but more importantly I was really looking forward to catching up with people I met almost 10 years ago. While hugs and handshakes were had with old friends some high fives were thrown to some new friends. Below is a chronological order of friends I saw during my trip, consider this a huge shout out to people that have inspired me to push myself in ways I never knew.
As always click on photo to enjoy full size
The day before my flight I headed over to Affinity to grab some bits and ran into Massan packing up his bike.
http://massansf.com/ We actually ended up on the same flight the next day due to tornado warnings in NYC. We were stuck at the airport together for 6 hours, it was nice to have the company and catch up over some beers and food.
We finally got into SF 15 hours later and this guy picked me up from the airport, James Newman. One of my closest friends that had a huge influence on me riding track bikes. I blame it all on him, we also used to DJ a lot together, he has some sick drum scratches, KBR is the crew! It was really good to see you and congrats!
After getting settled the following morning, we headed into the city to check out the course and see the start of the race that Chas and Jason were throwing to win a Macaframa frame that walton won the week before. It was rad to catch see Austin out there.
The finish of the race was held at Mission Workshop, Crihs won the race and we partied with Rob Salimo and Little Jay!
A friend I've seen in a lot of cities through out the years of messengering, Davie Dave from LA moved to SF a couple of years back and seems to be doing well!
Hernan came up from LA!
Lil' Jay, Jason Cleary clowning around after winning the Red Bull Race! Congrats man, you were slaying it with style.
Walton fell on his wrist but was still in good spirits.
It was cool to see KEO and meet Fish n Chips and the kid on the left I forgot your name, as you can tell we all had a couple.
Ran into Colin and Justin from Macaframa on the ride to the after party.
In front of the after party I ran into Alex, he helps runs TCB
http://www.tcbcourier.com/ if you need anything delivered hit these guys up!
A really good friend of mine Ian Rose and his girlfriend, I've known Ian for 8 years now. We've lived in a lot of the same cities. It was really nice catching up!
After hanging out and racing Chas put together group ride for paradise loop the next morning.
40 mile ride with 2200 ft of elevation, one of the most beautiful rides I have been on! Andy Ellis from London joined us, my first time riding and hanging out, really solid guy! Dylan from Macaframa is a solid rider and was cool to get to know a bit more, we all were in pain but still really good spirits!
After the ride we stopped back by the MASH store to say whats up and check out Mike's space. Walton was there with his crew. Really cool to see how far everything has come, really stoked for Mike and the crew!
While there I ran into a old friend of mine Dustin Klien from Cadence,
http://cadenceclothing.net/. We used to ride together in Seattle during earlier years. Really great and crazy to see how far things have came along! Really happy for you.
The next day I packed it up and headed to San Diego to work on a very special project and link up with this guy, Emi Brown. We actually were on the Cadence team together in 05. Really solid dude that has came along way but still keeps very humble to his roots.
Damn that was a long trip, I can't wait till the next one!
