Yeah, new video action from the Jan 23 "Save The Banks" jam, at the Bk'lyn Banks. From what we were hearing beforehand, I was expecting to see something like the Animal Jam on steroids, but that wasn't how it went down, more like one thrid of the Animal Jam. Shows how much pull Animal has! Still, it was a good jam with a peaceful mix of riders, skaters, scooter kids, MTB'ers, you name it. Peep the video and try to visualize 30 something degrees with the wind blowing! In HD full screen.

Thanks NickyDicky for the intro page stencil shot.

Damn, happy new year's people we are now living in the future, 2010. Now where's my damn flying car already? The Waste crew has been on the low, people living their lives and it's really brick outside most days. Maybe it'll warm up to 40 degrees, fingers crossed, so we can go hop some snowbanks.

I revamped the video and wallpaper pages in the Stray Shots section, definitely peep that and rep Jersey correctly with that real shit on your desktop, and check out the vids while you're at it. Youtube embedded players for your viewing pleasure.

Gotta big up Mike Brennan for the WTP All-Day grips, man I never run anything but Edwins for years, but when I saw the little NJ logos all over the grips, I had to. They are fucking dope and real grippy, just the right thickness. Sorry guys!

So we all know about what happened in Haiti.. people I know times are tough but what goes around, comes around. If you can do something to help, or donate a couple bucks, do it. You'll feel better and might help somebody whose life got flipped upside down. See ya next time. Feel better Shel.

Long time no see! We're still riding and doing recon, got some spot jewels for you coming up next time. For now, Peep Leo's Yard, the latest vid from WasteNJ in HD, song by the Highlanderz, real Jersey representers. What up Anom, Long time! Also peep the WasteNJ Youtube channel here. Catch you on the rebound..

So the dump spot is a done deal, apartment complex supers  bulldozed the ramps and not just that, they carted away all the wood. Of course we knew it would happen but we were souped to ride the spot when we rolled up on the carnage. I suppose I should put the vid together! Gonna have to make something else happen around there because there really isn't shit... might be time to break out the concrete.

Thanks to you guys that have sent spots info, Brock and Anthony. I know we have been bullshitting on the trips, that's about to end, starting with Millburn.

.

Marlo's stickers came in, featuring Waste mascot Leonitus the Pitbull terror. Respect the beast.

And we finally got the Waste-NJ logo shirts in, random colors, $14 shipped.That's right we know times are tough, and this supports the site. Light color shirts have black, dark shirts have white. I am still hooking up the shopping cart so

 EMAIL ME if you want one, I use PayPal. Limited quantity.

Dump spot and leo's yard vids in process, check back soon. Later-

Shot some video at the dump spot last week, managed to get some heads together and do some work. Well, that was until I realized I had 20 minutes of battery left. I got what I could but ended up leaving kinda irked for a different reason.

Scene kids.

Now don't get me wrong I'm usually about a million miles away from the nearest scene kid. I don't hang out in the skatepark, and the spots I ride ain't blown yet. Let's just say that when your crew builds a spot to ride on the stealth because the local park is bikes-banned, and a grip of 'tween skaters show up to skate your spot daily and set up bullshit 6 inch high obstacles all around, that's a problem. When you get some corny wanna-be hood kid talking junk the whole time for his poser audience, that's a problem. When you're snaking my riders while I'm filming, that's a problem. Just know this isn't some anti-skate thing, but the respect level ain't where it needs to be. So just go ride the fucking skatepark please because we don't want to have to whip boards over the fence. Fair warning. If you're cool with us you know this isn't directed at you. If you don't, this means YOU, don't act familiar.

Esophegator has begun Op.Recondo. Slide show next update. Disguised in plain sight, obviously hidden. Yeah.

Thanks to the cats that reached out to me via email with spot info. Sticks on the way.

New Bikecheck, Nick DiChiaro has been added to the Waste roster. Look out, vid is in the pipe.

---Once again hit me up people, email

Damn, that winter mess was killing me. Thank God we got a few days in a row above 50, felt like you were 10 pounds lighter cruising around. Almost there, almost there. Started peeping out spots that have been buried, or flooded. Looking good. Also, while circulating through the wasteland we've been bumping into people asking about Waste and wanting the dirt. If you cats want to represent and you ride a bike, email me because "for a limited time only" I'm gonna be sending out free random stickers. Those of you with spots info, you get the full pack, but you need to send pics or a writeup. For the hardcore, when the shirts drop, you'll prolly get one of those too, keep it in mind because that shit is going to be a classic real fast.

We got the new stickers in for Waste rider Darin Shultheis, Bend it and Send it limited editions! That's like his signature phrase and overall mental state. A pic is worth a thousand words. Yes, some of these will make it into sticker packs. That's him on the right. Marlo's sticker is in the pipe. Woof!

Got a new BikeCheck up, Esophegator's Volume Enns. Minty freshness, check that out HERE, peep the rest of the bikechecks HERE. Also, stealth operation Recondo has been approved... New wallpapers HERE.

 ---Hit me up people, email

Happy New Year!

'08 was kinda rough, hopefully '09 will be better, either way no more Bush. So what if it's snowing sideways when you can watch a video shot in August? Peep the Wasteland August video right here: (Youtube link)

Also while checking the shit list, nothing lasts forever, the Dump spot has been almost destroyed by some a-holes, they ripped up part of the quarter, broke the steep side's transition and covered the whole area with broken glass, wall to wall. They couldn't take down the main center section, but that piece has so many nails and screws in it that they prolly gave up. Ah well.

Original pic  

New wallpaper up on the Stray Shots page....Hit me up people, email

First I gotta say thanks for the people who have emailed and linked up with us, or put us up on spots, stay in the loop peeps if you don't hear from me for a minute! Now on to business,

Looks like Bloomfield finally got down with the Joe Tiseo II memorial skatepark. Here's a link to the story, with a good image slideshow of the ceremony. Obviously this is something that the dudes at Animal (among others) have been pushing for, for what seems like forever. Peep the story HERE. Looks like a really well planned out park, not that typical prefab shit.

Speaking of parks; so after the Waste crew helped to pass out fliers, organize peeps to attend council meetings, and all that shit, to get a ramp park approved in Parsippany, the park got passed, built, and bans bikes.  DPW dickhead parked outside the entrance all day, and at night it's pitch black with no lights. Not a huge loss because the park is a wack layout of prefab metal ramps and obstacles, like a bad imitation of a real ramp park. But we've seen you dudes from the surrounding towns cruising through, no doubt you are coming to check out the park... It's chill just to see riders we don't know. It's all good, we just had to come up with a backup plan. Call it Kindergarten club remix, now known as "The Dump". Excuse the phone pics.

Until they knock it down, that's our new local park! We're all street people anyways, creatures of the night, we much prefer a stealth street spot to a front street park full of little kids and skaters. Hit me up people, email me.

So if you come around here often you're probably thinking what's with the quick updates? Two months off and then two updates in two weeks. I must have something to post up? Yep.

Got a hot tip from Nick DiChiaro from out in Millburn NJ, he put us up on some dope riding spots and not only that, he even did the spot report write up and everything, so I gotta big Up Nick and his racing sponsor High Gear, a shop over in Millburn. How many shops do you know that are sponsoring dudes for BMX racing? Hey that's how Brian Foster started out. Peep the spot report page HERE and don't be shook to send me some intel on your local spots, you'll end up with a sticker pack, and the new sticker hotness just came in...

To the right is Waste rider Darin S, now recovering from surgery on the shattered ankle.. He's rocking some metal in there now and is pretty heavily... sedated....

Right now I'm in the process of editing (or motivating myself to begin editing) the video we shot at some of the old local spots around Bergen county. Once it's done it'll be on YouTube, and maybe I'll post it up in a mini-television here on the media page like the other vids. Should be interesting.

More hotness from the Animal warehouse, we finally copped some of the PC (Plastic Composite) Hamilton pedals, which I guess got held up by Odyssey trying to block the candy colored PC stuff from being made for other companies. Regardless, they are just as grippy as the regular Hamiltons, which have to be some of the best pedals already, but they are light as shit and actually tougher than the metal ones. Plus, they are real cheap.

Email Me peeps, till next post.

Happens to everybody, injuries are a fact of life. Darin S, Waste rider broke his ankle while 360ing a grass hip, landed in a hole and next thing ya know he’s in the hospital. No Med Insurance. Surgery. 4 months recovery. Cats really do put their shit on the line for BMX. Heal fast. Good thing we got some filming done last weekend. Wasted summer Video clip soon.

So what else is going on? Contacted Ralph, no Animal Jam this year at the B’klyn Banks. Yeah, I know it sucks, but throwing the jam is a huge undertaking and hassle so I can’t say I blame anybody, especially after what happened last year. Anyways you can ride the banks whenever you want.

One of the Waste Bike mods has been posted up by a couple of bike sites, Bikehacks.com being the first. Check it out here, yeah they’ve got some weird hacks on the site, it’s bugged out. The hack was also posted on Bikerumor.com, peep that Here, but I get the feeling they got it from Bikehacks… haha whatever.

Some of you have emailed me about spots, and coming out to ride with you, and I gotta say thanks. EMAIL ME anytime peoples. Big Ups to  Anthony Ciavarella, and Wilfredo Ruiz. We will definitely try to make it out to the spots. Yes, we’ve been slacking pretty hard this summer. Riding, but slacking.

We went down to the old local spots, Hop industries and Paterson (McBride Ave) to shoot some vid. Hop industries, once a busy warehouse complex, is now a bombed out wasteland. All the banks are still intact, but now the inside is like a graffiti hall of fame and, well, just wait for the video. But I gotta say, you can really see how bad people are doing these days… everything is closed down or knocked down.

Be safe.

Hey you know the Castle is an Icon in NJ. The hamburger crack spots that are spread so far from each other that some people drive for a hour to get to one. (gotta keep the junkies wanting more.) They even made a documentary about it with Harold and Kumar, every part of that movie was true. Here's a wallpaper.

Anyway, we finally got off our lazy asses and hopped in the car and went someplace. New spot report on Algonquin Parkway in East Hanover or close to it. Peep that and go if you can, do something different. Also got some footy and flicks from Paterson NJ, yeah I know we did Newark and Jersey City, where the hell is Paterson right? Well truth is, I know a lot of spots there and it's gonna take me 2 or 3 trips to get them all, or at least enough that I'm satisfied. Paterson's got some shit, so until the report gets posted (Video also?) go check out the municipal plaza downtown and try looking along McBride ave. That can get you started. Not a lot of riders there from what I've seen but if there are any I'm down to link up, just hit my email up jay@waste-nj.com. After Paterson, maybe we'll hit up Passaic too, I think I know some people to help out with that area... I'm still missing School 11 and the Clifton banks, etc, and those used to be local spots to me. I guess it's time to get moving.

Heads up, I may be posting up on YouTube new vids of our 2 Waste-Nj riders, doing their thing in the streets. Maybe get them some exposure. I'll let you know.

Till next post---

No I haven't been locked up! But damn, you prolly thought we fell off, nah son!

Way back when, I was broke as hell, and my bikes were always kind of pieced together from everywhere. Nothing wrong with that, it’s called BMX soul. Recycling shit, breaking out the spray paint, doing what you’ve gotta do to stay rolling. You never get a “new” bike, your ride just kind of evolves part by part. Depending on how far you take it, things can get pretty artistic and if you’ve got some skills, you can come off with something that money can’t buy.  Your ride can also look a hot mess. The whole street flavor is improvising, making something yours, and style expression. Can’t be mad at that.

On the other hand, if you get a few coins in your pocket, it’s good to build something up from scratch. Everybody likes a clean, dialed whip. In my case I took about 6 months buying parts here and there. Picking and choosing and comparing weights and colors and looks and styles.  Every so often BMX kind of moves ahead as far as parts design concept, etc. Companies start to focus more closely on certain areas, for example, right now everybody is machining everything down to the minimum, putting holes in everything, coming out with 80’s colors, and making things out of plastic again. Weight weight weight.

  No need to compromise, no rush, I already had a bike, but it was a couple years old and showing it. So I did the online mail order thing, got a bunch of stuff from Animal,  got some wheels built over at Marty’s Reliable in Morristown.  I tried to go as new school as possible, went from 48’s to 36’s, upgraded to the pivotal, shrunk the drivetrain even more, grabbed the Kevlar tire. So that’s my new bikecheck, and some flicks of the spraycan magicians’ work too.

Later.

I guess you snooze you lose. Osso told me that the "secret spot", down in Jersey City/Hoboken has been blown up... literally. It's gone, and before I could do a spot check on it. If you didn't know, this is the spot that looks like a graffiti hall of fame with a bunch of concrete trannys to wall and other obstacles. Or, better yet, grab a copy of Don't Quit Your Day Job 2, and watch the bonus stuff. Just watch all of it, you'll get to a part that's just a session at that spot. You can't miss it. Damn.

Speaking of which, yes DQYDJ2 is the hotness. It's all mainly underground Jersey cats and mostly Jersey spots, giving them some shine time. If you aren't from here and you want to get an idea what NJ is like, get this. You want to know why the site is all rusty and grimy? 'Cause this is Jersey. The cityscape shots from rooftops and whatnot really give you a good feel of urban NJ. Thank Bob Scerbo.

So why not tie all this together with a couple DQYDJ2 bike checks? Yeah son! Mike "McLovin" Osso (McLosso?) and Scotty Eaton, straight out the Animal warehouse. You can see them ripping in the vid. I popped in to finally check out Osso's LTF, and yes, he did choose the black one over the Zinc plated one on purpose. Doesn't like the bling. Seems S&M put McLovin on the flow team... Anyways it looks like somebody from DELTA force hopped off of it, military style colors.

And also while over there I ran into Scotty Eaton, back from a short vacation, and saw his newish Fit S3 Aitken. Yeah his boys and Animal helped him out by hooking him up with their own parts and a few new Animal goodies. I'm sure some damage will be done on this thing.

Hopefully I'll have some more spot coverage for the next update. Peace.

UPDATE 1.26.08:--Added the pics for Scotty's bikecheck page, oops.

Every NJ rider knows and has respect for Animal Bikes. I first passed through the warehouse a few years back, after figuring out that the very well disguised second floor spot was about 5 minutes from my house at the time. Everybody there was super cool from the first day, and a couple visits later when I did actually first meet Ralph, I realized that this is why Animal is what it is. It's hard to describe without sounding kind of corny, but these guys care about riding for real, they all love riding Jersey, and they all are normal dudes without big egos. Of course when you see them ride they fucking kill shit.

SO one time I was there bullshitting and Omar had just built up his custom FBM Autopilot. Must have been the cleanest bike I had seen, in years. That's the reason I decided we needed to do some Bikechecks on the site. This last time I went I came back with enough pics for 3 new Bikechecks, (Ralph, Omar, Paul) and although I do wish some of the pics came out better (could've used more light), it is what it is. Osso, I'll get your LTF next time! Ralph even looked me out with the white photo wall. This guy will do whatever he can to help you out.

So as you look at the rides, you'll probably notice some prototypical type parts here and there. Lemme put you up on the hot shit. Animal GLH-R tires are now in, yes these are Kevlar foldable and pretty damn light, and softer, compared to a regular GLH. ASM's will also be available, and the new size 20x2.25 GLH-R (which is still technically a prototype) will be in any day. Yes I love the big honkin' front tires!

But that's not all. As I have predicted, this will be the year of plastic parts, because of the weight, and the strength of modern plastics. Well Animal has their prototype plastic real bar ends, which combined with the plastic pedals on Omar's bike, make the bike almost silent when dropped, etc. I still like the Hamilton's though. And if you thought the Pivotal seatpost technology was still fresh, Animal's not waiting around - they have a prototype Wedge Bolt Pivotal seatpost that works like a 1" stem! No seatclamp needed! Welcome to 2008.

Happy New Years, time to make some empty promises and keep on doing whatever you already were. Well, usually that's the flow but this time around something feels different. I think I actually want to make a few resolutions this time. Nothing crazy like curing cancer, losing weight or helping the underprivileged, I'm gonna limit my resolutions to riding related stuff. I have enough real life drama already.

Mainly, I think I'm going to get off the computer and ride more. No I'm not a MySpace addict either, but I still manage to spend mega hours in front of a monitor. It sometimes makes a convenient excuse not to go out because it's too cold, nobody's riding, local spots are boring, etc. Fuck it, I'll spin off curbs for an hour if that's what it takes... Not that I won't be updating the site or making videos, etc, in reality that stuff takes almost no time. On top of that, this year I want to learn a few moves that have been nagging me. I want to get my nose wheelies down, bars consistent, and maybe pull a couple of hop whips. Yeah, I suck, haha.

So it's January 7 and about 60 outside, I like. One or two months of winter is PLENTY. Let's call it a wrap and get on with the summer already. OK that's a delusion, so in the meantime I need a nice, abandoned warehouse somewhere to play around with. Preferably somewhere close. That's less of a delusion.

In case you didn't notice, it's been almost a year of Waste-NJ now. Damn, time flies. For this year it's still on and everything should get bumped up a notch as far as videos, features, and "street advertising"... Peep the fresh BikeCheck section , and if you know about RSS feeds, add us to your list of feeds. Thanks to Jason over at BMXFEED.com for adding us to the list, he's got a shitload of BMX related feeds, it's a news whore's paradise. Damn, look at me telling everybody to spend more time on the web.

Also, new stickers are coming and maybe a shirt. Later.

What's up fellas (ladies?), yes it's about 15 degrees and the wind is blowing. 45 minutes outside and you start to sound like Mushmouth from Fat Albert. As soon as you hit the ground it feels like death. Then another hour later you're riding back with sweat running down your face and steam rising off you like the BMX AntiChrist, the holiday shoppers are shook to the point they almost remove the cellphones from their ears! A holiday miracle!

Check up from the Neck up::  Bike check section is now up! Bike checks are one of my favorite things to look at on other sites. It's Bike porn. I hooked up the tech section so now you can get to the bike checks quick and easy, and the old tech articles are still there on the next page after. I set it off with my whip and Esophegator's, with a lot more in the pipe. Since they are so easy to do, there should be a few more every month. Omar got me inspired because his FBM is so damn CLEAN!

REAL SIMPLE SHIT::  I mean, isn't that what RSS means? Nah basically it's "Real Simple Syndication", RSS "feeds" let you keep tabs on a site's updates and get the links to the new stuff easily. Very trendy and in style for all the news whores. SOOO I've added an RSS feed for Waste-nj.com. Now before you non-techy types run for the hills, relax, all you need to have the latest info with an RSS feed is a feed reader like Google's Reader, clik HERE. Or if you are using the Firefox browser or IE7, they have feed bookmarks built in. Safari also has RSS built in for you Mac guys...yeah...

To subscribe, just clik the RSS button at the top of the page.

Stay frosty softy.

Jay 11.09.07 Vadevuh

Jay 10.13.07 Follow Through, Animal Jam Update

Yeah man, not too much happening around here lately. Haven't been on any trips to any where new, although I do have a couple of spots that need attention. If you live in, or have rode in Hackensack or Orange NJ, then you know what I mean. Yeah, Park Ave, Orange.

Been riding solo a lot, but it's boring around here and I need some motivation.

Last weekend Red Bull,  Animal and Zoo York had a contest out at Asbury Park, the "Down and Dirty" comp. 10 grand in prize money (!?) It was a Red Bull kind of format with teams of three competing for cash. Too bad I only found out about it yesterday (4 days after), but Omar said some heavy stuff went down. In case you aren't from NJ, Asbury is a good example of straight NJ Wasteland. Think "Fist of the Northstar". Keep you eyes peeled, these contests always end up on a free DVD in some magazine or, of course, YouTube. Here's a link to the EXPN story with random vid, and another one HERE, prolly written by some mountain biker but not bad info..

Speaking of YouTube, I put up most of the Waste-NJ vids HERE and they are now searchable. I wish there wasn't a file size limit of 100Mb, but I ain't paying anything for a higher limit. Love it or hate it,  Good enough!

I am now addicted to BMX seat re-upholstery. GF has a trick sewing machine, and now I have a leopard fuzz Mosh seat, and a pile of other ones on some designer shit. Esophegator's Animal Cush seat is getting the Canadian Digital Camo hookup. What!

 Bike checks soon, next time around. Later

Finished the  Animal Jam video and added a few new pics on the B'klyn Banks page from the recent jam. The vid is also up on the stray shots page. PEEP THAT.

Thought I forgot about the Newark video huh? I finally finished it, don't ask me why it took so long. In case you weren't paying attention, we took a bunch of Newark riding trips at the beginning of the summer. The page has been up, the video is now up also. Peep that.

Been getting crafty lately working on ramps and obstacles. Making stuff out of ratty wood, it's been a while. Now I've kind of got the bug, I'm going to build a little something to mess around with. If I'm not too lazy, maybe I'll do a post for the tech section... Maybe.

I have the Animal Banks Jam video coming together too. I'm doing that one on the Mac, I go back and forth between the PC and Mac for videos. In the end, it doesn't make much difference since they all get reduced to 320x240 at the same quality. The Newark vid was done on a Mac; they have their uses, videos and graphics being two of the only uses they really shine at, but Macs are buggy and unstable, and it always ends up taking longer to get stuff done. I know Apple is like a religion for some people, get over it, you're just buying into the marketing. It's just a tool, and only 5% of computes are Macs.

 FYI, I'm going to post higher-res versions of some of the vids on YouTube, eventually. There's 4 new wallpapers up in Stray Shots, these are the intro page graphics hooked up in a bigger size as wallpapers. For some reason we are also working on new stickers. I suppose there's a sticker fetish around here. Hologram and glow in the dark options are on the table, 80's frame decal designs are getting spoofed. Step that game up.

Yeah, I'm still recovering from the Animal Banks Jam, which in case you live under a rock somewhere, is the annual Brooklyn Banks Jam thrown at the end of the summer by Animal Bikes. Nine of us took the Path train in and chilled at the banks all day, the place was packed wall to wall with riders, hundreds of riders. The coverage is next update, yeah with the Newark video also.

The Animal guys were up late the day before getting ramps built and then getting them trucked over to the spot. The handiwork was appreciated. It was a good layout with some weird ramps, like the 3-sided sub box, roll-in ramps, jump box rail, big launchers, etc etc. The 3 sider, staircase rail, and double step sub on top of the bank were getting the most play.

There wasn't any long jump comp this time, at least not when we were there, it was just everybody doing their thing. Plenty of falls, but everybody walked away. Well, one dude almost didn't, after some fucking coward on a chopper blasted through the spot (wall to wall people) doing about 60 and clipped this dude coming down fakie from the bank. Sent the kid into the air flipping. Better yet, this coward motherfucker didn't even tap the brakes after, didn't look back, just took the fuck off. The banks turned into a mob scene, two thirds of the people went to see if the kid was OK, the rest were trying to chase the guy on the chopper. It was kinda cool to see how all these riders reacted, looking out for one of their own without even knowing the kid probably. OH, and word on the street is the dude on the chopper is an NYC cop. Big surprise.

Oh, and BMX is about the 80's now, officially.

We flowed stickers all day, gotta "catapult the propaganda". If you are rocking the "wasted" sticker on your whip, you are the fucking man. if you are lucky and are rocking the tag hit sticker, go get yourself a free lap dance at any NJ strip bar.   --

Yawn... Sorry, I was sleeping on the site for like a month. Don't worry though, I do have something to show for it. We took a couple Newark trips and filmed a bunch of spots for a Newark spots page,  so peep that and the video will be ready next update.  If you ride Newark you might ask about where's the pics of this spot or that spot, well the vid shows more so just hang on. We did try to get spots that aren't all the most well known.

Copped the Skavenger video from Ralph at the warehouse, yes it is off the chain and on-par with the best street riding vids out. Skavenger is a mix of Animal guys, ex-Bulldog bikes cats and other friends. Mostly NYC hotness, get it.

Also in the player is Shook-Over The Pond. The Brits have got some shit going down over there. The street scene is right alongside the US, but what I like is that you see cats mixing what looks like US east coast tech and west coast big gap styles together, with moves from back in the day mixed with modern shit.

Me and Esophegator went out to ride Phillipsburg NJ, yeah west NJ, almost PA. There's a decent bunch of spots scattered around, maybe the best being the low rails in the public housing developments, and the industrial wasteland around the (ahem) DOD building. We'll go back, I didn't really get enough to make a page, and it was just too damn hot.

I put up a video up for the Parsippany spots page, Marlo messing around at the main spots around there. Pathmark, Hi-Focus, Hills high, Tara Corporate area. If you know, you know. Plus you can get your 80's rock fix. There's also a new wallpaper on the random page. Oh, and we got the new stickers in finally, look right. Later.

Jay 5.25.07 Stuck?

Welcome back to the Wasteland peeps, summer is now official and it’s almost time for the vampires to come out. Yeah, night session season; we might take a few layers of concrete off some of your city’s surfaces under the yellow shine of sulfur street lights. Screw that 100 degree daytime noise, fuckin melting alive after 5 minutes ain’t cute, you know, you know.  City streets are a hundred times better without all the people and traffic regardless, just sliding down the Ave at like 2 am.

I added another spot, Fairfield Banks, which is old as all hell. I know because I went as a high schooler in the early 90’s and it’s still exactly the same, almost.  When we all first climbed out of my boy’s Chevette at Fairfield we were so impressed, it’s funny now after seeing a grip of spots to think about that, because nowadays it’s hard to be. But back then this spot was wonderland. I pulled my GT Pro Performer off the rack and did some of my first wallrides.  My boys were all on Generals (you don’t know?), the RL Osborn frame and the Fred Blood frame. These were our “flatland” bikes… General was big in Jersey back then, sponsoring riders, doing a lot of shows and whatnot, for about five minutes. Then they were gone.

“Street” as it’s know today was actually kind of “new” then,  we were into it because of the destructiveness of the early street moves, and the outcast mentality. We moved away from the ground moves and heavy-ass flatland bikes and put together race bikes with pegs. Me and my partner rode street on Hutch Pro-racers : yeah they broke : both head tubes peeled like oranges. Any bike meant for street was disposable, and it’s funny because now, like 15 years later, all the frames look like race frames and are about as light as the race frames back then. Somehow better technology and materials make them actually stand up to the abuse. So I guess, same old new shit.

later

OK ok, so what's been going on this month... Not whole lot. No new spots found, no new spots built, just maintaining. It's been slow for the road warriors lately. So what the fuck makes drive all over the place anyway?

I guess I just have too much time on my hands, but I started to think about the riders we've met at spots, the locals, the ones that ride where they live, but almost never go anyplace else. Most have access to cars, and some I even put up on spots, but mostly they really don't give a fuck! Even in a city, I still got bored as hell with good spots all around me. Spoiled? Maybe. I just want more, new scenery, new stuff to scare me... But the truth is, I came up riding stuck in a boring place I could rarely get out of.

As a kid with no license in the late 80's, early 90's we rode our shitty suburban town to death. We felt like there was barely anything to ride, so we made ramps. We got bored of the ramps, and made bigger ones. Now matter what we did though, we felt like  the town was just strangling us. We ended up causing trouble just to get chased and break up the monotony.

We did  know a couple of slightly older cats that had hoopties, so once in a blue we could get out of Dodge. Those few trips we would go on were like the best thing ever. There were no skateparks, never mind skateparks that banned bikes, at least that we knew about. We went to street spots that we would hear about through word of mouth, backyard ramps and colleges. We rode with strange people and were influenced by different styles. I usually had no clue where we were, I didn't care. This was what it was all about, we were these renegade 2 wheeled tourists, troublemaking teenaged wild motherfuckers. After this, we wouldn't be as bored when we went back home either, and the only thing that had changed was our perspective.

Turns out we were never really stuck in that town, just our heads were.

Jay 4.23.07 Talk about over-hyping something. Maybe it's just the grapevine effect... A shop in Parsippany (Cycle Craft) had a Mirraco demo/comp this weekend, they built a smallish miniramp behind the building and did a little jam style comp on it, with Am and Pro classes. I didn't see the beginning but apparently that was the best part. Ralph from Animal was judging with (I guess) Dave Mirra and I don't know who else. I didn't see Mirra ride, actually I don't know if he did...

Highlights? Little Jeff taking second place money with a waste-nj sticker on his back (heh heh), Ralph chucking brake cables off the ramp, which to the kids trying to catch them, was kinda like snatching a ninja star out of the air before it hits your head! I met Nina Buitrago, she does Emerald Nation Zine, which is a zine that covers female riders. In case you don't know, she is the one who had the brake lever stabbed into her thigh back in the day. She was cool peeps, and she was repping some weird multicolor tires (flames, snakeskin...) which were also being given away. You decide on that.

Anyway,  with none of us really being skatepark types, we kinda lost interest and started putting stickers up. It was hot as hell (88degrees) so we headed to the Boonton spot (shady, trees) and wrapped the day up that way.

I put up some new shots in the random shots page also. Late.

Jay 4.16.07 So let me catch you up on what's been going on around here lately. Weather's been good around here and cats have been repping the Waste-NJ stickers hard and bombing everything. I likes. Hopefully nobody comes after me, but hey, "I give them away and can't control what certain individuals may or may not do with them..."- sounds good right?

We hit up the Jersey City Pyramids recently and I finally got the page done. Real cool spot and always seen in Animal vids, as well as Red Bull mean Streets 1. The place was swarming with toddlers but you can get the gist of it. I will be getting the other spots near the water soon also, some hot shit over there near the (gulp) FBI building.

We also got a tip that there was a good dirt to wall spot in Boonton, and after a couple days and a bunch of Wasteland cats with shovels, we ended up with a nice chill spot for the summer. So there's a big dirt quarter to under-vert wall and 2 big wallride cuts to play with. They added a cut that wasn't there and made the ones that were there, better. Smokers beware, you are going to need to crank your ass off at top speed for results. This can get that cardio up for real. I also have a little vid from the first few days coming up.

Oh, I also added a Weehawken Ferry banks spot page, Bonus!

I have another sticker on order, more of a tube sticker, 5.5 x 1.5 or something like that. 3 colors hotness. Get at me if you still want the original design, basically a B&W version of the name tag logo.

I also added a random shots page, photo gallery junkyard. Peep that.

Jay 4.03.07  Who says you can't fight the system? Up in Parsippany, the mayor has set aside funds for a new skate park, around 90K for the construction. It would be built in an existing area of a local park that used to be a volleyball field. A new skate shop in the area has been lobbying for it, and it all looked like a done deal.

Well now here comes the city council to try and cut the funds out of the budget for the skate park. No doubt, the old people in this town are against any kind of increase in property taxes. They always resist plans to build anything new or improve anything, if it'll actually cost money. And old people vote, riders and skaters...wellll...

Local riders have been circulating a petition and we have been putting up flyers letting people know that the city council meeting is April 10th at 7:30 PM at Parsippany town hall. Anybody with an interest in having a skate park in Parsippany, people who maybe own or run a skate park, parents whose kids ride or skate, people who have a park in their town, anybody who wants this should show up at the Town Hall and represent.

Now I'm not a skater, and I don't even know if bikes will be allowed in the park, but it don't really matter, you all know the deal. I'm not even a big park rider, but come on, who doesn't want a local skate park? Everyplace we go people are calling the cops, we're weaving through traffic constantly, tearing up all the ledges, walls and benches. Time for these beaurocrats to put the money where their mouth is. Like the flyer says, "We have a dog park for our dogs, we should have a skate park for our children."

Later

Jay 3.17.07 Holding weight!  I got in the sticker order I have been waiting for, after about a month. The place I had them done isn’t fast, but they are cheap. Black on white vinyl, no paper nonsense. (click the pic on the right) Started out with 500, maybe 400 left. Two and a half minutes after I ripped open the package, they started going up all over the place. On bikes, on cars, and on, near and around the local spots. That’s the whole idea, to do this all graff style. Big ups to all the local cats that are rocking the sticker and representing hard for us. If you want any, email me, but don’t sleep too late… and I’ve already got the next design in the pipe. I don't know why, but since I was small I have had this sticker addiction, maybe it's an 80's thing.

Winter’s still kicking our ass but we’re almost through it. We haven’t been traveling anywhere far since last update, spending most of the time building stuff to ride behind shopping plazas with whatever is around. Pallets, U-boats, scrap ply and whatever else we can use to hook something up. Marlow and company built a 5 foot high, four foot wide quarter out of pallets and ply up against a wall, basically a dead man wallride. Me and Esophegator built a sub with an Aluminum truck ramp, stack of pallets and a grimy-ass loading dock... Sketch is not even the word to use here, but I guess you gotta do what you gotta do…

I also pulled all the directions links from the spot pages that had them. After talking to some ppl and thinking about it, you guys should be able to find them regardless if you look at the pics. Can't make it TOO easy, some ppl don't know how to act.

New Bloody Knuckles tech article, you've gotta be the man to beat the man! Buck Rogers didn't ride BMX, he slept. Finding spots from outer space.

Jay 2.26.07 Goddamn it’s brick outside. Not trying to be a punk about it, but when it drops below 35 degrees with the wind blasting, that’s a nut check.

 But we have to ride, otherwise weeks can go by and and the less you go out in it, the harder it is to get your ass out in it. The funniest is when I pass ppl on the sidewalk with sweat running down my face, and it’s below freezing outside. What happened to those 70 degree January days? Sheeeeit. But anyway…

So me and my bro went down to Harrison to look for spots, didn’t find too much besides a low fat rail and smallish bank to fence, behind a (money) bank, in the city area. 5 seconds after I dropped my backpack and was about to fakie the fence, po-po showed up and fucked with us for about 15, running us for warrants and all that good stuff. He said it was a bad idea to take pics, somebody may call the cops. I said I’m sorry, I though this was America. He said for all he knew we were about to rob the bank. On a BMX bike. Unarmed. Is this San Andreas?

We headed out to Newark because I wanted to get pics of the strip club wallride, (we’ll run a real Newark pic mission some other time) but it was blocked by a bunch of cars. Newark has a lotta spots, some I’d cover, some I wouldn’t because they aren’t really my regular spots and there are cats that wanna keep some DL. It’s all good. Newark is backsliding to the early 90’s with these murder rates though, shit’s kinda hot right now, peep this billboard…

Then we headed through Garfield, past the old apartment to the 2 best spots, Hop and Gotham. Got some decent pics and it was good to go back to our old local spots. Check out the coverage in the spots section.

Later peeps.

Jay 2.20.07  Yeah finally right? Welcome to Wasteland New Jersey, otherwise known as waste-nj.com. This site is an outlet for our view of riding around here in NJ and the surrounding areas. Everything that goes down in the streets out here is part of the backdrop for whatever we do on or off the BMX, and street riders in Jersey are products of their environment. So this is for the cats that are out exploring strange, shady, and straight fucked up neighborhoods and industrial wastelands looking for that virgin spot. Getting ice-grilled, rolling down blocks. We know you’re out there.

 So all the graphics on this site are built from pics I have taken of typical rotting wasteland shit. I spent most of the 90’s as an NJ graffiti ninja down with QM8 crew (Fuze QM8) wrecking freeways, trains, trucks, walls, billboards, whatever. I have also been riding (off & on) since the 80's. Graff writers and BMX riders have a lot of parallels, but the most obvious one is that once we’re involved for real, we see the whole world with a different filter. We see everyday things as something else. We all have the guerilla mentality, we feel good doing deviant things, and we’re both part of subcultures that can’t be explained to outsiders. Graff writers see potential to flex their style, read other graff and understand who’s up, from where, new hits, beefs and rivalries, and all that under the radar of your average asshole. Street riders see everyday shit as opportunities to experiment and express your style in the same way. We see that virgin rail or ledge the same way a writer sees that virgin freeway underpass wall, we take a look to the left and right and hit that shit up!

Anyways, take a look around and see what’s going on. I’ll be adding some new riding spots to that section shortly, namely The Fairfield Wallrides, Frelinghuysen Ave bank in Newark (and other NWK spots), Garfield spots (Hop Ind. and  Gotham), and more.  Yeah I know, there’s spots everywhere but it’s a process to get there, get pics and footy and then get the page and vids done, so be patient. Peep the Blame page for feedback. Out..