Wednesday, June 25, 2008

2008 Oakland Scrape Video by All Out Productions



Video by Teo, of All Out Productions. Thanks dude!

Click here for a higher resolution quicktime version.

Alpine Dam

Rode to Alpine Dam with Sam, one of the mechanics at Bike Nut. Started at the shop at around 6:40 (AM) and finished back there around 10:00. Probably the longest ride I've done to date. Really enjoyed it.

What I brought with me:

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Keeping Busy

I meant to BART out to SF again today to hustle more businss for Jetset, but ended up doing other things.

smoking outside, topless
Photo courtesy of Miles, the dude who sleeps on our couch. Latex gloving it because
I hate the smell of old smoke on my fingers.

I did find out that a company I'd talked to last year finally switched over to American Flyer's, Sean (and Kirk's) old company that has now merged with Cricket (former NOBS worker collective). They seem to be very happy with Cricket and forwarded me an email they sent out to friends lauding the company. I'm happy to help out solid companies like AF and Cricket but wish I could have brought the business to Jetset.

Friday, June 13, 2008

What I saw on Market Street

Some sort of deity at rest, I believe.

magic on market street

Now that I'm out of the messenger game (temporarily) I've been riding my bike much less. Just to and from work at Bike Nut. Taking BART to downtown and riding over to Fillmore & Filbert. On the way back, I've been getting off at West Oakland because I just need to fucking ride somewhere.

I missed the Friday the 13th alleycat this evening - had to work too late. I plan on doing the next Gumball Rally though in a few weeks. I think I'll ride on my "nice" bike. That's the one I've been steadily pimping out with parts from work.

Monday, June 9, 2008

Gumball Rally

Did another Alleycat yesterday:

Gumball Rally Flier

Josh Godar, A.K.A. Godar A.K.A. Sgt. Sweetz organized this one. It was a point to point race. We met at the Ferry Building and took the ferry out to the start. Finish was at Bender's on 19th & S. Van Ness.

Gumball Rally, Part Deux

Here we are on the ferry to Tiburon (the start), drinking PBR. I'm on the left in my unibomber costume. Godar's in the middle and Adam Shapiro's on the right - he came in first. Adam and I sat down on the second floor of the boat and planned a route on the way over. He stuck with it while I decided to follow the pack. Should have stayed with the Shap.

I came in 5th out of 10 and won a $25 entry into QCR, a major alleycat coming up on fourth of July weekend.

This was a small race, but a lot of fun. My legs started cramping up on the Golden Gate Bridge, maybe because I haven't been riding much this past week. Otherwise I know I would have smoked everybody as this is my kind of race. Damn.



Last Thursday was my final day at Speedway. I'm trying to talk Jetset into hiring me because they are one of the best companies in SF and I have 'nuff* respect for them. In the meantime I'll be spending my days working at Bike Nut and out riding around SF trying to hustle new business for Jetset. They told me that they did not have enough business to hire another rider so last Thursday I proposed that I go out and get them some more clients so they would need to hire me. Pete, one of the two owners, liked the idea. He gave me a company jersey and wished me luck.

Hopefully I will be back on the road soon.

If your company needs a good courier service, do me a solid and sign up with Jetset here
. Tell them R-Y-A-N sent you. They are seriously one of the best companies in SF and will not do you wrong. Plus I want to keep writing about being a bike messenger.

*said with Messenger of Doom's English accent

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Scraped

The race was a success. 173 people registered. We raised bookoo $ ($1,753). It was reported to be hella fun by those who raced.

I throughly enjoyed working with John and Blake putting the whole thing together. Maybe I'll do another one someday.

Here we are in all our Scrape finery, right before the start of the race:
(from left, Me, John, Blake - I'm calling check point volunteers to make sure they're at they're spots, John is yelling at everybody to "shut the fuck up" and Blake is touching a camera to his face)

scrape boyz
thanks Jenny for the photo

Me at the afterparty:

scrape afterparty
thanks doxasticlogic for the photo

Here is a link to hundreds of photos from the race submitted by various people.

Special thanks to all of the people who helped out, our sponsors, and my family members and friends who donated cash, including my parents, my cousin Jeff in LA who is a reader and has a blog of his own all about the Mixed Martial Arts scene: www.whaledog.com check it out, Dale who just finished the AIDS ride, , my aunt and uncle, other cousins and more. THANKS DUDES!

Did anyone who reads this blog race? Let me know and I'll try to score you a hat.