Permanent Vacation

Yeah, it's been a nice long month since my last post. See, life gets the best of us sometimes, be it family, friends, emotions...there are several distractions to our daily lives that can change a lot of things. People change, places transform and technology evolves all within the blink of an eye.

That being said I'm here to kill over 3 years of my blog as I have evolved within the blog community to a better place...tumblr! This blog will remain open for archival purposes, however, for all future blog posts please head to www.alexsins.tumblr.com

The Brief Hiatus

Midnight In A Perfect World

Dash Snow aka Sacer RIP.
Photos courtesy of 12oz Prophet

Breaking the law! Breaking the law!

Can you believe that last weekend my boy Bobby and I got pulled over on our bicycles during our Sunday morning ride? Well I still can't! See, we were riding Key Biscayne and we just broke out from a huge group so we continued riding southbound on Crandon Blvd when I get to a red light and un-clip my shoes from the pedals. The light is still red and since it's 8:40am on a Sunday there weren't many drivers on the road so after sitting at the light for a minute I decided to clip-in and give my boy the signal that we are clear. So we take the red and next thing I know a cop jumps out into the bicycle lane and points at us to pull into the parking lot. Right away I knew why he pulled us over since I heard a few months ago that they we're cracking down on cyclists but I thought that battle was over, guess not! We didn't say a word and luckily the cop was cool, plus we never have had any violations for running red lights or rolling through stop signs so all we got was a "courtesy warning" which is great since I've heard the fine is high: $176. But now we are in the system, and if I violate again I'll get that ticket. It's pretty ridiculous that the City of Key Biscayne is fucking with cyclists when one was killed by a lunatic drunk driver, those are the people they need to crack down on...all those morons doing 80mph on the Rickenbacker. Anyway, I just wanted to put this out there so know you know, no fucking around on the key!

Oh Boy!

Yesterday I went with wifey to get her pregnancy level 2 exam which is basically an in-depth look into how the baby is forming, functioning and growing. But the most exciting part is they can already determine the gender and yep...it's a boy! It's what I've always wanted and words will never describe the feeling! But you know what's most important, now my name shall live on! Check out some of the rad photos below!

It's Groundhog Daaay!

New Year, New Life

Welcome to 2011...what a year it's going to be! As some of you readers may already know, there's a huge change coming in my life this new year. Wifey is expecting our first child this coming July and I couldn't be more emotional, yet full of joy and excitement. The birth of a new life is something beautiful and it sure will change me in a lot of ways like never before. Check out the sonograms below, amazing! These were taken about 3 weeks ago when she was 8 weeks pregnant, by now it's developed a bit more. If you look at the top scan, you can already see a head and little arms/extremities. We won't know if it's a boy/girl for a few more weeks as it's still too early to tell. I would love to have a boy, but I would also love to have a girl...let's hope for the best.

It's a new year. A new chapter of my life.



What a great first post of the year!

Let it snow...

Ferny "Lancito" Heria R.I.P.

It saddens me to bring such horrible news right around the holidays, and truthfully, this post is troubling to write. Yesterday the cycling community lost a leader, a mentor, and most of all, a great friend. Ferny "Lancito" Heria was involved in a fatal automobile accident on the 836 west yesterday morning while driving home in such an unfortunate situation, just two days before his 26th birthday. I am still in shock and I never thought I would be writing this.

He was an inspiration to me as well as many cyclists here in Miami, especially with his hard style of riding, his love for cycling, his endurance and always winning alleycat races, and finally his large, perfect smile. He was the most skilled fixed-gear rider in our scene and always looked out for his boys with his huge heart he wore on his sleeve. I'll remember the rides we had, the laughs, the advice you gave me, the blunts we smoked, the way you aggressively corked on Critical Mass, the crazy offers you threw at me when I sold bike parts...all those things will come into focus each and every day on my way to work as I drive right by the scene. May you finally rest in peace, Ferny. Forever young, forever 25. Thanks for everything man, see you on the other side.

My deepest, sincerest condolences go out to his family and close friends. Check here for info on any memorials, group rides, etc.

Mash Greyscale Histogram Kit

San Fran cycling giants Mash have just dropped their sweetest cycling kit yet, the Mash Greyscale Histogram kit to match the new 2011 Cinelli x Mash. The new kits, released today, are made by Capoforma which I can attest use great materials and are everlasting. One can never own enough cycling kits, such as myself, so if you're looking to buy me something for Christmas, PLEEEEASE consider this! Get yours!

Paste Your Taste

If you have a Last.fm account, there is a pretty cool option called 'Paste Your Taste' which basically generates a list of your favorite bands so you can post them on Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc. I most recently discovered this option and had it generate my list of favorite bands. Check em' out below.

Deftones, The Murder City Devils, Monster Magnet, Machines of Loving Grace, Megadeth, Tesseract, Tool, Quasimoto, Slipknot, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Burial, Danzig, Dozer, Korn, Bochum Welt, Madvillain, Bush, System of a Down, Limp Bizkit, Motörhead, Mudvayne, Hatebreed, Fellsilent, Kyuss, Rage Against the Machine, Drowning Pool, Dudley Perkins, Interpol, The Sword, Team Shadetek, Live, Godsmack, MF DOOM, P.O.D., Gang Starr, The Verve, Madlib, Lootpack, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Radiohead, Black Sabbath, Legowelt, Black Moon, Linkin Park, The Pharcyde, Porno for Pyros, Foo Fighters, UNKLE, Pete Rock, Portishead, Aphex Twin, DJ Krush, The Smiths, Diplo, Giorgio Moroder.

Also, while you're at it check out this website which allows Last.fm users to generate banners with all your favorite band logo's so you can paste anywhere. You can have it generate your overall favorite bands which you play frequently or your favorite bands from 3 or 6 months ago. I generated one from my most recent favorite bands and below is the outcome. Dope!

Tributes

As most of you know, Art Basel was this weekend and as I was out and about, I couldn't help but notice a few tribute pieces for my man, the late Bernie Perez aka Oil. Check em' out below.

The return of Art Basel...and me!

Taking a break from the usual is always good, especially if it's a holiday. Being that Thanksgiving was last week, there was lots of food and beverage to consume, family and friends to host, and most of all some much needed time away from the 'puter. Not only does this blog-post sanction my return, but it also marks the arrival of the annual art orgy that is Art Basel. Dudes like Shepard Fairey and Dickchicken have already started their pre-Basel bombing campaigns throughout Miami's neighborhoods, flyers are beginning to appear any and everywhere and galleries like OH-WOW are working overtime and into overdrive to make sure everything is perfect! Yep it's that time again, and since there's such a heavy saturation of exhibits and events all going on at the same time, I'm here to trim the fat and present to you a few of the better art gatherings going on such as Primary Flight's 'Street Art Cycles' or the Friends With You exhibit 'Rainbow City'. Check out the flyers below, click for hi-res.

This Is Overtown

Overtown Miami is one of the oldest, yet poorest neighborhoods in Miami-Dade County. Incorporated in 1896, famous developer Henry Flagler's railroad workers took refuge in this part of town since segregation during those times prevented blacks from living anywhere else, therefore the workers lived west of the railroad tracks and the town became known as "colored town".

These days, Overtown is still predominantly black and is one of the roughest, crime ridden areas in Florida. I happen to live just one block east of those railroad tracks that separate Overtown from the rest of Downtown Miami and let me tell you, it's an entirely different world and way of living. Check out this short, solid video below produced by photojournalist Stretch Ledford, which provides a detailed insight into the urban-underbelly of Miami. It's filmed using Cannon 5D's so the quality is superior. Great work!

Spoken.Word.

Henry Rollins' analogies are so spot on, aren't they?

"I don’t want to pass through life like a smooth plane ride. All you do is get to breathe and copulate and finally die. I don’t want to go with the smooth skin and the calm brow. I hope I end up a blithering idiot cursing the sun - hallucinating, screaming, giving obscene and inane lectures on street corners and public parks. People will walk by and say, “Look at that drooling idiot. What a basket case.” I will turn and say to them, “It is you who are the basket case. For every moment you hated your job, cursed your wife and sold yourself to a dream that you didn’t even conceive. For the times your soul screamed yes and you said no. For all of that. For your self-torture, I see the glowing eyes of the sun! The air talks to me! I am at all times!” And maybe, the passers by will drop a coin into my cup."

-Henry Rollins

Well Played

Just in time for election day!

The Half Century

This Sunday a few of us did a half century (50 miles) ride through Miami Beach, Key Biscayne, Coconut Grove, South Miami and Pinecrest. It's Thursday and I'm still feeling it.

Peep the route we took here.

Public Service Announcement

I wouldn't have it any other way!

Blaxploitation

Lately I’ve been watching a lot of classic Blaxploitation films. You know, movies like Super-Fly, Shaft, Foxy Brown, you get the idea. Most are about pimping, dealing, running numbers, ripping off others, all the good things that make a movie, right!?
What I love about these films is not only the fact that most of them take place in a 1970’s NYC, but the jive-talking, gun-toting, leather-wearing, cocaine-addicted pimps which always keep things interesting, not to mention the outrageous outfits, cars, women, etc. All of these films carry this inner-city, nitty-gritty kind of vibe that can be cheesy at times, but the one thing Blaxploitation films are most known for are the great soundtracks. Most of them being produced by major recording artists such as Isaac Hayes, Curtis Mayfield, Bobby Womack, Marvin Gaye and many other soul greats from that time. How can you go wrong with pimps smacking up bitches, chasing stick-up kids throughout the streets of NYC in Cadillac Eldorado’s then climbing fire escapes in 1,000 dollar suits whilst not getting one bit dirty? Classic!

So below I present you my 10 favorite films of the Blaxploitation genre starting with my personal favorite, ‘Across 100th Street’.

Bike Porn: Pinarello X-Track

I always dream with Pinarello's. *sigh*