With all of us anticipating the northeast’s brutal winter (not-so much this year), we made our annual pilgrimage down south. Sans a particular person losing his bike and phone (and dignity) one night at the bar, the trip was relaxing and allowed us to do a lot of riding. These were what we captured while we spent 10 days over new years.

The first night there, we went to the local track which hosted a fundraiser for the 71N trails (aka Casselberry). Being my first time on a track, I barely made it through without hyper ventilating but the other guys had a blast shredding the track like it was a set of trails in their backyard.

Will fired out this whip first go, like it was nothing. That’s easily a 30 foot table top.

That night everybody from the track headed to a “special” diner in town which was run by Transvestites. Food was a little pricey, but good, and they served cotton candy with the check. JPR’s mind was blown.

New Years wasn’t as crazy as last year, but Ryan Herbach put together a little montage from the party. That can be watched HERE.

We got to Kona a little late New Years day and with only about 15 minutes to spare and no light, we manage to quickly grab these clicks before driving home.

The following night we got to session this Monster. Concrete Surfin’ at its finest.

Tables. oh, and a bar hump for good measure.

The next set of photos were all taken at the Casselberry house of various members of the crew.

The remainder of the time we spent hanging out on the beach and getting in trouble. We carried around a couple film cameras to capture these moments as they occurred.

Hope you enjoyed the Gallery and we’ll see ya’ll next year! KK

Brian Rainsford is a working class adventure enthusiast based out of the Virginia Beach area, who likes fun, in just about any form. Brainsford assembled this edit of GoPro footage he had gathered throughout this past summer, and it is AWESOME! Enjoy!

Brian Has a BB stuck in his head, hates Coors lite, and can often be found smiling! Photo By Evan V.

Check Moto Scum for more summer fun, anytime of the year.

…Ryan and Raab made the 4 hour drive up from West Chester, PA and announced the premier of the video with a megaphone that was on hand at the theatre. The owner of the theatre couldn’t spell for shit, but I digress…

…you can see Raab holding the megaphone in Exhibit A below. You can also see me taking care of business with a cell phone and a roll of duct tape, probably stressing out about something, but again I digress…

…it turns out that the megaphone went missing soon after. Not only that, it belonged to the FBM guys and they wanted it back. I asked around and nobody knew what happened to it…

…until one day the megaphone turned up in a CKY skit with incriminating FBM stickers plastered on it. Busted!

Continued in Part 2

Riders in order of appearance: Joey Chernoff, Jackson Allen, Andy Maguire, Chris Riesner, Mike Hernandez, Guy French, Otis, Anthony Quiroz, Jeff “Murph” Murphy, Lodi local.

Steve Crandall

Top 3 experiences from 2011:

1. Women (minus the wheels)

2. Drugs (minus the women)

3. Anything on wheels (minus the drugs)

4. Geting old, but getting younger.

Plans for 2012?

Everything! Avacados, Rock and Roll, Coffee, camping, bikes, hot sauce, getting lost, getting loster, hi fives, and more good times with the great people that help define my life!

Derek Adams

Top 3 experiences from 2011:

1. Riding with all the local squids that popped up in my town this year. We built some smaller jumps in the backyard and the bmx scene took off. By the end of the year half of them got really good, some were even casually hitting the big jumps with no brakes. Of course the other half got broke off, quit riding, and sold their bikes for weed money. That’s how it goes, it’s survival of the fittest out here. Welcome to the jungle baby!

2. Putting together the Footwork video was a treat.

3. Orctoberfest/Catty Jam weekend

Plans for 2012?

Mostly looking forward to tackling some new projects. There’s a few things I’m stoked on at the moment… new Orchid website, a couple of video projects in the works, building random stuff in the yard, new shoes/apparel, recording some original music, and some sweet blogs for Least Most!

Evan Vendetti

Top 3 experiences from 2011:

1. I saw the video of a man with a real jetpack, a fucking jetpack, flying through the grand canyon, total game changer, anything is possible.

2. Our friends Jason, Dana, and Mia, pulled the trigger and took off on bicycles for who knows how long, going wherever ever they would like to. So stoked for them and it motivates me every time I think about it!

3. Year after year I am lucky to have friends and family that rule so much, countless good times as always, no way to compare one to the other… thanks bros, you rip.

Plans for 2012?

Foremost, the end of the world, gas in the moto and a backpack full of guns, lets do this. We’ll see if these Mayans were on it, or just hitting too much of that jungle cronic.

I do hope the world goes on though, its too much fun. Im looking forward to hard work paying off, good friends and family, a beach/richmond softball rematch, as much travel as possible, and the randomness of life, who knows what kind of weird shit we’re gonna get into this year, yeeee!

Korey Kryder

Top 3 experiences from 2011:

1. Trying to drive halfway across the country in one weekend. When did I think that was a good idea, haha? The weekend warrior series in general was interesting, it wasn’t what I expected due to my shoulder injury, but at the same time, I’m incredibly happy with the way it came out. I met a lot of people and got to experience a lot of things I normally wouldn’t have.

2. I basically drowned in the Ithaca Reservoir this summer cause of a freak accident, and would have easily died if it wasn’t for my friends being there. Maybe not in my top 3 “favorite” memories, but it reminded me why I have the friends I do.

3. Getting Published in the Albion was one of the greatest moments in my life since I’ve picked up a bicycle. The inspiration it has given me to push myself and pursue opportunities is immeasurable.

Plans for 2012?

I’m not mad about 2011, but it wasn’t a good year. Lots of injuries, relationships, and other bullshit got in the way of things. I got bit real bad by the travel bug again recently, and I’m working on some really big moves for 2012. We’ll see where I end up…

Jackson Allen

Top 3 experiences from 2011:

1. Traveling (Sasquatch Canyon day trips, Oregon, Austin, FBM East Coast tour)

2. Staying home (Otis the dog, built some new stuff at the trails, soaked up suds and grub with good friends)

3. I had a lot of great moments on bicycles, riding home from ridiculous places at night, pedaling through quiet woods and making my way through jumps familiar and strange. I hope there are still bicycles in 2012.

Plans for 2012?

My best friend Mike is getting married and I am officiating at the wedding. We haven’t quite worked out my outfit yet (I’d like to look like Neil Diamond on a bender) but I am so excited for my friends and the party that will ensue. Some great days at the trails, a sprinkling of road trips short and long and some new projects on the horizon should round out the year.

Stew Johnson

Top 3 experiences from 2011:

1. Visiting Portland for a month in the summer.

2. Judging at the Nike Pool Jam in England.

3. Going to Ecuador with the Fit team.

Plans for 2012?

1. Going to Australia with the Fit team.

2. Releasing some Anthem II bonus web videos.

3. I’m really looking forward to seeing how long Steve Crandall will grow his hair out.

Kyle Emery-Peck

Top 3 experiences from 2011:

1. After not riding for 3 months due to a bad crash, I hit our jumps in the park the first day back on the bike. Getting over injuries psychologically is so important. That day had me stoked on riding again.

2. Going to the Glory Hole 2 times in a month ruled. We came prepared the 2nd time with a different approach going at night and bringing the bike lights, flares, BBQ etc.

3. Contributing to Full Frame Collective has been a lot of fun and motivating. Shooting with our crew has changed the way I shoot. I now think about what camera/gear to bring out.

Plans for 2012?

I hope to keep on doing what I’m doing. Just to keep on shooting and riding.

Bryan Tarbell

Top 3 experiences from 2011:

1. Riding a slew of new concrete parks.

2. My first art show.

3. Seeing my friends and loved ones grow and do radder and badder things with their lives.

Plans for 2012?

Moving to Boston this spring.

So after a lot of thought and planning, I decided for my last road trip of 2011, I was going to attempt to pull off a 1600 mile road trip in a single weekend. Milwaukee and the midwest in general have been on my travel bucket list for a long time and I figured why the hell not. The trip went something like this:

I left Syracuse, NY around 6PM Friday afternoon and struck a blizzard in Erie which slowed me down to 35MPH on the unplowed PA section of 90 West. I made a quick call to my pal Souva and decided to wait for things to clear up in the morning. Woke up around 10AM, and after a quick stop at Chick-Fil-A, I was on the road for the quick 2 hour drive to Cleveland Ray’s.

I’ll divert you to my previous “Dudes in Ohio” article for coverage on Cleveland Ray’s since I didn’t take any pictures inside. (I was only halfway to my intended destination anyway!). After meeting up with TMA’s Jimmy Barnicle and shredding all day, around 7PM I decided I needed to hit the road; but not without getting some of cleveland’s finest, MELT! I had to wait an hour for my sandwich, but it was a necessary evil with another 7+ hour leg of my trip ahead of me to Milwaukee. Highly recommended, just get there early!

This drive was mostly a blur of doing 80MPH past corn fields and run down barns, but once I hit Chicago, shit got CRAZY! I have never driven on the Chicago Skyway prior, and with cars going in excess of 100MPH on a packed 5 lane highway at 230AM in the morning, I was in complete awe. This kept up for almost 20 minutes, before finally getting out of the city limits and onward to Milwaukee.

So at this point, it’s about 430AM Sunday, and I finally make it to Milwaukee… with no where to stay. In true road trip fashion, I do a quick search for Walmart on the Garmin and found a suitable spot. I fall asleep but was quickly awoken to single digit temperatures and some asshole banging on my window. So it was time for Plan B – Grocery Store. I drive across town to a Piggly Wiggly, where this time I actually got to sleep for about 3 hours. I will let you in on a little secret: if you’re stuck and need to sleep in your car in the dead of winter, it can run all night on about a quarter tank of gas, roughly. Just fill the tank to be safe. Regardless of how much you burn, it’ll always be cheaper than a hotel.

In the morning, I got myself a big ass cup of coffee and explored downtown Milwaukee for a while. It’s the birth place of the Champagne of Beers; Miller High Life, not to mention other 40 ounce classics such as Beast Ice and Old English! Luckily, PBR had moved out in 2006, or I might have ended up never coming back.

Once I finally made it to Ray’s, I met up with Brooke, the person who, more or less, gave me the idea of making the trip. I followed her around the park a few times to figure the lines out, and holy smokes, the girl rips. She had all the lines, even the big stuff, completely wired and made it look super easy.

It also so happened to be Bike Night and a whole crowd came out including a bunch of the Division dudes. I tried to keep up with Brooke and her friends but continued to be left in the dust. I was even actually talked in jumping the large expert stuff a few times where I’m pretty sure i bent my left pedal nose casing a landing. Oh, the woes of a street rider.

Trying my luck in the park was not much success either, but watching everyone rip the place to shreds was worth the drive alone. I was so busy riding around the place, that I completely forgot to take any photos of all the shredding, which as I’m writing this, hate myself for. Oh well, just another excuse to go back.

Milwaukee Ray’s is super fun. After riding Cleveland Ray’s so many times, the new layout and park rekindled old feelings of my first trips out west.

Information about Milwaukee, WI:

Approximate Travel Time (from Syracuse, NY): 13 freakin’ hours… ONE WAY!
Random Fact: Interstate 90′s speed limit turns to 70MPH once you get outside of Cleveland heading west.
Riding: Home to Four Seasons Skatepark and Ray’s MTB 2. Walking around downtown also yielded a lot of exciting finds street wise. With some heavy hitters coming out of this city, you know there’s stuff there. If you ever did get burned out, Chicago is about 1 Hour and 45 Minutes south.
Favorite Place for Food/Drink: All I ate was chicken and red bull the entire weekend.
Don’t Forget Your… : Caffine Pills. This was not a drive for anyone to do solo with even half a brain. I’ve lost mine and I do not suggest recreating this.
Quick Story : So I didn’t think it was possible to do in a weekend, but I’ve exceeded certain thresholds for a single person driving distance wise in under 3 days. In 71 hours, I drove 1606 miles, which breaks down to about 25 MPH nonstop for 3 days straight. With a flight and rental car, I would have saved almost 50 bucks, when compared to gas and tolls. Getting together a group of dudes and sharing the driving and expenses can make this a much more enjoyable trip. The 13 hour straight shot home was an absolute nightmare that I do not plan on attempting again.

Shout outs to Brooke and all the locals, including the old school Chenga guys that were willing to take out the dice once again to rob me my money in 4-5-6. I will without a doubt be doing everything I can to make my way back there this winter.

These photos were shot on a Nikon F100/18-35f3.5/Portra 400VC, Nikon D7000/10.5f2.8, and an iPhone4. You can also follow these adventures in real time by following me on Twitter: @koreysayshi

Some time has passed and memories may have faded, so we decided to pair some bonus Bryan Tarbell photos along with the internet debut of TMA’s Gypsy 3 section…

My favorite photo of the night was completely accidental. This dude dove right into me and I must have hit the button just before impact. The same guy also knocked the bass player off the stage. Live action!