Have you ever seen a flower so pretty you can't take your eyes off of it. One that is so beautiful and glowing with color that all you can do is stare at it. Colors so rich that you can see the inner most beauty of the flower. So radiant and abundant with life , such a beauty that you never thought that it existed. I saw a flower such as this today. It was so glorious and full of color I couldn't help but stare. The pedals on top were gold, and yellow and were glowing with rays from the sunshine. In the middle the colors were red, blue and yellow a reminded me of a mosaic. The stem of this flower was very colorful as well with blue, pink, purple, gold, and shades of blue and black through it all. It gave me a fresh perspective on life for the moment. Or I maybe it was just a freshness to give me a smile and bout of hope that there still something pure in this life. The aroma coming off this flower was sweet, a scent that made me smile and think : sometimes a little bit of beauty goes along and gives you the hope and strength to make it through the day.

May has been shaping up a lot better than April. A lot has been going on and lot of things have that have been in progress are coming into the form I'd been hoping they would. Ive relocated to the town Corona which has been different but not as much as I thought it would be. Im closer to Disneyland which is plus for Stella. And its close to Tara's parents and her work which is also a plus. Living out here has given me the chance to hang out with old friends and make some new ones which is always awesome. Been training a lot and finding my form on the bike again. And when I say finding my form on my bike. More less just feeling good on the bike again, and doing 3-5 hour training rides . Not like I've got these huge races coming up or something of that sort. More less just feeling good on the bike again. I did race yesterday out in Brea, nice to be racing but will be even nicer when I can talk about a notable placing. Made it out to the Amgen Tour of California this past week as well. Super rad to see pro tour bike riders in my own backyard racing on the same roads I train on. May also brought the rediscovery of ebay, which I highly suggest if you have STUFF sitting around. People will buy it. Headed to NYC next week for work and super excited about that. I'm not even sure what were doing out there or where its at, but for me just getting back to NYC every now and again is very refreshing. I grew up in Cali my whole life but have always had a fascination with the city, Manhattan to be matter of fact. Set up a new kit for my Pops that he just came up on. Great 80's yamaha kit with a nice black wood finish. June is also filling up with some good work which includes some traveling as well. May has been a long, productive, and very fulfilling month and can't wait to see what June has in store.

Not going my way, not at all.

April is not shaping up to what I hoped it would be. The first week of the this dreadful month had me bed ridden with the stomach flu, which kept me off my bike. Week two was looking promising, got beat up on the Tuesday night sunset ride( 8 mile loop with lots of climbing, hardest ride around so cal) and then ran into my first crit practice(ride around 4 corners about 1.2 miles in length total, isn't bike racing cool...) and got punished. And my first Saturday ride back I hid pretty well in the pack. Third week started off slow because of my job hunting and life in general. Mid week put in a great 4 hour ride to Pasadena and back then took took a few days of easy spinning.Once the Saturday ride hit I felt great and rode myself into the ground and felt great, until later that evening when my Achilles tendon swell up to the size of a banana. Not siked. Week four of being back on the bike had me off the bike, again. To bring us to current this week started off great with my best Tuesday night ride of the season, great recovery ride with my buddy Chris S. yesterday, then tonight it all turned around again with a crash at crit practice. Took the inside line on a corner to fast and tight and went down . Only pissed off about it because my frame might have a few hairline cracks in it. Really upset actually.

Oh well, tomorrow is a new day. And a good day actually. Might as well start it off with a good ride and see how it turns out. Hope my luck turns around here pretty soon.

Racing

Bike racing is an art to be mastered and one I am far from. I've been at this sport for nearly four years , but have really only been riding my bike or training shall I say for about a year. I say for real , because riding a bike and training on the bike is much different and for much of my time on the bike has been mere riding and not so much training. But that has all changed over the last 8 months. I've learned how to train properly, how to suffer , how to recover and few other things. I am far from anywhere I'd like to be on the bike, but at least I'm on the right track now.
Being overseas for 5 weeks with out my bike put a bit of a damper in my training but not as bad as I thought it would be. Since i like to hit things head on I decided to do a race merely 8 days after returning from European soil. It was my fourth time on the bike in the week, after a long week of having the stomach flu and being bed ridden for nearly 3 days out of the week I figured I'd still give it a shot. The race was 1.2 mile circuit on know as the "Ontario Easter Sunday Grand Prix". This was my first real race in a over 12 months and to be honest I had a great time and felt really confident and had a lot of fun in the race. I was suffering though out the whole of the race but still felt great in how i raced, except with my finish which was not noteworthy and merely in the pack. All in all I accomplished what I sent out to do , have a good work out and enjoy myself. Next race I m hoping to suffer even more but some out on top, well at least top ten....

On the Road

The sun is going down. The time is changing. I have changed. And I'm happy about it. Im at a very interesting place in life. Life has taught me a lot over these last 12 years of being on the road. I've learned a lot about love, women, hard work, friendship, and everything else in between. I am becoming the man and father that I want to be. And I know the two are different, that in itself has been a struggle for me, and I'm excited to see where both of them take me. I've seen more than most see in a lifetime. I've hurt more souls than anyone should ever in a lifetime. Most importantly, I've learned from my mistakes and from all the good doings.
I have never been to college, but I've got an education that is priceless. I've never seen the liberty bell in Philadelphia, but I can tell you where Lorenzo's pizza shop on South street in Phillly is. And if you want the best slice of thin crust cheese pizza on this planet, you can go there and get two slices and a coke and it will still only run you about $5. I could sit down in a coffee shop in Athens, Greece and have a conversation with someone in my generation, and it wouldn't be about politics or global warming or how fucked we are right now as a people, but can gush and over flow on how great "Turn on the Bright Lights" by Interpol is.
As I was writing this I was with our monitor engineer Phrogg, and i was the morning DJ before we took the ferry from Belfast to Manchester. Phrogg being more than close to 30 years older than me in age, I can still show him music from his youth that I have discovered throughout my travels and even introduce him to music from 3 decades ago he never knew existed. When I put it on, it brings a nod to his head and a smile to his face. I could keep up my traveling career and find more bars and great places to eat and build more great relationships out here on the road, but I'd like to try something new. I know the memories will always be there and the road will always be me. The road is what I've been. It has been my identity and my escape. It's now easy to go on the road, and I much prefer challenges. You can always run away from life on the road, you can always hide from your l loved ones, your hated ones, the ones that adore you, and the ones you scathe.
Now I'm on to something new. It will take time and patience, which is difficult for me. But time is on my side. To be honest, I've always struggled with time. Maybe its because time is so powerful. TIme is a beautiful and frightening all at the same time, and it's something to be respected. I'm glad I have these memories in my heart and in my mind. I've met the most amazing, beautiful, talented, and gifted people one could ever know. But the time has come to move on. Do I know what is next yet? No, but I'll know what it is when I get there.

-On the road.

Tour: Its the little things in life

Touring never really changes. I used to tour 6 months out of the year in a 15 passenger van, sharing 2 hotel rooms between 11 people, and living off $10/ day . Now I travel on a tour bus with 11 people, stay in 5 star hotels with my own room, and live off of $45/ day. In reality, it's the same gig though. I used to think of all the bands that were "cool" and had it together - making money or just well known and touring in arenas. I thought when doing huge events that things would just be so smooth and PRO all the time. Let me tell you, they are not! I'm not one to complain, just voicing my opinion.

Day sheets are a thing of the past I guess. Day sheets give you running times and the schedule of the day's happenings, and I can usually only find one everyday in the venue. Only one! And it's usually in front of the production office. Good place for it huh? At least they know what's going on. hmmmmm. This is opposed to how it should be done, with them plastered throughout the venue so you never have to think twice about where you are, what the wireless code is, what time lunch is, what time the show starts.... You know, the basics. And to me this is a big deal because when you have these things posted, you never have to ask anyone any stupid questions, such as, "what time are doors?" The last thing they want is some drum tech walking into their offices asking for the wireless code to the building, let's be honest now. To me this is basic 101 touring that should be done on all levels, and as my journey continues into the huge world of music, touring, and entertainment, I'm finding out what really goes on.

Now don't get me wrong, I loved staying at the King George Palace in Athens, Greece, but it'll cost you 10 euro to wash one shirt. I miss staying at a Super 8 sometimes because at least you can do all your laundry for 10 bucks while sitting in the hallway drinking a Coke and eating chips. It's just kind of funny to me. I love it though - every part of the road - the amazing people you meet, the terrible food you eat, the wonderful little cafe you hang out in and make your own.... These are the things you miss a lot on the road, like just sitting down at a coffee shop and having mindless conversation like I do so much when I am not on the road.

The tour is about half through at the moment and going well. We just spent a few days in Finland and Norway. We were in Bergen, Norway for 3 days, and I really enjoyed the time spent there, but I'm happy to be leaving and embrace the rest of the countries I've never been to. I'm in Copenhagen today. First time in Denmark. Then back to Germany, followed by 2 days off in Amsterdam and 2 days off in Liverpool, England. I'm excited about going to the UK for the fact that it will be my first visit to England ever.

...Coffee break is over, back to work.

"It feels good to know you're mine now drive me far. Away. I don't care where just far away"
-Chino Moreno

Berlin

I never thought I would ever spend a week in Berlin Germany but then again I never thought half the things I've experienced would have happend to me. So this is what I'm up to for the next few months. I'm in Berlin getting ready to do a tour with the rap/hip hop artist 50 cent. Im going to be working in 20 countries in the next the next 7 weeks on his headlining world tour. This is the first tour in a quite sometime that I'm actually excited to be on so it should be a good, lets hope. I'll be updating pics and stuff pretty regularly on twitter so check it out if you have time.

http://twitter.com/localxjoey