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.

Reviewed: Yo Guy! by Brian "Crossbar" Histand

According to this bmxboard thread, the cover art for each Yo Guy! dvd takes "about three minutes." I haven't concluded whether that is fast or slow, but it's cool to think that this disc spent three minutes in Brian Histand's calloused hands.

You've seen the trailer, right?



The trailer and the cover art should give you a fair idea of what to expect: this is a straightforward rock-and-roll scene video, with emphasis on quality riding and not on elaborate production.

Ten bucks, shipped anywhere. Buy it.

It's hard to believe that in such a tight crew of non-professional riders there can be this much variety: the ratio of street, park, and dirt footage is pretty much perfect, as is the ratio of tech, smooth, and burly riding. The burly moments made my joints ache; Histand assured me he does have health insurance. That he would let his poor mother watch the video blows my mind.

My [constructive] criticism: top-notch riding needs top-notch terrain, and too much of the video felt like it was filmed in the suburbs (as I think the trailer shows). Don't settle for a 540 down stairs at some featureless elementary school--find a stair set in a location with some kind of character. Please!

That said, I'm psyched as hell on these guys producing a bangin' dvd while holding down jobs, school, and family. When time is scarce, it makes sense to quit exploring and just start riding. Can't fault somebody for that.

I won't be surprised if this video leads to some serious sponsorships. Histand could use a pair of cranks, I'm sure.

To order Yo Guy!, paypal ten dollars to mrgoose33@yahoo.com.

Here's the Yo Guy! MySpace.
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Btw: interview with Histand and another review at NoBikes.

brake pr0n monday.

This is how you shoot bmx with a macro. Looks like TJ Henderson got a new lens for Christmas.


What a fantastic image. More at The217.

And on the same day, Ben Ward, of pdxbmx and Odyssey, posted this image of the new Flatware fork and brakes.


Actually, I confess, I'm not quite sure exactly what's what here. But the setup looks tight, and Od'sey HQ looks like a bmx paraphenalia fantasyland.

Familiar Manifestations of Other People's Cabin Fever.

Ha!

Following two similar posts in a row here, this appeared on the Deliverance blog last night.


Creativity's gotta go somewhere. At least his posts are somewhat bike relevant.

(Cute kid.)

bilding.

As predicted, here's another tower of blocks, assembled over the course of a very lazy New Year's Day.



I didn't quite use up all the blocks in the bin. Perhaps the next one will be taller. It's pretty satisfying when the tower gets high enough that you can just stand and build at eye level.

Snow day.

I liked my first tower better, but it fell down. That red triangle block in the bottom right was on top of the green rectangle but got knocked off while I was taking the picture, I guess.

There will probably be more of this stuff.

Lobsterspine = the Real Steven Hamilton?

The video below, reportedly edited by Steven Hamilton himself, has been viewed almost eight thousand times since its internet debut two days ago. Responses to the video on bmxboard, the Come Up, and T.V.O.'s Life? were split, tending either towards strong disappointment or strong enthusiasm. The comparisons to mid-90's LSD-influenced video producer Ells Bells seem absolutely appropriate.



There are eight more Hamilton-related videos from the same Youtube user, Lobsterspine, some of which are measurably easier to watch, and none with more than eighty views to date. These include parts one through four of some project called Inception 2. If I understand correctly, Inception was the name of Hamilton's high school video project.

Inception 2, part two. Trails down a fricken' gully like nothing I've ever seen! Where is this? I guess it goes without saying that footage of Ted Van Orman is always great.



Parenthetically, here's the only evidence of Inception 1's existence that I'm aware of:



It would appear that Lobsterspine is Hamilton's personal account, or that of someone close to him. I can't think of another pro whose mind is better suited to Youtube as a creative medium.

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Related: The Complete Steven Hamilton Youtube Discography