Jason Morris

Code slinger at leastmost and bmxfeed. Ramp building and lip trick enthusiast.

Posts from Jason:

Tampa and Ybor City making it happen

Matt Coplon at Profile sent over a link to this video for the Berrics about the Skatepark of Tampa, their new bar/cafe and nearby skateshop in Ybor City. Really awesome to see a private skatepark thriving and expanding for a change.

Full Frame Collective

Just spotted this new photo site that Kyle Emery-Peck and some Bay-area friends started called Full Frame Collective. Give it a look-see…

Where do you see yourself in twenty years?

‘How long have you been riding?’ I often say, ‘Too long.’ That avoids the date math and serves to temper expectations a bit. Thinking back, I do remember the first time I pedaled towards a jump and my wheels left the ground.

As a little kid, I’d go for weekend rides along the bike path that follows the Hudson River with my grandparents. Me on my department store 20’³ bike and my grandparents on their tandem bike. When my grandmother stayed home, my grandfather rode the tandem bike solo. No worries.

Along the path there was a two foot tall concrete wedge, dropped in the center of a field. A sculpture of some kind? On one of the first rides along the bike path, I noticed this concrete object and my mind began to race. Could I ride my bike up and off of it? I’d never done anything like that before, but I was curious.

Armed with some encouragement from my grandfather, I pedaled down the path and into the grass. I took aim at this ramp that was half as tall as I was. Later I’d learn that checking the run up would have been wise. As I hit the rough edge at the bottom and my feet bobbled. I launched off the end of the concrete, my feet no longer on the pedals. Given my age, landing crotch-first on my top tube wasn’t as bad as it would prove to be as I grew older. I looped back around and gave it another go. This time my feet stayed on the pedals. Every trip after that, I couldn’t wait until we got to the jump so I could give it a couple good runs.

I couldn’t tell you how old I was at the time, no idea of the year, but I remember how amazing it felt to hit a jump on my bike. Thinking back, I always wished that I had a photo of me hitting that jump on my little 20’³ bike.

A few weeks ago, Hurricane Irene barreled up the East Coast and flooded many areas in its path. My parents’ house was too close to a swelling creek that had no regards for its long-standing banks. Water consumed the basement and took out everything that wasn’t within a few feet of the ceiling. Spending the day afterwards in waist deep water, we saved what we could. It was only stuff, after all. Everyone was safe. I pulled several boxes of photographs out of the water and handed them up to my Mom. They were a lost cause, I thought.

After a few water-logged hours, I came upstairs to take a break. My Mom handed me a photo she’d pulled out of one of the soaked boxes. It was a photo of me jumping off that concrete wedge on one of our first bike trips.

I flipped the photo over, written in ballpoint pen was ‘Albany bike path, September 1991’.

Twenty years ago this month I hit my first jump on a bicycle. If you asked me then what I’d be doing in 20 years, I’d tell you, ‘I’ll be jumping my bike off of stuff.’ Yeah right, kid.

Interbike

If you’ve been offline for the past few days, you likely missed all of the Interbike coverage that peppered the internet. No worries, we’ve got the cliff notes for you.

Kurt from The Union is my pick for Interbike MVP. He sprinted from booth to booth snapped photos of all of the newest products and then uploaded everything over the slow Interbike wi-fi connection for all of you to enjoy. Check out Kurt’s wrap-up post for his overall thoughts and links to all of the companies he covered during Interbike.

Our own Steve Crandall ran down the innovations coming from the FBM gang for RideBMX. Note that John Lee and Jay Schlie maintain straight faces for almost the entire video.

If you didn’t get a chance to stop by the LeastMost set up in room 8600 at the Venetian, you missed the debut of our new beverage chillers and prototype motorbike BBQ attachment (photos soon). Not too many people stopped by over the three days, but housekeeping seemed impressed.

That’s Interbike 2011 in a nutshell. See you next year!

No Bikes / Fat Trax in Oregon

Photos and video courtesy of Tony Archibeque Jr., words by Aaron Gates

Left to right: Andrew Lazaruk (Macneil), Greg Rooke, Ryan Hiebert, Aaron Gates, John Hussey, Tony Archibeque Jr., Tom Kalmanidis (Sidewall/Hoffman), Mat Ridgeway, Shamus Kelliher, Ras Graveson, Kurt Murseli, Donald Delp, Dalton Holt (Stranger), Matt Desson (1664/S&M).

‘Don’s in jail and we got in a fight with bikers!’ This was Tony’s summary of the trip on day two, shouted out of a car window at a couple of friends. It certainly captures the two most prominent events during our three day weekend in Oregon. Take 15 people from Washington, BC, Connecticut and Massachusetts to Portland for a few days and things are bound to happen.

Donald Delp came on the trip with 11 dollars, 8 of which were spent at the first night’s buffet. He killed it all weekend, and then he got bored at Burnside and decided to put some unsolicited art on a wall at 9 a.m. A police officer greeted us down through the monster bite, ‘Do you guys know Don… Donald Delp… he’s got some things he needs to take care of.’ So Don went to jail for the day and experienced life on the other side. Once out, he continued to shred and was in good spirits despite having his shoelaces taken away only hours earlier.

After our Burnside session, a couple of locals (one of them was reportedly Ben ‘Twin Fin’ McEwen) followed us to Starbucks and spat on Desson. A few punches were thrown before Kurt Murseli decided to break up the fight by putting both of the other guys in a headlock at the same time. ‘Come back to the park alone’ was their parting offer to someone in the group (I don’t know who, there were 15 of us). None of us are that invested in fighting about a skatepark.

The rest of the trip was a tour of parks. We were in Oregon, so that was perfect. We rode one street spot, the school beside Glenhaven skatepark, and Desson slayed the manliest rail I’ve ever seen done in person. Three sets of eight stairs with a large bush beside it that he kept disappearing into. West Linn, Glenhaven, Tigard, Burnside, Battleground, Vancouver and Seaside in two days, then a beach fire on the Oregon Coast. We didn’t even ride the last day. The ghetto mansion drove back to Vancouver in time for work on Monday and we took a leisurely drive up the Oregon and Washington coasts. We ate seafood, Dolphin bought a pirate kite and most of us old guys were too sore to move anyways.

Andrew Lazaruk looping the cradle in Battleground, WA.

Lazerdick and a classic downside table at Burnside.

I'm sure this has been done a thousand times, but Andrew makes it look really good....

The debate around this rail centered around the probability of anyone having done it before. One one hand, it's at a school right next to one of the most popular public skateparks in Oregon, on the other hand, it's a monster. Either way, Matt Desson got it done.

Shamus Kelliher in West Linn, Or.

West Linn is a place for tables. Andrew Lazaruk clicks one before noon in Oregon.

Tom Kalmanidis in the giant industrial area that is Kent, WA.

There's nothing more classic than riding curb cuts. Shamus Kelliher in Seattle.

It wouldn't be a Seattle street session without a trip to the most overexposed wallride in the northwest.

Greg Rooke brings something new to the Garfield wallride.

Build your own fun?

Jody Pendarvis is batshit crazy but that hasn’t seemed to stop him from building his own fun…

spotted on devour

Lords of Fun 2 – Part 3

Here’s a bonus video from Props featuring some extra footage and outtakes from the Lords of Fun 2 trip.

If you missed part 1 or part 2, definitely check them out!

Joel Barnett: Defgrip Disposed

Joel Barnett snapped photos during Megatour 10 while travelling with FBM for a Defgrip Disposed feature that just went up. Give them glance over on Defgrip.

Korey Kryder Interview

Weekend warrior and kick ass dude Korey Kryder has an interview up on The Blend, talking about riding and photography. Give it a read!

Lords of Fun 2 – Photos

The Lords of Fun is a tongue and cheek gang of ne’er do wells, loosely affiliated with nothing at all, and down to party! It’s not a serious scenario by any means, It’s simply a road trip organized as an excuse to get a bunch of friends together for good times and adventure. We rode motorcycles, BMX bikes, skateboards, sea kayaks, mopeds, and even a crazy green limo. We camped out, partied at the beach, rode skateparks, and traveled like post apocalyptic gypsy tourists to an amusement park in our brains.

Thanks to Tioga, Props BMX and FBM for the support in making this trip a reality!

Over the course of the trip, Crandall and Jason collected a bunch of photos… here’s a handful of our favorites:

Steig getting ready to roll to the Outer Banks

Neighbors and Jason Anderson not pulling screens

Balls has the right idea!

A freshly separated shoulder didn't stop Holladay from catching and cooking his dinner straight out of the Atlantic.

Leland and Steig sunburnt and stoked

Night one in the beach house was not lame or tame

Chris Neighbors poking out of this four foot wide over-vert quarter in the pouring rain

Late night BBQ session

Anything with two wheels was welcome on this trip

Life's a beach!

Evan Venditti and Brian Rainsford getting equipped for a day on the beach.

Ocean kayaking all day

Trip MVP, Eric Holladay shredded the Currituck park before spending the afternoon in the hospital. Smiles the whole time.

Evan bermshot to launch. Lee Sizemore would be proud.

Crandall hanging it out during a pre-trip gentlemen's club session

The first and second most interesting men in the world. Limo life.

North Carolina cruise

This is Evan Venditti on vacation

Zebra!

The caravan from the chase limo. Lords of Fun.

Lords of Fun 2 – Part 2

Here’s part 2 of 2 from the Lords of Fun 2 adventure, courtesy of Props. Check it out!

Go to PropsBMX.tv for more videos.

Darryl Nau Bike Check

Our friends over at Props put together this bike check the one and only Darryl Nau. He shows off his custom FBM Gypsy frame in between some very creative lines at 9th street in Austin, Texas. Darryl is one of the most positive people you’ll ever meet and his attitude is infectious. Take a look: