Showing off, part 1.

Here's a bike frame I built. Can't wait to ride it...

Bicycle Epic 2008: California Dreaming.

Even though I grew up there, and will always love it, Southern California is fucking weird. There's just so much excess: too much money, too many cars, too many people. Despite it all though, there's still much beauty to be found...and burritos...so many burritos.

Coolest Mom.

These little kids were tearing around the hiker-biker site in Big Sur. Just killing it. Check out mom in the background: cruisin' along...watching the kids....sippin' a beer...awesome!

Bicycle Epic 2008: Central Coast

After taking a week off in San Francisco, my friends Tim and Ryan escorted me out of town for a day. It was super fun. That's Ryan in the cool shades and Tim taking a rest on some artificial grass at the cemetery at the top of highway 92. Visited my friend Pete on a sheep farm in Watsonville. They just had a bunch of lambs so a bunch of the cute lil' buggers were running around. Then into the majestic beauty that is Big Sur......absolutely clear and beautiful that day. I think the picture speaks for itself.

Road Kill.

ewwwww....

Worst Day, Ever.

After getting held up in Fort Bragg on account of the weather I realized I kind of had to haul to get to San Francisco by election day to vote. Unfortunately that meant riding trough some of the worst weather I've ever been caught in. This day was 20 mph headwinds with 60mph gusts, pissing rain, and super limited visibility. I can honestly say that this was the worst day I've ever had of riding, ever.

From top: Parker, contemplating killing me. Clowning after we were both literally blown off the road. We actually ended up pushing our bikes up most of this hill cause the wind and visibility were so bad...

Bicycle Epic 2008: Mendocino Coast to S.F.

I want to live on the Mendocino coast, seriously. It's so incredibly beautiful there. Rocky seascapes to the west and rolling farmlands to the east. Riding out of Humbolt county I ran into Parker again, as well as three kids from Leadville, CO. We all kind of played leap-frog all the way down the coast. All five of us got caught in a horrible storm in Fort Bragg, went splits on a hotel and a bunch of pizza, and yard-saled our stuff to try and dry out. That's Brian in the last picture with San Francisco in the background. He owns a bike shop called Cycles of Life in Leadville. Look him up if you're ever there.

Sometimes You Just Gotta....

I paid THREE DOLLARS to ride through this tree! Of course the photo didn't turn out either...
Sometimes you just gotta do the touristy stuff too, even if it is a waste of time and money, I mean, have YOU ever ridden through a tree? That's what I thought.

Bicycle Epic 2008: Stony Pony

Pretty much everyone you meet in Northern California grows or smokes weed....lots of it, and it's kind of no wonder, the landscape is just so conducive to various forms of stonyness. From top: Parker on the 6 mile decent through the redwoods to Elk Prarie, Fern Canyon and the single track we rode to get there (i got three flats this day, the only three on my entire 1700 mi trip), and at bottom the night sky over Arcata. Oh yeah, I also saw a lady riding a horse on the street, barefoot, talking on a cellphone....see, what did I tell you.

Bicycle Epic 2008: Oregon Coast

Not much can be said about the Oregon coast that you haven't heard. Go there. Its amazing. Met this kid named Parker on the road. That's him in the middle photo. We ended up riding almost all the way to San Francisco together. Below is a self portrait in front of the Rouge brewery in Newport, Oregon. 10 a.m. about to get some samples...

That's what I'm talkin' 'bout...

Bicycle epic 2008: Rainy Days.

Thing about the Olympic peninsula is that it's a rainforest, so even when it's not raining, it's soaking wet. Got caught in a few days of rain and never dried out, despite my best efforts. Even with full fenders my bike ended up completely caked in mud.
The graffitti pic was taken from the ocean side of this barrier, meaning unless you were on the desolated, freezing beach, you'd never see it. I kinda thought it was funny, imagining a bunch of bored peninsula punks spraying this for no one but the whales....and the random cyclist stopping to take a piss.

Bicycle Epic 2008: Olympic peninsula

Heres some photos from my first days out. the olympic peninsula is super nice: bikepaths, rad trees , epic sunsets and amazing camping. This was early october...