockey that week. I organized a huge group for paintball. It turned out to be a lot more fun than imagined. Highly recommended. Check Chitaroni's facebook for some great photos of the action. Then we all got dressed up for the special occassion. Ben said it best "Hallowe'en should be twice a year." Then he fell asleep. Can't wait for next year. I'll probably find myself on kijiji this winter looking at paintball guns. One more toy to own eh?

Derek as Chuck Norris, with one serious fucking kick. Sweet chin music 

2011 Sudbury trip photos

Here is a small gathering of photos from 2 different trips. We mostly go to Sudbury to ride the amazing trails with our hard working friends there. Sudbury is a fun place to ride. The park is good, the street is great, and the trails are just amazing. I am very lucky to have such hard working and generous friends. Make sure you are welcome showing up riding someone else's trails. It's not a skatepark and it's not yours. Be kind.

Jorden lays a flattie over Kyle as he berms by

Craz-E-Crew Cheo spring show

Every year the Craz-E-Crew puts on shows at the Cheo Tour de Nortel or something rather. It's a really good cause for children's heath. Every year I seem to get invited to the local show and enjoy myself more and more. My brother in law raises a wad of cash and does a 40km ride every year or something cool like that. It means a lot to him as his daughter (my niece) had some serious cancer issues at a very, very young age and Cheo is a large part of her successful recovery. This year was the best one yet and I got to play with some of Little Ray's Reptiles. If you have never been to Ray's, it's very south on Bank street, just out of the city. It's not expensive and very worth your time as the place is full of awesome reptiles big and small, and even birds of prey. Take the afternoon and head out there before it gets too cold. You are pretty much an idiot if you choose to not go.

this american alligator lost part of her left front foot

Clicked; random

We are amidst an unbelievable indian summer RIGHT NOW. Check the photos and then get back to riding.

Chris has always had some of the best lookbacks

Brose Farm Dirt Jam 2011

So it went down and if you weren't there you should be bummed. I am sure Chitaroni will have have plenty more photos on facebook so you can be jealous. The weather held up and it turned out to be a perfect day of riding, followed by an old school country party with lots of non bmx'ers who know to get down. It was Josh Brose's 23rd birthday and he and his family know how to put on an event. They supplied us with food, kegs of beer, a DJ, cabins to sleep, and a really great party. I think everyone had a super time out there. His parents cheered us on while people took turns doing kegs stands. It was ridiculously fun. There was also lot of riders shredding. At one point I think we were close to 20 all riding. I didn't do much photo or video because I was having far too much a good time to get off my bike. I did for a few minutes and look at the results. This great riding was going on all day long! I am hung over, loving it, and hoping it will be an annual event. Enough said.

Big thanks to Josh and the Brose family!!!

Emile Otis is a micro human with super powers

Ben Kaufmann (i)

The usage of the letter "i" is optional at the end of Ben last name. Other optional variations are Kauffman, Coughman, or how our hockey league has it spelled; Kawf. Ben didn't even want to do this walltap because "I am shit footed and I am not good at them." No big deal it's only like 5ft back or so.

Friendly reminder to have your shit in order for the dirt jam. Don't forget your helmet and pads. Let's huck away! See you there!!!

Ben walltapping the best spot in Hull, QC, on his new Norco bike

NYC

So we went to New York City for a long weekend and it was great. Here are a few random shots thrown in until I can get my act together for a real update. If you go to New York, pay more and stay in Manhattan, the extra coin will be worth not dealing with transit! We checked out Pat's art exhibit "Smell the Blood" on Broadway. Pretty awesome that he has done that so early in his career. We know it's a sign of good things to come for Pat! Later.


Pat Kryzanowski's art exhibit on Broadway!



Craz-E-Crew show in Gatineau

I was able to catch up with the guys for the final show of the day at the Gatineau Balloon Festival. Everyone was shredding the ramps pre-show, but my bottom bracket shit the bed. A perfect time to pull the camera out. Shooting with a flash is sort of new for me and it's a fun challenge to get the photos the way you want, especially as the sun goes down quickly. You have to react and work with the camera's limitations (flash sync at a 1/200, etc). I was fairly happy with these and you can see from the first few photos when the sun really dropped. These were shot with the Opteka 6.5 fisheye and Canon 50mm. The Craz-E-Crew is always a good time and if you bring your bucket and capable of jumping there is a fair chance they'll let you session in between shows. I have been fortunate enough to travel with them in the past and really enjoy seeing the new and different up and comers join the team. Jumping is the shit.

Craz-E-Crew is just that. Never one to disapoint, Ben flips over Will. He isn't huge, but the flip certainly is