street performers

I've been posting these to You Tube for the last few years. Here are a few of my favorites.

1. Three women sat at the top of the escalator. A roller blader took a hundred foot lead in, then cleared the women and took the escalator backwards.

2. I immediately went for my camera when I saw this woman. I had my friend Emily stand just outside the frame of this video so I could grab the action incognito.

3. I first met Austin at the Crissy Field pullup bar last year. He's dope. What more can I say.

4. BMX pro Pete Brandt practicing at Embarcadero and Market in SF.

photo: Paul McKenzie

I've had some serious wanderlust recently and decided to head to Southern California. I've been wanting to stuff a few things in my bag and travel as a street performer with the Choprical Fish.

The night before my train, I had a photoshoot for the upcoming Clif Bar 2 Mile challenge, along with Gabe from SHAKE YOUR PEACE! and his friends from Utah. The 2 Mile Challenge is an upcoming college campus tour to promote bicycling. After the shoot, I packed my messenger bag with clothes and we all rode to Embarcadero BART so I could sleep in the workshop. What an amazing send off. We cruised by the ball park, where a game was letting out. We sang a call-and-response song as we were threading our way through the crowd. Epic!

It was my first time really traveling with the Choprical fish, so I put in a long night getting the bike road worthy. I never got around to sleeping.

The next morning at 6 I rode to the Amtrak in Emeryville from the workshop. I don't have many occasions to ride the Choprical Fish without music, so that morning was very sweet. I swear the birds were responding to the squeak of my disc brakes.

The Amtrak people were friendly and did non make me put my bike in a box. I dismantled the audio components and stowed them as luggage. In Bakersfield I transferred to an Amtrak bus, and the bus driver gave me my own storage bay.