I headed west to San Francisco recently for only my second trip to the Windy City. Yes I know that’s supposed to be Chicago’s nickname but I’ve been to Chicago mad times and it is definitely not even close to as windy as SF. For real. I could barely bike around downtown without getting tossed off my bike at every intersection that led down to the bay. Anyways, the purpose of my trip was to check out the launch of the new 2011 Volkswagen Jetta and to drive around California Wine Country trying to beat those babies up as best I could. And did I. I took off with my ol driving buddy CJ Washington from The Source and whipped over the Golden Gate and up to Sonoma and Napa. Since CJ doesn’t drive stick I had the whip all to myself. After promptly getting lost and discovering a winding back road that dude on a blacked out Ducati led us to, I got my Rally on. We ended up at Francis Ford Coppola’s Rubicon Estate, one of the most famous in the state and then promptly concluded the driving portion of the trip with an over the top wine pairing meal that required we be bussed back to SF. After a pit stop at the incredible Peju Province winery for some more Cabernet, I finally understood what that movie Sideways was all about, even though I’ve never seen it. But it wasn’t all about the wine, the Jetta turned out to be a rad whip and one that was surprisingly quick and nimble despite only 4 cylinders and a price tag under 20 grand. I also have to shout out my home Matt Sharkey at Chrome, who lent me his vintage cruiser for the weekend and Alex at Black Scale who set me right with some gear and a special “Welcome to SF” package. Check out a bunch of flicks from the trip after the jump. The 2011 Jetta drops this fall.

Everybody knows that I am not a Cali dude. I’m not hatin, or maybe I am, but the fact of the matter is, I got way more love for the Big East. But I’ll be honest, something changed on my trip out last week for Agenda and it was all due to two little letters, V and W. You see, part of my problem with Cali is that you are in the car literally all the time, and most of that time you are sitting in stifling heat in bumper to bumper traffic and fighting the urge to descend into full on Michael Douglas Falling Down mode. But what I found once I hopped on the 5 just minutes after landing at Burbank airport and throttling up a freshly gassed and waxed 2010 Volkswagen Golf GTI was that it doesn’t always have to be like that.

I had had the chance to preview the new Golf in Germany a couple months prior (peep the story in the upcoming spring Antenna) and as unbelievably rad as that was, there was something about whipping around LA that connected me with this whip on an entirely different level. It might have been the thrill of breaking speed limits (there aren’t any in Germany) or the fact that the Sirius didn’t play a wack track the entire time I was whipping it (in Germany I had German radio) that made it a totally new experience. But whatever it was, it was all the way dope.

From LA down to Huntington Beach for Agenda with my homie Pete Williams and back I felt like I was the bo$$ of California as I pushed this mini rocket to its full capacity. And as I did I realized that all that Cali car time isn’t your enemy as long as you are in the right car. The GTI is that car. Peep some pics of the fun after the jump. Also peep the mini shoot I did with Luis Tolentino, Chris (CtotheJL) Lee and Brian Jones over on Rad Collector.

A couple weeks ago I got the chance to get over to Germany to peep out the new Volkswagen Golf on her home turf. While the trip was an epic pilgrimage for me on several levels, I have to say that to be unleashed onto the autobahn in a zero mileage, fine-tuned TDI was damn near a defining moment in my life. I always knew that speed limits were bullshit! But past that, from the mind-blowing efficiency of the Germans to the historical implications of touring rural eastern Germany in a VW, the trip was a once in a lifetime experience. I have a bunch to share but let me start with me and the homie Nikhil mad lost on drive day #1. It was 8am and the gas station was selling beer and this old dude was telling us that the autobahn was in every direction. It wasn’t.