GravelTech is pleased to announce the Thanksgiving Poker Ride.

What: A group ride during which riders stop at four bars and cards are dealt at each stop along the way. The person with the best hand at the end wins the pot.
When: Saturday November 26th, meet at 3pm, ride at 3:15pm
Where: Meet under the Hawthorne Bridge's east end

If you want to see something sick, check out Spaceman's new track bike:

It's a prototype built by the fine folks at Tonic Fabrications.

See more photos on Fixed Gear Gallery

Saturday, October 29th was another, excellent day to be a cyclist in Portland with a full day of riding in two events. The first was an urban single-speed mountain bike ride and the second, a zombie themed alleycat.

My NOISE photos
R. Kelly's photos
Dabby's photos

GravelTech is proud to announce the third annual NOISE!

What: An urban single speed adventure. Come explore some secret and not so secret urban offroad riding. Even though it's a single speed event you can ride what you've got. If you promise not to shift, we promise not to say anything about your gears.
When: Noon to 5-ish on Saturday, October 29th, 2005
Where: The Fresh Pot on North Mississippi

It's nice to have some good news. On October 1st, Billy Spaceman is moving down to Melbourne Australia for a year or so. The staff is pretty damn jealous, but it's nice to know we'll have a place to visit when on holiday down there. We'll try to manage our way through an issue of OSR while he's gone.

Spaceman wrote up this obituary for Kristine's hometown paper:

Kristine Ann Okins, 25, a former resident of Windom, was killed in a bicycle/vehicle accident while at work in her chosen home of Portland, Oregon.

Her job as a bicycle messenger reflected her love of cycling, a passion that was part of many others. These included but are hardly limited to Tall Ship Sailing, Traveling, and All Creatures great and small.

Kristine attended the Perpich Center for Arts Education in Golden Valley, MN where she graduated with honors in 1998; she then attended the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and graduated in 2002. These accomplishments serve to underscore the dedication and hard work she expressed daily.

A master of many talents, Kristine impressed all with her skills in baking, sewing, knitting, and graphic design. She was never shy about sharing these natural gifts.

A memorial mass bicycle ride in her honor along Portland's Willamette River allowed many to commemorate and celebrate her rich and wonderful life.

She lives on in the hearts and minds of all she touched. Kristine, you are our Red Skies at Night.

She is survived by her parents Jim & Mary of Windom, her sister Melissa and brother-in-law Michael Lefevre of Portland; her sister Angela of Portland; her brother Matthew Okins and Kelsey Rients of Mankato; her boyfriend William Bleichner of Portland; grandmother Loretta Anderson of Lamberton; grandmother Margaret Okins of Redwood Falls; and many aunts, uncles, cousins and friends.

There's going to be a memorial ride for Kristine tonight. People are meetin up at Berbati's from 17:00-17:30. I'm told it'll be a pretty short ride.

I ended up talking to someone from KGW about Kristine. They'll be airing a story on her tonight at 6pm. They'd seen the photos and contacted me to find someone who'd speak with them. I wish I could have found someone who knew her better. It was a pretty short deadline and couldn't find anyone who knew her and really wanted to talk to them so I stepped up. If anyone can tape it I'm interested in seeing how it turned out.

Update: photos are on Flickr:

I still don't really believe it happened. I keep finding myself speaking in cliches. After reading through the comments on the memorial page I realize how little I knew about her, all the people she's known, her friends, family. It's such a horrible way to find out. I miss her, but I wasn't her boyfriend, I wasn't her sister, and I wasn't her father. Her death leaves a gaping hole in so many lives.

I won't presume, but, I believe that she'd rather that we focus on the positive. To appreciate all the wonderful times we spent with her. Towards that end I've been gathering together the photos I've taken in the year plus that I knew her. It's been frustrating because she was almost impossible to take a picture of. You'd point the camera at her and she would continually make the strangest faces, close her eyes, anything but let you try and take a proper photo. I can't tell you how many photos I deleted. I'm so sad to see her go.

From Billy Spaceman
My darlin' dearest Kristine Okins was killed in a bike accident on Monday. She was a Portland bike messenger at work. If you knew her you knew she was a real adorable badass, and also the sweetest most gentle and sincere girl that was ever made. I miss her terribly and I'm glad she left us with the strength and dignity she deserved. A website has been created in her memory, www.for-kris.com.
Any words for her or us would be greatly appreciated at this site. We all love her very much and you can bet she loved us back. -Billy

I love it, it's all kinds of functional.