Portland Summer Street Jam: Rails, Stairs, Prizes, and Photos.

Turnout for this summer's weekly nighttime street rides has been excellent beyond all expectations, and this week DBZ even got Cult to throw down for a sponsorship! We hit six iconic Portland spots and awarded prize packages at the end of the night.

1st: Thaddeus. He iced the Harriet Tubman rail, grinded all the way across the PepsiCo big ledge in the dark, and grinded up 90% of the 14-stepper at Benson Technical. He also hopped the big Benson rail and bushes into the hillside.

2nd: Nate. He no-handed the Rose Quarter nine-stair and pulled a clean ice-to-nose-to-bar at PepsiCo.

3rd: Zane. He rode non-stop all night, putting freecoaster and all four pegs to full use. He got the best line of the night at the PepsiCo ledges: feeble-180 into a straight 20-foot rollback down the sidewalk, to fakie double-peg. I didn't get a single pic of Zane, since everything he did was a line.

MVP went to Draven. He was riding with a bum hand and took the hardest slam of the evening right off the bat, going OTB on an icepick at Harriet Tubman. Draven also railhopped the Rose Quarter nine.

This was my first time shooting "action sports" with a DSLR. Here are the best pics.

Nate's suicide no-hander at the Rose Quarter nine

Draven, railhop 

 Jared, barspin at PepsiCo

Thaddeus grinding across the entire channel at PepsiCo in pitch black

 DFG, hard 180 to smith

Thaddeus grinding up most of the Benson Technical 14

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A million thanks to Robbie at Cult and everyone who showed up. See you guys next Tuesday at 9pm.

Lists.

Found this multi-page improvised pocket journal in one of my old camera bags this weekend. It's an index of stuff I had in mind to shoot for bmx is cute and didn't want to forget--things I spotted from the highway or in strange neighborhoods that I knew my memory would have no way to catalog, as well as various other video-related creative inspirations. I think the list happened partly as a manifestation of how little time I had to ride during the last semester of my senior year of college.



For the record, St Louis has the richest, most stress-free geographical density of street terrain of any place I've ever lived or visited.

Everyone has a list like this, right?

Portland Bridges: The Web Video.

Caleb and I had a blast collaborating on this project across the span of the continent. I'd get an idea while driving to Seattle in the middle of the night and pull over at a rest stop to send him a three-page text. A couple days later, he'd email back with his responses, make some aside about feeding the sheep, and link me to a revised version of the video. That said, for all the thought and work we put into it, it's a very simple video.

Hope you enjoy.



Filmers/editors/riders: Caleb, Ben, DBZ, and myself.

The Silent Web Video.

I already have one, two, three active blogs in addition to this one, and it's a daily struggle not to start more. One idea that I've so far resisted would be a dump archive of web videos featuring the sounds of riding -- the single most important choice made by an editor in my opinion.

The soundtrack-less "718trailer," embedded below, would be filed under "very well done."

As seen on the Holeshot blog (and a lot of other places, too). DVD available at Dan's.



Of course, I'd like to add that bmx is cute. did it three years ago (to less impressive effect).

Point and Shoot: Nick Morris.

Lateral gap to handrail, care of Nick Morris, two Thursdays ago. (Caleb Evenson raccoon eyes in the background.)



Is it any wonder that Nick's broken wrist has yet to heal?

Point and Shoot: Portland Summer Thursdays...

Summer street rides have been going well for over a month now, but this was the first night of the season that the camera left my jeans pocket. Two shots:


Allen Burger, smith up the Lincoln High driveway ledge, bar height and then some. Good grief.


Visiting from Philly, Dan Bob, nose-to-180, waterfront warmup.
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Portland summers start late but go forever. Check the Thursday night photos from late August and September of last year.

See you at Lovejoy Fountain, 9 o'clock, Thursday!

You'll Never Intern It: Ian Moult Drops Science.

Alleged Norco factory pro Ian Moult bomb-dropping the [world-destroying] Large Hadron Collider, where he is, according to the always blogworthy Gnarwhale, a summer intern:

Heck of a bullet point for your CV.

Micro-slantpad.

As the clouds pass: Memorial Day weekend solo sesh in Medford, Oregon; shot w/digital point&shoot and pocket tripod; edited w/Windows Movie Maker on Mother-in-law Jane's laptop.

Sacred Spots Revisited: David Joy Clears the Pizza Fence.

Ten years after Jeremy Davis called out the line, David Joy makes it count.

Matt Reckless photo.

As seen in the opening clip of Pizza's ./blueprint part, if you need a reminder...

Nice work, David.

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June 6th edit: I thought it relevant to add that Joy cleaned the "triple-life rail" (aka the "longest rail in Oregon", and seen bucking a number of pros in the ./blueprint credits) in a web edit from last year:

Bad weather makes for good web edits.

This week, three dope videos from our very closest homies. If you haven't seen them already:

Ben Piff: iPhone Bro-Cam Edit.

Video nerds Ben and Caleb rode hard street all summer, putting Caleb's 3ccd's to careful good use. We've yet to see the "serious" footage, but here's everything else Ben did this summer, filmed with his iPhone, by whomever happened to be around at the time. The lighthearted, low-res results are surprisingly satisfying and beautiful. I'll take credit for suggesting the song.

Caleb Evenson: "Study of a Spot."

An easygoing, unpretentious "concept" video that is fantastically successful, thanks to Caleb's humility, sincerity, and choice of setting. Yes, this is where Bruce Crisman pulled the fakie ruben wallride.

TJ Henderson: The Man, The Myth, The Legend.

From the 217 blog. Four pegs, two brakes, a gyro, freecoaster, trucker hat, and denim cutoffs put to full use, as usual. I always used TJ as a selling point for the bmx is cute dvd, but frankly, this renders anything he was doing back then pretty much obsolete. TJ's bag of tricks continues to swell. Love the way this finishes.

You'll Never Ride It IV: Epic Spot Sniped by Fixies & Sk8-Lugers.

You probably saw the fantastic pics of this gigantic hydroelectric reservoir posted on that Slovenian fixie blog back in June. For the record, I'm not so much annoyed by the fixed gear gnar-dog antics , as I am jealous of their amazing spot. (Though I confess that I did chuckle at the bmx bullies tearing up the comments section.)

With nothing original to add, I refrained from blogging about it.

Yesterday, however, I saw the spot again, featured in a YouTube video on the Skate & Annoy blog, and decided to make a quick post.

Suffice it to say, if you dislike William Spencer, you're going to hate Almir Jusovic. (I adore them both.)

I don't think there's anything intended as ironic in here. Truly, seriously, unfashionably original. Lots of wonderful sketchy spots; reservoir roll-in is the ender-ender.



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Related: You'll Never Ride It I, II, and III.

The Fabled Sk8/Sno/Srf One Day "Hat Trick."

Willamette Week writer Shawn O'Bryant hit powder, 'crete, and sea in a single frickin' day.The project, chronicled here.

O'Bryant's blog about Portland skate spots, here.

NoBikes in Portland.

Yesterday, after a morning of heavy rains, the sun came out and dried the pavement, and we went downtown to meet up with out-of-towner Aaron Gates and crew.

Aaron runs the incredible Alaska riding blog NoBikes. He relocated to Connecticut recently, where he's starting work as a financial actuary, but that didn't stop his summer roadtrip through the freaking Yukon and down the West coast, in hearty NoBikes style.

Poached these photos at an hour-long Arvey wallride sesh.
Aaron in green, Richard Gregory from NZ in white.
Andrew Lazaruk, flatty.
CJ Evans, un-turn.
Parking lot.
Caleb Evenson, background.
Caleb, foreground.
Nate Delp, Tony Archibeque, Andrew Lazaruk, Aaron.
Aaron, Caleb, Ben.

These clips are going to NoBikes video #7, which--as I understand it--will take the form of some kind of roadtrip documentary, heavy on the bears, mountains, and wallrides.

Epic.

Li'l Sk8punx in the Park.

Monday evening, witnessed a gang of adolescent skaters sessioning the three-stair in the park, in observance of Go Skateboarding Day. As they paused to discuss the next spot, slouching fashionably in their defiant pre-teen glory, a spontaneous game of "hide-and-go-seek tag" broke out on the adjacent wooden play structure.

For a full twenty minutes, they played like innocent, unselfconscious children.

Recalling The Endless Roadtrip.

Unfathomably fantastic story on Adam Schnellenbach's blog, recalling from memory a forty-day road trip his junior year, in 2002.

The blurry, oversaturated photos are the perfect complement to Schnell's ranting, unpretentious nostalgia. Possibly the most intimidating unparagraphed block of text I've ever seen.

A shining example of how blogs are enriching the world.

I miss you, Schnell, and think of you often.

two old men playing in a fountain.

Got to ride with Ben yesterday for the first time in forever. Had a satisfying session, driving from spot to spot. Snapped a couple lazy photos.

Wallride, Ben Piff.

I'll send a free dvd to the first person that explains the historic significance of this spot. Email me if you know.

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February 7 update: Aaron Gates, TJ Henderson, and Ben Ward all knew the answer: this spot was tricked by Lou Rajsich in the classic Portland video ./blueprint. Spot the armpit-high green subrail in the background of the pic above, and then watch Lou hit it up:



Since Aaron already has a copy of the video (as do TJ and Ben), I sent a disc to Aaron's friend Shawn instead.

Btw, the white frame Ben Piff is shown riding here (A Sunday Wave2, I think) came courtesy of Ben Ward's generosity. I remember years ago when B-Dubbs gave me a pair of Mosh pedals, because he was amused by some curb-to-wallride I did. That was a great day.

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Took some video with my digital point-n-shoot at the very end of the session. Ben did a crankflip, and I enjoyed myself, even with a broken chain.



I overdid the color-correction trying to compensate for Vimeo's compression washing out the colors; kind of an old Shine video effect, as Ben put it. Makes the wintry day pop.

virgin terrain.

Yesterday, as an alternative to dealing with scattered showers and slippery pedals, I went out with my camera and a cup of coffee to photograph some spots around my new hood that, to my knowledge, have never been approached by a bike. I post these images for two reasons:

1: The simple pleasure of spotting an obstacle and picking out lines.
2: The fantasy of seeing these spots taken care of by another, better, ballsier bike rider. Both these spots are in the Portland suburb of Oregon City. Hit me up if you need help finding them.

Gap, over the rail and across the chasm. Definitely do-able, just a matter of speed and commitment. Decent runway and landing, all things considered.

If, instead of hucking the gap, you were to descend the stairs...

...you'd find yourself in the Willamette river.

Never seen this setup before. Grinding into the water appears physically impossible at first glance, due to the right turn at the top of the stairs and the monstrous dimensions of the rail. But I think there's a chance. Examine the picture below. See that little flat platform halfway up the middle stage? There's actually more than a bike length for run-up, and the rail is just over axle high there. It's possible. A second cool line would be to drop from the pipe into the bank and hop both rails into the river.

Next location: ledges. Get your steel pegs.

Seventeen steps, thigh high. I'll probably go back and hit this myself on a dry day. Gap to ledge ride to gap across the walkway into the shrubbery. This ledge on its own wouldn't warrant a blog post. But it's got a little brother around the corner...

...94 mossy steps. Start your feeble...

... Emerge from the trees, hop from grind position up onto the ledge, and gap to the final 17-stepper.

You'll Never Ride It III: Pripyat

Spot the crumbling hubba:


The Ukrainian city of Pripyat has been a ghost town since 1986, when, bullseye downwind from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, its entire population was evacuated in a span of 24 hours--50,000 people, one suitcase each. Everything else remained as it was left, a perfect time capsule coated in fallout. Three decades without human influence have given nature the opportunity to begin reclamation of the land.



Wikipedia reports that background radiation is at a safe level now; sometime around 2000, looters began clearing out the city's apartment buildings. "Nothing of value was left behind," Wikipedia states. "Even toilet seats were taken away."

Archaeologically speaking, it's too bad that the time capsule has been violated; or perhaps it's good news that Ukrainian entrepreneurs are tapping into these long-frozen assets. The city border is still controlled by the military, but tour companies are being granted access. I don't suppose that a bmx bike would be allowed inside. Maybe if you greased the appropriate palms.

How hilarious/cool would it be to hop that fence with a crew of friends, bikes, and camping gear, and explore the silent city, cruising down streets and sidewalks, carving around the trees and weeds pushing up through the pavement? I bet much of the city feels like utter wilderness.



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(BTW, on the bmx+camping tip, check the NoBikes blog for photos of their excursion to a remote spillway in the Alaskan wilds. Wish the write-up went into greater detail. I'd be interested in the non-riding photos, too.)

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Doubleset.


MACBA ledge.


Pool.


Not actually a missile.


Put some tiremarks on Lenin.


...Too many amazing Pripyat images to choose from. Here are handful from around the internet.
[Nuclear] Winter.


1970.


Amusement.


Chernobyl in the distance.


Lastly, some Pripyat YouTube: