West Side Invite 2007!

Here I sit, Tuesday afternoon. It has been a while since I remember being so completely tired, aching, hurt, and heavily bruised, at the same time.

The 2007 WestSide Invite was a smashing success. We all met up on Thursday at Damien and Gary's pre-party, also known as the barbecue they have every other week. This was a good time. I had picked up some Mediterranean Lamb sausages for C. Murder (Big Chief Can Whoop Ass) and I. The Bear cooked a big slab of fish, which was enjoyed by all..

What it is with these slanty yards and parks in Portland? I spent the weekend on a slight angle, putting too much weight either on my ass, which has no padding, or into my toes, which due to poor circulation made my feet fall asleep.

I should have just carried around a lawn chair the whole time.

Friday night we went to the Ash Street for registration and drinking. The stoop was full of familiar faces, from as far as London, and as close as mere blocks away. Registration was on the back "patio", which is where I got these nice shots of Sharky and C. Murder.





I just got my camera back from Sony, and it is supposed to be fixed. They said I smashed the lens assembly, but also pointed out that it is very difficult to do this on my camera, as it is internal.
The pictures aren't coming out great right now, and I apologize for that. I took at least 250 during the last two polo games on Ryan's camera, some of which can be seen on The Team Wreck Blog.




The Friday Night Alleycat went off, thrown by "Alleycat Inc.". It had the potential to be a good race, and we had a Le Man's start from the stoop, to the parking lot across the street. It pretty much went bad from there.....

Off to the pump house by PSU, where the trick is to go to the bottom of the stairs where the clue is, then leave by the top of the stairs and down the hill. So, of course I did the exact opposite, with Lucky and someone else behind me. They must not have known the way if they followed me. Then it was over to Couch Park in the NW, for another quick stop, before flying across the Broadway bridge. The next stop was on Swan Island, and when I got across the bridge I could see the big pack. They had gone way past the turn and up the hill a ways, by the time I turned down interstate the right way. This was not the first time I had seen them, so I now knew I was in front of them by a bit, with two other riders visible in front of me. This turned out to be Dr. Doom and R. Kelly.
It was here my race went bad, within a shout of the finish. The Swan Island stop was silly, wonky, and not at the spot indicated really. We spent a lot of time there, as did most everyone.

It was then to the bluffs. I decided to go straight up the path I had come down during the Logan's Run race. This is steep, steep like pulling yourself up with trees barely. Then there are the sticker bushes. Bobbie folllowed me through, even after I had warned him it would suck. he is a trooper, and beat me to the top.
Leaving the bluffs, and to the going street bridge for the sign, which turned out to be a "Bike Trash" sticker, was gone. This was a bonus that could have helped me out, and I was bummed. I think someone pulled it down during the race, but who knows.

Over to Dee's house to have the manifest signed, and off to the Florida Room. It was during this stretch that I could see quite a ways ahead of me, and realized I could get DFL if I just slowed down, which is exactly what I did. Ryan even called mne to actually see if I was ok as I had not shown at the bar yet.

Into the bar, get a drink before going to turn in my manifest, and all appears well on the last place front when, out of nowhere, or twenty minutes later, the real DFL comes into the patio.
My glory is doused .........

R. Kelly of TEAM W.R.E.C.K. won, and of course there were prizes

There was fun, there was booze, there were tots. More tots than you can shake a stick at. I had mine with cheese melted on them, but sadly, the critical error of under cooking a order of tot's ordered crispy will never be good, no matter how much cheesy goodness is on top. This is by the way only the first time I have not enjoyed my tots there. Since they get so busy, I find this to be a positive way to look at it.

Hat's off to the Florida Room!!!

The Strip Club classic went off at ten, and the first stop was the Dancing Bear. Not a very exciting place at all, though I must admit that some of the talent there was very interesting, to say the least. After an hour at "The Bear", we rolled off to NW and "The Magic Garden", with a fun stop in Overlook Park added in.

The Garden was fun, and my old best friend Mike from Astoria met us there too. We were loaded, and tired, and decided as a group to roll by the stoop (of course), and the on to the playground known as "Union Jacks". This is where a total of about 50 of us drank and cavorted until closing.



Jesus De' Beefa

Tall Joe
Dr. Doom and product




Alor with the ball for a Seattle team.
Strolling in the park


Matt Case


Three from Seattle go at it


More of the same...


Instead of circling when you dab.....


Jason, Peter and MessMan



Jason ditches the bike quickly


The cage.