it's a little late for a weekend report, oh well. saturday was Belly Cross right here in b'ham at Cornwall Park. the weather was sweet, the course was super fun, and a good time was had by all. all but the frisbee golfers. it's only one day out of the year. thanks. the pack had the week off, so nothing on the football front. except the titans won. which means they're still undefeated. we'll see on sunday. hopefully a rested, and healed packer team can hand them their first loss of the season. tonight was another rad fall night. me and raz headed up to galbraith for a little twilight/night ride. the trails are fast as can be right now. that's it for now. g

what a nice day up here in the corner. too bad i was working all day. then had to take a test. but a very nice night to go for a night ride. with the lights all charged up, raz and i headed out for a short loop on galbraith. soggy buy good. it always feels 10 degrees warmer up there. the donkelope email may be down for a couple of days. so if you want to send a message, be patient, and keep trying. thanks, g

ahh, lazy sunday. it was a good day to get caught up on some shit around the homestead. the shop was in serious disarray after the week before the show. listened to the packers kick the colts ass today. just like they did last week against the seahawks. oh yeah. should've went to the bar so i could watch it. but i'd rather listen to the hometown announcers on the radio. good stuff. i'm sure many people in the bmx world heard about mike aitken's situation. if not, he has serious head trauma from a bad crash. go to www.5050bmx.com and read about mike, watch a little retrospective, and if you can, donate to his family. pro riders can't get insurance because they're "too high risk". no shit, that's what insurance is for. mikey has been a very influential rider to many shredders. his video parts are off the hook.

oregon manifest II

so before i get started talking more about the show, there is something else i want to mention. this week is the community food drive for the food bank in whatcom county. if you can, please donate. there are people who really need it to eat.
back to the show. saturday came early. up late street riding. it is portland after all. there was a much bigger crowd saturday. everyone liked jill's new ride. especially the ladies. the coolest thing i saw that day was a t shirt that had a picture of a hummer on it. then in the same font, was "dummer". it was sweet. good interest in the bikes. we shall see though. all of us, and our shit, had to be out of the building by 10pm. break down was much easier/quicker with kevin there. that night was a party/roller races "sponsored" by rapha. some clothing co. so we head over, only to find out it cost $10 to get in. i asked "what about exhibitors?". $10 to get in. so we turned around and went street riding again. real nice sponsorship. sunday was a cross crusade series race. in case you don't know, portland's cross scene is big. we, the builders, were supposed to build up a cross bike to display at the race. then ride a builder's lap. then put them back on display. the weather was rad, so the bikes weren't too muddy or anything. i also raced the c class. man, cross is fun. that was my first experience, but not the last. back into town for some sunny bmxing. there is tons of good stuff to ride in that town. every sunday night is zoo bomb. a portland tradition. we grabbed helmets and lights, and went to the meeting spot. once everyone else was there, the small bikes were unlocked, and handed out. we rode our bmx. over to the train, and up to the zoo. it's kind of a gathering/party. beers, smokes, laughter. "10 minutes!" it's basically a group ride that bombs down to the train station. get back on the train, head up for another run. we did this about 4 times, until an extended hang out session at the very top. which meant a lot of uphill pedaling after the train ride. at around 1:45, we bombed what is known as k2. long and fast into downtown. wow, what a weekend. here are some more pics. the camera ended up with kevin, and is in salem. so there will be more pics once that thing gets here. g

lots of last minute scrambling was happening all week leading up to the oregon manifest. i was working on bikes on thursday morning, before i left to portland. austin and co. wanted people to put some effort into their booth design. there were some pretty good set ups to be seen. so thursday was setup day. which took a little while to unload everything, and put it together. of course it had to rain at this point. tried to go to bed at a decent time thur night, but still doing some photo stuff for the booth kept me up late. again. friday was the first day of the show. i rode there from the place i was staying. i can't believe how many bikers there are in that town. it's awesome! not a huge turnout as far as the crowd goes. kevin was going to come up and hang/help out the rest of the weekend. but didn't show up until i was at the party that night. at a place downtown that does the ads for nike. a very cool, big, artsy scene. there bikes locked up everywhere. it was a chore to find a spot. free beer was flowing. the filmed by bike movies were being shown in this cool auditorium in that office building. some of the films were great. unfortunately, i can't remember the names of the ones i liked. but if you ever get a chance to see these, do it. gotta go, more later. g

wow, what a weekend!! portland is the shit! we had a great time at the oregon manifest. big thanks to austin, et al, for setting up, and putting on a sweet event. of course there were some rad bikes there. the show was set up in a very cool venue. it was laid back and nice to walk around and b.s. with all of the other exhibitors. there is lots to talk about, but i'm road tired, and i have to go teach. so i'll do a better show/weekend review starting tommorrow. now that the show is over, i'll have some time. here's a pic of the booth. oh yeah, go pack go!!!!!

the Oregon Manifest is next weekend...already. still have a mountain of stuff to do. i think it's going to be a good time. i'm excited. Ayleen, from blog.ORbike.com, recently contacted me about an interview for the upcoming show. of course i said yes. and now her version of the interview is on their webpage. i believe they update it everyday so i'll be old news tommorrow. but it turned out sweet. so check it out. late, g

go pack go!!