so last week zak went down hard while racing last week. he had been recovering from a broken collar bone from last year, and the fall he took was enough to break it again. bike central is helping put on the fund raising event this friday at the track for him. so it's going to be the usual fast twitch friday, but with a twist.

anyone who knows zak, should really go out donate and support him, he's had three years of unfortunate events happen to him, he's a great guy who doesn't deserve it. events start at 2. all registration proceeds and donations will go to him.

for more check out bikeportland.org

http://bikeportland.org/2008/07/01/track-event-will-raise-funds-for-injured-racer/

good idea I'm totally into throwing down to get shirts and shit made to help.
totally down to set up an alley cat....

but if not try and make it to the track still.

yeah i've been meaning to contact Jenn at B.C. because I am out of town friday and saturday but i still wanna donate to Zak..anyone know how i can get some $$ over there?

yeah that first one got me lit up, i'm sure my post over there will get deleted J maus likes to play at censor a whole lot. he like to shake the bee hive then sit back and watch the shit fly.

thats called journalism i belive.

fuck bike portland and fuck jon maus i need him as my "local blogger/bike advocate" like fish needs a basketball.

I don't really think it's J. Maus' fault, except that one "fixie apocalypse" entry was clearly trolling, but the first comment got the ball rolling hard. And yeah I just read #43 and not only am I heated at that guy's opinion about Zak, but his general cycling politics as well. He's a fucking idiot, I invite him to go to my college town (Eugene) to ride with dudes who ride $40 Huffy's all day and see how long it takes before he gets hit by one of them, or how much of a community there is around people that don't give a flying fuck about cycling because they're only doing it temporarily until a) the court lets them drive again after that DUI/MIP, b) their parents start paying their insurance for them or c) they go home to California and have a car again. Seriously, we should be egalitarian towards these people too? Fuck that. The more you give to cycling, the more you should receive, that's my opinion. But that's a tangent so ignore my rant and resume Zak discussion...

yes please jenn lets get together some sort of thing event wise besides the FTF, and do t-shirts and stickers to hand over when folks make a donation to his healthcare fund. I'm down to pitch in anyway i can, Zak has always been nice to me when others werent, but thats not really the point. We should do this for anyone put in this position. No health insurance is not a choice messengers and other service industry folks ( read: dancers/bartenders/cooks/everyone i know) it happens to be reality. They are lucky enough to pull $6 a run from TransServ, health insurance is not an option.

lets do this. I'm calling all you graphic designer guys out. I can silk screen, I can turn wrenches , who's got a way to turn that into somehing decent for a decent guy?

I was planning on coming to FTF anyways. Ill def bring a bit extra to contribute. Zak isnt like like my best buddy, in fact I barely know him. But every time I have been around him he has always been really nice to me in a genuine way even though I bet he doesnt know my name.

white folks:

lets do this. I'm calling all you graphic designer guys out. I can silk screen, I can turn wrenches , who's got a way to turn that into somehing decent for a decent guy?

I would def be down to design some flyers, shirts, what have you and help with an event as much as I can time-wise. I can also screen print, but if Doug wants to I am down to let him as I am low on extra time this month.

Whoever is organizing this whisper me and we can hash out the details.

Oh and if anyone is riding out to the track on Fri from SE lemme know.I plan on taking Sellwood up the cemetery.

I had a hand in a few benefits for riders in Southern California. I'd be down to help out, but the t-shirt game is harsh, unless someone has a hook up on shirts, and you know about how many you'll need. I think Spoke Cards (sell for something like $5 a pop) would be a good option. Printing and laminating is cheap. Buttons are good as well.
A guy made LAfixed buttons, and sold them for $5 a pop, and then an limited edition one, that sold for $20, and I think that raised a few hundo. A raffle is a good option as well. Contact shops, companies, and people, and get a bunch of product together. Sell tickets for like $2. I think that raised close to $1000 in LA for the Mike Vincent benefit. Shirts probably did about another $1000, but I got something like 250 shirts donated for that, and then hand screened those, so our costs were something like $80 bucks for the whole operation.

My help is enlistable....
I know some guys that have a screen shop. I've been talking about doing some work with them. I have an idea for shirts that could work out. I'll see if I can chat them up, and see what's good.

Teen Idol:

I had a hand in a few benefits for riders in Southern California. I'd be down to help out, but the t-shirt game is harsh, unless someone has a hook up on shirts, and you know about how many you'll need. I think Spoke Cards (sell for something like $5 a pop) would be a good option. Printing and laminating is cheap. Buttons are good as well.
A guy made LAfixed buttons, and sold them for $5 a pop, and then an limited edition one, that sold for $20, and I think that raised a few hundo. A raffle is a good option as well. Contact shops, companies, and people, and get a bunch of product together. Sell tickets for like $2. I think that raised close to $1000 in LA for the Mike Vincent benefit. Shirts probably did about another $1000, but I got something like 250 shirts donated for that, and then hand screened those, so our costs were something like $80 bucks for the whole operation.

seriously hop on board and lets get this going. I can put some money towards it so we get the ball rolling to bring money in for him. everyone wants a spoke card, good idea. can you talk to someone about maybe getting shirts donated again? cause that would be the biggest obstacle.

lets see if we can get shirts figured out first. I'm down to come up with a manifest for the alley cat and talk to people about donations and such. have this thing in a week or two. i just messaged some messengers about it.

Donated shirts were through an ex girlfriend. We're no longer on speaking terms due to her making bad choices. We'll leave it at that.
I'll put feelers out to see if I have connections. I was thinking of some form of a collabo t-shirt with the screen shop (they have a store front), and have them donate like, half the profit to the cause. The logo would be something less specific to Zac, so it had universal appeal, and could be picked up by anyone.

Something like this:

That was the idea for the Mike Vincent shirts, but we put some specifics in there..

say leave the shirts to actually buy, those are the money makers right there. limited race spoke cards, then non limited for those who just want one. I'll talk to molly sometime in the next day or two about helping out, she gave me a ton of shit for the mash race. but because this is for zak i'm hoping she'll hook it up again. city bikes is good,

hey you radderday guys, you should talk to 21st ave bikes. see if they'll help out.

I'll be down at the satyricon at like 530, won't really be doing anything until the show starts till around 8 want to meet up then? sit in the bar have a drink? talk over some sour patch kids.

sick see you in a bit then, anyone else who's interested in maybe meeting up with us, the satyricon is on NW6th inbetween couch and davis. you'll see my bike out front.

I think I'm going to head in, and borrow my buddies waycom tablet, and try to work something new up. I have an image that I've wanted to play with for a while now. I'll post up some progress when I haz it.

You can buy blank tees at walgreens, 5 for $10 right now. I just did that and screened some myself.

^-- I have teh equipmentz.

You can get Hanes from places like shirtspace.com for about that same price. I may be able to get even better deal through a friend who works at a sign shop out of town.

So, my coach has asked me not to race Friday in order to prepare for the State Champs on Saturday. But I will be out there as a spectator and hope to see all of you as well!

I just looked at the posts on bikeportland and I can't believe some people. It's not like he got injured on purpose and is asking for help. I just can't believe on unwilling some people are to admit that they are not perfect and have made bad decisions themselves. I'm not saying that Zak has made any bad decisions because I know very well that if I were not supported by my parents I probably wouldn't be able to afford health insurance. When you love something such as biking you won't let anything keep you from doing it. It does make me happy that everyone is so supportive of a good friendly member of the community. Get well Zak!

For the record, Zak didnt suggest this for FTF. I asked him during the 6day, and he said it wasnt his idea.

Also for all you who dont normally ride the drome, thats why the messenger race is in there. If you want some help riding the track, get out there bout 12 and I can show anyone who wants some pointers and tips.

how did it go?

Some photos up from Mr Maus.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bikeportland/

crazyface:

I wish I could go. It should be a blast.

Track racing is an incredible experience. I wish I had the money to do it proper.

I am sure a few people here are hooked. (krystenr???)

Totally. Fucking. Hooked.