Last Fall I travelled to Edmonton for the United Cycle bike show; while waiting for my flight in Vancouver, I met a fellow named Mike Spinner. If you’re not sure who he is, watch the video below, and you won’t forget. I didn’t, I was just looking for videos that showed resi-ramps, and thought I’d youtube him, and the vid below is his latest. Apparently he just pulled one at a contest last weekend too. 

I got to hang out with him a bit in Edmonton out of all places, because he was there for MirraCo. He is a world class, groundbreaking BMX’er, but what is more important is that he is a humble, down to earth, nice guy. He’s clean cut, doesn’t drink or party hard, and is just out to have fun, meet cool people, and push his sport. Simple ideals that are taking him all over the world. Keep spreading the good vibe Mike!

One of my favorite bloggers, Julian Walker, just posted a music video to youtube, and I wanted to share it. I didn’t know he was a musician, such a multi-talented fellow, and a song that has some substance and makes you think, all with a catchy groove. It’s about religion, war, and the possibility of a humanistic spiritual awakening. He wrote it between 911 and the invasion of Iraq.

You’re not going to hear songs like this on the radio…check it out!

It has been a week since I was diagnosed with bronchitis, and I thought I was almost over it, but it seems to be lingering today. I guess I’m a little impatient because I have lots of stuff coming up, like a demo at a local bike shop on Saturday (John Henry in North Vancouver), then I’m flying to Maine on Sunday for a week worth of school and public shows, followed by a school tour when I get home in BC, followed by etc etc!! So yah, I want to be healthy and strong. 

On another note, I have always wanted to learn how to play the guitar (as Caryn has), and seeing this young, eleven year old fellow, Sungha Jung, do his thing is just unreal!

And on yet another note, check out this link to my friend Pats flickr page from the Sea Otter Classic.

Later….

I am just enjoying some last minute rest before heading out to do a demo. While drinking a cup of freshly juiced carrot, apple, and ginger juice (supposed to be good for the bronchitis), I stumbled upon this trailer for a new movie (yes, it’s Mike Myers), check it out….(I clicked through to this on a blog I frequently visit).

On the topic of movie trailers, I’m a Jackie Chan fan, and a Jet Li fan, so going to see this movie will be a no brainer, nice!!!

On a more serious note, read and then click on the link to watch….

If you’re a BC resident, this short documentary is an interesting glimpse in to the privatization of river power plants throughout the province. Sign up for the e-mail to stay informed and spread the word, good to be aware of what’s going on.

While at the Green Living Show in Toronto I had a chance to catch up with Koy Thomson from the UK, who is the Chief Executive of the London Cycling Campaign. He came to meet with a variety of representatives from different cities around the world at a Bike Summit Meeting to share ideas on urban cycling infrastructure and to discuss methods for turning these ideas in to reality. The interview below is about 8 minutes long, and I apologize for the poor audio quality, the ambient noise at the convention was really strong!! Koy had some interesting things to say, so it is certainly worth a listen.

While down at the Sea Otter Classic, I had a few moments to catch up with my team mate Fionn Griffiths. She is a 25 year old pro DH and 4X racer, and after 7 years on the pro circuit, she’s at the top of her game. The 2nd place DH finish and 3rd place dual finish at the Sea Otter is a testimate to that. If you’d like to hear more, have a look at the 10 minute interview below….though I appologize for the poor audio, it was hard to find a quiet spot, the helicopter half way through didn’t help either.

Ride On!

I stayed up late last night watching a documentary from the UK called “The Human Footprint”. National Geographic have a similar one going right now, but the I like the British sense of humor mixed in with the attached version. I took notes of all the stats when I watched the 75 minute long show, so here are the highlights (definately watch the show if you get a chance, seeing visually our consumption is really quite shocking and extraordinary.)

-8 years sitting in from the of the TV

-74,801 cups of tea (I’ll definitely beat this one)

-4239 rolls of toilet paper, yikes!

-13,354 eggs

-5277 apples

I’ll let you watch the rest…(keep an eye out for the two young kids on wooden run bikes, sweet!)

BC is such a beautiful province! On this tour I have performed eight Trials of Life presentations in Smithers, Houston, Burns Lake, Vanderhoof, Fort St. James, and Prince George; I have one more tomorrow in Kamloops before I have to start heading down south to California for the Sea Otter Classic mountain bike event in Monteray. 

I had a six hour drive today, and was listening to my ipod on random, and thought I’d bring up a certain phenomenon both my wife Caryn and I experience. We’re both convinced it does not perform a true random; if a certain artist is played, it seems to more often than not ‘randomly’ select the song that we most often play from that artist.  Anyone else notice this?!

Judging by their youtube views, you may have seen the Flight of the Conchords, if not, check this vid out for a laugh.

If you haven’t read Yvon Chouinard’s “Let My People go Surfing”, perhaps after watching the speech below (about 60 minutes long), it might leave you wanting more. It is one of my favorites reads, click through on the link from my book list if you’re interested, and enjoy the words from this wise man.