"There they go, two of God's own prototypes. Some kind of high powered mutants never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, too rare to die..." with all due apologies to HST, the wonder twins finally headed out on that ribbon of highway late Friday afternoon.

"Just got into town about an hour ago, took a look around to see which way the wind blows..." Jim Morrison spins in his grave. First stop, Will Rogers State Park, and a demo with Helen's Cyclery.

Not to bag on L.A or anything, but the sky was way clearer when we were down there the other week. Still, there are worse ways to make a living. Thanks to all who showed up and rode bikes!

The wonder twins are going great guns, having run demos Saturday, Sunday, Monday and today in the southern lands, and are about to point east and force Phoenix, Arizona to understand the tough love of Santa Cruz bikes. Not to belabor what is probably, hopefully, becoming obvious, but there’s a pretty comprehensive demo calendar up on our website. Just sayin’…

Speaking of high powered mutants, Miranda Miller sent in some new photos of her recovery from serious bummerhood, furthering our notion that she is truly a rare gem of a sponsored rider. Photos courtesy of the inimitable photographer David Fournier. who should not be confused with the “other” photographer David Fournier. Totally different guy, doesn’t seem so into bikes. We like this David Fournier best. Maybe they should fight it out, West Side Story Style:

She’s out for the Sea Otter, but claiming to be 125%, maybe even 150% superhuman by the time the U.S Open rolls around. Those are pretty big words, but then again, it’s not as if Miss Miller exactly stunk up the joint there last year.

Meanwhile, in completely unrelated news, Brian Vernor has been teasing us with some historical tidbits lately. He’s on the trail of something new, and it will probably make for super-awesome viewing. But, being one of those secretive film-maker times, he has sworn us to secrecy about the project, and in spite of the fact that much of what he is working on lies solidly in the public domain, we are honoring that request. Because we like secrets. Just ask any of the interhackers sniffing around our site lately looking for new bike info. That said, his foray into the back alleys of mountain bike history kind of perked our ears up about some other of the deep dark past of this sport of ours. And this coincided with a fresh email. Take fifteen minutes now, listen to some Rolling Stones, and trip down our family tree with us. Bonus points will be awarded for identifying the gratuitous cameos of several founding fathers and a few more still very active old schoolers:

Hot damn! Who knew that 1980 is repeating itself already, a mere thirty years later? Only this time on fixies. Check out the clothes, the facial hair. Nothing new really happens anymore. Shine on, you crazy diamonds…

And finally, just to throw Tuesday right off the rails, WTF?:

Yeah, we have no idea how the Japanese mind works. But I will go on record and state that videos such as the above make Chris Duncan seem like a downright straight arrow…