Busy Week

This past week has been great in terms of riding. Thursday at the indoor Skatepark, we arrived for the usual 8 to 12 session time. That's PM, kids. Unfortunately due to a change in management, the hours changed to 5-9pm, not so great when you show up at 8.

In what could be interpreted as either a very kind gesture, or serious lapse of judgment, Track proprietor, Roger Linder allowed me to lock the place up, while he went home.
We made the best of the evening, and sessioned the place for all it was worth. Basically riding untill we simply could not continue. Adding to the energy of the evening was a guest appearence from the one and only Jay Hoots, as well as current world cup DH racer, Fione Griffiths.

I want to wish Rocker Dave a get well soon. He took it pretty hard 3-ing out of the back bowl. Tony, Rob, and Ross Mccmaster all rode the park non-stop and made some significant progress.

Other news is all about Dirt. This is a salute to Portland area diggers who are busy establishing the ground work both physically, and legally for what is shaping up to be a fantastic collection of trials to ride this summer. This is reminder that:

It's not what the dirt can do for you, but rather what you can do for the dirt.

Saturday turned into a remarkable afternoon at Meldrums. I had been helping The Kids earlier that day with some secret trails that are going to be bannanas this summer. They are like ants, and have done the seemingly impossible. When looking at these picks, keep in mind there was NOTHING out here before they began. After a few hours of digging, we got lunch and swung over to Meldrums and met up with pretty large group. No R/C cars, and the dirt was sticky, so perfect conditions. The combination of great conditions and vibes resulted in some significant progression that day.

Here's the summary:

Recent Candian transplant, Stephanie Nytchka, who ran the entire big line! She organized the Slope Sistairs event, and is attending Chiropratic College in Portland.

Rob Lindburg, besides being the hands down best looking rider of the afternoon, also stepped up and hit the first jump on the Big Line.

Tony B.: Very nice riding on the upper section and trying the above mentioned first jump without the suffering immediate death.

Lilius: Congrats on doing so well in the upper section. You'll be running the entire thing before you know it.

Damian: Regular Digger and landed some 3's consistantly. Good job riding, and all your work at the jumps.

Charlie: You survived a Steven Seagal Energy Drink. I think.

Images from Top to Bottom:

Charlie: Tells his teachers he's injured and needs to use his Orange Fall Guy as "walker." An excuse to bring his bike to class, or a sad comment on the American Health Care System?

Lillius: (Probably not spelled right) First time to Meldrums, and made a lot of progress on Saturday.

Good group of people. Just don't leave any valuables around them unattended.

Arron N. : (Photo by Drew Mitchel) Drew's camera probably made more sound than Aaron did landing this X-up. The kid is smooth. Informed me that REI provides health insurance to part-timers like himself. Graduates this spring and will be riding a ton this summer.

Me: (Photo by Drew) Not sure what this is, but I think Drew took a great photo.

Rob, Seth, Tony and Raya.

"The Kids" working in a secret location.

Evidence of their work. This place is going to be fun.

Rob, sending it over the first jump on the Big Line. His first time.

Stephanine, doing the same.





-L

Big Wheels Wrap-Up

All's well that ends well.

The final episode of Big Wheels night had a few challenges, namely good weather and diesel fumes. An unseasonably warm and sunny afternoon, and all day back-hoe session to rebuild sections of the track had most Big Wheelers thinking twice before ducking into a dark and smelly facility.

Feeling pressured, event organizers where quick to commadeer the services of local Bachlorette party favorites and apparent chest hair waxers Tony "Side Pipe" B. and Rob "The Total Package" Lindberg. Placed strategically near the track's main enterance, these man sirens first mesmermized then lured the local freestyle mountain bike community one by one from the fresh springlike aftenoon onto the comparatively repulsive atmosphere of Big Wheels. Good job fellas!

With the task of fooling riders into riding behind them, event organizers sighed a fumey breath of relief, and cranked Paul's Boutique to signal the beginning of the evening.

After a couple hours of casual riding and warm up, the racing, High Jump, and Best Trick comps were conducted with the precision of a swiss time piece. . It's about time to note that Tony. B (Tonic Fab) custom made belt buckles as prizes for Fast, Not So Fast and High Jump winners. These where awesome. Speaking of prizes, there where plenty. Virtually everyone walked, or in the case of "best crash" winner, Scotty Nipplerings, hobbled away with something. We earned enough $$ through the series to affford Pizza and Beer for everyone after the event. A special thanks goes to the following event sponsors:

Willamette Valley BMX
Mountain Cycle
Stump 503
Deity Components
Ride-This
DMR
Simple Minds Technology
Tonic Fabulous.

The final results went something like this:

High Jump: Ryan F. (This guy went really f-ing high.Tony enjoyed giving a Belt Buckle that announces "I Got High" to a 17 year-old. This kid is really good.)

Fast: Eric Foote. ( What more needs to be said?)

Not So Fast: Eric Holt

Best Trick: Ross Mccmaster (3'd the Box)

Smooth Like Butter: Arron Nachtrab. (Par for the course. Really nice riding Aaron.)

Best Outfit: Charlie Sponsel (Who else?)

All rounder: Eric Foote (Won Fast, and 2nd in Best Trick, and a Mountain Cycle Rumble!)

Best Crash: Scotty Nipplerings. (Heal-up)

Coolest crew: Eugene Freeriders. (Thanks!)


Make what you will of the photos above. There's one of me jumping the box, trying to get tucked. It's important to realize that Ryan was probably almost 2 feet above this...sorry I don't have any good photos of this. The Loot Table. Charlie doing something really gross. My new bike. People stoked on Tony's Belt Buckles. Last supper (at Pietros.) The end.

-L

Building the Underground (Revisted)

Tony and I have been utterly stunned by this video. It's not brand new to the world, but it was to us.

Most of it was filmed in Oregon. We knew a couple of the riders in the video, as well as a few of the locations This alone is going to make it pretty special to us. However:

The riding is the video is simply amazing. I love the apparent ease and style at which these guys ride trials which would be nothing short of lethal for me to ride. The experience of watching this video a few times really reminded me that when it comes to riding, I suck! Fortunatley for the bike industry it's possible to have fun, and suck.

I think the producers of this video put together something brilliant. Their message is loud and clear: Dig Trails and Screw Trends. The video production is stipped down, but effective. With riding like this, you don't need a lot of gimmicks. Justin Inman in particular demonstrates some real genius on his bike, as well as the ever entertaining and tragically talented Jeff Landtiser. Both of their trail and Burnside sections alone are worth the price of this video. Heal up Jeff.

This video is both insirational and humbling. Watch it and weep. Beware of the crash section, and those with weak stomachs will probably want to fast forward through the very beginning of Inman's otherwise incredible section.

-L

Hunters and Gatherers

Brian. He wasn't actually at the Gathering , but he was there in spirit. He can 360 an early 90's mountain bike, no problem. If only I had a photo of my friend Hiram cleaning the legendary "Flying 'Ho" on similar vintage equipment.


Sean. Rode a Brakeless Fall Guy to 2nd in Expert!!! .


Me (Landon) .Mini Ramp Session.


Rob Lindberg. Loves Hot Chocolate. Likes the color blue too.


Charlie. Captain Lake Oswego. Briefly expelled from school for suggesting a "Zombie Holocaust" during Halloween.


Sean again. Modeling his brake-less Fall Guy. Likes the color blue too.


Horrible bail, or something amazing? Who knows at the Gathering...


A Grip of Fall Guys.


Me again. Getting through the big set. These where fun jumps with some good hang time.





"Just because you can, don't mean you should..."

It's been a couple weeks since this event, so what's to report?

Right off the bat, I'd like to mention Tonic Fab was fairly well represented for a couple afternoons in Renton Washington. This is a real change from the previous year, and I think it's fair to say The Gathering is a Tonic Fab mile marker of sorts.

Last year, Tony and I stood around with what could have been the only 2 Fall Guys in the world. We slept at my folks place in Olympia, barely rode, but managed to have a good time of it. If I remember correctly, it was a very introspective journey, with a lot of drive time, and seemingly nothing to talk about other than the details of our personal demons. During the event, we met an enthusiastic fellow who really wanted to ride one of our bikes in the comp. What the hell? We where stoked to see him ride one of our bikes. Neither of us had the confidence to ride in front of a bunch of people, and it was fun to watch him ride. Untill he knocked himself out in the Park Finals. That was frightening. We later sold him a bike, but only after he furnished us with a release from a doctor saying it was OK for him to ride. Sure, bikes don't kill people, but we couldn't have lived with ourselves if something horrible happened to him on our bike.

Anyway, over the course of the year we've managed to sell a few Fall Guys, especially in the PNW. Most Tonic riders from Portland and Seattle attended the Gathering, and rode. We are pround of this, because frankly, as far as I can tell everyone whose bought a Fall Guy at this point has been a hardcore of sorts. Speaking of riding, I was pretty determined to do some this year. Nervousness from spectators, or not. I assumed having a vendor booth would put me in a nice grey area which would allow me to ride without actually entering the comp. I had no intention to enter, but as entering was the sole condition of being able to ride, I decided to give it a go. The jumps looked really good, and as Softies Trail Boss Travis Erikson had a big hand in the construction of the dirt jumps, I felt it was the right thing to do. I entered Expert, but after realizing the line was huge to ride and I wouldn't get any riding time in, myself and Kyle Young (Transition Bikes owner, and one of the coolest cats in this industry) changed to the Beginner Class.

With less than half the number of riders in beginner, Kyle and I got plenty of time to session the jumps. Kyle hadn't ridden in a while, but was killing it. No foot cans, and bar-spins off the box....nice. Pretty soon the comp went off, and somehow I made it to the finals, and wound up winning. Completely unexpected, but what the hell, I'll take it, especially the wrestling belt trophy!

The Experts and Pros where really going off. Stand-outs for me include Scott Matual, Sam Miller, Ross Measures, and Kyle Ebbett. Scott's a seattle local, and just killed it. Big, smooth, and stylish...opposite tables, manualed the box, and huge cross-ups over the spine. Same thing for New Mexico Pro Sam Miller, riding for Addict Cycles. He just blasted everything bigger than anyone and didn't bother with the circus tricks. Ross Measures really cranked some nice flattie's and inverts too. And the same with Kyle Ebbett. Really nice riding.

People who love watching others nearly die had plenty to keep them occupied. I couldn't even watch the "Front-Flip-To-Back" guy. He had a death wish, and someone should have stopped him.


At 3 am Denny's can be a strange place. I don't recall how we got there, or anything except the following:

"Girl, your breakin' me off!!!!"

"Just because you can, don't mean you should!"


Needless to say, we didn't stay at my folks place, and had a very entertaining evening.

The next day at the Skate Park things really got nuts, riding wise anyway. Here's a short summary:

Phil Sunbaum: 2 (broken) thumbs up! Can you believe he rode with 2 broken thumbs, and I believe won? I think sticking your chainring on a rafter gives the back flip a new dimension.

Sean Masai: Rode a brake-less Fall to Second place in Expert! We where really stoked to see you ride...very original style

Lee Gilmore: Made Pro Finals on a Fall Guy. Half to wedge transfer was awesome.

Andrew Carpenter: 720's the box, 540's the spine, 180 bar spins the spine, and didn't even place top 3? What?

Robbie Wright: Pulled the trick of the night. I hope there's photos of that wall tap. That was nuts.

Sam Miller: Killed the park. Period. I forget your friend's name on the Specialized, but he rode brilliantly and should have made park finals, at least.

Shane Knapp: Another Fall Guy rider, rode REALLY WELL, and should have made park finals.

Thats it. Maybe not very good to read, but it had to be done.

Tommorow is the final night for Big Wheels. Ride, then eat pizza.

I don't know why I can't post photos now. We've got a few.

-Landon.