I did't get to shoot much of the A's. I planned on it but that's when my new career of "workin the pit" was born. It was like a dream come true yet had all the elements of, well, my worst nightmare. You just can't put that kinda pressure on an edgy guy like me. I freak out, like totally fucking lose it when I have someone else's really serious anything in the fate of my small little hobbit hands.

It went down like this. There I was, jamming around past the sketchy off camber downhill section that held the rowdier section of fans and wandered in to the pit.  I usually try to get at least one shot of the pit and/or the pitsters,  so this was pretty standard procedure. Sacha White from Vanilla Workshop was standing there with 2 bikes. The mistake I made here was making eye contact with Sacha.

-Cory, can you work Kevin's bike?

-Whoa, what? Yeah, no, uhhh, ok, wait, no, I have never done this before.

-It's easy, just hold it and when he comes through just grab the bike he is riding and hand off the new one. Make sure the pedals are in the right position and give the seat a push to make sure he has momentum.

Yeah, cool, it's only the last race in the Crusade series and he is in 4th lace. No problem. The thing is, I owe Sacha so I am in no position to say no. I go to his place of business all the time and use his tools, mess with his dog, have his employees work on my bike, distract his employees, and, basically if I were Sacha I would have a restraining order on me by now. So yeah. I had no choice. Kevin never came through but, what was my point? Oh yeah, I didn't shoot very many photos Sunday. Here are the one I did.

Thanks to everyone for a great season! My team, Veloshop. Molly Cameron (don't even know where to begin) Ahh, this could go forever and nobody is going to read it anyway. Thanks!

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It was saaaaddddd Molly. But you know what? PORTLAND LOVES THE SHIT OUT OF YOU. That crowd was bonkers. Not to mention the win could not have gone to a nicer kid. In the end I think it's safe to say that your season was really really really amazing. You are a class act. And you let me drink your coffee. AND my mom said you were cute!

(photos tomorrow)

Cross Crusade 2009 #7 Portland International Raceway

Thanks for letting me stick my camera in your face/armpit/line/dogs grill!

Warf Rats

blew that thing up from Cobra Dogs on Vimeo.

Me and Scott Ramsey Feeding the warf rats Halloween night. They were 2" round cheese puffs and homeboy ate the thing whole in .001 of a second. Astoria, Oregon.

Cross Crusade 2009 #6 Astoria, OR

I catted up and did better than my previous category. STOKED. Battled it out with a hotdog and Fred Flinstone and got 14th. I'm a big fan of pre race night actions that make me do better so from now on I have to drink whiskey while watching the Tom Cruise version of Mission Impossible with Scott Ramsey. Every Saturday night (while wearing compression socks, obviously). Mellow.

Cross Crusade 2009 #5 Astoria, OR

Can I get sentimental for a second? Just gonna throw it out there. Feel free to just skip down to the pics.

I was born in a sleepy little town called Astoria. We moved to Portland when I was 3 yrs old but my grandpa stayed and my father lived there as well. I have very fond memories of riding my bike in the hood (literally 3 blocks from the Goonies house) and exploring the jagged, rainy, windy,  northwestern edge of North America all day long. I was what you would call a real life "goonie"  Gramps was a WW2 Navy vet and went on to be General Manager for the Port of Astoria. He was what you would call "married to the sea". My father was Assistant DA in Tillamook by day an old folky hippy the second he walked out the door. He is what you would call a "Neil Young song". They both passed away this year so the trip was special to me. I don't have any family left in that town and no reason to visit. I was afraid the nostalgia of it would wear off on me eventually with no physical reason for me to ever really go back. So yeah, the Halloween Cross Crusade is that connection for me now. And a great one it is. Thanks everyone for a really amazing time.  I would really really  like to thank the cutest family ever next to the Veloshop tent for taking care of me after my nasty crash on Saturday then yelling "go alligator!" every lap on sunday. Amazing. And Scott Ramsey for being my partner in crime and changing my tires giving me the best air pressure EVER.

No but really.....Was that a weekend or was that a weekend? Do people outside of our culture think we are completely nuts doing what we do?? And how do you tell people what we do? The closest I have come is "bike racing redneck hybrids" Are we outcasts or are we what should be a mandatory entry under "North West" in the dictionary? Could you imagine getting some Hollywood jaded snob (or anyone, really) and putting them in Tent City at the barrier section and saying "this is what we do on weekends when it rains"?

Enjoy.
Cory

As always, if you uses any pics, all I ask is that you credit and link to this site.

Cross Crusade 2009 #4

Didn't shoot a ton Sunday, but what I did shoot, I tried more to capture "Oregon" than I did "racing". I love our little scene. Love it.