Late night downhill racing in the dark anyone? Portland is probably nearly as famous in the bike community as it is in the skateboard community. I’m not talking strict BMX, I’m talking anything with a crank and pedals. There is a large core of people out there that consider it a lifestyle in much the same way that many skateboarders do. In my neighborhood there is a weekly bike polo (hockey?) game held in a disused tennis court that is pretty aggro and can often be heard from several blocks away. The Zoo Bomb phenom is usually a bunch of crazy bikers that meet to bomb down a hill near Portland’s zoo, hence the name. They get into trouble sometimes, but the City of Portland has been relatively hands off, all things considered. I’ve heard all manners of motorless transport are welcome. As part of Minibike Winter and one of many events on the same night, the official unofficial entity of Zoo Bomb is holding a skate race on February 15th. They’ve got different classes for wheel size, gravity powered only, and now skateboarding as one of them. In their own words: Skate the zoobomb hill. Prizes, trophies, glory.

This Week’s Shot of the Week is Marc Haziza at the newly opened Skatepark of Paris, taken by Frederic Lannois. Check out the full size version. Look at those seams and you’ll see it’s a prefab concrete park. But, hey! Check out that roof! Sure could use one of those around here.

So Guess what? It’s that time again; more of the same shitty photos of the same dudes at the same shitty park in nowhere Wyoming. I bet you’re so stoked. One thing you won’t confuse this zine with is Success. Not with all the guys going to prison, bloody fights and stepdads burning down houses… Excess is like COPS, only in skate zine form. Excess hails from Wyoming, but for some reason I was able to pick up issue #4 for free at our local indoor park in Portland. I couldn’t figure it out until I saw the fat Bacon advert spread, so now it makes sense. One of the jailbirds featured, Handsome Jack Mackeral (pictured above) also spent some time in Portland so there you have it. It’s actually a pretty good rag. Mixed in with all the depressing details of their local scene is some intelligent writing and a sense of humor. There’s a surprising feature on How to Fuck a Feminist. Instead of a bunch of crude jokes (don’t get me wrong, I like a good tasteless joke), it actually contains dating advice if there is a feminist whose pants you want to get into. I’m married…

Man, I had to get some actual skating up on this site today. Sonny Robertson sent in a few pictures a long time ago: …my favorite part of skating has always been that sense of identity in time, place, friends, music, etc. that comes from a scene, be it centered around a ditch, a ramp, skatepark, etc. We had a ramp in our small town YMCA – the Box Ramp – that was in a raquetball court, touching all four walls, and we would get people dropping in from all over the place and it was just so great to be a part of. And then to go to Dallas or Houston and see the scenes at places like the Clown Ramp, which was in a sketchy-ass section of town, was just the coolest. The whole Zorlac scene was just nuts. Wish I had been a little older at the time. I have plans to add a section that will roughly equate to “this is/was your scene” but you know how it goes with so-called plans. Rather than let them rot in my inbox (?) I’ve posted them here for your enjoyment. I’m holding out one of them for a…

Concussion! Get it? It’s Davoud Kermaninejad, occasional commenter on SnA and more importantly, the man from Concussion Magazine as seen on Paying in Pain, which you should go check out: “there’s ton’s of new content. New videos and photos nearly everyday and none of that “news” and links you can read anywhere else…” Errr… wait, that sounds a little bit lot like us.

When he’s not busy sponsoring every ripper in a two state radius, he’s giving back to the community, even when it’s not his community! Clark County’s Parks last email contained the following bit of info on a local Portland skateboarding industry big wig, (Well, biggest in Portland!) Some idiots set fire to the Vancouver WA park cleaning supplies box (Dudes, HILARIOUS!) and Colin Sharp (colin, not evil Colin) stepped up to resupply it. New Storage Cabinet Installed at Park; Supplies Donated by Bacon Skateboards The plastic cleaning supply cabinet that was set on fire and destroyed at the park about 2 months ago has been replaced with a big metal cabinet. In case you’re curious, this is just a basic cleaning supply cabinet. We have a group of local skaters and BMX riders who signed up to be stewards of the park and each have keys to the cabinet, along with the county’s park maintenance people. The contents of the cabinet are: a couple of shop brooms, a long-handled squeegee, dust pans, the emergency access ladder for the two bowls, and some other basic cleaning supplies. Most of these supplies were generously donated to the park by Colin Sharp at…

Add another one to the list. Old Man Army is gearing up for the Cannonball Run on February 16th. They are starting bright and early at 6am with plans to hit 16 parks in one day. It’s a lot easier if it’s not freezing or raining, or both. If you are in the AZ area check it out. I’m pretty sure these guys wouldn’t discriminate against you if you aren’t old or a man for that matter. You can see the flyer enlarged after the jump, although I suppose it would make more sense to go directly to the source.

The Perry Bible Fellowship is a weird little comic. Rather than do any of the work myself (Far Side on bad acid-Oops!), here’s what Publishers Weekly has to say: Despite its name, the comic has little to do with Christianity, save the occasional strips blending the religious and the profane. With an artistic style that can vary dramatically from strip to strip, the weekly comic explores “the concept of foolhardy notions incurring terrible, unexpected outcomes” through the lens of Gurewitch’s distinctive humor, described by turns as twisted, cerebral and sweet. The frames above are three out of four of the Perry Bible Fellowship comic titled Preach Skate. Make sure you hit the link to see the punchline. – Thanks to Don Gerard for the tip.

When he’s not busy dethroning Enemy Combatant (who dethroned Neil) as most hated commenter (Actually, EC must have graduated from charm school lately.) Colin Walsh (He rules, you know!) is sending me pics of this mystery hole in Oregon and trying to get me to plug the Benton County Skateboarding Alliance, Inc. who are “trying to get $$$$$$$ for a better park in the cor.” Enlargements after the jump.

“Revolutionary skateboard breaks all the rules! The OBOARD!” The OBoard, as in “Oh crap, I just wasted $131.95!” or “Oh no! Look what I’m riding!” You can fill in the rest yourself. They got a streetskater with some skills to do the demo too. You haven’t seen so many neear tic-tacks since the 70’s.