Summer in the City
Things have been quiet here at muffinandpedal but we haven’t been slacking. Like squirrels we have been foraging and collecting tantalizing tidbits into storage for those really slow months when getting out on the bike is all but painful in the cold. It also doesn’t help that it’s summer which means lotsa beer, more time riding than blogging and of course the compulsory summer vacations! Here’s a small collection of rad times so far this summer:
One day whilst applying for jobs I mysteriously found myself on my bike and behind the lands (beer at hand). It feels like ages ago now but only a few weeks ago really. I was out with Zach Rampen, Duke and Barret from the Ghetto Mansion. It was a scorcher and this bowl is deadly so what better way to enjoy it than to have a deadly 1-Foot Cancan shralp across the Rasta tiles.
Another common feature of Summer in Vancouver is the immigration of new folk to our fair shores. Colin Peter Fried has made the pilgrimage here to attend UBC for his tudies in Law if I’m not mistaken. I first met Colin during a roadtrip out east to Kelowna going as far as Nelson, he did some pretty jaw dropping ‘Burns’ish stuff(click the highlights to see the webvids of Colin putting in work). Colin is a pure street shredder, never happy till he feels like he’s pulled his moves just right. Colin has high standards so I hope he doesn’t mind me putting up this pic of his turndown despite that he wasn’t happy with the extent of the ‘tweekage’ on it.
Colin is probably the first rider I’ve met whose studying Law, lucky for him street riding aint a crime in Vancouver or he’d be in a conflict of interest or something like that. Colin doing his homework here and clicking another Turndown to appropriate tweekage.
For me summer involves riding around the city a whole lot, people watching, bike perving and getting lubricated (with beer that is). Another staple is going to Hastings skatepark for early morning shreds. I spotted this beauty on my way to one of these morning sessions outside the nearby coffee shop ‘The Laughing Bean’. They have great coffee there and often there’s a few interesting bikes around but this home made engine translant on an old cruiser bike is something else, can you imagine getting round the seawall on that thing, sweet chaos!
If you ever make it out to an early morning session you might get to witness this guy blasting around. Big John Tabling the back quarter good and proper!
There was a time where you would see John pedal fast as f$%# at this spine, blast 5 feet out either land nose in or case so hard his wheel exploded. More refined these days but with all the same enthusiasm he casually addresses his trouser leg and folds his arms in satisfaction, aka 1-Foot X-up.
