There is (quite literally) a whole other side to the US. It is not full of bronzed beauties, protein drink junkies, gymbo’s, plastic surgeons, washed up rock stars and attention seeking freaks (massive generalisation I know…a joke really)…there is the East Coast. This place has attitude and bite, not quite a whole other country, but it is certainly a different place to where their west coast brothers and sisters hang out.

The east coast gets a bit of a bum deal I reckon, it is kind of traditional it seems. It is the same with surfing and other ‘extreme’ sports, all the big bucks and media attention is way out west, but the underground hardcore keep it pumping back east. I mean bike wise they have Iron Horse, e.thirteen, Evil, Brooklyn, Sinister, Spooky, Avalanche and many more…and they are just the companies. Core brands at the heart of the sport. They have great riding and riders, and of course they have New York, the place where anything goes…the Velvet Underground, the Ramones, Blondie, Sonic Youth, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Taxi Driver, Hill Street Blues, pastrami on rye, the subway…the list is endless…all kinds of unpolished, raw and gritty things. The place is so exciting, it has a creative vibe, but it is still just a place in my dreams. So some of the team took a trip, a mad 10 days travelling around, meeting up with old friends on their home turf and finding new ones.

Check it out…oh, and have a nice day. Mike Rose