Happy Trails.
A hopeless void of interesting or useful material hasn't prevented us from draging on with this pointless "brand building" excercise yet, so why stop now?
Those who seek to uphold the journalistic integrity of "cyber space" have been thankful for the unusually long interval between the most recent Tonic Fab log entries. We've given those sensitive to quality and taste the equivalent of a 3 day week-end, and for that we deserve cakes, beer and cheeses from around the world.
Although it's usually a complete lack of motivation that holds us up, this time it was a broken camera. There are less expensive, and more effective forms of protection to use while you are riding a skatepark than a small digital camera in your pocket, but that's life; live and learn. Unfortunately I missed getting photos of new S&M Bikes Pro, Jeff Landtiser, back in action (sorta) after a horribly broken foot, and Justin Inman using the tiny Oregon City skatepark in the most deft manner imaginable (actually this is very hard to imagine without seeing it.)
Before I get into the thick of my Trail Odyessy, I'd like to take a small detour and intoduce a new-ish member of the Tonic Fab Family of bikes. This is our Cyclocross bike. There's been a bad photo of it on our webiste for some time, but if you've been racing 'cross in our region, you may have seen it. Ian Brown (designer of our website) has been racing cross, short-track mountain bike, training , commuting, and crashing this frame for the past 2 years without a single problem. Creak, crack, or otherwise.
CX_SIDE_small.JPG
REAR_SIDE_small.JPG
CX_ORTHO_SMALL.JPG
CS_small.JPG
Properly set-up it delivers up to .25" of rear wheel travel. The spring rate is tunable with differenent material and wall thickness "tubes" which bolt into the stays. The bike is light, comfortable, and BEAUTIFUL in a subtle, mechanical, and modern way. A small quantity will be ready for this CX season. Save your pennies if you want one; they won't be cheap.
Onto getting as much air underneath your tires as possible.
May 7th, a Sunday, was scheduled to be the first in a series of Go Huck Yourself.com Jump Jams. I drove up (no small expense with gas at $3.15/gallon!) a day earlier and saw my parents in Olympia, and hit the infamous Dart Trails. These are probably considered warm-up jumps in some circles. For me however, Dart is pretty big stuff. DART_SCAPE_small.JPG , LARGE_DART_sm.JPG > Definately the largest gap I've had to clear in a rhythm section. Lots of hang time here. Even though this section has perfect flow, I've never felt entirely comfortable here.
From Dart it was up to Seattle, where I met-up with Seattle local Scot Matual, and Potland local, Paul Laclava for some more riding. First spot was Green Lake. Nice, mellow, public and legal area. Scot has the place dialed. Great flow, and turndowns over the larger sets. This blurry photo is all I've got. SCOTT_TURNDOWN.JPG
From Greenlake it was onto a top secret intown location. I will not reveal the location of this place, but it is INCREDIBLE. The most incredible set I've seen. Steep, winding, and perfect. I only mananged to make it through the first half before I decided to back out. I don't have the courage or skill to get that place figured out quickly. Fortunately Scott was there to show us how it's done. Big thanks to Scott and Rama (man responsible for these trails) for showing me this amazing set. Why is Scott a blur in all my photos? Is he a vampire?
SEATTLES%20BEST%20TRAILS.JPG
RAMA%20y%20SCOTT.JPG
The next day, I woke up and it was POURING in Oly. It seemed impossible that the Jump Jam could go on that day. For some strange reason, no rain fell at Softies (less than 1 hour north) and the conditions couldn't have been better. Blue skys and cool air made for a perfect day to play outside. Travis Erikson and crew have put in an enormous amount of work, and Softies was running perfectly. As per every other GHY event; good vibes and great riding. These pictures will do a far better job explaining the day than I could.
JJ_CROWD.JPG
JJ_CROWD_A.JPG
^ Luciano riding a Simple. Simple's are made in Yakima, Wa. by Oscar. Nice bikes.
AARON.JPG
^Signature Flow.
BILLY.JPG
^Wish I had some better photos of Billy riding, but I don't. Billy's an incredible rider, and is sponsored by Union Street Bikes. You can find photos of him here.
CHARLES.JPG
^Charley. Testing the limits of a $4 department store tire.
TAILWHIP_KID.JPG
^Not only was he landing tailwhips to pedals cleanly, he also pulled a very clean and casual 720. And I can't remember his name?
GUY.JPG
GUY_BOOST.JPG
GUY_TABLE.JPG
^Guy Marsh borrowed Sean M's (2nd place expert park at the gathering) one off brake-less Fall Guy and really destroyed the place. Huge everywhere, stylish...true "NW" style. Check him out here and here.
PHIL_FLOW.JPG
^Most people know Phil Sunbaum for his deep bag of tricks, but it was really nice watch him just ride through Softies straight. Probably went higher than anyone else, and with real style. Really nice to watch.
That's all I got. More (and way better) photos here.
Those who seek to uphold the journalistic integrity of "cyber space" have been thankful for the unusually long interval between the most recent Tonic Fab log entries. We've given those sensitive to quality and taste the equivalent of a 3 day week-end, and for that we deserve cakes, beer and cheeses from around the world.
Although it's usually a complete lack of motivation that holds us up, this time it was a broken camera. There are less expensive, and more effective forms of protection to use while you are riding a skatepark than a small digital camera in your pocket, but that's life; live and learn. Unfortunately I missed getting photos of new S&M Bikes Pro, Jeff Landtiser, back in action (sorta) after a horribly broken foot, and Justin Inman using the tiny Oregon City skatepark in the most deft manner imaginable (actually this is very hard to imagine without seeing it.)
Before I get into the thick of my Trail Odyessy, I'd like to take a small detour and intoduce a new-ish member of the Tonic Fab Family of bikes. This is our Cyclocross bike. There's been a bad photo of it on our webiste for some time, but if you've been racing 'cross in our region, you may have seen it. Ian Brown (designer of our website) has been racing cross, short-track mountain bike, training , commuting, and crashing this frame for the past 2 years without a single problem. Creak, crack, or otherwise.
CX_SIDE_small.JPG
REAR_SIDE_small.JPG
CX_ORTHO_SMALL.JPG
CS_small.JPG
Properly set-up it delivers up to .25" of rear wheel travel. The spring rate is tunable with differenent material and wall thickness "tubes" which bolt into the stays. The bike is light, comfortable, and BEAUTIFUL in a subtle, mechanical, and modern way. A small quantity will be ready for this CX season. Save your pennies if you want one; they won't be cheap.
Onto getting as much air underneath your tires as possible.
May 7th, a Sunday, was scheduled to be the first in a series of Go Huck Yourself.com Jump Jams. I drove up (no small expense with gas at $3.15/gallon!) a day earlier and saw my parents in Olympia, and hit the infamous Dart Trails. These are probably considered warm-up jumps in some circles. For me however, Dart is pretty big stuff. DART_SCAPE_small.JPG , LARGE_DART_sm.JPG > Definately the largest gap I've had to clear in a rhythm section. Lots of hang time here. Even though this section has perfect flow, I've never felt entirely comfortable here.
From Dart it was up to Seattle, where I met-up with Seattle local Scot Matual, and Potland local, Paul Laclava for some more riding. First spot was Green Lake. Nice, mellow, public and legal area. Scot has the place dialed. Great flow, and turndowns over the larger sets. This blurry photo is all I've got. SCOTT_TURNDOWN.JPG
From Greenlake it was onto a top secret intown location. I will not reveal the location of this place, but it is INCREDIBLE. The most incredible set I've seen. Steep, winding, and perfect. I only mananged to make it through the first half before I decided to back out. I don't have the courage or skill to get that place figured out quickly. Fortunately Scott was there to show us how it's done. Big thanks to Scott and Rama (man responsible for these trails) for showing me this amazing set. Why is Scott a blur in all my photos? Is he a vampire?
SEATTLES%20BEST%20TRAILS.JPG
RAMA%20y%20SCOTT.JPG
The next day, I woke up and it was POURING in Oly. It seemed impossible that the Jump Jam could go on that day. For some strange reason, no rain fell at Softies (less than 1 hour north) and the conditions couldn't have been better. Blue skys and cool air made for a perfect day to play outside. Travis Erikson and crew have put in an enormous amount of work, and Softies was running perfectly. As per every other GHY event; good vibes and great riding. These pictures will do a far better job explaining the day than I could.
JJ_CROWD.JPG
JJ_CROWD_A.JPG
^ Luciano riding a Simple. Simple's are made in Yakima, Wa. by Oscar. Nice bikes.
AARON.JPG
^Signature Flow.
BILLY.JPG
^Wish I had some better photos of Billy riding, but I don't. Billy's an incredible rider, and is sponsored by Union Street Bikes. You can find photos of him here.
CHARLES.JPG
^Charley. Testing the limits of a $4 department store tire.
TAILWHIP_KID.JPG
^Not only was he landing tailwhips to pedals cleanly, he also pulled a very clean and casual 720. And I can't remember his name?
GUY.JPG
GUY_BOOST.JPG
GUY_TABLE.JPG
^Guy Marsh borrowed Sean M's (2nd place expert park at the gathering) one off brake-less Fall Guy and really destroyed the place. Huge everywhere, stylish...true "NW" style. Check him out here and here.
PHIL_FLOW.JPG
^Most people know Phil Sunbaum for his deep bag of tricks, but it was really nice watch him just ride through Softies straight. Probably went higher than anyone else, and with real style. Really nice to watch.
That's all I got. More (and way better) photos here.
posted by Tonic Fab at 10:50 PM
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