How to Screw Up Your Neck for the Next Two Months of Riding

I decided to stay a day in Chicago to check things out and train at the Gracie Academy. I set to work on the bike and checked the main fuse and it was good, so that meant that the headlight was bad. Took it out and sure enough it was. Saved a huge chunk of time by finding an Advance Auto Parts that had a new headlight bulb for me. I was going to go almost 30 miles out of the way to get to a Kawasaki dealer. It was nine dollars for the light, a cheap and easy fix. I later realized the first one went out because of a bad connection, so I crimped the connector a bit with my multi-tool and dropped some dielectric grease in there and the headlight worked like new.

When I finished I rode into Gold Coast and Old Town area, south of Lincoln Park. The Sears tower was visible from over 10 miles away. Came in along 290 past the ghettos and projects areas east to the center of the city. Chicago has a lot of elevated trains, like New York. The CTA trains are all throughout downtown, sprawling out like spider legs for miles in all in directions.

I trained Brazilian Jiu Jitsu with Helio “Soneca” Moriera, the substitute teacher while Carlson Gracie Jr. was out of town for the World Championships. I actually knew Soneca because he’d grown up, and was best friends, with my teacher Marcos Santos. He’d done several seminars at the school in New York, and was well remembered for affectionately referring to one of his favorite students as “bicha loca,” or “crazy bitch.” In Portuguese this is an even more derogatory term than it sounds in English, especially when applied to a man. But Soneca treated it like a term of endearment. Suffice to say he is a colorful personality. I trained with the crew there and had a fantastic time. Soneca (a nickname he got as a kid that stuck, and which translates to “sleepy”), was kind enough to loan me a gi, and let me train for free. Great people, great class, and the only downside was that I strained my neck pretty badly while training with one of the black belts. The camera was a crummy disposable so the pictures suck, but here are some of the nice people you can meet in Chicago that would be happy to choke you unconscious when you stop by the school:


Pictured above is the Chicago Carlson Gracie Chicago crew. Interesting thing about Soneca (pictured to the left of me), as I mentioned above he’s a very funny guy with a huge personality and a big heart. But what you’d never know just by looking at him is that he’s an extremely talented and accomplished martial artist. A killer really. He’s been training since he was a boy (there’s a picture on the wall of my school in NYC with Soneca at about 8 years old wearing a yellow belt), he’s won the World Championships several times, and has fought NHB (no holds barred or ultimate fighting) in Japan for years. He’s also an excellent instructor.


Here I am with Soneca and Tony, the guy that knows exactly where not to be at any given time in Chicago.

posted by goat hill dreamer @ 4:20 PM