Thursday Night Lights

I rode the Belltown Park solo under the lights for almost an hour last night, I couldn't believe the place was empty! I got a few texts from people saying they might come through and sure enough a few heads showed up. Justin and Reed came down from the Manchester area and Jake came across from Newington, both pretty long drives to ride the little Belltown park. It was cool to see out of towners who haven't seen the park before into the set-up. Justin was psyched on the spine and emptying his bad of trick on/over it. Reed has never ridden a legit street spine and was a bit hesitant at first, but was boosting it in no time. Jake tried an abubaca on the new wallride/sub late in the night about a dozen times losing it on the last 5 feet of the rollback numerous times. He may not of pulled it clean, but it was burly!...and knowing him that will be the first thing he lands the next time he shows up. We ended up riding till the lights went off at 10 and it was a fun, low key session. Thanks for coming out guys.

Belltown Photos: CLICK HERE

Start 'em Young!

Check out the new kiddie threads over on the TYRANT CafePress. Gotta send a shout to Wethersfield ripper Sal C., congrats on the new little boy! Gotta start 'em young!

Vertigo Wednesday BMX

I got word that Vertigo Skatepark is now letting bikes in the park on Wednesdays from 5-10PM...but you have to "call for details". I haven't called yet, but I'm assuming no pegs, or only plastic pegs and pedals permitted, and I bet the price is inflated. There is also no mention on their website yet. It's been 3 years since the park opened and bikes have been banned since the start. Deja Vu anyone? I kinda get the feeling they're pulling an Academy Skatepark move here, hoping to pull in some more cash by letting the bikes in once a week...but that's just me. Brookfield isn't exactly right around for us, it's at least an hour drive, but I'm sure we'll hit the place up at least once this Summer.

Quatro de Mayo Lot Session

Super fun session at The Lot last night. The new 12 pack small line is pretty dialed, kinda has a pump track feel to it (see 1st 6 pack below). The main use for it is going to be the guys riding their 50/70cc pit bikes, but it's totally bike worthy as well. The guys were going off on the big line, the clouds were pretty wild, and the sunset was providing some amazing lighting. Good stuff!

Lot Photos: CLICK HERE


























I stole this photo from Dan Perry's Facebook!

Milnes on Prolly

Welcome to the rabbit hole! Click on the link below to go to Prolly's blog, to link back to here, to repeat again! Yeah Sean! Thanks John!

CLICK HERE

Begin Spring Edit

Brandon's been at is again, filming himself getting rad on the 20". So psyched on the way this little dude is progressing. Video contains a few clips from our Sunday session this past weekend. Good stuff!!!

Web Video 9: Springtime from Brandon Begin on Vimeo.

Milnes on All City

It's official boys and girls...so I can spill the beans now...Sean Milnes is riding for All City. Hell yeah, we're psyched for you dude! Congrats! No worries, Sean will still be rocking TYRANT threads riding locally with the crew.

Luminous Flow

Super pscyhed! Craig Sameuls film, Luminous Flow, has been accepted into the 2010 Bicycle Film Festival in New York City. We'll have a crew of us heading down to view Craig's film and raise some hell in the city. Congrats Craig, this is HUGE!!!

There are typically all kinds of jams and events at the BFF. This event should also be off the hook: CLICK HERE

2005 Self Edit

It blows my mind how much BMX has progressed and how good riders are getting. Brandon and Steve's self-filmed edits recently have been off the charts! I was cracking up watching this edit of myself I threw together 5 years ago. Gotta love the double peg on the Newi. sub-rail as my "banger". I'm pretty sure Jake hurricaned that sub rail :) The video is also kinda bittersweet because there is footage of so many parks that no longer exist. Cherish the good old days!

Sunday Scorcher Session

Damn it was hot yesterday...and humid too! Sean Milnes, Brandon, and I met up to ride the Belltown Park for a bit and hit up some street spots. Sean decided to go big and huck an 8 stair set near my place and blew his back wheel to oblivion! Props to Sean though, he cleared the set and rode it out with a destroyed back wheel flopping around under him! Brandon launched the same set and threw the bars making it the biggest set he's ever bar spinned over. Pretty burly! After the stair session we scooped up Arnwine and headed down to Sean's house in New Haven to drop off the blown up fixie, get his BMX, and ride some street. It was a super hot, mellow session riding around the city shooting at a few spots here and there. Sean was a great tour guide and brought us to some rad spots. Good times in the Elm City with good friends!

Sunday Photos: CLICK HERE

Steve @ Wethersfield

Steve threw up another quick self- edit, this time from Wethersfield Skatepark. Loving that 60/40 stall!

some clips at wethersfield park. from steve morse on Vimeo.

Belltown Fun Box

We got 3/4 of the fun box done at the Belltown Park tonight. All we have to do is add the stair set on the back side and a hubba ledge. We'll be building again Wednesday, May 5th from 5-9, come lend a helping hand!

After building last night, around 9:30, Steve and Tristan Bush sessioned the park for a bit and I snapped a few photos. Check them out: CLICK HERE

All City, Elm City

Sean Milnes is rocking a new ride, an All City DropOut. Check it...

Steve @ EH

Steve shot some video of himself riding the Belltown Skatepark using his point and shoot camera. Pretty rad!

rideing EA park from steve morse on Vimeo.

Belltown Update

Steve worked his a$$ off solo for 2 hours getting the trannies and all the boards cut for two 5' quarters. The rest of the crew showed up after school and work and got building. T was cool enough to cut her work day short and come help hold some boards and sink some screws. Her and I started framing out the deck of the fun box, which will get completed next week. The last screw was sunk around 9pm and the new quarters look mint! The park is coming along nicely, so psyched for the Summer sessions under the lights! Remember, you can always check the Belltown Blog for updates.

Oh Snap!

Tiny TYRANT has been going off lately and this is the outcome...














Looks like those 3 lb. tin foil Jap made frames don't like 10 stair drops to flat! ;)

420

It's 420 and Albie Rock said it best: CLICK HERE!

Rode My Sunday Away

I got in an early morning 2 hour mountain bike ride and it was super muddy in the trails. I recently found some new double wide quad trails on the outskirts of Great Hill and the riding in there is awesome! I'm really psyched on the Kona Five-O I built up, such a sick ride!

This afternoon, Steve and I met over at the Belltown Skatepark and rode for an hour or so. I can't wait till we get some more quarters built, but we made the best of what we already have there. I pointed out a pretty rad fence gap last week when we were starting to build the street spine and sure enough Steve launched it today. All I gotta say is burly gap to mini grass lander...and he did it like 4 times so I could shoot from various angles. Fun, fun!

Sunday photos: CLICK HERE

Run and Hide!

...cause Tiny TYRANT got his learners permit and is on the roads...in a car!

EH Skatepark Update

Thanks to some serious hard work from Steve Morse and the Skatepark Committee crew we got the grind box re-relayed with 3/4" plywood so it's rock solid and got a street spine built. We'll be working at the park a few nights next week getting more done...and the lights are on till 10!!

Building Ramps Tonight

East Hampton Skatepark - 5 till dark - Come lend a hand!

So 1985!

Check it out...a photo from 25 years ago and I look like a modern day BMX scenester! Moppy hair, skin tight jeans, big bars, colored rims and no helmet. You damn kids got nothing on 1985!

Fairfield a BUST!

Heads up to anybody heading down to Fairfield to try and ride the new cement park, it's a total bust! Cops aren't even giving warnings, just handing trespassing tickets out straight up! Fighting a ticket and having to go to court for riding your bike is such BS!!

CLICK HERE

Highbridge NYC Park on hold!

So it appears the plans to build a new NYC skatepark at Highbridge are put on hold due to budget BS. This is a drag, because this skate plaza style park looks like it has some original obstacles and it is going to be a bike friendly park. Fingers crossed, they get the ball rolling on this sooner than later!

Read the full story here: CLICK HERE

Cora G. Ripping It!

The future of TYRANT BMX is here! Cora getting rad on her Trikester. This girl will be ripping up the BMX track in no time! Your TYRANT sponsorship package is in the mail! ;)

Jam at Bristol Saturday

I'll be in Boston all weekend, but if you are around Saturday head over to Rockwell Park in Bristol to check this event out. Tiny TYRANT will be one of the guys riding on the team going against Eastern, should be a good time!

Street Jam

Apparently Vic from Hartford is looking to get an all day/night street session going on April 21, from Noon-dark. It looks like they are meeting at Heaven around noon and heading out around Hartford from there. Most of us have work or school, so I doubt we'll be in attendance, but if you have the day off and want to ride contact Vic by CLICK HERE.

Steve Went West

Steve Morse headed out to Ray's MTB Park with a bunch of fellow Connecticut BMX riders a few weekends ago. Check out the rad photo below shot by Justin Luong. Also, check out the video below shot by Matt Horak.

Rays MTB from Matt Horak on Vimeo.

New Adventures

I spent yesterday evening at Pedal Power putting together my mountain bike. I traded the my XC frame and am on a Kona Five-O now. I didn't get the whole build complete, but with Todd's help I got a ton done. I'm looking forward to riding Mesh and Highland this year, along with my local favorites like Hurd Park and the Salmon River State Forest. Happy trails!

Belltown Skatepark Build Day

The first build day of 2010 for the Belltown Skatepark will be Saturday, April 17th from 9am till dark...or the wood runs out! Please come down, bring some tools if you own any, and help us get the park going!

Sears Park
68 North Main Street
East Hampton, CT

Slow Week

Sorry, it's been a lazy week. I've been nursing a bum knee that I tweaked at the NoHo Park on Sunday and have just been laying low. This weekend looks to be amazing, so I'll have somthing to report sooner or later.

VERY WILD WEEKEND!

This weekend's riding was pretty insane! Saturday I hit up The Lot for a few hours to watch a bunch of guys huck themselves off the freshly groomed jumps. Blachura and Erik Z. were going huge and Dave was firing out flip whip attempts one after the other...coming oh so close! Guaranteed he has them dialed by next weekend! A few dudes from UCONN showed up and were getting pretty comfy on the jumps. Always a good session when lots of heads are at The Lot!



















Sunday was a really fun day, despite the chilly low 40 temps. Tiny TYRANT, T, and I met up with Schmidt and Sean Milnes and we road tripped it up to Matty Still's place to get our day of riding started. We hit up the Belchertown Park for a bit, but the place was pretty shotty. Schmidt was blasting a few gaps and Sean was getting rad on his fixie. Jay Bych and Danny Todd joined the caravan at B-Town and we made our way to the Northampton Park for an hour or so. The temps were dropping and we still has plans to hit up the trails in Northern CT before dark, so we skipped out of Mass around 5 and headed South. Jay lead us to his local trails and the place was pretty bonkers! He had some lines dialed with ease, and Schmidt and Brandon we're getting comfortable on their bikes as dark fell. Props to Schmidt for strapping on a set and hitting a huge jump that supposedly nobody has ever cleared. Props also go to Tiny TYRANT for hitting the same jump brakeless...and over shooting it! Damn kids! It was cool to see T and Sean pumping the roller sections and jumping some stuff, both a bit out of their element on dirt...but riding just fine! All in all it was a super fun day! Can't wait for the warm temps to return and more of these trip to go down!!!



















Saturday's Lot photos: CLICK HERE
Sunday's Mass./CT Trails photos: CLICK HERE

Newtown Park?

This POS is the newly proposed skatepark in Newtown, CT. It has some fun elements, but it's a lousy linear layout that will get congested with like 8 people in the park. No word yet if they are anti-bike.

Blachura In The Cut!

The latest issue of In The Cut Magazine has an interview I conducted with Dave Blachura...along with a few photos. Props to Dave on the exposure and the TYRANT love!

C-C-C-Crompton!

To the kid named Joe who sent me an e-mail asking why I call the Cromwell Skatepark Crompton:

Gangster wanna-be suburban white kids acting all hood like they're living in Compton + Cromwell = Crompton

Jake was hucking himself as usual...and as usual he blew out a tire and had to leave. Dave and Bry were busting out the tailwhips and tooling around. It was a fun session, but that place gets old quick! Rumor has it Guilfords park is open for the season so we'll be heading South for a session in the near future.

Crompton photos: CLICK HERE

Sunday Mass...

...no I'm not talking about church! I'm talking about a crew of us rolling up to Mass. again next Sunday to hit up some more parks and trails. Should be a good time, meeting up with the Team EAST crew again and hitting up some new free outdoor parks I've never ridden. This old school cement set-up is on the "to ride" list. Gonna be rad!




Photos from Concrete Disciples.

I'm excited about getting to ride Sunday...but deep down inside I'm totally bummed because I should be down in Philly supporting Hebrank at the Philly Convention. Unfortunately, my money tree isn't in bloom yet and I'm stranded here in New England with empty pockets and no fresh Hebrank hotness! Sorry Shawn! Have fun! Watch out for poop in the hotel stairwells!

Spring Time!

It is officially Spring and time to start playing in the dirt. We were fortunate enough to get a little taste of trails on Saturday at the Orchard up in Mass. but now it's time to get our local spots up and running. Time to get dirty!

March Madness in Mass.

Arnwine, Brandon, and I headed up to Mass. on Saturday to meet up with Matty Still and some of the Team EAST/old MSC crew. We started our day at the Greenfield Park and it was sunny and 70 out...epic! I haven't been to that park is a solid 5-6 years, but it's still the same...a fun set-up. We rode there with Matty and Stan for a few hours before heading South to Easthampton. We had a little lunch at Matty's house (thanks again dude!) and hit up the Orchard Trails for a bit. The trails are really cool, but sadly the property owner no longer wants the guys riding in their so the trails are very neglected. As the day rolled on it cooled off a bit and we made our way over to the Northhampton cement park. The bowl at NoHo is no joke, 100% burly! Despite the fact that people were going off on their bikes pulling some big tricks, the highlight at NoHo was local Andrew Gilbert KILLING IT on his scooter! Yeah, I said scooter. The kid was boosting 3' bar spin airs over the 7' hip in the bowl and airing 3' out of the 10' bowl corner. So rad! We hit up a little wallride to cap the day and said our goodbye's. A huge thanks to Matty for his hospitality and tour guidesmanship ;) and to the riders up there for coming out to have a good time and show us around. We'll def. be back numerous times this Spring and Summer!

Mass. photos: CLICK HERE

Straight Outta' Crom-pton!

"Straight outta' Crom-pton, crazy mutha #ucka named Blachura!"
Good times at Cromwell tonight. First session of 2010 at the Crompton Park and it was a chill one. The temps were pushing 70, dudes were hanging out and riding bikes, and the sun was shining...ideal to say the least! Hello Spring!

A few snaps of Blachura: CLICK HERE

New Knees

In and effort to protect my battered body, I got some new Team Blowin' It knee pads this weekend. Macisco hooked it up old school, barter style trading me the $50 pads for some new Bern pads I had that didn't fit. I'm, psyched, these pads are kick a$$! Ride safe!

Wash Out!

So this weekend was totally lame! I was all pumped up for the time change, an hour+ more light to ride on Sunday night, and it rained all weekend! I tried to make the best of it Saturday and adventured over to CT Bike's park. I haven't ridden that park in 6 years and nothing has changed a bit since my last visit. The place is still a complete sh1t hole...but it was fun to ride there and it brought back a lot of old memories of the days when we rode that place 2-3 times a week in the Winter. Tiny TYRANT and his buddy Jake were getting rad on the vert ramp which was fun to watch. Today was a wash out, attempted to ride the basement ramps and that last a whole 10 minutes or so as I had no motivation....so I returned to the couch. Looks like Tuesday through Friday is going to be gorgeous and sunny. You bet I'll be riding outdoors each day after work!

CT's Photos: CLICK HERE

TYRANT SIGG

I just got my new TYRANT SIGG bottle today and it's rad as hell! If you don't know about SIGG's eco-friendly, reusable bottles here is some info...

As tough as they are on the outside, it's the inside of SIGG bottles that make them so special. Due to SIGG's special, proprietary internal coating, these high-tech bottles are resistant to fruit juice acids, energy drinks, alcohol and virtually any consumable beverage. Because the liners are taste and scent neutral, you can enjoy any beverage you'd like - without any lingering smell or taste of the last beverage you drank. The composition of the liner also reduces the chances of bacteria build-up. And because the liner is virtually baked into the inner walls of the bottle, it will not flake or chip even if dented on the outside.

These bottle are ideal for riders cause they take abuse! Drag this thing with you to the park, trails, track...anywhere! SIGG quality comes with a price, but think about it...you waste $2 on a bottle of water when you can fill this for free and help out Mother Nature while you're doing it!..and they have a LIFETIME WARRANTY! You can purchase one by CLICKING HERE.

Lot & Lunch

Rumor has it work has already started at The Lot to get the place going for the 2010 season. The jams last year were off the hook and the place was starting to really come around by late November. 2010 should be pretty nutty if Dave and Bryan's ideas become reality! Put on your straight cable and knobbies...time to get dirty!

I stopped by the Wethersfield park briefly on my lunch break and rode around for 20 minutes with Bry and Blachura. Here's a little 1 megapixel camera phone action of Dave...

860

Tiny TYRANT has a new blog: eightsixoh and here is his latest hotness...

860 chillin from Brandon Begin on Vimeo.

Sunday East Side Sessions

Yesterday's Riding on the Eastside trip ended up being somewhat of a bust. A few people were sick and a dozen people were lazy and bitched out yesterday morning to stay local and ride the same damn places they ride on a weekly basis. Does anybody have a sense of adventure anymore? LAME! Anyway, the few people that did come out had a super fun time and we had 3 solid sessions at 3 very cool cement parks. The weather was amazing, people were getting rad, and nobody got hurt...so it was an ideal day after all. A huge thanks to Brett and Shamus for trekking down from Mass. to ride with us. We'll definitely be riding Baltic and Owen Bell a lot this year since each of them have lights at night and are 10x more fun that the shotty Clinton prefab park. We're already planning a Riding on the Westside trip for sometime in April to hit up the Milford park, the new Fairfield park, and a few other cement gems.

Next weekend is the time change, that means after work riding will begin since we'll have some light! So psyched!

Riding on the East Side photos: CLICK HERE

Steve blasting a table over a big gap at Norwich

6 Months Since Haven

Wow, I can't believe it's been 6 months since I've ridden Haven. Steve, Bryan, and I met up with Erik Z. at Haven last night and it was great to be back on the bike...despite some slight pain and weakness in my hand. The session was pretty dead, but picked up later in the evening with the usual suspects going mega-big and super fast at everything. I witnessed Chris Childs come at the box jump in a mach speed manual and clear the box out of that manual...f-ing bonkers!

Don't forget, Sunday is gonna be nuts! and the temps are now anticipated to reach 60! DAMN!

A few Haven photos: CLICK HERE

Riding on the Eastside!

We're planning on hitting up the far eastern portion of the state on Sunday for some sunny, 50 degree weather BMX action. The plan is to leave M-Town at 11am and hit up the Norwich Park, Baltic Park, the Owen Bell Skatepark in Killingly, and on the ride home maybe hit up some street in Willirico. Who is down? Hit me up on the Facebook event page: CLICK HERE.

Hello Spring!

Haven Bordeom

Photo/video extraordinaire, Peter Krol, threw together this little edit of Blachura and Arnwine riding Haven last week: CLICK HERE.

Sorry, Pete has his YouTube set up for no embedding!

Yeah Craig Samuels!

Craig's No Cassettes section is up on Vimeo!

NO CASSETTES PART 2 CRAIG SAMUELS from FonsecaFilms on Vimeo.

Back in the 860

I'm back from Maine, it was a great time. I snapped a photo of a 4" flat rail that goes down 10 stone stairs into a grass courtyard. I can see some heavy sessioning of this rail going down if we take a TYRANT Maine Takeover trip this Summer as we're planning! I'll post the photo tonight. No riding this trip, but lots of hiking...a nice Winter get away! I'll resume blog posting this week.

Jay's Ramp in February

We rode Jay's ramp last night and it was my first time riding outside the basement since the doctor cleared me to ride. It it definitely going to take some time to get back to normal, but I felt pretty comfortable. The guys were going off as the always do. Steve was boosting the wallride and some huge tables, Arnwine was trying whips to disaster, and Tiny TYRANT was landing all kinds of madness! The banger of the night was when Brandon hang 5'd the whole deck of the ramp. Damn kids! Schmidt and Tony T. showed up later in the night and were getting loose. It's always a good time going to Jay's. Sounds like another session will go down next week too!

Jay's Ramp 2/23: CLICK HERE

Dirty 30 Bash!

WOW, Saturday was pretty nuts. It was my 30th birthday and we had 2 huge parties. During the day family came over and at night all the friends came through. The basement got heavily sessioned and I'm hoping to have some photos up soon. Thanks to everyone that made the trek out to the boondocks to get wild!

A few photos: CLICK HERE

CNN

Check out CNN today at 12:50. A news story about the Pawtucket Skatepark will be airing and I contributed a bunch of photos to them. TYRANT's gone national news! ;) Hopefully the feature will be available to stream on CNN.com after the initial broadcast.

More Basement

We had great basement session last night! A bunch of guys came out to ride, Schmidt put on rollerblades, and all in all it was a good time!

Basement Session Photos: CLICK HERE

Odds and Ends

Been busy working on the basement, painting banners, cutting stencils, and riding a bit. Sorry for the lack of updates. I'm sure a lot of cool stuff will surface later in the week/over the weekend!

Acock Art!

Friend, fellow rider & designer, artist and all around rad dude Anthony Acock will be painting an original graffiti piece at the TYRANT's Lair. I'm so psyched to have some amazing art on the walls and even more psyched that the person doing it is going to heavy session the ramps afterwards! If you don't know Anthony go check out his site and be sure to get your a$$ to his art show that opens at Channel 1 in New Haven tomorrow night!

Lots of Vinyl

I'm in the process of making several 3' x 3' star logo banners for a few for local shops, Haven, Jay's Ramp, and the basement. No digital vinyl plotter or $100 price tag here, I'm doing 'em the old school way...with a #2 pencil, a ruler, some acrylic paint....by hand! Here is a sneak peak of the lined out logo...paint to come very soon. If anybody wants to purchase/barter for one of these banners for their backyard ramp, man cave, shop, etc. contact me and we'll work something out. I'll get a finished product pic up this weekend!

Green light...GO!

I got the green light to start riding again today! It's been a long, lazy, painful 5 months since I destroyed my thumb and had surgery...but the wait is over! The doc took his last set of x-rays today and they showed my thumb is fully healed. The 2 screws are fused into place and the breaks I had are healed rock solid. I'm so grateful to have full range of motion and about 75% of my strength back. Still gotta work on building the strength up to get back to 100%. No rest for the wicked...I got right back on the bike tonight and got some easy riding in on the basement ramps :)

I have to send a huge thank you out to my long time friend Erik and Dr. Joyce for taking care of me in the blink of an eye when I initially got hurt. I was checked out by the doc. and under the knife 4 days after my crash...that is UNHEARD OF! People wait weeks and/or months to get into surgery. I also have to send a huge thanks to my physical therapist Karen for helping me get the majority of my strength back. THANK YOU ALL! I could never express how much I appreciate all your help!

I'd like to send a "thanks for nothing!" out to the Middlesex Hosptial ER who told me I only had sprained thumb when I went in right after my crash. Sprained thumb, eh? I wish that's all it was. Thanks for being completely wrong!..and thanks for charging me a $150 co-pay for your misdiagnosis!

Working on the Lair

Steve, Arnwine and I spent yesterday hauling wood, cleaning the basement, and re-assembling D. Whip's ramps in a new configuration at the TYRANT's Lair. A huge thanks to Shaun for providing us with a Suburban to haul the wood and making the long drive out to the house to unload it for us. Not much to say except we busted our a$$ working for the majority of the day. Good times and a great outcome! More work going down Tuesday night!

TYRANT's Lair photos: CLICK HERE

Snow Sesh.

The snow isn't keeping Tiny TYRANT from getting rad on his backyard ramp!

Backyard Ramp Edit from Brandon Begin on Vimeo.

TYRANT's Lair

Oh man, things are gonna get out of control this weekend...the TYRANT's Lair will be coming to life. D.Whip has donated his old basement ramp set-up to me and it will be assembled in our basement this weekend. Expect a super tight vert wall, wallride, mini sub-box, 2 quarters, and lots of ducking! OFF THE HOOK!