Sep 17, 2010

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?

Aug 27, 2010

Improving on Perfection: Breakfast on the Bridges adds Bacon.

It just seemed like the right thing, to inaugurate Ben's first day back at work since the birth of his beautiful son Gus with donut holes and coffee on the Steel bridge. The sizzlin' fresh pancakes, sausage patties, and non-vegan bacon were an unfathomable surprise quickly embraced.

All props to the profitless BonB crew.



We loitered for a half hour or so, discussing work and bikes: Caleb is happily unemployed again, and assembling a touring bike for a winter voyage; Ben complained about commuting via bmx ("It's half the speed, and twice the work!") and resolved to get his road bike functional before Monday; and I smugly called attention to my new collapsible metal pannier basket, a twenty-dollar purchase which keeps the messenger bag off my back and doubles my investment in the sixteen-inch machine.

We finally parted ways for what I assume were excellent Fridays all around.




Aug 14, 2010

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.
...

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!

Jul 21, 2010

Moose carcass. Bears. Trails at midnight.

It was almost two years ago to the day that I first voiced my appreciation of the Alaska riding blog No Bikes, in a parenthetical side note to a post about the Ukrainian ghost town of Pripyat.

The frequent anecdotes and photos offered glimpses of a tight-knit bmx scene in the midst of mountains, wilderness, wildlife, and frontier culture, and always left me hungering for more. With the release of No Bikes' seventh video, Burn This, that hunger has been finally, finally satisfied.

In addition to the full length video, rider / filmer / editor / photographer / blogger / husband / financial actuary Aaron Gates found the time to re-edit the footage into a surprisingly legitimate documentary, called The Hinterland, offered as a bonus item on the dvd. My recommendation: buy this $5 dvd right now, and watch the documentary immediately. Give that time to settle, and then watch Burn This.

Offered online are two standout scenes from The Hinterland. Enjoy.




Jun 29, 2010

Worst-Organized Bike Rally on the Planet--Right Here, Thursday.




Let there be no confusion.

If you came out for the street ride any of the last three weeks, you probably scratched your head, doubted you were in the right place, and eventually went back home, disappointed.

Our apologies. We can all explore the miscommunications in person, in depth, this Thursday, at the first successful street ride of the Summer.

This oughta be the one.