It was hot, I was in a slump, and I had a few close calls on the brakes bike, so the majority of this is going to be hitchhiker jugglers. You’ve been warned. I did manage to extend my tenure with undertakers another few months, because frankly, the silly little variations that no one else will notice got me through some days and weekends. I have a few more to check off the list and then I swear I’m gonna try out some new ideas in the new year. Here’s the lowdown on everything I filmed the past three months, bearing in mind that I left out about ten tricks that I thought were junk.

00:00 Cancan lawnmower to undertaker: Nothing special at all, just a quick clip to get this video going.
00:08 Invisible hand to juggler to seat grab juggler to invisible hand to juggler to seat grab juggler: This took two hours to get right in 100-degree heat.
00:27 Around the world to smith decade out: Filmed it once but the humidity fogged up the camera so this is attempt two.
00:43 Power mower to undertaker to walkover: Filmed on BMX day (7/20), no notes.
00:53 Tailwhip to gerator to barspin to undertaker: I must have been bored that day.
01:08 Double seat grab juggler to one-hand juggler: Nothing special but it felt nice.
01:25 Double seat grab juggler to dave duster to fork wheelie to backwards hitch: Filmed at like 8 a.m., hence the weird lighting.
01:47 Triple seat grab hitch juggler to whiplash to around the world.
02:12 Barspin undertaker to rope-a-roni to walkover.
02:23 Double seat grab hitchhiker juggler to one-hand juggler to another double seat grab juggler equals five.
02:47 Power mower to double barspin to undertaker
03:01 Invisible hand to fork wheelie jump to steam to hitch.
03:15 Triple seat grab hitchhiker juggler to double one-handed hitchhiker juggler equals five again. (Just getting five regular in the garage used to be a struggle so mixing it up is progress for me…)
03:38 One hand to seat grab to one hand juggler to around the world
03:58 Brian scraping the bottom of the barrel for more undertaker variations: This is a power mower to double barspin to cancan undertaker.
04:08 Peg wheelie to rope-a-roni to undertaker to rope-a-roni: The one-hander was unintentional.
04:20 Cancan undertaker to rope-a-roni.
04:33 Peg wheelie to undertaker to walkover.
04:46 Six jugglers in the garage, a new record for me.

Since the last video, I’ve:
1) Built up a new bike (S&M Dagger)
2) Went deep on invisible hand stuff
3) Rode in 40 degree weather
4) Listened to a lot of Jeff Parker EVA IVtet ‘Mondays at The Enfield Tennis Academy’

Go buy it right here!

I used side B of that improvised album here, because a lot of my riding feels much the same, just trying things and seeing if they’ll work. Some of it works, some of it doesn’t. The important thing, as I depart my 40s and enter into, gulp, my 50s, is that it’s still fun.

Good luck getting through 6 minutes and 52 seconds of footage, and thanks for attempting to watch!

Of course, most of it was fun to do, but not really ‘best of’ material. So I went through each month, made a list, and then whittled it down to almost 7 minutes of footage. Aside from three clips, it’s all garage-based. And the overarching theme is no longer undertakers (though there are a bunch). I’ve been in more of a rolling mood the past year, and this footage definitely reflects that.

Here’s why: Over a decade ago, I had really great, very long spot to ride at in Jersey City and my riding started to become long rolling combs in a straight line. When I first started riding at home in the garage, I hadn’t even really thought of trying to roll in there because I was hung up on rolling in straight lines. Stupid me eventually figured out I could roll in circles and that’s what most of this year became. What I lack in common sense, I make up for with this year’s selection of jugglers, one-handed jugglers, jugglers to invisible hand to juggler, and other assorted nonsense.

As the year comes to a close, I’m sunlighting the monthly riding video series and gonna focus on less is more in the new year. I’ve loved the challenge of making a video once a month, but it has veered into “obligation” territory lately and that was never the purpose of it. So with that, happy holidays, merry new year, and thanks for watching me get frustrated in a garage for another year.

Next month, I plan on compiling everything that I still like from the past year for a best of 2023 video, and once the new year hits, I have basically three months to film for a 50th birthday edit. I have some plans, but am preferring to keep it relatively loose and see what happens. I would like to get out of the garage a little more, do some longer rolling combos, and after that, who knows, maybe I’ll go back to the monthly cadence.

To everyone that’s watched, shared, and liked, I sincerely appreciate you. And with that, here’s a rundown of my November 2023 riding.

00:00 I got out of the garage to do a tailwhip nosepick at an old Austin spot not far from home. I used to ride street a lot, and with this newer bike I built up, I’m realizing that sometimes just pedaling around my local areas is better for my psyche than isolating myself in the garage for hours at a time.

00:08 I hadn’t really messed with hang 5s in the garage before this month because I like rolling them in a straight line. This month, I rolled a few in circles and used them for warm ups. This warm up, hang 5 to pinky squeaks to gerator to smith, felt good and I’m taking it.

00:30 I am not good at peg-to-peg decades, but fooled around with them enough this month that they got to feel slightly better. This completely surprised me though. I wasn’t going for it, but when I got around the undertaker and everything was lined up, I went for it and it happened.

00:38 Seat pass juggler to one-handed juggler to seat pass juggler to around the world on a rainy day.
01:05 Another hang 5 variation, the scratch-5 to backwards hitchhiker. The scratch-5 is an ancient relic from 1989 that I refuse to let go of.
01:21 Pinky squeak to gerator to undertaker rolling in a circle. This took forever and I’m not sure if I even like it.

01:40 Barspin to undertaker to peg decade. I am definitely predictable when it comes to learning new undertaker variations.
01:49 Three seat pass juggler to invisible hand to hitchhiker. I did this once earlier in the same day, rolled away, went to put my foot on the pedals and completely slipped off the bike. This is the official pulled version, ten minutes later.

02:11 Undertaker to gerator to peg decade. This took waaaay too long to do, probably an hour of attempts before it just magically happened.

It’s a unique combination because as soon as you land right foot on the other side of the bike, you have to pull the bike back up and completely reposition your foot and ankle for the scuffing part of the trick. On 20-year-old ankles, that’s not a problem. But I have not been 20 since before Windows ’95. Therefore, my ankle still hates me.

The Rundown

00:01 The whole reason this craziness got started in the first place. September 1, I did an undertaker to gerator to backwards wheelie to undertaker relatively easy. From there, I figured, let’s try a few more this weekend. A month later, here we are…
00:16 While they were happening somewhat easier than usual, I decided to attempt this double barspin undertaker to gerator to smith. A year ago, the mere thought of this and the hours it would take to land scared me. But it all clicked in about 25 minutes this year.
00:30 Another undertaker to gerator to backwards wheelie to undertaker, this time with a single barspin added at the beginning. Again, a year ago, this would’ve taken 3-4 hours. This year, this month, it was all clicking.
00:48 Barspin undertaker to gerator to forward rope to reverse undertaker. I did this a year or so ago, without a barspin and it was hard. This somehow happened after a few minutes of attempts.
01:04 Double barspin undertaker to gerator to backwards wheelie to undertaker. Now I was just getting silly with variations….
01:23 As the month progressed, the undertaker to gerator combo became more elusive and not as consistent (I think I just got tired of going through the same motions), but this triple barspin undertaker to gerator was on the list of things to try and it happened, haphazardly.
01:37 Tailwhip to undertaker to gerator to backwards wheelie to power mower. This day was super humid, as my brakes will attest to.
01:54 Cancan undertaker to gerator to backwards wheelie to lawnmower. As the promise of squeaking out another undertaker at the end became more frustrating, I resorted to easier saves like the power mower and lawnmower. Because let’s face it, my feet and ankles were damn tired of this trick.
02:07 Junkyard to undertaker to gliding gerator. It was sloppy but as I state in the video, “I’m taking that.” Texas heat has made me soft.
02:22 My favorite trick of the month, the barspin undertaker to gerator to backwards wheelie to barspin undertaker. This was definitely a dream, it’ll never happen, trick. And now I never have to do it again.

00:05 Double bar undertaker to backyard to pivot out: I did the single bar version last year and this one-up felt way tougher last year. Things have changed.
00:25 Triple hitchhiker juggler to around-the-world. I did this without the camera in about ten minutes and then brought the camera out and it took about 35 minutes to get done.
00:48 Switch-foot gerator to backwards wheelie to undertaker: If you saw the 1991 throwback I posted earlier this month, you’ll see that I attempted a switch-foot gerator in my run. This is me making good on that attempt.
01:02 Double pinky squeak to gerator to two-foot rolling backyard to pivot out: No idea where this came from, but I like it.
01:25 Half-lash to footjam barspin to gerator to smith decade out: Just an idea I had that worked out, along with a too-close-for-comfort smith decade to end things.
01:43 Inside circle switch-foot peg wheelie to peg-ade landing in the boomer-ankle position: This was easier to do than type out. Joking, it was still hard because I am not a traditional decade person.
01:56 Hitchhiker to invisible hand to hitchhiker to hitchhiker: This took some time to get right. The invisible hand to hitch puts you on an angled path, which you have to straighten back out to then do the next hitch.
02:14 Sloppy entry into a barspin-catch, barspin-back, barpsin-catch to undertaker. No notes.