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Mike O'Bryan sent me a link to his Flick'R files and there are lots of FOD pics in there. Peep some art and bikes and shit.
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(I also know a bad photo of a TV screen). Jamie Bestwick is incredible. I could watch him ride all day. If you saw this contest you saw his outrageous crash when his crank arm broke off on the way up the wall of the vert ramp. It was bad, but it could have been so much worse. Jamie did a down-side whip to table and it was beautiful. Diego Cannina (sp?) did a tabled 360 that was just glorious during his park run. Dave Mirra was great to watch as well. Is it weird that all my favorites didn't win the contest? Jamie probably would have won without his cranks Flying off, but he took second (he won the title for the year though).
About as far away from the Dew Tour as you can get, I built some more jumps in my yard. The new "warm-up" line will make it easier for first-timers to get acclimated to the set up. It's good for me too. I've finally jumped all the jumps, except for one, hard to get to set. I also tore down my first jump. These low-roller doubles were just destroying the rhythm and have now become a single roller, which gives you more speed out of a good pump.
FOD Turbo Todd Britton keeps trying to get me to go this Mountain Bike set up in Grand Rapids.
It looks super fun and I'm going to try to get up there before the weather gets too bad. Yeah Todd.
Sean Newton sent me this artsy shot from the Dowagiac park. I don't know who it is or when it was taken, but it's cool...
I thought it was Levi, but I think that he is rolling on the deck in the background. Damn blurry photos. Just kidding, Sean, it's beautiful.
My favorite part of working on bikes is building wheels. Of all of my old bikes from the 70s, the wheels are the best part. I think they are truly works of art. I'm not claiming to be an artist, but the way a wheel is assembled by lacing spokes in a pattern is very traditional experience. I love the way the finished product looks.
That's a ten-year old hub and a Rhyno-Lite rim, but I think it looks good. I'm still holding onto the titanium spokes that Dave Davenport sent me a couple years ago, just alternating them with steelies now.
I told you web video is the new video. Tyler Deshaine put this beautiful piece regarding the Dowagiac jam. He even used a TBIAPB song! You'll really understand what the Dave Moon and White Lotus lines are all about now (as well as everyone else's).
I think I'm a straight shooter. I don't exaggerate much, nor do I embellish, except when it comes to schedules and/or travel times. Driving home from Detroit tonight, my wife called and asked where I was "Galesburg", I said, as I was looking at a sign for exit 92. Galesburg is exit 85, so I was embellishing a bit on my current whereabouts. A bad, lifelong habit that goes back to strict parenting. Anyway, I immediately began to regret my milemarker claim as I heard the newscaster on the TV in the background say "I repeat, a tornado will be entering the Galesburg area in six minutes". I couldn't believe it. Almost exactly my distance from said eye of the storm. Three minutes later I was in the craziest monsoon I've ever driven through, going about 30 on the highway, looking at all the semis around me and pondering what it would be like to become airborne in a VW van. The rain finally let up a little bit and just as I started to relax, I hit what had to be the equivelent of a small pond. Nothing really happened, other than all the noise and sudden decelleration driving through deep water, but it scared the bejeezus out of me.
I told you web video is the new video. Tyler Deshaine put together this beautiful piece (updated) regarding the Dowagiac jam. He even used a TBIAPB song! You'll really understand what the Dave Moon and White Lotus lines are all about now (as well as everyone else's).
I think I'm a straight shooter. I don't exaggerate much, nor do I embellish, except when it comes to schedules and/or travel times. Driving home from Detroit tonight, my wife called and asked where I was. "Galesburg", I said, as I was looking at a sign for exit 92. Galesburg is exit 85, so I was embellishing a bit on my current whereabouts. A bad, lifelong habit that goes back to strict parenting. Anyway, I immediately began to regret my milemarker claim as I heard the newscaster on the TV in the background say "I repeat, a tornado will be entering the Galesburg area in six minutes". I couldn't believe it. Almost exactly my distance from eye of said storm.
The lightning show was non-stop. Literally every few seconds more fireworks. It was wild. Three minutes later I was in the craziest monsoon I've ever driven through, going about 30 on the highway, looking at all the semis around me and pondering what it would be like to become airborne in a VW van. The rain finally let up a little bit and just as I started to relax, I hit what had to be the equivelent of a small pond. Nothing really happened, other than all the noise and sudden decelleration driving through deep water, but it scared the bejeezus out of me. Lesson learned?
I love it.
It's funny when dudes get pissed at their bikes and throw them. I've never done it.
Hanaan and Matt from Veteranbmx.com posted a bunch of sweet pics from the Dowagiac jam.
Here are some FODs in action on MCs. This is my old pal Jeff Venekamp kicking ass (at left) at the XR75 Nationals at Red Bud in Buchanan last weekend. He ended up a respectable 4th.
And here's Clint Baker, getting busy on his PW50. Nice.
Joe's Pizza in Plainwell, Michigan is the best. I love that place. I remember when it opened. I was probably 13 or 14. It was a long ride there from where I lived but totally worth it. Except for the time I crapped my pants after eating there and my friend having to ask his dad if he could borrow the car to give me a ride home. "Well, why does Scott need to go home right now?" 20 questions from my friends super nerd dad (also a teacher at my school) while I stood there with poop in my jeans. I haven't had any such incidents since moving back here this summer and we get Joe's a lot. One time, when I was a little older, my dad heard from someone that dudes were selling weed at Joe's and he told me not to go there anymore. He called it "dope", not weed. I skipped a week but went back. It was the first place I played a video game, I think. I won't even tell you what game it was, it would make me seem even older than I really am. I bet PJ posts a comment about this one.
I took Noah on the road with me last week and we had a good time. It was a lot of time in the car (almost 1200 miles!), but with a little help from ELmo on Noah's DVD player, we made it through. We stopped and took in the great outdoors a few times.
We stopped at almost this same spot on the way up and we were wearing tee shirts. Three days later it was 30 degrees colder, but at least the sun was out. The pic above is from the snowboard video premier we went to. Noah handed out stickers and was stoked.
Happy birthday to big time Deliverance supporter and sweet dude, Stephen Anthony Crandall. You're not getting older, you're getting nicer. Nice. These pics are from a sweet nice trip last year.
I'm pretty sure Crandall's middle name isn't Anthony, but it has a nice ring to it.
I've been working on trails here and they are getting better. I think that big trail bike I built up is starting to crack, which is a bummer. I worked out there tonight with the miner's light on, so we'll see tomorrow what I actually built.
Sorry for the lackluster report on the Dowagiac jam. The pics tell a nice story, but it should be noted that THe White Lotus did some good stuff and Dave Moon did some really good stuff, including the aforementioned ice-over, which was and still is ridiculous. Jeremy Ball did a flair on one of the crazy quarters too. It was a fun time and I'm really thankful to everyone that came out and especially to all the folks from the Detroit area for making the long trip. I sold almost all the one-off tees I made too, which is nice.
Nice.
Sorry about that first pic.
Sean Newton photography.cam
I found a better video hosting service and here is the that same video, only better....and here is the web edit for Fresh Air Cure. I'm really excited to have this web video stuff up and running. Originally, I wanted to put Fresh Air Cure out on those little 3 inch DVDs, but it actually cost more than regular DVDs. It seemed ridiculous to put an eight and a half minute video out on a full length DVD.
I rode Kzoo tonight with Sean Newtron Bomb, the White Lotus and UP Mike. Here are some rad pitures of Mike and the Lotus, shot by Sean, of course...
Note the Lotus' stache and Mike's shirtless approach, even in October. He should be wearing a red and black flannel shirt. I think I just renamed him "Lumberjack Mike". It was a fun session.
I got the new Props Rock and Roll Road Fools today and it's super good. Davey Coop has a couple clips and a speaking part. I love Props, especially the Road Fools series. Check it out.