Dig

J*DaVeY "Outta the Window" from JackBrookSOCKETUMi on Vimeo.

mandentory nap time??
whaaaat did I do?

time for some cycling NEWS!
This actually a couple of months old, but I found a wonderful sponsor this year in McGuire Real Estate, stemming strait from owner Charles Moore. Charles (Charlie) Moore is a huge fan of all cycling and supports my racing purely out love for the sport and his desire to see me succeed and be involved in the journey. For now the arrangemnet only pertains to 2010, but a continued program for years to come looks hopful.
Check the short video we put together a while back... short and simple!

I thought..
I had my tummy back on deck this weekend... not so much. I'm not sure whats really wrong in there, I just wish it would right itself. At any rate it's not fun and it's slowing me way down. But at least I still look good jailbreak titty and all..... :)

Dis ih real real good.

I've Always
had an attraction to made up astetics.
And I never asume my points of reference around compatibility and integration are always translatable.
So if you're within blast radius and get one eyebrow rising, give me some credit.
Because while I've hardly broken an origional bead of sweat... I got a lot on deck.
Uninterupted I might even make sense.

.easy

I said I was finnah post everyday... I lied:)
But I have a good excuse. I been ill.. even tossed my cookies on the last lap of the Carrera San Rafael on Saturday.
Not that my tummy is entirely to blame for my loss of focus. As Slug says "I'm fascinated by little and distracted by much." What I put down here I would more or less claim as fascinations, mild ones from time to time but still bright and shiny in my eyes. For me these things don't always pop up everywhere, I have to go treasure hunting..
I will make no promises.. just that the magpie in me is alive and well:)

I'M BACK. Went underground for a little while there to survive, but I'm up and running again. Check back in tomorrow for a recap update of the past two months.
Meanwhile... peek the picture of my first win in 2010 below! Cheers.

10 points for Bukowski

"Chasing the cool"
As Bob Dylan says in one of his songs, "when you think you've lost everything, you find out you can always lose a little more."
I havn't lost everything, but I've lost a lot. I don't have the cash to pay my site dues, so sometime next week SterlingMagnell.com might go offline for a little while. I broke a part on my bike a few days ago and I can't ride it till I replace it. So, as for the past few weeks since my last race in Merced, I've been working on this house of ours with my father. We're both going through tough times, and every time something new goes wrong, even something little, it just kills the soul a little bit more. I'm not giving in, he's not giving in either. It's just a little harder to smile right now. I think of it in terms of a slow death. As Sage Francis says in a song, "It's a tangible death and I can almost handle it." Now when and if I pull myself up outa this hole like the character in Lupe' Fiasco's "The Cool" I'm going to look back on all this as my past life. I feel the line approaching. And I'm feeling ready for the next chapter.

Torture

Life
as you know it. Is over. Real as it may seem, every breath you take is a small death, and nothing, not even you, will ever be same.

Making Of Nuit Blanche from Spy Films on Vimeo.

So to touch up on the races last weekend in Merced. Didn't go great but I had really good sensations and am super pleased with the progress in my form. I got 9th in the crit, was in the position to go better but I'm still missing some of the top end it takes to feture in a big sprint. The road race was really good, felt at ease all day even though it was 120 miles and I havn't done a race that long in quite a while. Again was in good postion but had to stop in order to avoid a big crash heading into the final 1K so no result there. It was super good to get out and come home knowing that I'm on the right track.

Muse.
This be Erik Hassle, a Swedish pop singer. He's got it going on... dig it.

Alright. As promised. The short version of this story is this: My Dad and I live in a big old victorian house in the historical district of Olive Park. We've had the house for around 3 years after Pops decided to buy the place and restor it to glory. Here's the fun part, before we took over it was a well know drug house and a hub for all kinds of shenadigans, at one point there were 50 people living in it. The house was a wreck, about to fall over, sagging floors, crumbling foundation, the works. Luckily Pops know's his shit. He BUILT the hillside house I was born in nearly 27 years ago when he was in his 20's. Since then he's learned a thing or two extra as you can imagine, so he's obviously well equiped to fix this place up right? right. There's a million things that have been done and the house is coming along nicely... but I'll keep it sweet and just fill you in on the one that has me camping out in the garage this week. In order to keep the house from falling over and prepare to redo the foundation, we had to level the house out by jacking it up in places using steel support poles where needed. Something most people wouldn't have a clue how to do, but Pops handled it and it's been steller while we get the new foundation ready to put in. Problem is, the city of Santa Rosa's code enforcer, who I'll call "inspector persnickity" decided he doesn't like our methods and "red tagged" our house last Friday. Now when we talked to this sorry mutherfucker after the fact, he SAID that we were okay to stay and we just needed to get him a set of engineer stamped and approved plans for a foundation after the weekend. So we go about our business after setting up another meeting for Monday. I went bike racing over the weekend, which I'll fill you in on later, and 30 minutes after returning home got dragged out onto the lawn by the police saying we can't be inside!
Okay that was long... sorry. I'm not sure how to simplify it though without it sounding aweful.
So here I am, camped out in the garage, which Pops built next the the house, untill we get our new foundation in place. I'm actually kind of enjoying it. It's a nice little adventure and actually a thought inspiring environment. I've lived through a lot of weird crazy situations in my short life that I wish I could tell you the stories of, but that would take too long. What I can tell you is this: It's impossible to live the life I've lived through and avoid becoming an artist, if nothing more, it is a shear result of survival. There's never been a dull moment, and I love that.

I've had my mind on my kite and my kite on my mind. One day soon I'll have a kite for you to fly too.
Sorry for my absence. My internet was down for a bit, then I was busy racing in Merced all weekend (sans laptop) and then the police kicked me outa my own house 30min after I got home. Right now I'm sleeping in the garage. I'll try to fill ya'll in a lil' more soon. Untill then, you should say a prayer for me, my high seat, my high handlebars and my whip in the yard growing old with the weeds cuz this shit is getting old just like me.

I really enjoyed this. The music, the presentation, the sober tone... all of it. (And the fashion ain't bad either;)

I firmly believe that sexuality has the right to stand on it's own two feet.

In Bed with BAnanas Models from Guapo Magazine on Vimeo.

This shit is getting ridiculous...
I've had my track bike street set-up for years serving as my "other car" and fun times, even did my stint as a messenger in DTLA for a few months. So my skill set just involves what it takes to get through the city the quickest, lotsa drifts, curb hopping and maybe the occasional wheelie! Ultimately I'm still partial to a slicker form of "fixie" with a regular track setup, drop bars and all, but this other "cmx" stuff is pretty impressive.

Chris Akrigg THE MAURICE.0 from chris akrigg on Vimeo.

Took my little point & shoot with my on my ride today.. since it shoots video I decided to give that a try. I'm not a genius at it or anything but It's a easy way for me to bring you a closer look at things. And it's free... I can't lose right?
Oh yeah, Paul Brown and my Pops (Paul being a long standing mad scientist of a bike mechanic) took a hammer and some vice grips to a bent up crankset I had laying around, so I've been riding on that! Beggers can't be choosers. I'm just happy to be back in business:)

What do you do when you can't ride and have no money? kick it in some good looking charitable company;)

Another tough day. Great training in and out of sunshine mixed with rain. Felt kinda like I was riding around on a movie set.. except for the rainbows.
I always manage to inspire a little abuse from passers by while riding.. but today? I got the motherload of angry genius behind the wheel. But hell I can empathize, comprehension comes in all shapes and sizes. Any of those insults or honking horns had the pontential of being aimed at making the world a better place.
After that, towards the end of my ride my crank broke.
And I couldn't figure it out for the longest time...
It was so odd and confusing while it was falling apart, that I'd pretty much lost my mind by the time my pedal finally tore out of it.
Riding the rest of the way home with one leg.. sums things up perfectly.
/Users/magnut/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Originals/2010/Roll 4025/sugababes_-_about_a_girl.png (from mid-cavedale)

Slick.
This agrees with me:):) Talk about poppin your collar!

Feelin a little under the gun today. Took a trip to the fedral building to sort out my taxes, which gave me a cherry hedache. Then ran into some roadblocks that will continue to make my early season extra stressful.
But regardless! Still felt ultra nice on my ride, good and rested. Then washed away the days frustrations with a little gym time.
Tomorrow I head to Aria Velo for a little check-in session with Rand Libberton to go over the changes in my position that have revolutionized the way I ride. I'll report back here with the aftermath. But for now.. delve into this more lighthearted Mayer Hawthorne video;).

I'm sippin' two buck chuck jammin to morcheeba with my feet up. It's raining outside and I've earned my rest day:)
Put in probably the best week of training I've had all winter and feeling very pleased with my progress.
I've been in my zone riding in the latter part of the day, alone, usually with music, just how I like it. I'm not sure why but it's defintely my style, my solace, my niche... all a that, and I love love love it. Winter and spring are a little chilly in Sonoma county, sometimes grey and dismal... I mean it ain't LA, but most of the time it's an amazing beautiful, serene environment to be out in. I have to resist the urge to stop and take pictures a lot. Every now and then I do stop, but my iPhone isn't exactly doing the sights proper justice. Might have to start riding with a real camera... At any rate, yesturday was wonderful, kicked out a nice loop over to Calistoga, up Alexander Valley and back. It was supposed to rain but I got patchy coulds and this golden crust of a sunset instead. Combined it covered wine country in a dark blue hush on it's way into evening. Fucking lovely.

Laters homie. A sad example of a brilliant person taking an early curtain call.

Solid high quality 4 hours today.. felt like 4 hours should: A good push around county but not that long. My form is coming! I'm getting used to some big changes on the bike and doing it right by taking my time and listening to my body. I'll go into more depth in a few days!

I'm startin this over.
Things have gone so differently than I expected over the last year, it's amazing. I learned a lotta stuff I NEEDED to learn regarding my cycling career and I grew up a little too, or maybe even a lot, how can I tell?
I've also found and had many things going through my mind from all across the board that I've been throwing bits and pieces of up on facebook but... shouldn't it be here where I can go for full effect? say yes.
So I'm gonna keep it short & sweet, maybe even as much as daily.

Let's start with this, a short flim add for a fashion line. I'm in love with this format and hope to make some films of my own.
I recommend you click on the full screen action;)

Tony Ward for ODYN VOVK AW-2010 from ODYN VOVK on Vimeo.