Pushing

You can tell a lot about the legitimacy of a skateboarder by how they push. Check out a cool photo gallery at this link http://espn.go.com/action/skateboarding/gallery?id=4938916

A night with the Homan's

Amalie scanning the rocks, then filling her pockets.
Brooklyn and Amalie getting down with some Play-Doh. Not sure if Ami is picking her nose stuffing some up there. I just noticed that.

Amalie received a water color book, kitchen toys, and Play-Doh as a late Christmas gift from the Homan's. Needless to say she was not disappointed!

Snap and I just gettin' some shots on the chair up.

Justin and Kristin, what a couple of lovebirds!

Amalie and I ventured up to Welches to spend a relaxing evening with the Homan family, which included Snap Dude on this particular weekend. The kids had a blast playing and the adults went up to Meadows for a couple of hours of "ice" boarding/skiing. The conditions were far from ideal but we still had a good time.

I skated here on Sunday.

This is the set up from Grenade when their warehouse was over in SE Portland. Epic snow/skate shop now has it and they charge $5 to skate all day! I plan on making it over there at least a couple of times a week. If you're in Portland and skate go check it out, they are right on the corner of 23rd & Vaughn. Best $5 I ever spent!

So it goes.........

Somebody please help me find a dry home!

Just when I thought I had found a place for my mini ramp it fell through! So now I'm back on the hunt. I need a place indoors so I can skate year round. Ideas, comments, suggestions, or smart ass comments are all welcome!

Am Jam!

Epic skate and snow in Portland is putting on an amateur skate contest this weekend. There will be live music, barbecue, beer garden, and the best part is that it is all indoors! They have the bowl from the old Grenade warehouse so I'm sure things will get wild! Check it out if you are around.

Binding machines!

Out with the old.
In with the new! The 2010 Rome Targa. Click on title above to check out Rome's website. These guys are down for the cause.

I always try to support companies that I feel are doing something positive and making contributions to their respective markets. I've always ridden Lib/Gnu boards, have been wearing Holden outerwear since they came out, won't buy shop decks, etc. etc. But just like any other consumer I stray from time to time. I thought I needed $150 Oakley goggles one season, so I bought them. It's weird how they work exactly the same as a pair of $80 goggles from say Airblaster or Ashbury! Then last season I did something that I swore I would never do, I bought Burton bindings. I know Burton's history when it comes to snowboarding and all of the contributions they have made. But let's be real, it isn't the company that it used to be. I finally bought new bindings this weekend and they are truly things of beauty. I can't wait to strap my feet into these. Check it.

Friday night man-date.

The Exit store at Bridgeport has a nice layout. Lot's of floor space and all concrete. Perfect for skating in. But they would probably throw you out if you did that. Weird mall/suburbia vibe.

Those two kids arm wrestled for the chance to challenge Zak for a new skate deck. The really little kid in the brown sweatshirt won. Then Zak CRUSHED him!

Zak and I made our way over to Exit on Friday night to check out a compilation of Nick Lipton's (Yobeat contributor) favorite video parts. We started with a romantic dinner at California Pizza Kitchen. I had beers, he had water. Such a strong willed young man, that Zak. Anyways, the night was fun and the video was pretty awesome. Everybody walked away with some free stuff and Zak even arm wrestled a 9 year old and earned himself a new skateboard deck! You should be feeling really good about yourself pal.

Am I just getting old?

This ad is about a year old but it drums up a lot of memories for me. When Consolidated first came out with the Don't Do It campaign in the late 90's Nike was making a push for skateboarding. Consolidated, like many other skate companies weren't having it. Ultimately Nike failed and nestled back into the ball sports where they belong. Fast forward 10 years. Nike has made another huge push not only into skateboarding, but snowboarding as well. This time they took a different course. Landing huge names from the skate and snow realm as well as changing up their entire marketing to make it feel like they are in it for the right reasons this time. Maybe they are. I'm not in on the meetings where they discuss their purpose. I know that every sport (if you want to call skating and snowboarding that) needs new companies and corporations with loads of money to back them if they want to continue to fight for mainstream attention. My problem is that companies like Nike have ushered in an entire demographic of kids that usually don't give two shits about skating and snowboarding or where it all started. They're into it because it's the cool thing to do right now. I feel at liberty to speak on this because of the amount of time I spend on the mountain and at the skateparks. The upside to this newfound popularity is that most kids will A) suck at it and give up, or B) move onto the next new trend once the media/their peer group tells them that something else is cooler. See razor scooters for an example. I don't have a personal vendetta against Nike, Totino's, Mountain Dew, or any other company making their presence known. I have plenty of Nike stuff, I use it for working out, I've eaten my share of Totino's, but I don't personally care for Mountain Dew. I do however consume copious amounts of Red Bull as well as work for them part time, which some would argue falls under the same guise as the aforementioned companies. The bottom line is that I'm personally not into the Olympics, Dew Tour, or most other super mega contests. If you're going to get into something do it for the right reasons and respect the people that have been doing it for years before you.

Fashion related.......

I'm not sure if any of you are interested in fashion, or frankly give a shit about it. But I do. Alexander McQueen was found dead today, an apparent suicide just a few days after his mother had passed away. Click on the title above to read a little bit about him.

Exit Bridgeport, this Friday.

Apparently Yobeat has hit it big as our own Nick Lipton will be hosting a Fuel TV movie night something or other at Exit Real World’s Bridgeport location this Friday the 12th of February. Come out for some good laughs at Nick’s expense, some good movie watching and a chance at getting free stuff. Rumor has it the raffle won’t be exactly random or fair, but based on what is funniest, most dramatic and least boring. So if you happen to be in the Portland, Oregon area this Friday come out to Exit Real World at Brideport village to watch video parts from Nima Jalali, Corey Smith, Darrell Mathes, Nick Dirks, Mark Frank Montoya, Scotty Wittlake, Travis Parker and all the other riders Nick wants to showcase as he does who knows what for who knows what size of an audience.

Snowboarding.

Chris gettin' some insane airtime.
Some of you may think that's Jamie Lynn, but it's me.

Snowboarding made me smile.

Mere seconds before Chris tried to decapitate with his razor sharp edge.

I went up for the first time this season on Saturday. I was finding it hard to get motivated considering I rode through July this past season. I was able to round up Chris, Derek, Zeb, and Zak and we headed up to Meadows. Zak is still healing from ACL surgery so he played camera guy. I know how bad it sucks to watch all of your buddies shred while you take pics, so thanks to Zak for hangin' tough! The conditions were pretty good and I think everybody had fun for the most part. I had a little hyperactive/ADD going on because I haven't been up for so long. I'm sore today.

Max Schaaf keeping it real.

I recently ordered a T-shirt from 4q conditioning, Max's company. Dude sent a personalized note and a stack of sticker's. Doesn't get much more legit than that. If you follow skateboarding at all then you already know that Max is a ripper. If you don't know go to vbs.tv and search "Max Schaaf" to watch his epicly later'd series. Respect!

Portland. Tonight.

Check this out at Nemo tonight!

Pedal.

This is how it looks now.

This is how it would look assembled out of the box.

I wanted to pick up something simple and cheap to get in a little fitness riding and a means of getting around to the skateparks that are all over the Portland metro. So I picked up this beauty. It came as a track bike so I changed the bars and the gearing and put a front brake on it. Ready to rock! I'm stoked on this thing. There is also something cool about getting a bike in a box and building it yourself.

Mini ramp move.

The mini ramp is moving to a new home. I was a little worried that it might be a total loss after sitting in the rain for the last 3 months but when we peeled the tarp back it turned out to be in great shape. A new layer of masonite and it will be ready to shred. Now it will make its way into the confines of a nice, dry barn that is already housing two other ramps. Can you say super duper mega mini ramp sessions? I can! Thanks to Zeb for finding a new spot for it and to his friend Joe for helping us move the pieces. There is no way two people could have done it!

The One Motorcycle Show.

Helmet art by Drake.

Drake's build.

1965 BSA bobber.

One of Max Schaaf's.

This show was hosted at Savoy in N Portland the weekend of January 23rd. Lot's of hand built and one-off bikes. Freestyle rider Drake McElroy had a bike in the show, as did Max Schaaf of 4q conditioning. The pictures suck because they were taken with my phone, but you get the idea. I'm working on getting a camera.