Westside Invite 8 pt. 4 "Saturday Afternoon"

After the Coffee Cat I helped move the kegs up to the Congress House. At this point I'd like to thank the Widmer Brothers for their generous sponsorship. It's a nice change from PBR and Rockstar 21.

An herb planter at the Congress House.


The new brewing tower as engineered by Thud. I'm still not clear on how it works but I'm sure the results will be delicious.

I made it to the track just in time for the 2nd race : miss and out. I was the first one out, which was fine because I find the track terrifying.


Thud cooling down.
Sharky at Pendelton Park.

Austin claiming his prize from the Coffee Cat.

Lucky Pierre and Thud engineering the Beer Bungie.


Mattchew on the Beer Bungie.



Rob's technique of run, lunge, grab, drink should win some style points.




Chas was tempted with cash money.




Sweet T is still teamate #1 until someone gets a bigger tattoo.

Westside Invite 8 pt. 3 "The Coffee Cat"

Sharky, hydrating before the start of the Coffee Cat. He was going for an unprecedented 3rd victory. I hear he averages 6 cups per hour in an ordinary day so this should be no big deal for him.


Fox, expressing confidence before the start. He really likes coffee.






Todd D. Danger the "mastermind" behind the Coffee Cat.

At the start.

Will took off so fast that he forgot his helmet.


Austin got a slow start and then got lost but look for him in the main race, he's sure to be a contender.


Boston had trouble with his first cup, not a good sign.


Sharky coming in hot to the finish.


He had to add cream.

Sharky savoring his final cup.


He had to take a moment by the dumpsters.



Matt had to spange for his final cup.

That could be a Stumptown ad right there. I love the Coach hat.

Will and Fox coming in hot. They were racing from the Half and Half and they raced all the way to the air pot, and all for 4th and 5th place.


This is my favorite photo of the day. For a split second I thought Will was going to go through the window.







You can zoom in on Emily's list to see the results.

Westside Invite 8 pt. 2 "The BummyCat"

The first day of the Westside is in the books. Another good turnout this year. I expected it to be much smaller than previous years but there seem to be a lot of out of towners around.

The opening alleycat was a lot of fun. The finishing order looked like this:
1. Chas (SF)
2. Austin (NYC)
3. me
4. George
I lost track after that. Fox, Sharky, Boston and Matt were all right there near the end but Sharky got a flat and the others made routing errors. After some consultation between the organizers Chas was given a time penalty and bumped to 4th so technically I ended up in 2nd. I guess he was rude to Tad at a checkpoint. That kind of seems like bullshit but I learned the official theme of this year's Invite is "Be Nice". C. Murder delivered to me a 10 minute soliloquy on this topic but I only pretended to listen, I'm always nice!


Oh, and to all the grumpy oldsters who either tried to help me cheat or tried to delay my younger rivals : Stop it.
A. I don't cheat and I don't need your help to win.
B. It makes us all look bad.


I didn't manage to take any pictures but will make up for it at the Coffee Cat.

Westside Invite 8

I almost forgot that the Westside Invite is this weekend.I thought I'd be out of town but here I am so I'll be racing to win.

from PUMA as dictated by benevolent comrade C. Murder:
Schedule:
Fri: (4ish)Registration at Ash St. Saloon (It's $25)
(6ish)Opening Alleycat put on by Peaches and Gideon.
(after race)Socializing mixer party at B-Side

Sat: (10ish)The Coffee Cat! (Yay Tod!)
At the finish of the Coffee Cat we will rally up and group ride out to Alpenrose!
(Noonish)Track racing at Alpenrose (weather permitting)
(after racing)Partying and shenanigans at the park across the street from the track
(Heads up on changes in this day as if there is any rain we won't be going out to the track!!!)
(9ish)Party at a Plan B with whatever side events we can pull off and Goldsprints! (big thanks to Seattle Rob!)

Sun: (noonish)Main race, grueling, all day and all-city starting at Col. Sumners Park. Back to the classics
(8ish) Awards at Bar XV.

Mon: (noonish) Single elimination West Side Polo Tourney and BBQ at Alberta Park

Any offers of help and/or money/sponsorship can be sent to C. Murder.

Dome building on Mount St. Helens

Team WRECK trail ride - summer edition

Meet at the polo haus (NE 14th and Killingsworth) Saturday at 9am for a 9:30 departure. I'm tired of Scapoose, let's go to Bingen or 3 corner rock.

Scenes from the fire escape.

It took a few months but I now have a fervent crowd of finches feasting on my seeds.

DeathSail 2008

On the weekend of my birthday I sailed out to Government Island with Spence and Beefa. It took about 4 hours going upstream and 3 coming back.

I thought about pushing Beefa overboard several times, this was one of them. It would have been funny, right? Spence was for it in principle but was afraid of the aftermath.



Under the 205.


Spence was steady at the helm.

Beefa throwing a ball in the upper meadow. We camped up here and played some great rounds of extreme bocce ball.


A tricky lie





We instituted a new rule that if your ball (or the white ball) gets wet you lose a point. It made for some interesting strategies, if you're behind you can throw near the water and hope for a wake.


Coconuts looked lonely after the daysailers had left.

Leaving Government Island.

SPAND AND DELIVER!

"bike messengers" VS. "bike racers"
sunday, april 27th
ash street saloon
5pm 5 bux
bring a bag or jersey pockets
PUMA or OBRA membership not required.

I still hate you, Kobe Bryant.

This must be fake, but it's still kind of cool in a really stupid way.

Cowboy Mike's retirement speech

spring fever

Trail ride tomorrow. Meet at the polo haus at 9:30 for a 10:00 departure.

Snuggle Pony put out to pasture pt. 2

Update : Here are some pictures from Ellen.

I bailed early from Cowboy's retirement party. It was a great crowd and lots of fun. Nerf took a bunch of video so maybe we'll see some of that in the future. There was an impromptu alleycat that took us to Ankeny's, the Yamhill, 200 Market, the Hell House and the Pine St. House, then back to the XV. I rode hard and came in with my arms raised, somewhat sure of victory, only to see the smiling face of Tad the Champ. Zak was next, then Drew(on a cruiser) and Cory the Kid. I think, there may have been someone else in there. When everyone had finished Cowboy announced awards in the other room. When everyone was gathered he declared that we were all losers for being couriers and he was keeping the money. This was extra funny when he tried to pay for a round of drinks later and found his girlfriend had taken the money home. Ha ha.
I'll miss seeing Cowboy during the work day but I have high hopes that his love of (mountain) biking will be reinvigorated and he will be an integral part of Team WRECK this season as we attempt some epic cross country rides.

Snuggle Pony put out to pasture!

Living courier legend Mike "Cowboy" Kreps announced his impending retirement today. Uttering such time worn phrases as "it's time to move on", "chance for promotion", "I want bikes to be fun again" and even "401K". He hinted broadly that he would like a retirement party so here it is : This Friday, April 4, 5 pm at the XV. We'll roll out from there, maybe for a beach party with bonfire depending on the weather. There may even be an alleycat but knowing Cowboy it'll probably be $1 if you're a working messenger and $10 if not. So fakengers are welcome but bring some extra cash.