A swell little portrait of Sweetpea Bicycles, Members of 1% for the Planet and the Portland cycling community. Portland is home to many that are creating their own brand of success, and it’s not hard to see why women are drawn to the Sweetpea experience (hint: it’s not the dog).
Organ Tools
A tool chest made by a gentleman named Studley in the 1800s. He was an organ and piano-maker and obviously a phenomenal carpenter. Seeing this incredible tool chest reminded me of a more contemporary work by artist Tom Sachs. His piece is called “Hardcore.” It’s a really crude-yet-astonishingly-wonderful cabinet of weapons that are also made by Tom Sachs. They are all constructed from common plumbing supplies and general hardware store materials. My understanding of the story is that the NYC police had a program by which they would collect weapons at precincts, no questions asked, and give something like $75 for each weapon turned in. Tom Sachs and company were making these crude guns out of scrap and turning them in for cash.
(Interesting to note that Tom Sachs has tried his hand at piano-making with a piece called the Bösendorfer. I had a chance to play this with Mr. Peter at the Sperone Westwater gallery in NYC and it’s really incredible! I think it’s made out of road barriers and plywood.)
The interviewer, trying to inject a modicum of reason: “But isn’t it necessary to attack intelligently?” Hinault, having none of that: “There is nothing but brute force that can win a race.” The Badger’s cantankerous declarations have been one of the most entertaining elements of the 09 Tour. (We dare to imagine a Hinault / LeMond Blunt-Speaking-Bordering-On-Crazy-Old-Campaigner double billing. Sweatbands mandatory.)
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Delight, inspire, innovate. Hella Jongerius is easily one of the most important designers working today. A nice little documentary from Design Onscreen.
Danny MacAskill from Inspired Bicycles gets his freak on.
Ah yes, the cross scene in The PDX is untouchable, but knowing that one of your design heroes races cross too makes the whole of it feel even that much cooler. We wonder…is he faster than us? Dude!* Without even mounting a bike, this guy is faster than us. From enginesystem (which is a rather fine presence we noticed).
*It’s true, irony is over (esp. the facial hair variety), but we just can’t help ourselves sometimes…we like exclaiming, Dude!
When I was a kid I really only dreamed of achieving professional status in two sports: cycling and soccer. I was a teenager with moderate talent, but nothing noteworthy. I was certainly not going to be a pro athlete. But, for all the sports I participated in, from surfing to BMX to basketball, it was soccer and cycling that had me in their grip.
I played goalkeeper on the field, and on the bike, well I just rode. I didn’t know if was a sprinter or climber or time-trialist yet (um, yeah, still not clear on that, except at 6’3”, 175 lbs, I am no pure climber). All I knew was there was a style in those sports that everything else I did lacked. Except, frankly, bodysurfing, but that’s a whole other blog post.
Those were the sports I watched, when I could (this was before the interwebs and super-cable), and the players and riders that captivated my imagination. And they still are. So much so that today, when I saw this photo of Inter Milan coach Jose Mourhino in the New York Times, I couldn’t help but smile. Nowhere else but European soccer could a coach look this good. Better than his players, even.
Can you imagine any US coach (basketball, baseball, football, whatever) rocking an Armani scarf on the sideline? No fucking way. That, right there, is who I wanted telling me what to do.
Sometimes radness deserves a fan card. (We’re hoping for an autograph)
