and another Crankworx video
August 31st, 2010This must be the 10th Crankworx video posted on my blog, I have to do it, they’ve been good and this one is just too good! Brandon would have won the comp if he landed this whole run…
New art piece on display along Santa Rosa Avenue
August 30th, 2010Got lunch plans today? If not, treat yourself and eat your sandwich alongside Santa Rosa Avenue in southern Santa Rosa while you take it the city’s soaring, gorgeous new piece of public art.
Rising from a sliver of bare land just north of the new Santa Rosa Nissan building is a stunning obelisk — a 65-foot-tall mini-Washington Monument — constructed of old bicycle parts.
Petaluma artists Mark Grieve and Ilana Spector built it after their concept won a Santa Rosa Art in Public Places competition. Funding for the project came from the 1-percent-for-public-art fee that Santa Rosa Nissan paid of the permit process for its new showroom.
A a crane lifted “Cyclisk” into place last weekend and the dealership’s co-owner, Jim Bone, was among the first viewers wowed by what Grieve and Spector created.
“I was pleased to see how much color they put into it,” Bone said Monday.
Sculptor Grieve said the all of the bicycle parts he and Spector put into the piece were beyond being re-used in safe, functional bikes, and none were repainted. The artists simply put a clear, protective coating on the parts to keep them looking good for a good long time.
Grieve, 45, said “Cyclisk” was a community effort that wouldn’t have come together without help from his artist neighbors, Mary Fuller and longtime Burning Man sculptor David Best, and ZFA Engineering.
Grieve and partner Spector made no money on “Cyclisk” because they decided after submitting their concept that the piece had to be taller and more imposing than they’d first conceived it to be.
“We wanted to give the city a landmark,” Grieve said.
I would say he’s succeeded. Go have your lunch alongside the obelisk and see if you agree.
By CHRIS SMITH
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT Published: Tuesday, August 24, 2010 at 7:33 a.m.
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT Published: Tuesday, August 24, 2010 at 7:33 a.m.
high 5’s to Mickey Smith
August 28th, 2010There’s a couple things going on here, well more than a couple, and Mickey Smith has nailed it. The internet evolution continues as image quality comes up, compression rates go down, and the web platforms get easier to use… All of these wonderful advancements in technology mixed with the creative freedom of the internet are merging to produce wonderful images and unique stories. This video is both wonderful and unique.
RED BULL RAMPAGE: LUCKY NUMBERS
August 26th, 2010
Ian Hylands photo
Red Bull Rampage returns in October for a sixth installment of mountain biking brutality in the unforgiving Utah terrain. Before the bone crunching comes some number crunching, Lucky Numbers-style! posted at redbull.com
2001…
Launched in 2001 and held annually through until 2004, Red Bull Rampage last took place in 2008 but is back again taking place this coming October in some of the hardest, most brutal terrain known to man. Bringing the creative, unrestricted ethos of freeride mountain biking to the contest arena while staying true to the sport’s core ideals, Red Bull Rampage will be held in its traditional terrain near Zion National Park in Virgin, Utah.
40…
The total number of competitors. 25 competitors will be given two judged runs, and the top 10 best scores from the two runs will move on to the Super Final which will be staged on Sunday, October 3. The top 15 riders from 2008 receive an automatic invitation to the Super Final.
1500…
That’s the distance in feet between the start gate and the finish line. The riders are free to choose whichever line they dare between those two points…
5…
Kyle Strait is one of the few riders who has entered all five Rampage events; he was only 14 when he entered the inaugural event in 2001.
10/31/04…
Halloween – the day on which the final of the Red Bull Rampage 2004 was held. To mark the occasion, the previous year’s winner, Cedric Gracia, dressed up as Captain America for his final run. Unfortunately, he crashed out of the competition, with the overall win going to the aforementioned Strait.
37.2682, -113.174…
For the more precise readers among you, this is the latitude and longitude of the contest venue in Zion National Park.
John Gibson photo
1980 mental
August 24th, 2010First of all it’s the early 80’s and this guy has red speedos and a white baywatch nose, hmmm. He’s pretty large and the commentating has a SNL tone to it. Then whole interview thing on the ladder before the jump seems to be a joke. Its makes the whole skit seem crazy. At 3:05 one of the most insane jumps ever goes down… Cool. Impressive. Classic, nice hats on the judges and whats with the 7.5? Enjoy this sweet piece of history.
Schwartzy just living the life in the Alps
August 23rd, 2010another Crankworx video
August 22nd, 2010There’s got to be close to 100 videos on the internet from this event… I picked this one for the music.
nice one Rob
August 21st, 2010Last week I fired out a blog titled ‘Coming Around’ that called out an article in Whistler’s local paper that missed a bunch of facts…
This week in the letters to the editor, Rob McSkimming laid down some credit where credit is due. Here’s the letter from Rob posted in The Pique Newsmagazine.
Many biking visionaries
I would like to thank Stephen Smysnuik for his “The Culture of Crankworx” article in last week’s paper. The article provides a good overview of the growth of the bike park and Crankworx but in so doing allocates far too much credit for the success of both to one person.
First, there have been many visionary people involved in the ongoing development of the bike park. At the risk of leaving some key people out, the park was originally built by Eric Wight along with Dave Kelly, Paddy Kaye and Chris Winter. Once WB took over its operation in 1999, it was Dave, Marty Gautry, Blaine Taylor and Dave Murphy who provided the inspiration for the trail development that has resulted in the amazing growth that the park has experienced since. Along the way, the park’s development has been guided by many talented people, including Jason Roe, Tom Prochazka and Brian Finestone.
The same can be said for Crankworx. Its success has been inspired by so many people, one of the least significant of which is me. Crankworx has grown out of the innovative events that preceded it. Acknowledgement should be accorded to Marika Koenig and Claire Bonin for Summer Sessions, to Paddy and Chris for Joyride and to the late Richard Juryn for Summer Gravity Festival, to name but a few. The current Crankworx team is also an amazing group of individuals led by Jeremy Roche, Mark Taylor, Darren Kinnaird and Seb Fremont and their teams of incredibly dedicated and talented people.
Lastly, the role of professional riders and key influencers cannot be underestimated. In particular, Richie Schley, Derek Westerlund, John Cowan, Tyler Morland and Andrew Shandro have provided many invaluable insights.
Space and time requires me to leave out many other people who have paved the way to make mountain biking such a success in our community - thanks to all of the trail builders, mountain bike guides, patrollers, volunteers, policy makers, businesses and passionate riders who have made this the best place in the world to ride bikes.
Rob McSkimming
Whistler
skateburning
August 19th, 2010another new extreme sport… sweet