Portland has a reputation for being a weird city. Even as a PDX local, you’re bound to stumble upon new oddities nearly every day. But even with weird as the norm, the Cricket Campus Rail Jam Tour turned up the bizarre even more and transformed Portland into a downright freak show. Something about snow in the summer attracts the most awesome/interesting amalgamation of human beings one will ever witness. 30 tons of snow and the nation’s best college shreds may have been the main attraction, but when the beer started flowing and the vagrants came out of the woodwork, the day turned into much more than your average snowboard rail jam.


A rare sighting of snow in the city


Getting the setup primped and primed!


Free product anyone?


Tour DJ, Kid Couture lays down the tracks



The beer was free, and the VIP was poppin off

Last Saturday, the finals of the 2009 Cricket Campus Rail Jam Tour took over Pioneer Square with an all out shred celebration. Industry folks were downing beer and generally bro-ing, Todd Richards was making fun of people on the mic, and riders were absolutely slaying the rails for $6000 in prize money. Business yuppies mixed with burly street dwellers and snowboarders mixed with meth heads in a beautiful mess of snow and sweat.


Todd Richards kept people laughing with his worst tattoo contest


Two suns?


Stoke factor was high

60 of the west’s top rippers made the trek to Portland to ride with the best amateur snowboarders and get loose on Cricket Wireless’ tab. The three-feature setup was blanketed in 60,000 pounds of glacier flakes from the good people at Timberline and positioned in the heart of downtown P-town. After showering the snow with bags of salt and tapping the kegs from Miller High Life and new brew Lat 44, the event kicked off with a bang and riders dropped some serious hammers on the setup.


Rock solid frontboard


Here comes the 270….


Pressing to the end


Nose tappy

The 90-degree heat made things interesting, turning the landing into sloppy margarita slush, but that didn’t seem to affect the top finishers as they put on the best show the Tour has ever seen. Third place finisher Seth Hill’s good vibes matched his stylie stunts and landed him some skrilla for his efforts. Kyle Martola’s back swivel 540’s were sending the crowd into a frenzy and must have got the judges excited too. Kyle scooped some benjamins and a new Omatic stick for his creative riding. The man of the hour was Josh Bishop taking the crown as the winner of the 2009 Cricket Campus Rail Jam Tour. Josh was rewarded with a briefcase full of 1,500 $1 bills, some killer headphones from ZAGG and a new board courtesy of GNU.

Getting Tricky on the ZAGG box



Colt Morgan goes backward


Blunts in the big city


1st placer, Josh Bishop with the frozen supermodel


Kyle Martola pops a 5 off the Red Bull box


2nd place finisher, Kyle Martola


3rd place finisher, Seth Hill


(L-R) Seth Hill (3rd) Josh Bishop (1st), and Kyle Martola (2nd)


Josh’s got enough bills to keep the party going for days

In between heats, product tosses meant tug-of-war with the bums, and a chance to dance for swag from Grenade and ELM company. REELcomp was running around with cameras to get the shot for all the peeps stuck at home watching the live webcast. Highlights will be posted soon for anyone who missed it! FUEL TV was also shooting for the Weekly Update, interviewing riders and spreading the love. For those who were taking a break from beer consumption, Red Bull was providing glorious refreshment from the sun and stoking out the homeless with plenty of empty cans to trade in for change.


Insurance salesmen can get hyphy too!


Stacy makes Red Bull look gooood.

The lady rippers had a strong showing at the jam, holding it down with the best of em’. When the fat lady had sung, Madison Blackley walked away with third place and a mix of cash and product. Erika Vikander took second after impressing judges on all three rails. In first place was tour veteran, Miss Ronda Shahin, stepping onto the top of the podium, stoked as hell, ready to party. Congrats ladies!


Gabby Maiden



Erika Vikander, thru the kink


Madison Blackley presses down the shotgun



Ronda gets pressy


(L-R) Erika Vikander (2nd) Ronda Shahin (1st), and Madison Blackley (3rd)


Ronda – Dolla dolla bills y’all!

Well, that’s it! The 2009 Cricket Campus Rail Jam Tour is history! Thanks to everyone for making the Tour happen and helping to promote the amateur shred scene across the US. The Galvanic Design crew couldn’t have done it without all the great support from the riders, schools, and companies that believed in the Tour and their goal of spreading the shred. Planning for 2010 is already well underway, so expect to see some BIG improvements, additions, and new surprises next year. Stay tuned to www.campusrailjamtour.com for summer updates on what we are up to, and where we are heading next. We’re out!

Words: Taylor Murray Photos: Darcy Bacha, Aaron Rogosin, Drew Diehl