I know there's been a lot of speculation (not really) and confusion (ok, probably none of that either) about why I am wearing an 18 tooth sprocket in my picture there. Now the truth can be known, even tho it was already known if you lived in Atlanta.

Why not?

Ok, it's a little deeper than that, but not much.  At the 2007 final exam jam there were door prizes.  Basically you wrote your name on a sticky note and at the end they had a raffle of sponsor swag.  There was everything from Odyssey rims and hubs (niiiiiiiiiiiiiiice) to FBM Stair Master shirts (the ugliest t-shirts known to man).

Me, I won:

• An FBM Stair Master T-Shirt (size, Medium) which I gave to Chamblee Nick
• A The Take headband, which has come in super handy while doing yard work in the summer.
  
• An Empire BMX bandanna, which I don't wear because, oddly, there are a lot of gangs in suburban Atlanta.  Stupid meth.
• A Yellow designs sweatshirt, which I gave to my wife, who gave it to her niece who gave it to her now ex boyfriend
• An 18 tooth Profile micro drive sprocket

Now, at the time I was still running a 44-16 setup (which I still hold to be the manliest of gear ratios) so an 18 tooth front cog would do me no good.  So, I did the most logical thing I could think of I tried to trade it for a pair of sunglasses to replace the ones I'd lost at the Skate Park of Athens earlier that day.

In a parking lot full of flatlanders not a single person was running an 18 tooth front.  It was too small for a parking lot full of flatlanders.  A PARKING LOT FULL OF FLATLANDERS!!!!

Anyway, I started talking to event organizer, all around nice guy, hug slut and my opposite twin Kent Pearson about "what the hell am I going to do with an 18 tooth sprocket?"  "Rock that like a medallion."

HA!

He was joking, but much to my wife's constant and all encompassing regret, I have no shame.  So I picked up a can of Rust-O-Leum from Home Depot and the cheapest KMC chain that Mama's Board n Bike had for sale and went to work. I showed up at the Winter Splinter jam at Factory Skatepark a month later rocking my new medallion and Kent snapped that shot.

Even though The Mrs. desperately wants someone, anyone to take it away from me, she's even offered it up as first place for an Am contest, it's mine.

So now you know.