I'm here and then I'm gone again.

August 17, 2026

For those who mighta come across this post, you were aware that I solidly skipped town. I would likely still be out there, embraced by Mother Nature and all of Her wonders, were it not for a sudden notion that I was well out of service, and had no idea where, and if any wild fires were nearby. I was deep enough in the cuts with really only one way out that my goose would have literally been cooked, so I ultimately made the decision to commit to self preservation and come back to society where I once again began looking at roof top tents, and portable shitters.

If you'd like visual representation of what I saw while I was away, it would be my pleasure to share a few items here;

So yeah- Self preservation can sometimes be a powerful motivator, so as I said, I cut my trip a day short and headed back on down the road.

It was a much needed reprieve and a solid reminder that I need to more consistently take myself to the woods for a rest rather than wait until life gets too much to handle, resulting in whatever happened last week.

Then, wouldn't you know that nearly as soon as I landed back into civilization I got call from my old pal Ross Shafer (founder, and primary madman of the original Salsa Bicycle Company);We shared a very nice lunch together and caught up on all of this the little bits and pieces of life that we've experienced since last we saw one another, reminding me once again that some of the best people in my life I've met because of bicycles.

And on the topic of bicycles, most folks are quite aware that this coming weekend will see the return of the annual MADE bicycle show in Portland, Oregon.

Two events of note are one on Friday brought to us by the good folks from Portland Design Works;

Do you like jumping off things into water? I do.

From there, you can then roll over to the Hokum Magazine Double Pinch Flat art show at Nemo Designs featuring some of your favorite dirtbag artist types;

If neither of these strike your fancy, then just wait until Saturday and get down with the Sim Works tiny truck and ramen extravaganza;

I suppose if none of these events fire you up, then there's always the whole 'more strip clubs per capita than anywhere in the country' thing that you can fall back on.

And on the topic of custom bikes and bicycle parts, I finally took delivery of the St. Peter cable hangers from Ratking and they look amazing;

Smith has a pile of other Ratking related business to attend, but as soon as that clears up we've discussed the possibility of doing a small production run. Price and availability should be sorted soonish, and for those who will be in attendance, this prototype *may be on hand at the show.

Lastly, I have to say because I skedaddled out of dodge last week, we have no new episode of Revolting for this week, so I guess just go back to any of the 242 previous episodes, we've already done and throw a dart to pick one;