Cédric Gracia is brash and a bit out there to say the least, but he is fast and exciting on a bike. This is what happens when he’s given a camera to shoot a POV perspective of his adventures.

By Seb Kemp

Twitter changed this week. I think. I don’t really know because no one else mentioned it so I have to assume it was either not newsworthy or it just happened at my end. One day this week I fired up the old Google box and switched the channel over to Twitter only to find someone had done some interior decorating. [Editor's Note: Seb bought his computer on the Gray Market somewhere in the Bermuda Triangle, so it's about a month behind the Twitter redesign]. The reading thing had moved a little to the right, the clicky thing for following had shifted a bit up, and I thought the bit you press to find out about yourself had disappeared until I found it up the top of my screen and called something entirely different.

Unlike the uproar that occurs on Facebook when something minor moves a bit to the left and which make the Arab Spring seem like a village fete in comparison, this makeover on Twitter seemed to not ruffle a feather.

I suppose Twitter is so simple that even a monkey can have a profile. I mean, there isn’t much to it: you read, you write, you pass on links of interest, and you follow the 140 character puffs of wisdom of people you may never meet.

Case in point is photographer and 19th century fashionista, Dan Barham. Follow him.

Of course, once you start following one person you are led to other people. It is sort of like a pyramid scheme. Take, for example, Dan’s tweet; who is Privateer Magazine? Well it turns out they are either celestial tweeters or extreme skydiving astronauts.

If, however, they were actually on a commercial flight somewhere then let’s hope they don’t face the same shame as ladies in a Texas airport.

It seems as if some voyeurs in the employment of His Majesty’s US Homeland Security have been getting their rocks off at work. This story comes via Wired so quickly flick channels and watch the full story.

Welcome back. Now tell me, does the body scan image look like it had a pair of boobs AND a penis?

Talking of dubious motives and questionable gender bending, British troublemakers Tom Grundy, Sam Reynolds, Olly Wilkins, and Grant Robinson showed the world the lighter side of double backflips on ice.

Anyway, back to Twitter followers and followees. Here we see either an act of desperation on the part of the worlds largest mountain bike event or Dirt tweeters not following a lead and following the Crankworx social media machine.

Of course, even when you follow someone you never really know who you are following. Or if they have a mental deficiency. As is the case below.

What kind of idiot hands out his girlfriend over a tweet? What is more, his explanation is lost in the grammar vortex. Does Gee actually possess a rad and if so what is it?

Furthermore, why is this rad #hashtagged? and #whatthehellarehashtags?

I don’t know how but somehow Chris Brown makes it into #NOTT again. This is the third reference in ten installments, and, for someone who doesn’t watch TV, doesn’t listen to pop culture and doesn’t read Perez Hilton, this is mad. How does this ghostly figure keeps popping into my tweets like a fart in a packed airplane (i.e. you know the fart is out there but you don’t know how or where it came from)?

Changing tracks a little bit here is a tweet that stands out almost as much as the horror in the link.

As does this one.

And this one.

The common thread between these horrendous acts of brutality and metaphorically borrowing a strangers Aston Martin is that all were brought to justice.

Keeping with the theme of daring stunts and mischief, there seems to be a new manifesto for the freeride kids this summer.

I’d hope so. I know I don’t get charged a penny to see gladiators like Zink, McCaul, Berrecloth and Semenuk go toe-to-toe in the Crankworx arena, but I still expect something more than what some funky French chap can do on his grandmother’s bicycle.

Cam Zink has done more for a free watch than any normal person should. His backflip in the G-Shock advert still blows me away, not just for the sheer magnitude of the jump but for the consequences he gambled with for just a web edit. Which is why it makes me shake like a shitting dog about what he might unleash in Where The Trail Ends: Freeride Entertainment’s long awaited cinematic and freeride manifesto, which is slowly coming together.

Perhaps the game will be changed but in that time I hope to have understood where all the buttons and clickers have disappeared to on my favorite Monday morning game, Twitter.

In all of the confusion of the Twitter makeover I changed my Twitter name. I did this partly out of necessity (keep an eye out on @2FLAT) and partly out of a need to explore the workings of Twitter. What I discovered is that when you change your name from the name you were given at birth to some abstracted one liner the number of people following you increases considerably.

And after that shameless plug I’ll leave you with this lovely tweet by my main man, Ghandi

Sir Seb shreds sweet Sedona singletrack.

By Brice Minnigh
Photos: Dan Barham

Santa Cruz Bicycles has brought an amiable crew of self-proclaimed ‘mountain-bike journalists’ to the high-desert trails of Sedona, Arizona, this week to unveil some new big-wheeled bikes—and, more importantly, to ride them.

One of the highlights so far—apart from the unparalleled camaraderie and exquisite singletrack of Sedona—has been the introduction of the company’s venerable Superlight model in a 29-inch format. The longtime staple of Santa Cruz’s lineup retains the signature single-pivot design that the brand was known for prior to the advent of its VPP bikes.

Dear POC: That’s a brand-new Santa Cruz Superlight29, but Seb’s bright-blue helmet has already seen plenty of magazine coverage. Will you send him a fresh helmet in a different color, please?

The Superlight29 is essentially an updated Superlight with 29-inch wheels, 100 millimeters of travel and almost the exact same geometry as Santa Cruz’s highly popular Tallboy. With its simple functionality, sleek looks and generous standover (the company claims that the bike’s standover, at 27.5 inches for a medium and 29.3 inches for a large, is lower than anything else in this class), the Superlight29 looks to be a playful machine, and we’ll be making the most of it this week in the maze of rocky trails around Sedona.

Seb Kemp making it to happy hour on time aboard the new Santa Cruz Highball hardtail 29.

Among the other bikes we’ll be riding this week—and the only other model we’re allowed to talk about for now—is Santa Cruz’s aluminum Highball hardtail. It’s the 29-inch XC bike that the company introduced last year in a carbon-fiber frame, and will now be available in a more affordable aluminum model.

Check bikemag.com each day this week for more details on the bikes, the riding and the revelry of Santa Cruz’s Sedona ‘press camp’. It’s guaranteed to be a good time.

Bike had the chance tag along with Brendan Fairclough during one of his off-season days in Southern California. This particular day, Fairclough filming with Clay Porter for an upcoming edit.

One on One is one of the most unique bike shops you’ll ever encounter. Period.

For as many eccentricities as you’ll find upstairs, the shop’s basement is a cut above—er—below?.

Don’t come down here unless you clear your schedule for at least a week.

One fucking speed: broken.

Naturally, everything we wanted wasn’t for sale.

A lot has changed in 15 years.

Business in the front…

…Party in the back.

We’ve forced ourselves to stop collecting bikes, but the basement almost had us falling off the wagon. Sorry.

Warning: May Cause Seizures

One on One’s Geneo can pour beer as well as he pours on the speed.

Mustache Kit: Free … Rides: That’ll cost ya. All Hail The Black Market