The Flow

I saw this write up I did on The Flow trail in Marquette cycle through on the Bike Mag site today. Love that they team it with the above Derek Frankowski shot that he took during the Monster Park weekend back in 2004. That shot also ended up as a cover of the Mag. So cool to have had the opportunity to write about one of my favorite trails.

Hey You

Lewis River Trail

Took a great ride this weekend with Jen, Cheever and Brigid at the Lewis River Trail (#31) in the Bronson Pinchot National Forest Saturday. Okay, so it was the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.
Either way, that trail is awesome from start to finish. 98% single track. Tons of climbing and ripping. Huge trees, clear cold river, water falls, stolen beers, oh and yeah, the bone pile pictured above. After wards had a great meal at the Cougar Bar in Cougar, Washington. Hopefully we'll be getting back up that way in a few weeks to ride around St. Helens (Ape Canyon-Plains of Abraham).

Stoked.

C-c-c-c-c-c-an't stop the music

Man this stuff is giving me the shakes...

Hey You

Consider this a phone call from a long lost buddy. It is that time of year, Ya'll! Although the heat won't let me think too much of fall, the calendar is showing me that we are closing in on fall. Getting it right in our sights...

Wanderings

For the last few weeks we've had a steady stream of visitors staying with us. The passing of time has been punctuated with wanderings in new places as we've played tour guide. Sometimes stumbling your way across town is just the best way to find yourself in a place you never thought you wanted to go...

Stumped

Went for a hike in the Coastal Range yesterday with Jen and her brother Nathan. Rained damn near the whole time, muddy as hell too. But I'm a fan of the temperate rain forest that is the Oregon Coast. This was one of the bigger stumps we saw...

The Next Level

Entertainment

Speaking of entertainment, just started reading this.

Motivation

I picked up a copy of The Ride Journal #2 at Reading Frenzy last week. Reading Frenzy is a pretty cool little zine store right around the corner from Veloshop in SW. Speaking of which, I'm headed back there tomorrow night for a ride with some of the contributors to Boneshaker #3.
So yeah, The Ride? Pretty much the best bicycling pub I've picked up in long time. Start to finish, it is solid.
I'd really like to get something published in it, and lets just say the ball is already rolling.

Wheel Building

Not the best picture, but above is a shot of the Phil Wood spoke cutter down at the Veloshop. That simple machine sees use just about everyday. I've only used it a handful of times, but yesterday, I felt like I'm really getting the hang of it finally. So different than the days at BBC when touching the spoke machine was off limits to damn near everyone...

The Future Is Now

So, a few weeks back, four designers from Nike came by to visit us on an Inspiration Tour. We talked for a few hours on what motivates us, and our design process. We were invited out to Nike for a look at the inner workings of their design process, and a tour of their campus.
I've long harbored mixed feelings about Nike as a company, all that "evil empire" stuff. However, from a small brand owners standpoint, to see the other side of the universe as far as manufacturing/branding is concerned. I was very impressed with their facility, and the level of professionalism there. As part of our visit, we did some "shopping", and I picked up the pair of Lunar Glide running shoes pictured above. By far the lightest shoes I've ever owned. Apparently they are from the "nike plus line", so you can sync up the shoes with your Mac for various activities.
This will not be a shoe reveiew, however, I'm excited to try them out.