Red Riding Hood Productions

This is one of my very favorite races ever.

Mostly for sentimental reasons.

Monster Track 3 was the very first race I ever raced. I didn't think I could *really* ride at that point, and Monster Track 3 proved to me that my reflexes on a track bike were just fine. For months before that race, I would ride cautiously, and listen to Mike Dee yell at me constantly that I could go faster, that I could have taken that light with room to spare, that I really only needed a few feet to stop and could therefore haul ass down the Manhattan Bridge without fear, etc. And he was right, I could do all those things. But I was nervous, riding with no brakes around NYC, on my tiny, beautiful, pink sherbert, time-trial Masi. It wasn't until I raced that day that I learned to ride with confidence.

Monster Track taught me that I *had* all those skills and that there was no need to be nervous, just smart, and sometimes just faithful, in myself and my bicycles ability to glide smoothly through traffic, like a hot knife through a stick of butter kept in the snow.

I raced with Ming the Merciless at my side. (Thank you Ming, for getting me on a bike in the first place, and for being so encouraging of my early NYC riding days, and everything else, from the moment I met you). I remember that race being short, fun, and fast. I remember just cruising by the checkpoints and grabbing an envelope on the way, not even stopping my bike, (the proof that you hit all the checkpoints was an envelope with a different sticker from each of them) and stuffing each envelope in my back pocket, hoping none of them would fall out.

Monster Track was brought to us by Johnny Snake. He threw the race and I think there were maybe 40 riders, and at that point (pre-Warrior's Ride), I think that was considered alot. The next year there were well over 100 racers (post-Warrior's Ride).

While I've raced other races since then, I've never raced another Monster Track. The year after that - MT lV - I had fucked up my shoulder real bad a few days before and couldn't race. So I filmed the start, and the after party, instead. Some of that footage is my favorite ever. I have a great clip of Ho Dari with his trophy (not sure why he got a trophy but he did!), and of Jack getting arrested for having a blade longer than 4 inches (apparently the cops saw it hanging out of his pocket - fucking NYC). That year was also the begining of Gerreros Sin Frenos (hot damn - I just realized I'm wearing the GSF MT lV t-shirt right now!), and the day I met this badass, fresh on a track bike, all excited smiles, awesome dickwad named Hugo, who (through all sorts of ups and downs) became the single most significant person in my life for the few years after that. Although we're not together anymore, I'm really proud of him, and I hope he wins this years Monster Track like I know he can.

The years after that, it just seemed like the race became about how brutal the course could be (maybe to weed out the weak ones), and honestly, I'm just not that kind of rider (maybe I'm one of the weak ones). I generally like 'em short and fun, not long and so exausting that I feel like I want to go to sleep after. So, I did checkpoints, and shot pictures, and partied instead.

This year I'm excited because I'll be back in NY after being away for 3 months. I'm excited to see friends I haven't seen in a while. People I am used to seeing on the streets of NY all the time, people that make me feel like NY is home.

I was thinking last night that I've left a bit of myself in every place I've been (I think we all do) and that I only become reunited with that piece of myself when I go back to that place. And that's why the places I revisit feel a little bit like home when I go back. Then I was also thinking that that thought doesn't just reference places but also people. That every person that I love, every person who I've had a connection with, every person that has been part of my life, feels a little bit like home when I see them again. Of course some more than others.

Monster Track, for me, feels a little like going home. I'll see lots of people from all over the country, sometimes all over the world, that I miss. Ho Dari will yell at me for no reason and then hug me a few minutes later and tell me 'You know I love you. You're my Yiddish Mama!' and I'll tell him 'I know you love me Ho, you're my Puerto Rican Daddy. Stop being a bitch!'. Maybe I'll race, maybe I'll do a checkpoint, maybe I'll just hang out. But one thing's for sure - I'll be there having fun with people that I love (and some that I hate), with a community that I'm proud to be a part of, and that's kind of a blessing, so I feel pretty lucky right now.