Ben Dot Hucke has been up in this piece for the last few days. Last night was a crazy one. I will have to post some pics, no wait. Better yet go over to www.vultbmx.com to see some pics of the night. It was a long day of riding with the boys, about 200 city miles clocked, that lead to a really late night full of all that good ol' adult stuff, drinking.
Quick summary day:
-Ledge Spot over run with skateboarders. -Level, good session. -Jesse clocking corked 3's off benches. -Barspin Steve does good whips off small things. -Hucke doin nose stuff. Nose wheelie stuff, damn. -Fashion District, rather alley. -$5 Airsoft Guns, muy bueno. -Yellow rail spot, now the Yellow hell spot. -Avoid the McZombies. -Metal ledge spot, over run with skateboarders. -Dime like creatures in Burbank. -Tony Hawk level school in Burbank. This place wasn't in the game, but it should have been. -More Airsoft action and a 12 year old white gangsta from Burbank.
Quick summary night:
-A bottle of something special. -Trash talking -Beer Pong -Bing Bang Bros. -Bing Bang broken table. -Hucke shotup with the Airsofts. -A 2am dule, middle of the street. We missed with all our shots. -Pissed off roommate. -Puke in the Mercedes. -Long drive home.
From Rod Wojtanik of Portland Parks & Recreation...
"I wanted to let everyone know that we will have the final Glenhaven Design Review meeting next Tuesday in the Springwater Conference Room from 5:30-6:30. Sage from Dreamland will be there to present.
If you are interested in reviewing the final Dreamland design please attend. Following the review of the design by the Committee, Parks will do an internal Operations & Maintenance review. It will also be sent to the Neighborhood Association for their review. Following that we will begin the construction document phase and submit for building permits. We hope to be into construction by the end of August. - Rod."
LATEST ON PIER
GOOD NEWS: Portland's City Council has stepped in to provide direction to its agencies charged with skatepark development and directed that the project be forwarded at once. On Wednesday, April 26 Council will vote on a grant proposal to Skaters for Portland Skateparks that would complete funding for the project. Given the council's initiative, a favorable vote is basically assured.
Once Council votes to approve the grant and contracts are signed, SPS will be given the green light to direct its demolition contractor to proceed. As mentioned in previous updates, demolition is projected to take one week. Building contractor Dreamland Skateparks then takes over the site and begins construction. Dreamland anticipates a 15-week construction period. That means you could be skating in mid-August.
BACKGROUND: WHY THE DELAY? We reported earlier that we expected demolition to occur in the final week of March with Dreamland on site at the beginning of April. That was based on a projection shared by SPS and Portland Parks & Recreation, the owner and operator of the skatepark.
Out of the public's view is a project checklist of items that need to be addressed before anybody can actually do anything on site, i.e. before you actually see anything. For example, the permitting process is a huge list of items that must be reviewed and approved by multiple city agencies before construction.
SPS was almost entirely through that checklist when the Parks bureau decided the project lacked sufficient funds for completion. While the Pier Park skatepark rebuilding effort is appropriately described as a private/public partnership, it's important to note that the Parks bureau is the skatepark's owner and operator. That means they, not SPS, manage the final product and have the final word in the project's scope and therefore the budget.
SPS has always concentrated its efforts on its own expertise: the part we all skate. The amenities, like seating areas and facilities, a walkway, trash cans, etc. are beyond our expertise and properly handled by the Parks bureau. Parks decided some changes were needed in the project scope. That impacted the budget leading to the Council directive, and created the delay.
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I received this in my email today. I agree that something should be figured out for the riders of Medford. I just don't believe that the argument and point raised in this are the best points to fight this town with. Trying to gain access for bikes to this park is no where near a new thing. The town is aware of tha abilities for bikes to work in a skatepark. There is one of the most BMX friendly parks 15min. down the highway in Talent. I am not sure what kick started the resurgence to wanting to gain access to this park. I have never known it to be a problem for bike riders to have somewhere to ride in Southern Oregon.
Good luck, I just think that your angle of approach needs to be better researched before you actually sit down with any community officials. Coming with the classic football on a soccer field angle does not work. You need to figure out the effect this rule has on the community and you need to get parents involved. Cities will take you more serious when you are able to get parent and older people in the community on your side. Educate the community and you will gain support for your cause.-ben
If everyone could just take a second and write a few words to the Mayor of Medford, Oregon about allowing bmx bikes into the skatepark. They have a PUBLIC skatepark, that does not allow bikes. These are the same people who pay the same taxes, as skaters, live, work, and play in the same area as the skaters but are not allowed to ride there based on the fact they ride a bmx bike. It would be like not allowing football to be played on the same field as soccer. If you don't mind please just help out bike riders young and old, that want a place to have FUN.
Seth Holton is holding an art show in Seattle during the month of May. Openning reception is May 4th at 5PM, and the show runs through the end of May. Check out the flyer for more details.
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Yeah, so I'm pretty sore, tired, and slightly disgruntled so there won't be much of a post tonight. Been riding daily since last week sometime, which I am certainly not used too since being sick.
It's good to be back on my bike and riding more and more. With riding more comes all the things you'd expect. Pulling more tricks, not pulling more tricks, getting pissed at not pulling more tricks, ghostriding the bike, throwing the bike, bending the bars, fixing the bars, and riding again.
So we go to this spot to film a few clips, as soon I go to clock the footy, my body's aches and pains catch up to me. 30 tries later and I still can't do it, despite doing it a few times before the camera came out. Inevitably, the bike got tossed. Twice actually, the first time bending my bars, and the second time hitting a nearby Subaru wagon (ding!). Time to dip out.
Got some new Slams today and ready to roll again. Met up with Forrest and Allan to cruise the cycles. Devin suggested evening OC sesh and we were off to ride. The park was almost empty and it was a good way to wind down after a rough couple days.
Anyway, that's it for now. Sorry bout the rant folks but that's what ya get. Peace-Slo
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These are the new faces joining the GOODS shop team. It's great to have all these homies/amazing riders, representing for us! Welcome aboard gentlemen...
Head on over to GoodsBMX.com to see some more pics of all the guys. Peace-Slo
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I received this late last week and figured some of you out there might like the read. All of you should enjoy it, it is a piece of Oregon BMX History. I know it brought one of those cheesy grins to my face. I wish more guy's from the past would surface with stories. Thanks Skud.-ben
"I was reading some comments from Brice and he had mentioned Dave Thom was touring with one of the Megatour Events. I saw a pic and Dave and Shad are standing next to each other (boy we have all aged!). It has probably been 10 years since I saw Dave (probably out at the 30), but it brought back good memories. I remember when he and Pat use to live in Coos Bay, I was probably 15 then. They were flatlanding and riding street back then, Dave sure did love Dynos. We got him into riding dirt and around that time Pat moved to Seattle. I miss those lazy days at the 30 when we would spend all day riding and buildin.
I am the originator of the 30. It use to be called the 30 Foot Dip, located in Coos Bay, Oregon. I have an innumerable amount of stories from there including Looney, 30 Jams, Friends & Acquaintances: Gabe Gamble, Keith Harris, Frank and Eric Walters, Dave Thom, Josh Thom, Jason Thom, James Orr, Brice Neilson, Brandon Long, Chris Rock(Roggers), Derick Goodry, Kevin Frank, Sky, Ben, Curtis Easterbrook, Pat Jewbart (sp), Toast, Johnny Leavy, Josh Allen the list could go on. Anyway, it is good to see that people like Keith, Brice, and even good ol Dave are still riding. Maybe we will hook up for a jam in the Medford area, my bro, Keith and I are working on my jumps again,
Until then,
It is good to hear news from the Northwest even if you are down in the dirty southÂ
I hear that it has been really nice weather up there. That is dialed. Something like 10 more days of sunshine to come. I think there was a crew that made the trek down to Eugene to shred their parks.
Yesterday was the S&M/Fit warehouse sell. I guess there was an insane turnout. barspinner brought his box and a serious session went down. Rich and I didn't show up will the end of the evening. We were treated to Jesse Puente riding flatland on the roughest road. All I can say is amazing. The stuff he was doing was mind blowing. I love flat and seeing such a talented rider really makes you think about what is truly possible on a bike.
Eddie and crew a slowly making their way home from PDX. I think they are indefinitely stopped in SF. I hear Eddie has already filled a tape. I can only imagine what is on that tape.
I hope everyone had a great weekend. Send me some stuff to put up on the site.-ben
Found this on the Tube. Remember when everyone lived in Beaverton and rode bikes? James Monsey put this piece together.
Well the "I Love You" premiere went down tonight. The usual posse was in full effect, and probably a good 35 people were there. A big WAY TO GO to Phil Sheldon on his, I believe, 3rd video in almost as many years! That's pretty good no matter how ya put it.
The vid starts off with a "24 Hours with Caleb Ruecker" section that is pretty dang good. The section also features Darus Elbon who was along for the ride that day. Both guys do some cool lines and hot tricks. Luke Shearer and Justin Carter share a good section of relaxed shredding. There's a Woodward West summer collaberation section featuring all the homies that head that way over the summer, including David Comacho and Tope Sosanya. There's a ton of Vancouver Metro Jam 2005 footage including a boat load (yes, I said boat load) of crashes and amazing tricks. There is also a bunch of other footage including a ton of bonus sections, which we didn't get to see (you'll have to buy it to see that).
Copies are available for sale from Phil for $10 a pop and we should have some at Goods next week.
Thanks to everyone who came out and to Phil for premiering it for everyone.
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Here is a sneak peek at the new Ride. There are quite a few locals featured in this mag. Eddie has an ad and 4 pages of other stuff. Bruce has 4 pages of stuff. Vince "my last name is spelled" Kroff has an ad, an almost full page pic and a wilin' out shot. Hoder has 2 pages, Dakota has a 2 page photo spread, and friend of pdx and Socal shredder Kurt has a bio.
The mag is also full of really good articles. I think is one of my favorite mags to date. I guess filling it with the homies can do that. Here are some crappy looking sneak peeks and Vince and Eddies stuff. -ben
As you might know today is April 20th, 2006 or 420 to those in know. I know what you are all thinking; "hahaha, 420 bro. Let's get lit and jump off a roof." I am going to deliver some other not so known facts about this day in history.
01. National High Five Day. 02. 1889 - Adolf Hitler, Austrian-born German dictator Born (d. 1945) Just to show the irony of the next moment in history. 03. 1657 - Jews of New Amsterdam (later New York City) granted freedom of religion. 04. 2002 - The body of Alice In Chains frontman Layne Staley is found in his Seattle apartment after dying from an apparent speedball overdose on April 5. 05. 1972 - Apollo 16 lands on the Moon. 06. 1976 - Joey Lawrence, American actor Born 07. 1999 - Rick Rude, American professional wrestler (b. 1958) Died 08. National Love-A-Teen Day. 09. 1912 - Bram Stoker, Irish author (b. 1847) Died 10. 2006 - Nike P-Rod Hemps Released at Armory.
So, in celebration of yesterday's post, my taxes have officially been paid. All $1,100 dollars of em!! Only got one thing to say about that, and that's that it sucks!! Next year should be better for me since this was the last year for our county tax.
Anyway, enough of that downer business. Not really too much on the BMX front right now since mother nature has decided to bring back the moisture. Jesse W, and Eddie are in town to film clips while Ashley sews up pants and wants to go the the coast.
Eddie can be seen sporting a new raw frame and purple stem. Hmm, wonder where he stole that setup from? Haha, who's copyin who son!! Well, I guess it is known that I secretly run the bmx game.
Alright, that's all for now. Tomorrow is Easter Sunday! Hope everyone has some Reese's peanut butter eggs in their baskets!
Well according to that poll over there on the right Vinces last name in officially Kroff. Man how much would that have sucked if it turned out to be Krofft? 1st Vince graduates from High School, then he moves to Portland and then having to change your last name. That would be INSANE! So pdxbmx officially congratulates Vince Kroff on graduating.
I also would like to welcome Slo Dogg to the world of cable. TLC and Discovery watch out! Maybe he can finally see the episode of Andy Milonakis with Juelz Santana. "If you ever need help just whistle." Whew Woo.
Jeff Landtiser has finally left SoCal and headed home on Tuesday Morning via Amtrak. It was nice to have him here for so long. He also has his cast off and a new bike. Watch out Solame.
I received news that Props Mega Tour 5 "Someones Gonna Pay" will be shipping on April 24th. I wonder if the title of the video came from Shad's escapades as a throttler. If you don't care to see some really good bike riding, then watch it to see Shad kick some ass again.
In the "Shameless Plug" Category. Odyssey has a ton of good stuff that just came out or is about to come out. Buy it.
Stop by the Mosh Site and peep some really good pics of Jesse Whaley shreddin'. Just in case you didn't know, Jesse is getting flow from Mosh. Congrats. www.sofreestyle.com
I think that is going to be it for today.
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Yo, so I was up late downloading some Papoose mixtapes (be jealous Ryan!) and while waiting around I randomly decided to try the apartments cable tv wire in the extra little tv Chet has layin' around.
Well damn son! We have basic cable for free!! Only 20 channels but dang, for free I'll take it.
So now I've been getting what I need to hook it up over on our main tv, and to also hook it up in my room too. Sooo dialed! And soooo psyched on it! We at least got Discovery and thats about all you need so I'm good. Aight time to finish the hookup and watch some cable shows as I go to sleep. Peace-Slo
*UPDATE* I hooked it up in my room and have 70 channels in there!! YESSSSS!!! I don't know why there are only 20 out in the living room cause it's coming in on the same cable, I just added a splitter. Either way, 70 channels of goodness in my room!! Ladies come on in!!! Haha
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So I got an email today about some weekend shredding that is going to go down this SATURDAY, so get in on it if you want to...
"Road trip this Saturday. Meet at Oregon City 8:30 to 9, then ride West Linn for about an hour. (Might I suggest going to West Linn first, then OC. -Slo) Then maybe Beaverton if most people want to. Then Hillsboro till we get kicked out. Then Forrest Grove. Bring cameras to film (mini dv only!!!) SPREAD THE WORD!!!"
So there you have it folks. Looks like the session is on. I'll be stuck at work that day, but hope everyone else has a good time. -Slo
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If you were to take the name Vince Kroff and type it into a Google search you would come up with all sorts of different results. Some of those being:
"Vincent A. Croff, 22, of Warren failed to show for January court appearance and a warrant has been issued for his arrest."
"President's Message by Kevin Croff Inexpensive headsets review by Vince Long Cheating with cell phones by Vince Long."
"E sull'ipotesi di un'eventuale sconfitta dei nostri film in concorso, sia maller che Croff non drammatizzano. "Non è un problema se non si vince il Leone"
What that search would not tell you is that Vince Croff, North West Crusher and Coastal Native is graduating from High School this week. I guess he finally tackled the right guy and is getting the heck out of the LC. Vince is also moving up to Portland about 10 seconds after he gets that piece of paper. All I have to say is watch out PDX, the Tackler is about be local.
Looks like it was a lazy sunday for a few of us. I worked at the Mac Store today, maxin and relaxin as usual. B-Dubbs did his chillin thang down in LaLaland.
But, get this, King Lazy himself, Shad, actually got off his hump and went out to Hillsboro to shred it. I called Bogues when I got off and he said a posse was out in the 'Boro for a relaxed session. Boogie Johnson, Bogues, Forrest, Spencer and his Bro, and a few others were in on it.
All in all a pretty lax sunday. $5 Domino's pizza for dinner and a new Family Guy for dessert. Sounds good to me. Peace-Slo
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Well since Slo posted about his sessions for the last few days I drop a bit on ya. Headed out to LA College or something like that where we met up with Mike A., Jim B., K-Mac, Bostrom and Dave Jacobs to get some shred on. Rich and Jesse were switchin off fiming clips of each other. Jesse was killing everything, well, that is until the camera came out. I saw him manual this metal planter, drop down keep manualing and then hop up to nose manual the next planter. There was near a hundred feet between planters. He then his this rail after all that. He also tried to do a crooked grind on this rail to hop over into a wheel chair ramp. That ended with some OTB action.
Next stop was LA HIgh. This is the place that has those brick angled ledges. This session was pretty chill. Mike A. shot a pic that involved him launcing out the top off the corner of the 4 foot tall wall section going about 4 feet in the air wth a bar spin. Jesse said it was insane and he was landing super soft from that height. We also talked Jim into trying to grind this dumpster. He was trying to get a nose grind on it. The setup was this: 6 inch tall speed bump, easally 4 to 5 foot tall garbage can. After a few tries he nailed the grind. It was nuts.
Everone decided to split and Rich, Jesse and I went to this spot called the Level. It is a building foundation in the middle of LA. Jason Dills skates it a lot in his video parts. This place usually sucks because you have to jumps the worlds worst fence. We found an easier way over and the session was on. This place is real simple a few benches, random manual pads and a sketchy movable guard rail. Rich and Jesse tried to set up the rail off this angled bench launch. It didn't look like it was going to ever work. Finally Rich was like, "Aight let's test this thing." As soon as he get's on the rail, it's a good 6 inches at least above bars, it tips over and he pulls it with a fastplant on the ground. It was funny as hell. Needless to say, the rail setup was aborted. It was so much fun to ride this thing. It is like a little oasis in the middle of a busy as hell city. People look in and see you riding and are just kinda like, what the hell? Well that was our day of riding.
We ended the night with Roscoes Chicken and Waffles. So hitten. Oh yeah, another high lite of the day was this amazing Dime like girl shooting pictures on this corner with some amazing cleavage hanging out of her track jacket. I love models, I love LA. Well I know I love models. HAHA.
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Met up with the homies at Goods around noon and headed out to Forest Grove. Travis, L. Andrew, Ken, Ryan, and myself were down to shred. The weather was beautiful. It was the warmest day this year so far actually! Jumps, grinds, wheelies, and nose manuals were going down all around. Travis is real close to icepick to 180s.
We ended up riding for 3 or 4 hours. It was a ton of fun and to show for it I'm pretty wore out. Hope everyone else's day was equally as fun! -slo
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Totally rode bikes today. Little Andrew, Shad, Holly, Ryan, Spencer, Forrest, and myself (slo) went out for an evening shred session.
Hit up Brick City for a minute while Ryan proceeded to easily 180 things we won't even jump straight. Headed down to NW to ride a spot. Holly got a flat after about 2 minutes. Rode there for a minute, then left to shoot a photo of Andrew. He killed the spot and got the photo as well as filming a line too.
Holly split with the flat and the rest proceeded to ride around The Pearl. Andrew killed it again on some benches. He just cannot be stopped! Cruised the streets doing bunnyhops. Rode the bank to barrier for a bit. Went over to the rock jumps on the waterfront. Andrew 180 barred off it into the grass. I footjam whipped the rock slant. Sessioned for another minute then headed back over the river and back up to Goods to get the cars.
Overall a pretty good session. Fun times and just enough riding to get a little shredding done. Hope tomorrow is even better, if it's not raining!
This park should be important to the BMX Community. There are local businesses that are working hard to make sure BMX is included in this park, so support by getting involved or just show up to the meeting. It is easy for people to complain when we are not let in, but wouldn't it be better to be allowed and ride somewhere when you want. Do it.-ben
Public Meeting Scheduled
Project Schedule
Partners Public Meeting #2 Details
Madison High School Cafeteria 2735 NE 82nd Avenue Trimet Bus # 72 Wednesday, April 5 7:00 - 8:30 pm
Following the March 15 public meeting, Dreamland Skateparks will return to present their recommended plan to the community. This meeting will be the last chance to provide public input before the design is finalized.
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There will be an event to raise money for the new Glenhaven skate/BMX park. The Bike Gallery is holding a benefit movie night at the Bagdad Theater on June 8th showing "Joe Kid on a Sting-Ray: The History of BMX". They will have great raffle prizes (including a couple of BMX bikes), a memorabilia display, and new bikes on display before the movie, and other fun stuff.
ALL of the proceeds from the event will go to help build the Glenhaven BMX/Skate park in NE Portland. The BG will not keep one cent. Tickets are $12 for general admission and $25 for VIP Passes (includes reserved seating, a VIP gift, and a raffle ticket). Tickets are available starting today at any Bike Gallery location.
They are hoping that they can sell-out prior to the event. This is a great film and an even greater cause. Check it out. I think it iwll be a cool experience and I for one am bummed that I am not around to pay some cash and enjoy the VIP lifestyle.-ben
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Yo, I ain't got nuttin much for news so take what you get...
Lotek video and the Goods Anniversary party were hittin. Big thanks to everyone that showed up, the support is awesome! The video was unbelievible and everyone had a good time. A lot of us had an excellent time at Hollywood Bowl afterwards. Shad and Bogues had a bowl off! Bogues won and now Shad owes him a new Kool Chain Lite. Way to hustle that fool, Bogues!
There were bird calls and Bob calls goin around like wild fire, and I think Bogues even dipped the glasses at Boogie Johnson after he bowled a strike! C-Lo was rollin in the corner and Rich walked away a "Richer" man. Haha!
Thanks again to everyone who came out and made it a good night. Peace out to B Duzz, Rich, Eddie, and Jesse who are already back in Cali. And welcome back to Ryan Sher, who should be back tomorrow from AZ.
Aight, that's it for now. Send us news people!! -slo
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the day after April Fools. Rich and the PDX Transplants, excluding myself are headed back south. Last night, even with it's ball ups, was a lot of fun. It was great to see all of the PDX heads and be able to share with them the video that I have been lucky enough to witness a lot of the filming of. If you get a chance to watch the video, better yet buy the video, it is a must. Trust me, it is amazing. I know I am heavily biased here, but with heavy hitters like Eddie, Ian and Mike A, it is a great watch.
I want to thank eveyone here in PDX, especially the homies, for a great trip home. I will be back real soon. Forest Grove sesh with Cyle was good, Hillsboro Sesh with Ken and Antonio was great. I guess that was the extent of my riding home. Today, Sunday April 2nd has been som much fun and it is only 8:00pm. Holla at cha soon B.-ben
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We are shutting down. Who cares though, the GOODS Anniversary Party will be a good time and the video will probably suck. You figure out what part of that is the joke.
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