RIP The San Gabriel Mountains

So as everyone in Southern California knows, a wildfire in the San Gabriel Mountains has burned completely out of control. What started as than 100 acres last Wednesday has now spread to over 80,000 acres, causing tremendous damage along the way. Fortunately in the La Crescenta/ La Canada/ Pasadena areas most homes seem to be out of harms way, but most of the regions best hiking and mountain biking trails have been completely decimated. It's going to take a lot time and hard work on the trails to get them back to the way they were... Unfortunately most of us bikers and hiker are going to be dead or elderly by the time the forest grows back to how it once was just a week ago. Although it could have been worse this is still a devastating loss...

Quantic @ The Echoplex

The peeps over at Mochilla and VTech just posted a great video of the Quantic show we recently went to. Check it out!

The Sounds of VTech / Memoria de Justinho by Quantic and his Combo Barbaro

La Canada Fire

There is a fire burning super close to my place (well about 5 miles away) that is making the air quality absolutely horrid. Doing anything physical makes me cough uncontrollably and i feel like I should be wearing a gas mask right now. Hopefully the fire wont take out any homes in the La Canada/ La Crescenta area, but as of now its completely uncontained. I took these pictures from flickr to show you what I'm talking about...
How The Fire Looked During The Day
By Night It Had Tripled In Size And Come Over The Hill

Winter Creek ... Now In Hi-Definition!

Same clip I posted yesterday, this time in a HD version on Youtube...

Upper Winter Creek Vid

So here is the first video ever shot on my new helmet cam. This version is only in standard def however, since i was too lazy to export and upload the full HD version (it takes FOREVER!). Anyways, peep it, and there will more to follow each week.

Upper Winter Creek Trail from brandN on Vimeo.

A Random Sighting

So my fiancee and I were out to dinner last night at our favorite Mexican restaurant, La Cabanita when all of a sudden Jason Lee walked in. Most people know him from My Name Is Earl, but I could care less about that show. I was stoked to see him because he used to be one of the best pro skaters out there back in the day, and he was in Mallrats! Anyways, heres a clip from one of the best skate vids of all time, which you proabably have never seen...

HD Helmet Cam Frame Grabs

So me and a friend did the initial test run of the HD Helmet cam I just got. The good news is that the picture quality of the footage looks awesome. the bad news is that we had the camera angle set up perfectly for the first 20 minutes or so, then I changed the angle thinking it might be too high, and the rest of the footage was mostly hands on the bars while riding the trail. Oh well, it was the first test run so now I know what to do and what not to do. Here are some stills...
Getting Ready To Ride
Upper Mt. Wilson Fire Road
The Upper Ridge aka Jump City
BW at the Log Jump (I F'd Up Filming This One!)
Me Blasting Over The Log.
Some Doubletrack On The Ridge
Upper Winter Creek Single Track
Me In Some Poison Oak
I Hope I Don't Have A Horrible Case of Poison Oak Tomorrow!

My HD Helmet Cam Has Arrived!

After a long wait and some manufacturing delays, VHoldR's Countour HD Mini Camcorder just arrived in the mail. I tested it out tonight, and it seems to work great. The lighting was pretty low in my house and it was already night time so the footage wasn't anything special, but this weekend if the weather permits and the lighting is good, you can expect some rockin' Mountain Bike Footage on some of the San Gabriel Mountain's finest single track. Winter Creek here we come!

The Cure? The Answer? Nope... The Remedy!

Lately, 90% of my mountain biking trips involve shuttling to the top of a mountain and riding down. That being said, I needed a new beefier helmet to match the style of riding I've been doing. I looked around at the local shops and got a sweet deal on the exact helmet I was looking for. BEHOLD!... The Giro Remedy!
You Can't Go Wrong With Matte Black!

Injured While Searching My Fridge For Food!

Tonight I got clocked in the face by the refrigerator door while looking for something to eat. I had just found a box of cherry tomatoes, when the door closed a bit and the corner of it hit me just below my right eye. It even drew blood! This is probably the lamest injury of all time so I had to write about it.

Free Tickets Rule!

Today I got kicked down a pair of free Dodgers tickets and a free parking pass from someone at work. Needless to say, I was pretty stoked! Especially since I didn't pay one cent for them, it meant I didn't have to worry about showing up late or looking for a place to park. Everything was already taken care of. My fiancee and I got there in the 4th inning just as Albert Pujols cranked a homer, and we left when the game was over since it was an unusually fast game (for baseball that is). Oh yeah, it was even a breeze getting out of the parking lot and driving home. What a great FREE evening in Los Angeles.
Probably The Best Seats I've Sat In At Dodger Stadium

Trailer Trash Thursday 9: Pee Wee's Big Adventure

I had to post this one because I'm still hyped on seeing his live show!

Pee Wee Herman Is Back!

I just heard that Pee Wee was doing a comeback tour in Los Angeles starting in November. It sounded too good to be true, so I did some investigating online and wound up finding out that it really was happening! Since Pee Wee's Big Adventure is one of me and my Fiancee's favorite films of all time we weren't going to miss out on this, and wound up buying tickets for one of the shows. I hope Pee Wee doesn't bomb bigtime! HAHA!
He Meant To Do That!

The Animals We Spotted

During our trip we encountered all sorts of wild life...
A Horned Lizard In The Grand Canyon
A Bald Eagle Perched Along The Colorado River
A Bighorn Sheep High Atop The Arches National Park Ridge

Bryce Canyon Sunrise Hike

When We Started It Was Pitch Black And 30 Degrees Out
It's Too Cold And Dark
Is That Jason Vorhees? Nope It's Only Me In My Mining Gear
The Poodle Formation
Not Quite Daybreak & The Moon Is Still Bright
We're On The Magical Fairyland Trail

Goblin Valley

Well Hello There!
Meditation In Goblin Valley

Porcupine Rim aka Best Trail EVER!

The Best Bike Shop In Moab
Who Ya Gonna Call?
The Pivot Firebird Rental Bike
The Shuttle Van
At The Top In Hazard County
Down Below Is Where We Wind Up
Exiting The Hazard County Single Track
The Start Of The Kokopelli Trail
The Whole Enchilada
You Can't See Any Here, But This Trail Has A Ton Of Jumps
The Porcupine Rim Posse I Rode With
Let The Slickrock Action Begin!
About To Drop In
Me At Upper LDS Trail... Rims Edge
Enjoying he View From Above
This Is The View From The Trail
More Slickrock Action
This Descent Is Much Steeper Than It Looks
Taking A Picture Of A Picture Being Taken
Don't Look Down or Fall Here!
I Said Don't Look Down!
Back To Business
The Valley, A Little Bit Closer This Time
Porcupine Rim
Exposed Canyon Rim Riding
We Found A Small Fire Set By Lightning The Night Before
Me Posing Instead Of Riding Once Again
I Wonder What This Mesa/ Butte Was Called...
Still More Trail Below Us
I Hope You Like Rock Gardens!
Whew!... We Didn't Even Get Lost