'merican monk

Vancouver Hair Salon

2011-11-17T14:45:00.001-08:00

Went to Vancouver with my wife 2 days ago and stopped in to Juju Hair Salon. Probably one of the nicest Vancouver Hair Salons we have been to. They offer Aveda all natural hair products. Steve is great and does feather Extensions too. Here is a little video of their feather hair extensions:

Whistler Bike Vacation

2011-08-24T20:20:00.001-07:00

Best place in the world to take a bike vacation is in Whistler BC Canada. I recently took a mountain bike holiday here and had the best ride of my life thanks to Arbutus Routes! They hooked me up with a Specialized Stumpjumper full suspension whistler bike rental and it was perfect for the cross country and all mountain trail I was riding there. If you are ever in Whistler I definately recommend checking these guys out for a whistler mountain bike rental or even a bike tour as they use IMIC certified guides and offer the best whistler bike tour! see ya on the trails

Condos in Whistler and Pemberton

2011-08-24T19:50:00.000-07:00

Nice Condos in Whistler and Pemberton can be hard to find at a reasonable price. Some of the best ways to locate a great condo to rent our buy is to get with a great whistler realtor. Many property owners and landlords take advantage of young people coming into town and charge rediculous prices for Condos and Townhouses in Whistler and pemberon. Make sure you do your research and maybe talk to Amber Mann if you are looking to buy a place in Whistler. Her site has all the new listings in Whistler and Pemberton aand her new site highlihgts her best condos in Whistler and Pemberton

Total Bliss pool Care Whistler

2011-08-09T12:10:00.000-07:00

new website at http://havasubliss.com/

best pool cleaners in Lake Havasu Arivona

Recent real estate listing sales in Whistler British Columbia

2011-07-26T18:26:00.000-07:00

Because we had such great luck with Amber Mann I have decided to pass on the details for her website where you can find Recent real estate listing sales in Whistler British Columbia. Many of you are looking for an investment property or vacation rental in Whistler and Amber is your realestate agent of choice!

My wife recently had an amazing experience at juju salon in Vancouver. She got some feather hair extensions and they are amazing!

and last but not least, if you are looking for mobile auto detailing in WHistler then look no furthur than podium auto detailing

buying a house in whistler - a good realtor?

2011-07-06T18:58:00.000-07:00

This must be one of the most competive industry's in whistler. Whistler Realtors are many but getting a good one seems to be difficult. I have found the best I am sure. Amber has helped me and my wife through every step of the process and has made our dream of owning our first house in whistler a realty. I just wanted to take this opportunity to personally thank her in a public setting!

NZ to BC

2010-07-14T01:04:00.000-07:00

here is a quick little edit with a 100% of the video I got in NZ and Whistler so far this year...not much to work with but it shows a bit of the diversity I been seein'.

Smokinspokes.ca

2010-07-14T00:42:00.000-07:00

I have always loved this name...Ever since I "bradied" it as my own from Steve-o. Well, I am gonna do something with it you lazy summamabitch. Haha just kiddin buddy...kinda.

So what we have here is grade A, 100% recycled bikes.

I am the Bubbles of the crappy, abandoned bike world. Where Bubbles, and I quote "reconditions shopping carts and then I sell em

back to the stores"...well I do the same with bikes....but I dont sell em to stores I sell em to people who need cheap transport.

So here it is. If you live in Canada, this not-for-profit organization can definately help you out.

I also accept donations and will come to your place and pick em

up so you dont have to go to the dump!

I am Currently looking for someone wishing to donate a demo 7 size medium as I got a hankerin for Garbo lately!! j/k...but I digress!

www.smokinspokes.ca - recycled bikes - "cheap, sweet, meat"

Endless Summer

2009-10-23T14:18:00.000-07:00

It's almost Novemeber and we are now coming upon New Zealand Summer. It is Spring now and the nights are cold and the days get up to "cool" and sunny. I run the heat at night

Before this we spent a year in OZ with pretty much endless summer. Before that was British Columbia summer spent surfing and enjoying Vancouver Island. Before that was spent enjoying the Arizona WInter (but a summer for most people). Then again before that was Vancouver Island. And again...right before that a bit of AZ Winter=summer. Sooo....let me calculate this, that is nearly 30 months of summer in the past 3 years. WOw...I probably have 10 days of skiing in three years and probably close to 800 days on the bike. I guess that answers the question of which I prefer....or does it.

Plannin on stayin in NZ for a year. In 8months time there will be cold, full blown winter. Wet socks and defrosting the car windshield. But there will also be amazing backcountry POWDER days without a cloud in the sky. Funny how I am thinking of this now...on a beautiful sunny day gettin ready to head off into the backcountry on my bike. I guess I am just excited about the seasons again. Excited but also wondering if I can still handle winter

BMC Supertrail...mmmm mmmm supergood

2009-07-09T02:39:00.000-07:00

Just posted this review up over at mtbr.com. No one had posted one for the BMC yet so I thought I would be the first.

Favorite Trail: the monster kaslo british columbia
Duration Product Used: 6 months
Price Paid: $5000.00
Purchased At: torquay cycle factor
Strengths: pretty light for how big it is. Mine sits right at 31 pounds. Good working suspension for havin fun blastin the downhills...goin up? just switch on the pro pedal and motor up the steepest, gnarliest climbs. This bike makes me smile. mounts for ISCG chainguide. STIFFF REAREND...i mean stiff. shortish headtube for a large size frame helps keep the bars low and the front tire weighted for cornering fast and climbin'. Geometry is SPOT ON. Low BB...likes cornerin'.
Weaknesses: not tons of standover on the large...sometimes the bike feels really tall with the fork all the way out to 160mm and the seat jacked up but I dont ride it in that config too often. When the fork is out the seat is usually down and vice versa.
Similar Products Used: Giant Reign X. Giant Reign. Jamis Dakar XLT
Bike Setup: fox talas RLC, Mavic Crosslines, avid juicy's, Truvativ NOIR cranks, XO der, SLX front, Joplin seatpost, 2.4 schwalbe nobby nics, thomson stemm
Bottom Line: Fun Bike! My ONE bike, I have others but always just reach for this one first. Loves the rockiest, rootiest trails and steep techy climbs too! I am 6'1, have to ride larges cuz I have really long legs but usually find mediums are more fun to ride. This bike has the geo (lil bit shorter top tube and long seat tube) that works for me...the bike fits me well and handles everything I can throw at it. I love it too because y north american buddies cant have one cuz they dont sell em there...ha ha

I love the you yangs

2009-06-24T15:16:00.000-07:00

Wow. Just got back from a sweet 3 day trip down to Torquay, Victoria. I am livin in Cairns now which is at the top end of Oz and Torquay is at that...so it was a pretty big mission to get down there.

The highlight was definately riding the You Yangs, a mountain range that lies just west of Melbourne with mountain bike specific trails carved into the beautiful desert-like terrain. The trails are soooo flippin fun. Berms, jumps, rock gardens and sections of super smooth flowy singletrack abound. Everytime I ride there I impressed with the trail construction and how dedicated the builders are to keeping the area maintained.

I was riding my buddies Salsa Ala Carte Single speed. I kept the fork locked out nearly the entire time and it was super fun for trails like Cressy's. Cressy's Climb as it is named is much better if you descend it. This trail gives me the feeling I am in whistler riding Crank it up or even a mild A-Line. Its just full of berms, jumps, drops and fun high speed riding. On the hardtail with the fork locked out it was like being on mountain cross course. SOOO MUCH FUNNNN!

We spent about 2 & 1/2 hours out there and rode nearly 30k. Such a good time. Makes me realize how awesome the Melbourne, Torquay and Jan juc areas are. The entire SUrf Coast really. Such a special place....cant wait to go back....

a 3 month past due update

2009-06-17T17:03:00.000-07:00

Woah...A lot has happened in three months. We went biking is some great areas and saw some amazing things. We journeyed the entire coast of Australia from West of Melbourne all the way to Cairns. We stopped for 6 weeks in Byron Bay...Meyranie had some work there for a bit and I bummed around and hung out with the crew from True Wheel Cycles in Mullumbimby...What a crew. I developed an addiction to Retro Mountain bikes...picked up a '90's circa Shogun. Got it all pimped for bicycle touring and some light duty mountain biking. I love it...it reminds me of being 12 again and tinkering in my dads garage for hours trying to get my cantilever brakes dialed in perfectly and polishing my bike with WD-40...boy you could make it shine!

Now we are in Cairns and plannin on sticking out the rest of our time in OZ here before we head to New Zealand. There is lots to do here; Check out Crocs on the Daintree, Snorkelin out at the Great Barrier Reef, Biking in the Atherton tablelands and around Cairns and just chillin and enjoying the perfect weather. This is definatley the warmest winter I have ever experience...hotter than arizona.

I have tons of pics categorized by month up on facebook so go check-check it:

Australia Oct 2008
Australia Nov 2008
Australia Dec 2008
Australia Jan 2009
Australia Feb 2009
Australia Mar 2009
Australia Apr 2009
Australia May 2009

The Cairns Mountain bike scene is pretty awesome. There is heaps of riding to do and always someone willing to go shred. I have an awesome lil downhill trail very close to my house, good urban rides on the commuter bike, crew that XC rides 6am tues and fri and a LONG ass shuttle-able DH track about 10mins drive from my house.

Also there are cool XC endurance races every month for the next 3 or 4 months. So good times abound in Australia.

COMMENCE RANTING - Now if everyone would get over the LOCAL SCHMOKEL crap I would be stoked. Seriously Australia, Canada employ's nearly half of the 18-22 year old Australian population in Whistler alone...your country is what it is because of tourism. If I read one more add in the newspaper or here someone else say "we only employ locals" I am gonna go POSTAL on that person. I have no time for the local attitude...no one is local...that is an illusion. Get yer head out of your ass...like anyone is gonna stay longer than 6 months at any of the shitty businesses around here anyway!! woah...okay...enough of that. I had a moment there. its over now and probably wont happen again so dont judge me based solely on that rant.

aight
Peace

2009 Otway Odyssey 100 kilometer mountain bike race

2009-03-03T04:23:00.000-08:00

really hard. Harder than a solo 24 hour race I reckon. More of a RACEY vibe. The start of the race was soo amazing. 800 mountain bikers in a huge pack all cruisin up mountain roads with fat tires a buzzin. What a site (and sound).

The first half of the race was fireroad and quite a bit of hiking up some seriously steep hills as we made our way from Apollo Bay to the mountain bike trails of Forrest. It was pretty tough going but my voodoo Titanium 29er was just smoothly rollin up the road and firetrack hills with little effort on my part.

The second half of the race was mostly singletrack on some of Forrests best trails...starting off with RED CARPET and finishing with MARINERS RUN. What a blast. Would have loved to swith to my 6 inch travel Felt Compulsion at this point! My whole body was acheing from being on the hardtail for soo long and a long-legged and light bike would have been the perfect choice for finishing off the race. But that not being possible I kept on pushing trying to stay as smooth as I could. Ended up finishing out the race in the top 30 percentile in open class which I was pretty stoked about.

Next up the Buller Mountain Bike Festival and then the BMC 100 in the end of April.

more about the otway odyssey can be found on the torquay cycle factory website here

Peace
Monk

24 hour SOLO endurance racing...one honkies perspective

2008-12-04T03:25:00.000-08:00

Just finished my first ever 24 hour solo race. I have done heeps of 4 man and a couple 2 man team races but this was my first one SOLO. And I must say, one of the single best, most memorable experiences ever for me on 2 wheels. I mean I;

battled demons, pushed through pain, learned many reasons why chamois cream is amazing, forgave people, ate more peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in a 24 hour period than ever before, rode all night long, gained a higher appreciation for my wife, rode 300 kilometers, spent roughly 1200 in preparation for the race, trained for only 6 weeks prior, took nodoz for the first time, realized people who wear Kona or Felt jerseys are pricks and dont know how to pass, qualified for the Solo World Championships, got the trails in Forrest Victoria Australia COMPELTELY dialed, prayed more than ever before in a 24 hour period, meditated more in a 24 hour period than ever before, made friends, won prizes, gained even more admiration for the mountain bike community, and had a wicked time on my bike. I mean Lorenzo's bike. Thanks a ton for letting me ride it ;) Thanks to Norm and Jess Douglas too for the tips and pointers and to Adam as well. THanks to Carl and Meyranie for lifting my spirits during the race. Cant wait for the next one.

Peace
Monk

originalhonkie.com

2008-12-04T03:16:00.000-08:00

I am working on a multi-sport community site which will have a forum, picture galleries ect. Just because I am soo sick of having to go to soo many various sites to check on what my buds (aka honkies) are up to. There is no need for multiple sites celebrating all these hobbies because this is just the way we, as honkies live. We do it all; skiin, snowboardin, mountain biking, bmx, surfin, skatin, rock climbin, boulderin, fishin, wackin, widdlin, horseridin, trail buildin, shuffleboardin, golfin, dirt bikin, travelin you name it. Just livin really. Who needs a gym when there is soo much FUN active life to experience?

It aint about masterin one sport it is about bein AVERAGE at all of it! But there are some honkies like ninja phil who can master all of them...and we certainly will try...most of us unsuccessfully. But it will be very fun rompin all over the planet tryin!

Oh yeah, and to the haters, bradys, dream killas and other negative nancy's who will no longer have a part in this honkies life...Honkie is in no way, shape or form a negative or racist word when we use it round here. It is more a celebration of what we are...and I just think it is hilarious.

Movember

2008-12-04T03:12:00.000-08:00

So they do this really cool thing every November here in Australia called MOvember. Mo is short for mustache in Aussie. It is basically a mustache growing competition where you get people to sponsor you for your mustache grwoing efforts. All the proceeds go towards cancer research...awesome.

I really like the concept of Movember and I participated this month...grew a sweet handlebar Mo...turned out pretty dirty too!

aight peace for now

Monk

Portfolio of mericanmonk

2008-10-11T22:01:00.000-07:00

Michael Bennett aka monk. Mountain biker, web designer, transient surf bum.

welcome to 'mericanmonk.com blog thanks to http://www.blogger.com

hit me up on facebook via michael ross bennett

check out some of the work I am currently working on :

http://www.whistleroutbackadventures.com

http://www.coastmountainguides.com

http://www.stinkytshirts.com

http://www.elementwebproductions.com

http://www.elementalliance.com

http://www.cactusbike.com and all of the affiliated sites

http://www.originalhonkie.com

and soon to come my professional online portfolio at http://www.mericanmonk.com including my personal portfolio as a professional, non-pro freeriding bike bum.