Powerline Jam w/ LifeCycle, Kona, Downhill Coalition

Gilad's helmet, featuring Leonardo. Sticker reads: "IF YOU SEE THIS IT MEANS I PASSED YOU"

I always knew some folks like to ride bikes in the woods, but aside from a whole-hearted but half-baked attempt at cyclocross last fall, I have basically zero dirt experience. So it was a ton of fun to venture out into the woods yesterday and see what all this squishy-bike business was all about.

Kona brought a fleet of demo bikes for riders to test. Their friendly rep, Jimmy, is standing to the right of Gilad Gozlan, LifeCycle's co-owner and a former professional downhill rider.

Several riders are members of Downhill Coalition and did a lot to make the event happen.
Without taking our names, driver's licenses, or collateral of any kind, Jimmy gave me and my roommate about $8,000 of Deluxe-trim Kona products and told us to get 'em good and dirty. Garrett took a Stinky, and I saddled a Coilair.

We rode up a few hills to find the start of the course. We decided to do an easy pre-ride and dropped our gear at the tent. I left my crash-proof helmet cam, which I would come to regret. After about a minute of creeping down some insanely steep, rocky descents that, in my experience, neither people nor bikes had any business descending, we somehow left the course and got hopelessly lost.

For about two hours, Garrett and I rode up and down hills, over rocks, and through mud, puddles, streams, and more mud. At one point, we arrived at a clearing and decided to turn around. We rode/hiked for at least 30 minutes, only to discover the same clearing from the opposite side. But we got to know our bikes. Garrett was doing big, scary jumps on the Stinky, which was, as he described it, "a fucking tank." But he had a hard time keeping up on the many climbs, as my Coilair was lighter, with more gears, and a sweet semi-lockable rear suspension Kona calls "magic link." This was great for me, as I have crappy feet and really don't like getting off-bike.

So we got to know the bikes, a great workout, and a good coat of mud on our faces. Really, getting lost was the best possible scenario, as we didn't really have the experience to compete on the downhill course. My only regret is I don't have any photos or video to show for it.

Anyway, by the time we found the course again, the competition was halfway over, and we were a little cold, somewhat tired, and very thirsty. Luckily, there was a fire, music, food and beer back at the course start. So we called it a day and gave Jimmy his bikes back.

Check out that spatula: although Park makes a tool-inspired barbecue set, this is a genuine BBT-7

Tasty beer.

Someone broke a chain on the course and had to "Fred-Flintstone" the rest of his way down, before depositing the offending chain here, where it served to transform this keg photo into a bike-related keg photo.

Water bottles made OK cups. Note Mike Seager's mountain-unicycle in the background. He really rode it down the course.

After joking around with the other riders, a few beers, and a burger, we went home to wash up. All in all, a great first visit through the looking glass to the dirty, bouncy side of bike-riding. Thanks again to everybody there for being a good sport and showing us a good time!

PS: Check the Downhill Coalition post for their pictures that actually feature people on bikes.

Polo News!

Video from the Oregon Bike Polo Championships pre-party at the Polo Haus in Portland a few Fridays ago. Via bikepolo.ca. And in case you missed it, BikePortland did the best job EVER in the history of bike polo feature stories.

But back the the video: Eugene local Danye blocks a goal right at the beginning. Garrett can also be seen sporting his Fudd duds on the court. Skip to 2:40 and see Udelai killing it with what one spectator called an "around and through," lending cred to his Tokyo-style BMX bars. I'm in there, too, losing possession like four times, starting at 1:25. At least my wheel cover looked good. For some reason, at 1:44, someone says, "Cops drink beer, too."

Speaking of polo, beer and police, we had a bit of a run-in with the law last Thursday night. I'll offer a broad narrative, but for those who are into dirty details, a friend recounted his specific experience in a Facebook note.

Polo in Eugene has involved beer, on some level, since it started. A little over a year ago there were fewer than a dozen of us under the bridge. For the three or four people not in play, it was nice to have an adult beverage while spectating to keep the blood flowing close to the skin.

Over time, as more people came, there were more spectators. Some seemed to come just to hang out. With little else to do, drinking beer and smoking cigarettes seemed to be the obvious choice for many.

At some point, I think the beer may have become more important to some than polo. I, for one, can stand to play without Pabst, and intend to do so tonight. Not because I'm afraid of getting busted, but because I love to play polo and want to show everybody that that's enough for me to ride all the way downtown on a low gear, rain or shine, 52 Thursdays a year.

Cheers, and I hope to see more hands holding mallets than Millers this evening. See you under the bridge at eight.