Mike Cobb: Urban Cyclocross, Backwards Circles, No Handed Trackstands, Skids, Stairs.
Former member of our Berkeley workshop community. Now lives and works in Portland, but comes back to hang out and do welding / fabrication jobs in the Bay Area, such as fabing a security fence for Tip Top Bike Shop in Oakland.
Read MoreStreet performer mounts upright piano on bike, rolls to gigs, plays Rock n Roll with wild abandon
If anyone knows the official web site for this performer, please pass it on.
Read MoreI’ve been quietly amassing inspiring, amazing, and hilarious street culture and street art videos for three years
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.
5. Bike Culture from San Francisco. Inventor Max Chen twists, chops, and distorts bikes to make a big visual impact. This pet squirrel is one of his simplest mods, but one of my favorites as well. (more)
6. Live Billboard Project. Dancers under the direction of Jo Kreiter transform a brick facade into a stage with beautiful acrobatics and great lighting and music.
Fossil Fool hits the road. In Santa Monica / Venice Beach this weekend.
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.
The hardest part of the journey was figuring out how to get from downtown Los Angeles to the beach. I rolled the Purple line to Wilshire Western and rode from there — about 16 miles. It took about two hours. I ain’t built for speed!
Once I got to the beach, it wasn’t long before I found the 3rd Street Promenade and set up as a street performer. Put the bike into human power mode and pulled up people to pedal. A few guest rappers of diverse ethnic backgrounds rapped in a Spanish, English, and Japanese. Pretty sweet welcome.
