Day 2: A Villain and a Superhero

Friday, day two we woke up early especially for how late we went to bed. Kind of hard to sleep through the sounds of Aaron Huff putting in work for too long. He was in the warehouse as usual at 5 AM and we were up by 8. Dave Nourie and Juan Carlos had met us late in the night and shared in the generosity of our accommodations. Big thanks to Huff for allowing twelve stinky dudes to cramp up his space to sleep. If you're not riding a Solid, chances are you should be, go here and buy one. We loaded up our sleeping bags and waited for Rob Jenson to show up. He was joining Dave and Carlos in their car to head down to Fresno and Woodward. While we waited Boozedawg was in full effect. A pint of Sailor Jerry's and countless beers on the way down and on into the night at Solid turned into beers in the morning. Boozedawg uses a loud voice and Sailor Jerry's breath to spread misery to any within the van.

On the way to Fresno silly stories and the team Schralp video that was, according to Shad, to have footage of Fresno's park helped pass the time on the drive. Turns out after watching it, there is not. World traveler and We The People team rider Chester Blacksmith's international sex stories, with photographic evidence, also kept us entertained. Playstation's, TV's, laptops and cell phones were not anything I ever had on road trips as a kid. Sure are nice to have now. On a pit stop Boozedawg warned me that Jeremy had started a nut slapping game and I should be on high alert. I asked him if he knew the capital of Thailand and gave him the answer. BANGKOK! Right in his! Heavy laughter followed by a hand over the goods for protection. As they say, "Paybacks a BITCH!", and I got mine. I thought I was covered up but Boozedawg came in the van swinging and doubled me over. Onward to Fresno with everyone worried about their sack.

In the van watching Team Schralp.

If you haven't made the trip to Fresno I highly recommend it. A huge concrete park that is BIKES ONLY! You can tell by the size of everything and the obstacles you don't normally see in skate parks that it was designed with bikes in mind. Boozedawg had never set tire in a cradle before and made it his goal to loop it. After a bit he had made a very respectable level of upside down. The rest of us worked out some lines and watched local shredder and Kink Flow Rider Chad Osburn destroy the park. Fresno was HOT! Almost 90 degrees hot, and coming from rainy Oregon made it a little hard to adjust. Riley and I ducked out for some shade, a drink, and a quick rest. Coming back Dave Nourie told me I needed to hurry back and check out my son. I panicked for a second thinking he was hurt but he told me he was fine but fully looping the 19' cradle. Stoked we pedaled back to check out the action. Everyone started yelling at me to check out Mac and he dropped in and started cranking! I was nervous because he was hauling ass and when we had got there he was barely making it over half way up. I about dropped a load when I saw how high he got! The boy wonder was born! He will be forever after known as "Captain Cradle". A 13 year old had just robbed Boozedawg of his glory! The crew made sure to let me know I had a short time before my kid would pass me by in the skills department. Marcus made sure to ask me how it felt to be outdone by a thirteen year old. My response was that I wasn't sure yet but to make sure to ask everyone else because I wasn't the only one. Damn Kids!

Fresno Bike Park

Besides a crazy bike park the city of Fresno is kind of gnarly. Driving to find the park we saw streets piled with garbage for blocks. Turns out it was an annual cleanup but that, combined with poor neighborhoods, gave us a creepy vibe. We thought we were going to see a murder when we witnessed a dude rolling a Jeep Cherokee on 24's worth more than it, hit an equally gangster looking dude in a crosswalk. Looks like after some words they worked it out and no one died. A Wall mart stop for some supplies made us quickly realize how much of a minority we were in those parts. Some threatening comments at the burrito joint we ate dinner somewhat confirmed 10 white dudes weren't a common site and maybe none too welcome. We skipped town and headed to the promised land. Woodward West. We rolled into the lodge at Woodward around 11 PM. After checking in most of us took a shower and headed to the bar downstairs to catch up with friends already in attendance.

To be continued....