xcrament http://www.xcrament.com the life and photos of a shitbag Tue, 05 Jan 2010 14:50:14 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3 en Colorado 2009 http://www.xcrament.com/colorado-2009/ http://www.xcrament.com/colorado-2009/#comments Tue, 05 Jan 2010 14:50:14 +0000 Matt http://www.xcrament.com/colorado-2009/ After a stellar year in Colorado last year at this time with ort long time friends and wonderful hosts…it took Brett about 2 seconds to think about his reply when i asked if we were gonna do it again

 

first morning we got right to work…but were snowed out at stop #1

 

with a little shoveling and some sun we made some stuff happen at stop #2

snow pants and hiking boots…

the runway

all pics that look like Me were stolen from  (http://morewasteddays.blogspot.com/ and lisaandjersadventures.blogspot.com)

shoveled out an approach to the up/down ledge

off to snowshoe in the rockies

look back at the previous picture

 

frolicking on a frozen waterfall

wrong day to wear your antler hat

 

next A.M. off to Breckenridge with the occasional Bighorn sheep along the road

the most accurate way to test snow depth

it was windy, cold and snowed pretty much the entire day

 

 

 

Vail was crowded

under the rope = unopened, untracked, and off limits. its the first place we went

shit was knee deep

i spent way too much time trying to rotate this photo and its just not happening

in case you didnt know who The Skipper was

 

we were greeted at the bottom of the slopes by these mongrels

this lil lady instantly fell victim to my charm

meet Mom and Dad

 

early morning Copper Mtn jet stream

it was sunny and warm. tons of snow in the trees but the hiking the park was where it was at

this looooong multi-level box was well worth the hike

 

back to the woods…guess where i just came from

 

taking a moment to reflect

we spent 3 nights in this slope side condo in Breckenridge

cable TV, fireplace, full kitchen, jacuzzi, 2 shitters…it was perfect

the next morning we were preparing to go ride backcountry on Loveland Pass and we caught this on the news

this was literally where we were going. and didnt deter us

 

said “avalanche” remains in the upper left

 

 

 

i found this natural tree wally and got in the way of lisa taking a pic of brett (see next pic)

 

 

or brett taking a pic of lisa…either way i got in their shot

back country kicker session

1 jump. 2 angles. 1 tweaked out method

Long day at Loveland is capped off with 55 degree temps and a session at the denver park

some snow in crucial spots but plenty of skateable stuff available

maximizing board time on this trip we stopped at one more spot n the way to the airport. (thanks lisa for letting me abuse your cruiser)

just like last year it was another perfect trip. tight crew. everyday maximized. unbelievable hospitality. great weather. see you again in 2010

]]> http://www.xcrament.com/colorado-2009/feed/ A Fixed Gear Philadelphia LIVESTRONG Challenge 100 http://www.xcrament.com/philadelphia-livestrong-challenge-100/ http://www.xcrament.com/philadelphia-livestrong-challenge-100/#comments Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:24:33 +0000 Matt http://www.xcrament.com/philadelphia-livestrong-challenge-100/ This past weekend was an event organized by the Foundation formed by not only the most accomplished cyclist in history but also a cancer survivor Lance Armstrong. It is a “challenge” and not a race in order to raise awareness and donations for cancer research. Some 6500 participants raised over 3.2 million dollars for the cause. Out of all the participants only one was dumb enough to “challenge” himself to the 100 mile ride on a single speed/fixed gear/brake less track bike.

My Motivation: My grandmother who had 3 battles with cancer and who I recently lost

Kim’s mother who we tragically lost so prematurely

Ray and Big Al. Two long time close friends who have both battled and won

My Inspiration:

Earlier this year some of the Mash SF crew rode the Tour of California. 6 Riders/9 Days/750 miles. Absolutely ridiculous. This preview video says it all. Definitely earned tons of respect.

The Ride: “The total climbing elevation for the 100 mile course is 4,337 feet.”

My Ride:

needs some TLC after the ride

My story:

Overall I had a good time.  I definitely got a few looks standing in line for 100 mile ride with my bike but it was all the motivation I needed. Having never done a century ride I wasn’t sure if one with over 4300 ft of climbing was the right ride but it was for a good cause. The announcer pointing me out as we left the start line was kinda funny too. I think most of the doubters new I was for real as I was passing them on the 1st long climb and didn’t turn off at the 70 mile ride mark and followed the signs for the 100. The highlight of my day was the Landis Store climb. It is about 58 miles into the ride and climbs around 500 vert. feet in a mile. I pedaled by at least 30 people walking there expensive, geared road bikes up the climb.  As soon as the devil (guy dressed as the devil directing traffic at an intersection) saw me coming he began heckling all the walkers as the “fixed gear guy” pedaled on by them. I refuse to get off my bike and walk. I will have to fall over before I give up and get off. I definitely answered a lot of questions and received a lot of praise and respect from fellow riders as the day went on. The term “you are a better man than me” was heard dozens of times as I was passing riders yet all declined my offer to trade bikes. coming into the finish the announcer told me to “slow my roll” for photo ops. it was when I skidded sideways he realized I was “the fixed gear guy” and the place went nuts as he called it “Philly or NY type skills” which was funny.

I heard dozens of times “What’s with the long sleeves?”

My reply “I have 3x invested in my tattoos as you do your bike”

I finished in around 6.5 hrs riding time. i ran 48/16 gearing which meant i really needed to keep my momentum going up each climb which is why I was passing everyone on the up hills. It was a leap frog effect. I passed them going up, they passed me coasting going down while I was pedaling my ass off.

Thanks to all who donated, all who inspired, and here’s to all who motivated. Whats next?

]]> http://www.xcrament.com/philadelphia-livestrong-challenge-100/feed/ Saw something on my morning ride http://www.xcrament.com/saw-something-on-my-morning-ride/ http://www.xcrament.com/saw-something-on-my-morning-ride/#comments Fri, 17 Jul 2009 15:42:32 +0000 Matt http://www.xcrament.com/saw-something-on-my-morning-ride/ While pedaling this a.m. up the Macungie mtn. I heard some loud rumbling while I crested the top. I had seen the following link sometime ago…

 

There is a big powerstation on top of the mtn and i got to see this in action. i had a conversation with a PPL worker about what they where doing, and what I was doing. Apparently the second helicopter was filming a TV show for the BBC called “Invisible Industry”. I had my phone so grabbed a few crappy pics. Being 150ft away from watching this guy hanging out of a helicopter, getting zapped and clipping onto the wire is fucking cool.

Guy even gave me his card. I wish I had a business card that was this cool.

]]> http://www.xcrament.com/saw-something-on-my-morning-ride/feed/ STPR Rally Weekend http://www.xcrament.com/stpr-rally-weekend/ http://www.xcrament.com/stpr-rally-weekend/#comments Thu, 11 Jun 2009 13:29:47 +0000 Matt http://www.xcrament.com/stpr-rally-weekend/ This event…
One of the oldest rally races on the schedule, Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally (commonly known as STPR) began in 1977. It is not only the oldest, but it is also the fastest rally in North America. With roads consisting of clay and gravel, the course is slippery, fast and extremely dangerous. Drivers travel at speeds reaching 100 MPH through densely wooded roads. The speeds combined with the dangerous course ensure that this rally is not for the feint at heart.

Takes place not too far from my place in the mountains of north central PA. The right thing to do is round up a bunch of dudes, tons of food, guns, and disappear into the middle of nowhere for a weekend.

The early risers get to see the cars lined up in starting order in downtown Wellsboro

Starting 1st and who everyone wants to see. Ken Block

and 2nd. motorcross and xxxtreme sport legend Travis Pastrana

Travis

Ken Block. (the man behind the wheel in the following vid)

 

Dave Mirra (i think he is only famous for hosting Real World/ Road Rules challenge?)

The race consists of 15 timed stages on friday and 15 stages on saturday. all cars must be street legal because they drive public roads to and from each stage. this is the start in downtown Wellsboro

No shame in his photo game…Metal J right up in it

On our way to spectator area but following a racer who clearly lost his bumper on friday.

For those that dont know the stages are timed and the drivers  have never seen or driven these roads before. Stages vary in lentgh but can be up to 15 miles of gravel mtn. roads and they rely on instructions from a co-driver who is relaying information off a map. Therefore roll-overs, wrecks, collisions with trees/rocks/etc are very common.

The first spectator area we made it to was on stage 4. This is video I took of Ken Block.

Travis Pastrana

not positive but i think this guy was smuggling horseshit under his stupid hat

waiting at stage 9…The Dudes (L to R):  Barold, Metal J, Bagger, Papa Bear, Shitbag, Chuckles. (the last of the crew not pictured was the photographer)

Stage 9 was a tight 180deg. turn. Take notes on the following of how to properly handle the situation

Ken Block (note his rear bumper is missing which was attached in the previous vid of stage 4)

Travis kills it

this pic was captured during the above video of travis by mike and his $900,000,000 camera he borrowed from his employer.  Def the sickest shot he got. (peep the glowing red hot brake rotors)

this guy has apparently spent some time bouncing off rocks and trees

VW love

competitors are allowed only 15min. before the last stage for repairs. ken’s crew awaits his arrival.

back to the homestead to shoot shit

“PULL”

Grillin, Beer, Marshmellows…Man type shit

7 dudes, racing, guns, steak = Meatfest 09′

Sunday a.m….more guns

sunnin’ them titties

digging a 12gauge slug out of some lumber

found

its obvious why ladies find him “dreamy”

i found my new hat at a gun store in the middle of nowhere and it was the best find of the weekend

shotguns use shells, this guy uses silver bullets. tap the rockies

over 400 empty shells is evidence of why it sounded like World War III at my place.

great weekend. hoping it all goes down again next year

 

]]> http://www.xcrament.com/stpr-rally-weekend/feed/ 48 hours in Cali http://www.xcrament.com/48-hours-in-cali/ http://www.xcrament.com/48-hours-in-cali/#comments Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:13:32 +0000 Matt http://www.xcrament.com/48-hours-in-cali/ a quick but action packed jaunt to the left coast.

Runyon canyon hike with my Bro…and our ho’s (not pictured)

the way we came up

in our hike we saw 1000 dogs having the time of their lives

chopper

my grandfather had one of these. and i drove it in highschool. and if it looked like kim’s neighbors i would still have it

a huge Royal ad on La Brea ave

i should have gone inside to confirm that Kat Von Dude pisses standing up

 

Griffith Observatory. cool as hell

do to clouds the telescope was closed

Hollywood at night

 

Hollywood at night in an earthquake (not really)

meet Harry

and Theo

teaching them bad habits

me being on east coast time and used to my normal daily routine, i was up early and took the rascals for a walk. in 45 min we covered half a city block

back to bed

another reason for my visit was to spend some on my sleeve

freehand decapatated diver

very dead diver

and a free hand shark. cant wait for the color on this thing

La Jolla seals

 

whiskers

out of nowhere it was like the start of a race and they all just woke up and bolted for the water

 

if my hand looked like the one in this sign i would rather have it bitten off by a seal

stopped by Washington st. on the way to the airport

home. 48 hours in cali and im goin back soon. need to hang with my crew and get some color in my arm

]]> http://www.xcrament.com/48-hours-in-cali/feed/ Chicago. our weekend in the breezy city http://www.xcrament.com/chicago-our-weekend-in-the-breezy-city/ http://www.xcrament.com/chicago-our-weekend-in-the-breezy-city/#comments Fri, 15 May 2009 14:22:58 +0000 Matt http://www.xcrament.com/chicago-our-weekend-in-the-breezy-city/ My photos are slacking. but i finally had a reason to take a few. and honestly a fair share of these pics were lifted from other sites because there was just so much going on that i didnt really feel like carrying a camera with. (which is a good thing because my phone ended up getting crushed anyways).

4:30 a.m. wake up call for the airport. Who is with me?

check this guy for a pulse

our reasons for travel usually revolve around skateboarding obviously so when i heard about the two day Burning Fight book release/90’s hardcore reunion show in chicago i didnt even have to ask brett, i just assumed he was in. brett and i have this habit of rubbing elbows with celebs at airports. seat 13D brett, 13E myself, 13F jimmy “superfly”snuka. is there a better way to start a weekend

(L to R): Noneck, Shitbag, Snuka, Kid Rad

my camera sucks, maybe i should carried it and had it crushed

where is the Married with Children fountain?

 

self portrait. sears tower. big deal

some guy named Picasso designed this.

and apparently skateboarding here is a Federal Offense therefore the person in this photo shall remain nameless. (photo boosted from: www.morewasteddays.blogspot.com)

wallride everything

Big Ben

“love and marriage, love and marriage”

i fucking owned this Bundy 12 stair hubba (proof: morewasteddays.blogspot.com)

we pushed what felt like 20 miles to find the famous Sea Wall

i purposely didnt put a new board together for this trip because i assumed mine was gonna end up in the drink…and it didnt. figures

…all band photos and videos were boosted from other people. this was our other reason for going. great line-up, great venue, great crowd.

Damnation ad.

RINGWORM

108

Underdog

this is the most talked about photo off the weekend as far as capturing the moment…xtrialx

UNBROKEN. this is my reason for going. this band hasnt played together in years. they just got back together for this book release and two other west coast book release shows. one of my all time fav’s who i only got to see once in the 90’s.

this park was a mere 5min train ride from the show. we hit it on sunday afternoon and it was standing room only. this was monday morning. much better

i got home late monday night after being gone 3 days. apparnetly the next best thing to sleeping with me is draggin out my dirty laundry and sleeping with that

 

kids are trying for another event like this next year. im there. i will get brett a ticket right away. tons of laughs with noneck as usual. if you slept on it, you fucked up. if you were supposed to go and then didnt. you really fucked up. we really wanted ray to come because he would got swine flu for sure.

 

 

]]> http://www.xcrament.com/chicago-our-weekend-in-the-breezy-city/feed/ Its March why was this not posted in December? Colorado revisited http://www.xcrament.com/its-march-why-was-this-not-posted-in-december-colorado-revisited/ http://www.xcrament.com/its-march-why-was-this-not-posted-in-december-colorado-revisited/#comments Thu, 05 Mar 2009 15:31:29 +0000 Matt http://www.xcrament.com/its-march-why-was-this-not-posted-in-december-colorado-revisited/ It was brought to my attention that I never finished the write-up of my trip to visit some old friends in Colorado. Good thing it still seems like it was yesterday

snowshoeing to the hot springs..im laced

nobody home

3 miles later

first to greet me was a rare wirehaired wieramer youngster named Chieftan

i got Chieftan a lil rowdy

always hydrating

 

 

this place was amazing

the next morning we rode backcountry at Loveland Pass. drive to the top. get dropped off, and then meet your ride at the bottom

 

 

too much rehydrating=lots of dehydrating…remeber that next time you tap the rockies

 

my proposed line in the gulley

sun tried to break through on jer’s strap in

bottom road is where peeps line up to catch a ride back to the summit. it is only a matter of minutes till a local goes by with a pick-up.

after riding loveland for 8 straight hours we headed back to Denver where it just happened to be 60 degrees so we headed to the free park downtown.

 

 

 

 

 

this place is huge, and fucking awesome. after 2 hours of that on top of 8 hours at loveland we were spent.

the next day we took a day off and drove to Rocky Mtn National park to find the haunted Stanley Hotel (where stephen king stayed and inspired “the Shining”, and  parts of Dumb and Dumber were filmed)

 

off to the park in search of animals

 

we managed to get really really close to these huge elk. this isnt zoomed. he wasnt as happy to see me as i was him

him and his pals split

 

on our last morning we got up early to go get a few more lines in at Loveland. temps were cold and that didnt include the wind chill.  mount up

 

 

 

cobra commander

Jeremy shot our hike/line from a parking lot

 

brett pics his photo angle and i pic drop off

stolen from http://morewasteddays.blogspot.com/

dropping

 

 

 

 

the locals would drop into the woods and let their dogs follow through the deep snow. it looked awesome. made me want to bring my boys out. it was this lil guys first time out.

 

i wasnt getting on a fucking plane till i saw another Bighorn Sheep

done

]]> http://www.xcrament.com/its-march-why-was-this-not-posted-in-december-colorado-revisited/feed/ Colorado pre-season pre-game http://www.xcrament.com/colorado-pre-season-pre-game/ http://www.xcrament.com/colorado-pre-season-pre-game/#comments Fri, 19 Dec 2008 14:16:06 +0000 Matt http://www.xcrament.com/colorado-pre-season-pre-game/ so i had some vacation time to burn and as usual Brett is down for anything at anytime so why not go visit some old dear friends that just happen to live in Denver. Snowboards and skateboards packed and we are off

on the road early

what a view of the back bowls

dudes

we pretty much at the place to ourselves

in the tress snow conditions were perfect. deep and untracked

again. i suck at action photography. my timing blows

clouds lifted towards the end of the day

VAIL

left Vail and headed straight to Steamboat on one of those roads where there is nothing for like 75 miles

full moon and snow made for a great ride

day 3…my new set up gives off this lightsaber like glow

where else would “mr. excitement” go

empty

Stolen from:  morewasteddays.blogspot.com

brett nearly found this creek the hard way

this line was steep. as you can see im sitting but basically standin…

 

steeps

all day long

i slalomed

our host

in order to get to the good stuff, every run began with a hike at steamboat.

the good stuff

boundries? for what

 leaving our mark

our hostess

our host Jeremy with a flawless “Stale”. probably gonna make the cover of Steamboats Brochure next year with this pic.

coming soon will be the rest of our trip…more snow, snowshoes, hotsprings, and big horn sheep. thats right, i said Big Horn Sheep

 

]]> http://www.xcrament.com/colorado-pre-season-pre-game/feed/ Too Fat To Fish http://www.xcrament.com/too-fat-to-fish/ http://www.xcrament.com/too-fat-to-fish/#comments Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:14:33 +0000 Matt http://www.xcrament.com/too-fat-to-fish/ Due to minor technical difficulties with my digi cam and a lack of anything truly interesting going on in my life, my site has been slacking. But with both those aspects being corrected its time for an update.  As many of you may or may not know I have been a more than loyal listener to the Howard Stern Show for over 20 years. Every morning getting every minute of it I. In recent years passed he added a new side kick named Artie Lange to replace Jackie the Jokeman.  It wasnt long before Artie became one of the best things that ever happened to the show. You know the old ” if there was one person in the world i could have dinner with…” Obama? nah… Abe Lincoln? nah…Jeff the Drunk?…maybe.  It would definitely be none other than the overweight heroin junkie, former cocaine addict, alcoholic with a terrible gambling habit and a love for prostitutes, Arthur Lange. He was signing copies of his new book “Too Fat To Fish”which is full of entertaining and hilarious stories of all his good qualities I mentioned above. Off to the Barnes and Noble on Rittenhouse Sq. in center city Philly. *****Disclaimer***** Clearly i had my camera set on: Take the Shittiest Picture Possible setting all night. forgive me

I work and Brett lives in South Philly. Fastest commute and best parking is guaranteed on two wheels

front row parking

i stopped in earlier and got bracelets so we wouldnt have to wait in line with the thousands. they were calling people by letter. 50 people for each letter.  lucky for me i was 5th in line for a bracelet earlier

the place was mobbed. brett and i were not together but close. we had a text conversation to try and figure out exactly how far apart we were. the guy behind me had a serious goatee. toatlly serious goat. dont just take my word for it

told ya

and then there was this guy..i got a pic but it was awful.

security was tight. including Howards head of security…Ronnie “the limo driver” Mund

Whack Packers in attendance: seated  Awesome Angelo (left) and High Pitch Eric (right)

My turn. A simple handshake and a comment on my Philly’s hat= Best 5 sec of my life.

I was probably 15th out of a thousand. it worked out well. didnt hardly have to wait

Brett was about 20 heads behind me

New Jerseys finest were out by the masses and done up like it was a New Years eve party. This is an actual conversation word for word that I heard while they reviewed pics next to me as i waited for Brett.

Awful Jersey Girl on the Right: “Did you hear him comment on my tits”

Her Friend who is equally a mess on the left: “Thats what we show cleavage for”

Back to the open road

New York Times Best seller. (not even joking)

and clearly another one in the works…

cant wait. hope he lives long enough to finish it

]]> http://www.xcrament.com/too-fat-to-fish/feed/ Dix Mtn. weekend http://www.xcrament.com/dix-mtn-weekend/ http://www.xcrament.com/dix-mtn-weekend/#comments Tue, 07 Oct 2008 01:41:18 +0000 Matt http://www.xcrament.com/dix-mtn-weekend/ I have only THREE friends who I would consider going on this trip with. And its the Three I have been doing it with for close to 10 years. We spent the last few days in the Adirondack Wilderness area near Lake Placid, New York. We are not strangers to the area and make a good attempt to visit annually if not more than that. It was the first time however for my youngest boy Harley and Brian’s boy Hawkeye. For me it made the trip that much better and though he could barely keep his head up after our days activities I am sure he enjoyed it. We arrived at the trail head Friday morning around 3 a.m. to a light rain. Using headlamps we hiked in a mile or so and set up camp. Bedding down around 4:30 it seemed only an hour went by till i was woken by downpour and my small one man survival tent taking on water. Pissed and totally soaked after breakfast we took off on a 7 mile trek to the summit of Mt Dix.

(stolen from Brett’s Blog) 3:30 a.m and a rain/snow mix. off we go. Harleys reflective leash looks cool

 

our camp was on the edge of Round Pond

Harley would run ahead. then stop just to make sure i was coming. every 20 ft. without fail.

Meet Hawkeye. He rules

Hawkeye does not care for water obstacles

take 5 at Boquet Lean-To

This dog is part coyote. He is a thief and a scavenger

Hardly as innocent as he looks

Crossed Blogs

5 miles in till we first get a look at our snow covered destination. All the rain we had overnight was snow at higher elevations.

Story of this hike include that the last few miles are basically vertical and start at the base of some rock slides

First snowball toss of the season

Def further and steeper than it looks

First yellow snow of the season

I think this is where i told Brian we were “almost there” but i had no idea and was def wrong

still on the right path

almost there

High winds, blowing snow and bright sun…coulda used some Thermonuclear Protection

Windchill factor was prob in the teens on the summit of Dix. elevation 4785 ft.

Note the blood on Harleys front paw leaking all over Bretts stuff

This tired little hiker was looking for anything soft to lay on. Little did we know we still had 5 miles left back to camp

Tired? still got 2 miles to go

baby Deer pose

Tired?

follow his lead

 

One man tent, one sleeping bag. it was an oven in that lil thing. Guess who was the first one in and last to leave…

8′x3′x2′=home sweet home

Round Pond is nicer to wake up next to when the sun is shining

Parking lot watch dogs

Next part of our adventure was was to hit the open water. Neither dog had ever been on a boat, let alone a 16′ canoe. wasnt really sure how well it would go over.

we had one curious sailor on our boat

Sit where you feel safe

This happens to be the moment when we shoulda gone the other way i think. All blame was placed on the guy who gave us the map. He obviously has no idea where we were going since he only grew up on the lake.

MAN DOWN…This lil sailor was over the sight seeing at this point

Reclaiming my land legs on the Dock in Saranac Lake

Another Fall in the Adirondacks…many more to come

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