Memories

As we prepare to take off on this trip I've been thinking of people i need to see. Today i went and had coffee w/ Rich who was the vocalist of the band i used to be in. Rich and i have probably more memories than either of us realize, but when we're together it all comes back in a big way baby. After i had two four shot lattes and a double it all stated coming together. The stupid one liners,things my Mom said to us, stuff we did while we travelled the country in our band and all the crazy days when we lived in downtown Portland. Wondering the streets,sleeping behind dumptsters on tour, and endlessly hanging out in coffee shops. We could write a book, and it might even sell. I met Rich in '86, when he was going to Bible College. He signed up to help with my youth group and it was all down hill from there. It turned out he was as big as idiot as me ( or bigger) so we formed a friendship that will last forever. Whenever i see him we just start babbling like it was yesterday. Like no time has passed. After i started freaking out from all the coffee another memorable guy showed up. Kerrin. (i may have spelled that wrong) I remember meeting him like in '88 maybe, and he was a cool guy. One of the first things Rich told me about him was when a security guard hassled him about a knife he had on his boot. He took the guard down to the ground and said "Now what are you gonna do?" but you know how stories are. Either way he's a serious guy and still is. It was good seeing both of them today and when (or if) we return to the Portland area i hope to be seeing more of these guys.

Thanks for all the coffee and all the memories.

My last Oregon ride. (for a while)

I did my last ride for who knows how long with the guys I've been riding with for around 4 years. It was a good time and we sessioned the E.T. jump for a while. I love that one. Faster the better. It was my 2nd ride on the Cliff Cat and I'm liking it for sure. I'm going to switch the monster for the shiver and then she'll be good. A highlite of the day was when a guy cased a jump bigtime a tore the cleats off his shoes. They were still in the pedals. That was so funny. Why was he freeriding with clipless pedals? I don't know. On our last run we did a non stunt trail. DH single track with good flow. I was in the lead and East Coast Eric was chasing with everyone else behind. I really felt on the edge. Drifting some of the corners in the mud. It was good. When it came to the steep part there was a lot of down branches and a few trees. We had just went through a short rock section when i really opened her up. It was a long straight away so i was really going fast when i clipped a pedal on a rock. Wow! i hadn't flew off the bike so far in a while. Face first into rocks and branches. When i figured out i was ok Eric and i started really cracking up. Where's my helmet cam when i need it. Just about tore my pedal off though. Great day as usual.

and thanks to Jamie,Terry,Casey,Eric, Jim, and the other guys for riding hard. I'll be back.

Geting down to the wire

This was most likely the 2nd to the last weekend that I'll be riding around here for a long while. We're planning on leaving for our trip the first weekend in March and it's coming up fast. Anyway....hit up Falls city and the trails we're great until the rain hit. Conditions changed quick. Fooled around at Basic training for a bit then headed to the top. Some of the jumps we're under construction but it was still a good ride down. Saw some of the new stunts that are being built and they look good. Mtn Rider and Rosser were sessioning a cool skinny to log ride, so that was fun to watch. I need my derailuer too much to mess around on that. Flying J rode my Cliff Cat since both his bikes are broke ( Norco= snapped chain stay and demo being replaced by Specialized) Fun and wet day.