is this a really odd photo?
Is it just me or...
- Thread starter golgiaparatus
- Start date
You must not recognize the winning a race part. 
I get that he is fast... It just looks a bit special olympic-ish.You must not recognize the winning a race part.
You probably would too after winning a pro field sprint.
Roaderp.
Fixed.
sported the Dainese in case he crashed?
OT, but.........I was in Easthampton on business and there was a freight train that had spooky written on the back with gaffiti......made me happy.
There are so many Spookys in Easthampton that I had to move to Greenfield.
Just like the locust!
In all honesty though with the success of BikeReg.com and the number of new racers that work there and the strength of the local developmental elite team the number of under-employed bike racers that have moved to town over the last year skyrocketed.
It got to the point that I couldn't even get a slice of pizza without running into bike geeks.
Unfortunately visionless and crotchety old Poles are still entrenched in the town government so there isn't much more that can be done to change the nature of the town away from it's post-industralized slump even if we do fill it with as many full-time bike racers and under-employed industry people as possible. It suprised the hell out of me that I wanted to move out of town just because of politics as I never really thought of myself as being politically active.
Greenfield is next on my bicycle gentrification campaign. The riders in Greenfield tend to be full-fledged adults, small business owners and even functionaries in the local political scene. Hell- there isn't a decent bike shop within 20 minutes of Easthampton as far as I'm concerned- it's hard to expand the cycling community there past really really fast people.
The town has cracked down hard on the BMX community there. They stole $20,000 that KIDS raised to build a skatepark. They let on 80 year old man talk the cops into plowing the trails even though under Mass law he's relieved of all responsibilities.
Easthampton used to be a serious BMX town. Most of the riders in town were sponsored. The trails were huge. After they were plowed for the first time I saw these bright and talented young kids turn to crime and drugs.
**** that.
In Greenfield a responsive government and community gives me a hard-on for the prospects for real social change and most importantly cycling programs and projects for kids to get them stoked on shredding and slightly less stoked on meth.
I still love Easthampton. Nowhere feels more like home to me but it was time to move up the river a little bit for fresh riding and new possibilities to enrich the lives of local kids and build a new cycling community that more effectively spans BMX kids, recreational road and MTB riders and elite racers is something that I just need to be a part of.
Being half the distance from FTW helps too since we are building bikes together now.
I suck at capitalism-being able to operate in an environment that is much friendlier to hippies and anarchists is kinda nice.
Just like the locust!
In all honesty though with the success of BikeReg.com and the number of new racers that work there and the strength of the local developmental elite team the number of under-employed bike racers that have moved to town over the last year skyrocketed.
It got to the point that I couldn't even get a slice of pizza without running into bike geeks.
Unfortunately visionless and crotchety old Poles are still entrenched in the town government so there isn't much more that can be done to change the nature of the town away from it's post-industralized slump even if we do fill it with as many full-time bike racers and under-employed industry people as possible. It suprised the hell out of me that I wanted to move out of town just because of politics as I never really thought of myself as being politically active.
Greenfield is next on my bicycle gentrification campaign. The riders in Greenfield tend to be full-fledged adults, small business owners and even functionaries in the local political scene. Hell- there isn't a decent bike shop within 20 minutes of Easthampton as far as I'm concerned- it's hard to expand the cycling community there past really really fast people.
The town has cracked down hard on the BMX community there. They stole $20,000 that KIDS raised to build a skatepark. They let on 80 year old man talk the cops into plowing the trails even though under Mass law he's relieved of all responsibilities.
Easthampton used to be a serious BMX town. Most of the riders in town were sponsored. The trails were huge. After they were plowed for the first time I saw these bright and talented young kids turn to crime and drugs.
**** that.
In Greenfield a responsive government and community gives me a hard-on for the prospects for real social change and most importantly cycling programs and projects for kids to get them stoked on shredding and slightly less stoked on meth.
I still love Easthampton. Nowhere feels more like home to me but it was time to move up the river a little bit for fresh riding and new possibilities to enrich the lives of local kids and build a new cycling community that more effectively spans BMX kids, recreational road and MTB riders and elite racers is something that I just need to be a part of.
Being half the distance from FTW helps too since we are building bikes together now.
I suck at capitalism-being able to operate in an environment that is much friendlier to hippies and anarchists is kinda nice.
That would explain why I saw lots of bikes, but it didn't feel like a biking town (no bike lanes, bike shops, or any provision for cyclists). Really sucks to hear about, especially the disenfranchising of the kids leading them to drugs. I am pretty lucky where I am (about 1.5 hours north of greenfield and 45 mins north of bellows falls, vt). Good luck building a biking community. As you said, nothing helps with that more than those who are free thinkers and keeping kids active and interested the best way to keep them out of "trouble" and motivated.
By the way, you have a pm..........
Cover letter:
Industry employee happy to work for room, food, board (note: standards are low, I've lived in a bike messenger office), and race expenses, participate in hating capitalism, and killing it for at least 20 hours a week on the bike.
Other skills: Chicken coop building, marketing, graphic design, delicious beer tasting, overreaching, photography, coding in CSS/HTML (and learning Ruby when I find time), warehouse logistics, dapper fashion, and womanizing.
Sorry. My French Foreign Legion bug is biting lately.
Another cool thing about Greenfield- The dude who used to own the BMX shop in Easthampton manages one of the local shops. He Gets It.