The Stink Shoe Gaze Photo Contest was short and sweet. The first night was the quite before the storm. And then all of the sudden a surge on the following night. There was voting all the way down to the last minute. And it sure was a close one.

Here’s are our top 3 y’all!

The Stink Shoe Gaze Photo Contest Winners are as follows:

1st- Bryan Owens 134
Bryan ownes gets a small lead and ends up getting the win with his sick ‘no handed one footed track standing jammer.’ Shout out to Burd Phillips, one of the originators.

2nd- Mei Zhao 115
Representing Los Angeles! Mei is a huge supporter of what we do and is a really strong rider, especially for her age. She can hang with the big boys and girls and you can catch her on any of the fast rides that we have out here in LA.

3rd- Juan Vasquez 111
Representing The IE! I got mad love for this kid cause he’s got mad love for Chubby Boob! It’s always nice seeing a that spoke card.

Thanks to all that participated!

Bryan Owens gets a certificate for any shoe in the DVS catalog.

I believe these are the one’s he was looking out for.

Cinelli & DVS

Shout out to DVS Shoe Company for showing us some love!

Official Los Angeles Release Party for To Live & Ride in L.A.!

It’s going down! Saturday, June 25th, a screening and release party for To Live & Ride in L.A. It’s a worldwide event with co-release parties in London, Germany, and Phoenix on the same night!

When: Saturday, June 25th – 8pm
Where: Royal/T Artspace
8910 Washington Blvd.
Culver City, 90232

This event is FREE! That’s right, come peep the movie everyone will be talking about, throw back some Pabst, and don’t make any plans for Sunday, cause we are going to rip Saturday a new one.

There will be DVD’s available to purchase.

This is a sick venue with over 10,000sqft of room.

Come with your bike and Chubby Boob will keep it safe during the event.

Get there early to meet the riders,
and enjoy DRINK SPECIALS from 7-8.

Performances by DJ Stereotype, Mega Dangle, Tiger Stripe,
and LEAGUES.

Visuals by Tiger Stripe & LEAGUES

Bike Valet by Chubby Boob

Presented by LA BRAKELESS x TRAFIK

Facebook Event

More info at:
TakeoverLA!
ChubbyBoob
Sound.Wavs

These are the other world wide events gong down on the same day! We are a Global community!
GERMANY

LONDON

PHOENIX

We are still getting a lot of questions as to when TL&R comes out on iTunes and DVD (the only place for 40 mins o Bonus extra features). There are some things coming up that will get your mouth watering for the release. More contests, more teasers, if you live in LA there will be some secret screenings and certain race after parties (Lord of Griffith III is June 5th). Just keep your eyes peeled here and remember….

It drops 6/21/11!!!

Here’s what you guys have been waiting for. Tomorrow we will announce a clue to where you can find a pair of KEOROCKS, on our Twitter (subscribe!!!). Keo, one of the stars of TL&R (releasing 6/21/11) is the first and only fixed gear rider with his own pro model shoe. We are proud to have him featured in TL&R and want to show some love to you guys by giving out a pair of the KEOROCKS. Basically, you figure out the clue, then head to the spot where there will be a picture of the shoes hidden, Then you simply contact us on our FB/ Twitter/ smoke signals and we”ll meet up and hand over your prize. As you can see we have more then one pair, so think of this as the tester/ teaser this round. The next contest like this will be a bit more in depth and “All City”…

Sorry world, this is for LA only. We got more for ya’ll coming up though as the release date for “To Live and Ride in LA” gets closer, 6/21/11!!!

Is Los Angeles in the building? Yes it is, SilverSun Pickups, hailing from Silverlake. In the heart of the city, this band continues to churn out some of the best music to ride to! Right now Silversun is in the studio recording their third album. Something I can’t wait for. More tunes to slay Trafik with! We are proud to have them on our soundtrack. Their label is Dangerbird Records, who is one of our proud sponsors of TL&R. Go check out our media page for downloads of Silversun Pickups and all of the rest of the awesome groups from the soundtrack!

Ya’ll know we got a twitter? Well we do! You should subscribe to it, then twitter us, and we’ll tweet you back. Stay up-to-date on all of our happenings, THE DVD RELEASE!!! (6/21/11), races we sponsor, fun contests, great riding routes through LA, group rides we’ll be on, bars we’re chilling at, the list is endless! Plus we want to hear from you. What is happening in your city? Lets us know with tweet!

Fans that follow us on Twitter will get immediate updates and access to our Online Daily Newspaper! TRAFIK – Global Fixed Gear #FIXD. It’s the easiest way to keep up with every major Fixed-Gear blog out there without having to go each site individually. Makes life easier. Of course you should still link through to those sites so they get some love. Without Bike Blogs and social media sites, none of this coverage of what we do would be possible. We gotta give those guys the support they deserve, they keep the scene alive! Thanks for the support bloggers!

You can be a contributor too! Just use the #FIXD hashtag in your tweets or posts and you will be included in the next edition. It updates daily!

-TRAFIK

It went down last week all the way on the other side of the planet, down undah – again. With the screening last November in Melbourne and the beginning of this year in Perth, Australia has been showing L.A. mad love! Our gracious hosts, Bike Jam & Artrage are proof of the strong tie between the bike community and the arts. Home to innovative shops like The Little Mule, Deus, venues like The Bakery its obvious the Aussies are into good shit (…and BMX Bandits, Cut Copy haha jk). Here are some pics and links to the event that include a group ride, jam session, and screening of To Live & Ride in L.A. in HD! Thanks to the riders of Perth and shout out to Herman and company for organizing and promoting such an awesome event!

also, the audio stream of director David Rowe’s interview on australian radio RTR FM 92.1… its starts just about halfway through. http://www.rtrfm.com.au/restream/13277 hear what he has to say about riding in L.A.!

btw, here’s a link to a video of the ride. And 2 flickr sets here and here.

Origin

This Mellow Monday’s article’s name sake was inspired by a ride a few of my friends hosted out of my buddy’s shop on Melrose called Capsole. The shop was ran by two really close friends of mine, Jay and Cicero. When i started commuting to work i would pass by their shop every day. Ever so often i would see some one riding a track bike in side one of the shoe stores that lined melrose. At the time it was rare to see another person commuting let alone on a track bike.

Jay

As time went on I would cruise by, give them the hand wave and they would wave back. One of the times on my way back home from work, Cicero waved me down because of the obvious common ground, Track Bikes. We’ve been pals ever since. Cicero had that energy about him. I guess Mellow Mondays wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for this guys desire to ride. He encouraged Jay who at the time was bikeless to get one. Like a snowball the numbers kept growing. We saw more and more people commuting down Melrose. Cicero had this ability to attract people that were jazzed on bikes.

Cicero
Mellow Mondays was the least serious ride out there. It was an outlet for most to relieve the ails of working retail on the block. The rides never had a consistent type of ride, ranging from exploring our city to hanging out in parks knocking a couple back. It was fun. It was always fun. I mean the slogan “Spin Spokes and Tell Jokes” spawned from Cicero. AND DON’T FORGET THAT!

The thing i liked about this ride the most was how it grew by word of mouth. Friends brought friends in. And I’m sure that is how a lot of rides started. When this ride started, i would have never imagined that cycling in LA would be the way it is today. But then again, cycling does carry an energy behind it. Judging by the growth, it’s a positive energy that I would love to watch grow.

I would like to thank all those that went on Mellow Mondays. All of you have made a strong impression in my life. In the near future, i would love to spin spokes and tell jokes with yous guys.

Cache Uno

When you become familiar with your route you start to notice repeating characteristics that stick out in your mind. For me it’s a few things, the Day Laborors at the hardware store, the Nurses smoking cigarettes at Kaiser/Childrens Hospital, and then i’m fianlly greeted by that mural above. A mural Cache and Toons did behind the shop. The mural was painted when Orange 20 took over the furniture store on the corner. I’m very blessed to be surround with such grand murals while i’m at work.

When it comes to the familiar, Cache’s murals are something that are familiar to a lot of cyclists that commute around Los Angeles and Downtown LA. Between Orange 20 and downtown there are countless Murals that are painted by Cache and his Friends. Scenes that have subtle politcal undertones often accompanied by EyerOne and Colorful landscapes with fellow artists such as Kofie. One of the reason Cache stuck out in my mind was seeing a reoccurring theme of cycling. The piece on Sunset before Alvarado sticks out in my mind.

Cache is well traveled recently visiting places such as Mexico City and Guatemala Painting with local artists. During his travels, he and his wonderful girfriend Erin have done acts of philanthropy such as donating bicycles to a family in Guatemala (pictured below).

He also has had his share of art shows, displaying works along side artists like, Mear One, Shepherd Fairy, David Flores, Will Manville (another personal favorite), and Two Rabbits Studios.

His murals are a apart of the bicycle community just as much as the sharrows on the streets of LA. What do you encounter on your route that sticks out in your mind?

Photos From the sleepers and Rock.Paper.Scissors

if you want to see more of Cache’s work, click here.

Los Angeles’ Cycling scene has grown leaps and bounds due to the popularity of Track and Fixed Gear bikes. These bikes being simple machines desinged to go fast and turn left. Urban cycling enthusiasts gravitated towards these types of bikes because of it’s simplicity. Since then the industry offers bikes derived from Track bikes and have evolved so much that some fixed gear bikes have become unrecognizable to purists.
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