Vote Hope

Heather Stamm

In a note of irony, only days after posting "Heather", I was driving on PCH through Newport Beach, just a few miles south of Huntington Beach, when I found myself behind a SUV with a window sticker that read something on the order of "Always Remember Heather Stamm". I could not believe it. Later, after a quick Google search, the mystery of Heather was cleared. She was 16 when she and a friend were struck by a car on PCH and 6th street. From the articles available online it sounds like several families lives were devastated. What a very sad story.

The story can be found at either the Daily Pilot or the Huntington Beach Independent

Heather Stamm, in my mind, will always remain the keeper and guardian of PCH and 6th in HB.

Heather

I do not know who Heather was, but for a long time between 2007-08 the street corner memorial to her on PCH & 6th St. in Huntington Beach captured my eye. While heading south, I seemed to always get caught at this intersection's light, my eyes usually beginning on the ocean but ending across the street looking and thinking about who Heather must have been. Somebody lost somebody very special and as time passed, the memorial would change to suit as the landscape behind it did. This went on for well over a year, maybe two. The intersection went from a simple street corner with a vacant lot behind it, to one with graded land and a chain link fence, to a construction zone, to the beginnings of a grand hotel. All the while, Heather remained. Now, I wished I had taken photos of the memorial as it morphed to accommodate the changing backdrop. As it turns out, the photo here is, I believe, of the last memorial version. The what surely will be a glitzy new downtown hotel has taken over and whoever maintained this tribute to Heather has finally succumbed to its urban reality. I, for one, will always remember this street corner as hers.

So Close!

David Millar breaks his chain after being in an all-day Giro d'Italia stage break, and as he prepares for the finishing 5-up sprint. Pissed? Oh, yeah. Need to stay cool? Probably, but under the circumstances it's hard to fault the man. To be so close to winning a stage in one of the three major Tours then have it instantly collapse 500M from the line is brutal.

Can you image

Can you image a society so supportive and reliant on bicycles it has developed parking and storage like this Japanese version? Wow.

Pay Attention

Have a look and remember to watch out! Sometimes its easy to miss something.


Test Your Awareness: Do The Test - More bloopers are a click away

The First Mountain Bike

I am sorry, but I have a different take. The mountain bike was not invented in the 70's, or the 60's, or in Marin County, or by anybody currently living. It is just not true. It can't be. The REAL first mountain bike was invented well before the turn of the 20th century. Enter the very first bicycle - the wooden horse. Sans chain and sprocket transmission (which Leonardo invented back in the 12th century, but it never made it to a bike until the 750 yrs later), the wooden horse wasn't much more than a old school scooter the rider straddled and walked along. It operated the same we all did as kids after our chain broke a long way from home. The first bicycles must have been the first mountain bikes - there were no paved roads! OK, a beaten wagon trail does not a singletrack make, but let's get real for a second. You're telling me kids back then didn't sneak off with their dad's rig and push it to the top of the local hills and ride down - fast? You KNOW that happened and probably as often as they could get away with. And you know it turned into a race at some point. There was likely some serious ass-whooping when they got caught, but no doubt is was well worth the thrill. So my contention is, not only was the first mountain bike invented a long time ago, the first mountain bike was a DH rig. Nico would be proud!