Juancho Won't Go

Yet another blurry picture from the evidence bin.

Jauncho threw himself on the ground and refused to move. I didn't let him watch Sponge Bob for a week.

Let that be a lesson to ya Mister!

w.b.

I'm Lame

You probabaly should stop reading this right now. It's going to be LAME! Lame I tell you!

I am a moody s.o.b.. In random mode, my ipod gave me Jackson Brown's "Late for the Sky". It's kind of foggy and gray this morning, the vibe was in effect.

Kenny Suarez was the drummer from Four In Legion when I moved to Tallahassee. He played with Gary Wright, Iron Butterfly and a long list of Jazz artists. He is one of the best drummers I have ever seen. His influence on me was profound. He called me last night after a ten year silience. He emailed me pictures of all that his life has become. I started sorting through pictures to send him, and as Jackson Brown dropped the lyrics, I reviewed the last decade. Pictures of a bike trip's to Dauset, San Felasco, and some of us being idiots here in town. My kids in Jacksonville on their first surf trip. Socialburn in a New York limo, and on a tour bus with Seether. The boys from Radio Bikini at the old Cab Stand. My wife and I have been together nineteen years this month. I have two cool kids. I have had a great life so far.

You know all this is just a b.s. excuse to put another cool picture of me on the header. This is a shot of me playing with socialburn at the Bay Civic Center two years ago. It was their last gig, they had just fired the drummer and asked me to fill in. I felt like a "Make a Wish" kid. We opened for R.E.O. Speedwagon (I know). There was about fifteen hundred people there when we played. I hadn't been on stage in eight years. I am feeling like I got more than my share today. I have always believed in taking a big slice, and I advize you to do the same!

W.B.Z.N.

Red Faded Into Blue

I was always fascinated by what made surfboards work. By the time I was twenty years old, I thought I had a handle on how my boards should be shaped. I used to go up to Melbourne, to the M.T.B. factory, and get boards for the shop where I worked. One of the shapers, was Robert Strickland. I mentioned to him that my last board wasn't working. I began to dazzle him with hydrodynamic nomenclature, he held up his hand.

"D'chew check the surf?" He asked.

"Ya, it's chest high, kinda side shore." Says I.

"Let's Go." He said.

We paddled out at some crappy beach break. I was nervous. Robert watched me and he took very few waves. He told me to come back next week.

Most shaping rooms were a disaster, empty resin, paint, hardener cans, masking tape in bundled balls. The floors were ankle deep in foam dust. They all had random pictures of boards, surfers, nude women and waves, not Roberts. It looked more like a surgical room. He had a vacuum hose hooked to his planing tools, that removed all the dust. There wasn't a thing out of place. It was as though nothing had ever been shaped there.

"You sit there." He said in a quiet commanding way, pointing to a stool in the corner.

It usually took a good shaper a few days to shape a board. He used a template for the nose and tail. The rest of the measurements he made by hand, as he dragged a metal ruler down the length of the blank. He began to plane the foam in slow methodical movements so confident and deliberate, I knew I was in the presence of greatness. He would occasionally pause, hold the blank up by the nose with a finger, and look down it's length. An hour or so later, the board was completed.

The board was magic, it was airbrushed, red faded into blue. You never forget the great ones, even after you lose them.

I went back to Melbourne to look for him and get another one of his boards. I asked a shop guy where Robert was shaping and he told me he had died in a kayaking accident.

On January 18th, a company that makes eco friendly surfboard blanks, sponsored a shape off to honor Robert. The shapers had two hours to duplicate one of his boards. Greg Noll, a big wave surfing and shaping legend, was the emcee. The winning board was put in the Cocoa Beach Surfing Museum.

W.B.Z.N.

Is it me?

I have always tried to abide by the rules (most of the time). I yeild to horses, hikers and I have tried not to yell at people with dogs off leashes. All of this is part of my plan to leave a smaller jerk footprint.

I have worked on Cadillac re-routes twice in the last five years. I attended city council meetings for Tom Brown, and the first Fat of the Land meeting, (sorry I missed the last one, I have a note from a doctor). I am not the most active guy in the community, but I put in an effort.

I have been trying to drink the kool aid with everyone else, that Cadillac is better now. I do think that some of it is good. I was really hoping for more. There was talk of rocks being brought in, Whistler trail features, and I worried if I'd be able to ride some of the stuff.

Thursday, I saw a stroller on the trail. Friday it was a older woman on a cruiser (not that there is anything wrong with that). Saturday a family of six was standing in one of the fastest sections. I am not sure you would see that at Santos or Oak Mountain. People that go there know they are mountain bike trails and that some parts are tough to navigate.

I am thankful for our trails and the people doing all the hard work to keep them new, fresh and open to cyclists. I am also disappointed that the trail was "mainstreamed" for a wider group of people to use, when there is so much mulit use trail out there.

W.B.Z.N.

El Sunzal

My Brothers and I surfed this place for ten days. This shot gives you a little better of idea of the line up and paddle. Looks like a real good six foot and hollow day. This place is considered a good "Beginner" spot.

I read about La Liberdad in "Searching for Captain Zero" by Allan Weisbecker. I saw pictures of it in Surfer Magazine but, they never named the spot. It took some googling but we found it.

The best Salvadorian surfer is a local named, Jimmy Rotherham. He was mentioned in the book as well. The week we were there, he was on the cover of Surfing Magazine. We met him and gave him our copy, as he hadn't seen it yet. He was a really nice guy. Kelly Slater (multi world title surfer) called him "one of the best surfers he had ever seen."

I got food poisoning the third day and ate one power bar a day for four days. I was able to surf, but I was not a happy gringo.

We had an epic time.

My brother Dennis broke his collar bone Friday, skiing. I am thinking of you bro, feel better, lets plan a trip!

W.B.Z.N.

Red Dragon Dammit!

Credit is due where credit is due. Bike Chain wheelie dropped the end of Cadillac today. Which was cool but, the ensuing adrenaline dump, and the super hero powers he had for the next hour were priceless.

So here's to you Red Dragon, nice one Bro! I am a supporter of the grand gesture. The heads were shaking, the boys were laughing, and we all did stupid shit trying to make ourselves feel better that we didn't ride that drop.

Logs were rolled, balance beems were parked on, then ridden, (by some of us sorry M-dub). End of the day, and you can't imagine how queezy this makes me, Bike Chain (.com-visit often-) won the day.

There I said it.

Ba, Bye, now

W.B.Z.N.

I sat in the waiting room reading three year old dirt rags. The others paced and chewed their nails. Not me, I was in, Pete was working on my brakes and that could only mean one thing: I would have to be careful not to go over the bars when I squeezed the levers. Yup, good ole Pete would put the mojo on.

It was best if you didn't talk when he brought your bike out. If you made any sudden movements, he would explain that whole inertia gravity equation. He once made me calculate what my tire pressure would be if I was riding on the moon. I had to take a vacation day.

The silence was broken, everyone looked at Pete. His face was sullen as he placed his hand on my shoulder.

"It'll work for a while but....it's not good."

I felt the Amex in my pocket skip a beat.

"What, what is it?" I asked with the trust of a child.

"Well you need new cranks, your middle ring looks like you have been sharpening your lawn mower blade on it, and the cassette is now and eight track.....of The Village People."

His eyes turned away and he took a deep breath, even professionals get shaken.

"Your chain...." He shook his head and took out a NASA certified chain thingy, measuring, dealie. He twisted some knobs and then held it up to my left eye. I tried not to flinch.

"Uh, what am I looking at Pete?" I said like a Wakulla guy at a Democratic rally.

"You see the blue and the red and how the little arrow is pointing to the middle of the red?"

"Yes." I said, like Igore submitting to Frankenstein.

"Blue is good and,..."

"Red is bad...?" I grunted, trying not to drool.

"Brakes, cranks, chain, cassette, $700.00 installed."

He pushed my bike to me and I turned to leave the waiting room. The others just looked away.

W.B.Z.N.