Written with Alfred Bobe March 2011 New York-Milan:
The most valuable thing you can own in New York City is self-righteousness. But it comes at a price. All the most famous people here go to sleep scared of being found out.
We love to hustle because the hustle means getting away with it, making it look like you invented it, making something your own. That was the summer we invented the wildstyle.
All the different styles you see out there now just come from people with energy meeting other people with energy. Most guys were just doing their thing because they loved doing it. People get larger than life almost by accident here.
The reason riders can’t follow me is because they don’t know where I’m going. The thing I do, my style it’s a dance – ‘turn the cranks’ I tell myself because I already know the rest.
The thing I do with my knees when I pedal is just me relaxing – hardly any riders know how to conserve energy on a fixed gear – you have to dislocate your legs from your hips – I call it floating – nobody else knows how to do this but respect to Jason Gandy, messenger and teacher, who I stole the idea from before it even existed.
The way I pull my hand across cars comes from surfing – being in the barrel, feeling your way.
The times I said ‘fuck you’ to the camera I didn’t even realize I was doing it – like I said it’s a dance and I’m the performer – let the music takeover.
I just became a better cyclist everyday and at some point I became a huge hammer, I took it upon myself to lay down the law for everybody, say I was the man.
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Monstertrack was born from the idea of racing mano a mano – make people take each other on, on a level playing field, pure combat. Last year I went to Monstertrack before I raced and won I said ‘those of you motherfuckers who like history you’re looking at the face of it right now.’
People ask me where I was the first years of the race the answer is riding my mountain bike, there with the front group, not allowed to win though – I had it tweaked like nobody else, I thought fixed gear riders were jokers – the first time I started racing track bikes I put my mountain bike risers on there – I was the first guy ever to do that.
A few years ago at Monstertrack you used to ride in big groups almost to the end, I used to call the riders with me my ‘disposable henchmen’ – close to the end I’d see ahead to a light change which only had space for 1 or 2 bikes – that’s when I made my move – and other times I just let them go ahead, rode behind their bikes, I won’t let you see me this scares the shit out of them, I disappear.



