Honestly, my carbon footprint is probably so ridiculous it's going to be mistaken for that crater in Arizona! Bigfoot ahoy. So, two days in London and then another plane to Ibiza for Warrens stag do. Blow your lasers and reach for your whistles! So much fun. We were staying in San Antonio and I'm not gonna lie, I was nervous... Turned out our £6 / night hotel was a lot less scary than it sounds and actually pretty comfortable. Thanks DC. So we hired chav scooters and had a blast on Friday. Mason skidded his down the road and snapped off a brake lever - somehow he managed to get his deposit back and then make a hasty escape on the back of Wadeys 50cc before they saw. Cooper made it so far up a hill off road near schlong beach. Almost everyone who went for a swim got a jellyfish sting and then Warren dropped his hot exhaust right on the sting a bit later. Owch. Cannot believe we didn't have to use our EIHC cards once. Saturday night was Hed Kandi at El Divino. Glam ahoy. So so good. 7 hours of boogie-ing which felt like 30 mins. High on life. Forgot how much I liked a dance. Also was pretty cool watching the sun come up behind the stage. So straight from the club to the beach with a couple of girls from New Orleans. Wade was giving it his best - I've never seen anyone talk for so long without coming up for air. No one male anyway. The second Nandos of the weekend couldn't come soon enough. It's also a small world - Hannah Holland was playing at Judgement Sunday in Eden. She's the daughter of Chris Holland who I work for and the sister of Suzi Holland who Fera used to live with! crazy. Anyway - bottle of wine and then a flight back. What a blur. Not that I didn't have the most amazing time but the real stand out bits of my trip up north were riding the hills with Joe and then with the ibiza crew on the monday. Thanks for the bike loans lads; meant more to me than you'll ever realise. Panoramic photos up soon....

Worked with Mr Rider yesterday and a pretty spooky David Walliams. He's got a book out for Christmas about boys in dresses... so there you go. Completely forgot he swam the channel. Haven't met too many people who've done that.

Back in LDN for just under a month now (unless sommat comes up) which I'm really looking forward to. Have felt pretty unsettled recently which is fun and all but yeah, nice to know I'm back at home and can get on with home stuff like seeing friends and printing. Which I'm doing right now.

Speak soon friends. Get in touch and we'll get a beer. Plan.

RB

OH YEAH - print sales section is up and running! Paypal and everything - believe that. Click me!

Golly gosh. Just got back from one of the best stag weekends ever. Wow. Went to Warsaw with Mr Taylor and the big sheffield riding crew. There was a race on just outside the city so we headed to that. First night was a couple of bars and a close call with the champagne bill. Hangovers kicked in so most of us chilled at the race the next day leaving Steve and Jordan to take care of racing duties. And they did with aplomb! After a killer set of motos and quarters Steve was very unlucky in the semis getting taken out by a loosy goosey who was in 1st. Such good riding all day, crap way to go out but that's what happens sometimes - on the plus he could get on the drinks a bit earlier! Jordan Gordan breezed his semi and lined up for the final with the best 4x riders in poland. No really - national race. Just to set the scene a bit.... Hot hot hot and sunny. Kebab flavoured crisps, ginger beer and a day screaming for your friends to cycle fast. New friends, bq hot dogs, amazing drum and bass on the pa, biggest dirt jumps I've ever seen with flips and whips ahoy. Great banter and some more Zwyiecs. Basically relaxed, fun, perfect day. So then the final was on... JG was in the zone deciding to stay there on the walk up the hill. On the other side we were going off in support but he kept his head down and took to the gate. Slow gate (when I say slow I mean compared to the other three in front, nothing was slow in this race), no panic, hung back to give the step up a proper go. Caught no 3 in first corner. Bit of a kerfuffle in turn two and old Gould gets on the inside and right into 1st. Holds off no2 in the last corner (just) and seals the win. Amazing. So that epic day just got even better with a No1 podium and general good feeling. Such a shame ST wasn't in't final cos he deserved it in a big way but there you go. You have to love races where the prize (amongst lots and lots of other things) is a bottle of vodka and a bag of gherkins!
Rest of evening was just as epic. More vodka and herring (the vodka neutralises some bad oils in the fish so you feel less bad the next day. Truth. Heard it from an actual microbiologist), ST in a dress, Punk'd nightclub which was like MTV in a sweatbox. So much fun you wouldn't believe, Bolehills rocks everywhere, Dialled Mike breakdancing, £10 rounds for 10 people, dancy dancy dancy. More clubs and excitement and a welcome taxi back at 05:30. I don't know if you can tell but I had a lot of fun.
Sunday was that mild headache you earned and masochistically, enjoy a little. Got a bit of exploring done on my 20" on my own. Manuals ahoy. Met some locals who showed me the park. Nailed my first EVER curved wallride (after it nailed me a lot of times). Everyone was so friendly it was like BMX was about a decade ago here when no one was even the littlest bit salty. Hopefully it'll never ever be like that as I rediscovered how much fun riding with no hassle is. Just riding. And smiling. Hit up some more trails and a track in the avo with the crew. More friendly locals. Urban cross country riding. Hooked up with Nick, Ewa and Mareck later for chats and pasta. We don't see family enough. Caught back up with the others and had some more of those beers. Off to a club (with my bike). "Can I just put this inside the door?", "nah - we'll put it in the cloakroom. Much safer! Here's a ticket". Brill. More dancing and laughing and a video game ride home early doors. Super good.
That's about it. What a ramble egh. So nice hanging out with people I haven't seen properly for about 3 years and meeting loads of new fun people, Polish and English. Photos are HERE and videos are HERE. Especially number 5 which is probably the most incredible escape on a jump you will ever see. Ever. Really. 'A la Coogan, ask "how, and why..." Oh yeah - we saw Jimmy White at the airport with a Louis V bag stuffed full of Jimmy White DVDs! hah.

Thanks all. Thank you bike.



Big love.

RB

Mornin. Done the old chestnut of trying to update the site, writing some news and then not actually getting round to uploading it for a few days. In which time I went to a Sealed Knot event so Paul could shoot English 'eccentrics' for his personal work. These guys live for this. Can't quite get it myself but I guess it's a fun way to play with guns egh. Although they should be full of paint so you can actually see who got shot. Maybe I just want loads of paint everywhere cos Stus birthday paintballing was cancelled. Gutted. We headed off to the Smithfields nocturne instead which was great. Lots and lots of silly bikes... which I love
Fun evening, nice chinese, my first ever jagerbomb which wasn't the Tia Maria with lucozade and some sparklers I asked for but hey ho.

Anyway - the print sales section is so nearly done it's not funny. Free tomorrow so will sort it for sure. Promise. I'm off to work now and off to Manchester with Adrian so he can shoot a Welsh footballer on tuesday, catch up soon. If you're riding about in this nice weather, wear a helmet - heard of some scary accidents recently. Take it (very) easy.

Big love,

RB

Happy Friday everyone. How's are y'all. I'm really tired. Worked just off Abbey Road (and no, I'm not a fan of the Beatles - get over it) - that's a fair cycle from Lewisham. For me anyway. Anyway, job was fun and I got to share a sofa with Danni Minogue. Just another hot Aussie really (whos sister happens to be Kylie!). Look out for the next (or maybe the one after that) issue of Good Housekeeping. Rock on.
Cannot believe it's been a week since I got back from Italy. Went out with James Pursell and Steve from BBH where we met our guide Leo and pretty much planned the whole shoot around where and when to eat. Munched on so much parma ham I very nearly got tired of it - imagine that!? Sick of prosciutto crudo? Must have been a lot. Among lots of other food over the 4 days there was Pici which is a pasta (sort of) which looks and moves just like worms but is super tasty, bruschetta, duck, panna cotta, ragout, nougat mousse, limoncello, lots of wine, parmesan, espresso, more wine, and a kilo steak. Man, I ate a kilo of meat AFTER a plate of pasta. Pow! The shoot was good. Look out for a floating olive in food mags soon... Brill job. Amazing countryside, good company and very little fuss. I feel very lucky / privileged. Bear in mind that the wine glass is one of those big ones to fit your nose into - makes the bistecca look smaller than it was!

Worked on Sunday with Tom Oxley again at his amazing house in Dalston shooting a crazy yank band called Iglu & Hartley. Have a look and witness the bro' love! Funny funny guys who we'll hopefully see in CA this summer. Met up with the JD / Ibiza crew on Thursday - completely forgot to take a hip flask full of yessboss though. Rubbish. Actually I don't have a hip flask after my unfortunate bicycle + jager = squashed flask + (bruised ass X 1000000) incident. Turns out they were all drinking red wine and being all hip hop at a Kiss FM 'jump off' the night before anyway. Crazy kids.
So tired right now I think this Friday will be a very quiet one. Tomorrow is a job with Mr Rider and the Sealed Knot which will be fun fo-sho. Then I'm going to shoot Simpson with paint-balls till he looks like Johnny Knoxville on the cover of Rolling Stone. Happy birthday for next week Stu!

RB