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Sometimes I lack photos and visuals for this site and that keeps me from posting, but that is not the case this time around....

First up, some more pics from Kzoo by Sean Newton:

CJ Vaughn, Skate Zoo enemy number one.  Actually, he works there.  Back tail on the mini with style.

Longtime local Josh Evans, tatted and ratty, going big over the hip.  The clock is ticking on the outdoor sessions for the year.  I'm bummed.

CJ again, method over Pizza The Hut.  This obstacle looks like the roof of a Pizza Hut restaurant and the name has somehow evolved into a Star Wars reference.  Don't ask.

    I got my Honda running a few weeks ago--I'm not sure why it took so long to get photos of it.

It runs good and sounds awesome with the shorty pipe.   Feels real good with the low bars, skinny tank and thin seat too.  This winter I hope to get it totally dialed in. 

    Yesterday, my buddy Jeff Venekamp came up from Indiana and we headed to Cannonsburg Ski area where the Michigan Mountain Bike Association has built a super cool set up.  I ran a pic of Todd Britton riding it last week and he met us there, along with Jeff Miller and Todd's sidekick Casey.  It was the first day I had felt well in awhile and the fresh air did me right. 

Here's Todd again.   This thing was more crazy than it looks.  The gap out to the landing is pretty far and you couldn't see it until you took off.  

This gap is gnarly.  You start out on a super skinny platform and have to cut a turn, right next to a little tree that is unnervingly close to your bars, then take a quick crank and launch off and down.  The first time was a little sketchy, but the gap was a blast.  Jeff took awhile to hit it, then made up for it by throwing down heavy styles like this plea for peace.  Jeff rules.  As soon as you landed from this gap, you had to hit the brakes to not over-shoot a long table with a short landing.  Todd and Casey both got worked first thing on that jump and the rest of us had a few scary ones as well.  From there, you hit a long step up double, a dropping turn, a sweet jump that dropped down into this berm...

...and then up a little hill, where the run ended.   Taking the whole run was super fun.  Very moto.   The big bikes are a little clunky and awkward in the air, but very stable and hauling ass on them is proper.  Jeff took the photos of Todd and I.  I took the one of Jeff.

     There was also a cross country mountain bike course there and lots of dudes in spandex wandered over to check out the "insane terrain".  A couple of them took their chances on the easiest of the obstacles and it was entertaining/horrifying to watch.  As Todd said "one more attempt away from a broken collarbone".  It was a kick ass sunday for old men on a mountain.  Fresh air cure indeed. 

    Todd brought me this present, framed and everything:

It's so cool to see photos that you don't remember or have never even seen from so long ago.  I'm number 9 in the middle.  This was taken at a national in Coal Canyon, California, in 1988.   I remember doing well in the motos and later choking, as I usually did at nationals.  A really cool thing that Todd brought to my attention is the scary looking long haired dude, sitting on the fence on the left in the pic.  That is Kevin McNeal, one of my early BMX heroes.  He was kind of an outlaw, gnarly dude that did his own thing, but he was cool to me when I asked him a million questions about gate starts and playing Asteroids and what size shoes he wore (yeah, I was that kid).   Shortly after he got the National Number One in 1980, he suffered a head injury and was never the same again.  At one point,  he was living in a box near a track somewhere, but this was taken before times got real bad for him, I think.  

   Halloween takes on a whole new meaning when you have kids and we had a blast.  Noah was into it!  

Later that night, I went up to Modern in Grand Rapids for the Habitat skateboards video premier and a fun skate session.  My long-time friend Jason Bosch was there and it was a treat to watch him skate the bowl.   Jason's lines defy any sort of regulations set forth by the number of wheels beneath him.   I filmed this video with my Canon Elph S200!

   I did ride my trails for a few minutes on Friday and it was good.  Hopefully I'll have another chance this year.  The weather definitely took a turn for the worse today and tomorrow it's supposed to snow!