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Getting Keith Back on the Trail
So there's this guy named Keith. We met a few years ago while working on a trail project with the Westside Trail Federation outside of Portland, OR. I hadn't been out to build for a while when my friend Ryan called me up to tell me about this new volunteer who was in need of some parts and direction with bikes. Being a bike mechanic for a little more than seven years and having the ability to acquire parts through my family's bike shop, I was the go to guy for this sort of thing. Keith had just taken up mountain biking as a means to get out of a lifestyle that was less than ideal and he was enjoying it thoroughly. We started talking about bikes while digging quite a bit of trail in that park. He eventually took over the reins on the beginner line and made what proved to be quite a fun little line that just about anyone could enjoy. He was more than hooked. Mountain biking soon became the driving force in his life.
On a whim he sent out an email to guys at X-Fusion who had just introduced some sweet forks and were starting to make a name for themselves in the high-end MTB world. Eventually, this resulted in Keith working a sponsorship deal with the X-Fusion and the WTF which led to a good friendship with John Valera, the X-Fusion Sales and Service Manager. Keith has a way of making friends and being just a generally likable guy.
A year or so after I met him, Keith managed make friends with this guy that moved here from New York. Sharing a mutual love for mountain bikes and supercross Keith and Adam hit it off. At the time, Adam was the local rep for Mongoose/GT and always had some nice things floating around in his garage. Slowly Keith was able to con Adam out of a frame here and tires there. Eventually upgrading and getting nicer stuff and riding even more.
![Keith s stolen trance]()
Fast forward to 2013 and Adam is now a rep for Giant bikes. He helped facilitate Keith getting a basic Giant Trance through a local shop, Santiam Bicycle, which was a pretty significant upgrade over his previous bike. It’s deep red paint job, 27.5" wheels, and near perfect fit made this an ideal bike for Keith. It took him quite a bit to be able to finance the bike and it was his crown jewel. It was the bike that would help take him to the next level in his pursuit of Enduro racing and just plain having fun in the woods. Once again he slowly began to upgrade parts here and there. Constantly calling Adam or me on the phone to discuss parts, riding, and what he wanted to do with the bike.
On March 12, 2014, after having an epic bout of the flu he set off on a mini vacation of riding and just plain not working. There was a break in the usual grey and wet Oregon spring and he took full advantage of it out at Sandy Ridge. This would be his first trip out after adding a new X-Fusion fork and shock which he had spent the better part of 3 months trying to scrape together the funds to get his mitts on. It would have happened much sooner if it wasn't for the fact that he was taking what little extra cash he had and was helping pay a friends bills as they struggled to find a job. Because of this, things were tight for a while, but he was happy to help out and eventually was able to get the bike close to the way he wanted it. The time spent made this first ride on the new gear that much better. Pics were posted from the top of the hill, he was stoked. With the ride over and feeling good he stopped on his way home from the ride he at a grocery store and that’s when his life changed.
![Last pic of this awesome bike before it was stolen.]()
With his bike safely locked to the roof rack of his car with a relatively stout cable lock, he set off for a post ride RedBull and some snacks. Returning to his car 5 minutes later to find the roof of his Subaru looking disturbingly more aerodynamic than it was 5 minutes prior. Nothing remained of his beloved trail killer and reality soon set in. One of the biggest loves of his life had been taken from him. The store's video surveillance did not extend much past the front of the building and as most of us know, the police were not able to or really willing to do much as bikes are stolen in Portland at about the same rate PPD hands out parking tickets. Not having renters insurance there was no recourse to be had. The only thing to do was to run around like Paul Reubens in Pee-wee's Big Adventure handing out flyers and trying to let people know what happened on the slight chance that the thief got stupid. It was like a bad dream for him, for me, for Adam, and for anyone else who knows Keith. We all knew how much this bike meant to him.
Keith called me up on March 14th around 3pm to talk strategy on replacing his kidnapped love. He was dejected and sounded the most depressed I have ever heard him. But he was trying to be upbeat and positive. I knew how tough it was for him to have to go through this having recently gone through a burglary of my house as well as having other stuff ripped off throughout my life. As he laid out the story of what happened and how he was moving on and accepted what had happened, I went from the rage of wanting to get an assault charge to having a little voice in the back of my mind tell me "you need to do something positive to help Keith". My rage went away as I mindlessly agreed to whatever Keith was saying on the phone while my mind race over what I could do to help him out. After we said our goodbyes and told him to hang in there, I immediately set to work. I messaged 9 people that knew Keith, dug trail with him, or I thought otherwise might want to see what we could do. Within an hour I was overrun with support, so much so I started a "secret" group on Facebook and invited a bunch of mountain bikers that we all knew and that knew Keith. Some had only ridden with him once, but still what could it hurt?
At exactly 5:13pm that rainy Friday night, I thought I would take a shot in the dark and I called up John Valera down at X-Fusion. I knew that he and Keith were friends and that he could be a good sounding board for idea. Much to my surprise at their lack of banker's hours, John picked up the phone. He was stoked on the idea and sounded grateful that people were picking up the cause for Keith. He committed to helping however he could do to make this happen. After that it was probably one of the best and busiest weekends of my life. Somewhere in the top 10 at least. With the group on Facebook started and people joining up, soon there were 41 people plotting and scheming to make this happened. In what was one of the most amazing outpourings of generosity I have witnessed, people started giving. First up was Adam from Giant, he said that he would get a frame to Raul from Santiam Bicycle at a price that couldn’t be beat. Then came the cash, people started giving and giving and giving. So much so that by Sunday morning I had to tell people to stop as I was afraid we were going to end up with way too much. Even then people still continued to give. Vic from The Gravity Cartel/Spank Ind. came in and said he'd throw down some Spank bits with only one stipulation, “There better be tears when he’s given the bike!” Mr. Maximum Radness himself from Hi-5 Bikes threw in a mess of top of the line locks, some small parts and a sweet hat. Mike at Olson's Bicycles let me order all the drive train stuff, brakes, etc. for cost. Adam convinced Devyn at Race Face to throw down some killer grips and a nice blue N/W chain ring. Last but not least John at X-Fusion dropped a Vengeance fork and Hilo seat post into the mix and we pretty much had a bikes worth of parts on the way. The amount of generosity from all of these folks made it hard to see the computer screen sometimes.
![The mixed bag of parts minus the X-Fusion fork and post that will become Keith s new bike.]()
It took a couple weeks to get everything in and built. Between Tracey (Keith's girlfriend) and me we were able to con him out of some of his old parts to recycle to the new frame. It took quite a bit to keep him contained so that he wouldn't discover our little secret. I ended up volunteering to "sell" his DH bike for him as I had done this for him in the past to help him fund a new frame, which Adam lied and said wouldn't be in until May. Vic followed suit when Keith called him with some questions about some Spank parts. We didn't want him to do anything that would jeopardize the goal of our mission. It took three and a half weeks to coordinate everything and get all of the parts together to build the bike. My living room and garage were a mess of boxes and bike parts much to my wife's dismay. Once everything was assembled we had what ended up being Keith's dream bike. Everything that he was ever planning to do to this bike, we had done in less than a month. Everyone involved was super stoked and it was one super clean looking Trance.
![Build done. Heading out for a shake down run with my kids before we give this hot little rad train to Keith.]()
Conveniently, a mutual friend, fellow shredder, and selfless donator to the cause April had her 29th birthday right when things were wrapping up with the bike. Her kindest act was to donate her “Birthday” party to him on Saturday, April 5th, a party we knew he would want to attend because it was at the Lumberyard out in NE Portland. The perfect place for the final covert operation to go down. They have riding, food, drink, music and enough room to handle all our shenanigans. And everything was set.
Saturday couldn't come fast enough, we were all there waiting. It was a bit nerve racking when Tracey texted me that Keith was going to be late as he was watching supercross instead of celebrating with the rest of us. He sounded a bit down on the phone earlier in the day so I was very worried that he wouldn't show up at all. But much to everyone's relief he showed up about a half hour late thanks to some tactical nagging from his ball and chain. Soon after the guest of honor's arrival, as folks were putting on their battle worn knee pads and bike shoes I found Keith sitting no more than 7 feet from his new bike. In all of its glorious pink butterfly and electrical tape wrapping, he had no clue what was about to happen. As he sat there, he recanted his tale of woe to another friend, Terry, that hadn't heard the full story of what happened to his 2 wheeled girlfriend. Not wanting to give myself away I wasn't able to get any video of the exchange, but it was just about perfect given what was about to happen.
Then came the big moment. Everyone had shown up. Keith's parents were there with his girlfriend plus some family friends and it was just about go time. Since it was April's birthday she got the joy of going up in front of the crowd to start unwrapping gifts. First were a couple bottles of Jäger as she stalled so that everyone could be there to watch. These were ultimately meant for Keith but she had to stall somehow so Keith's parents could find a place to see. Then came the bike. In a moment that showcased Covergirl April's true acting ability she declared that the bike was not for her but for Keith. As he was pushed forward by the crowd of friends everyone started cheering and heckling. Then he lost it, almost. Much to Vic's dismay he was able to keep it together. Very well actually. Things got blurry at times for me and a couple others. Adam, who was one of the key players in this conspiracy was on my phone watching the live video via Skype. His wife recounts that he got all choked up and teary eyed as well when watching him open his new and improved enduro machine.
It was truly one of the greatest things I have seen during my time in the bike industry. The amount of generosity and just plain good that people had done was humbling to witness. So much so, that not only were we able to get Keith a new, sweet bike. We also had some cash left over thanks to some shrewd shopping and hook ups to give him some cash for race entries or to do whatever else he wanted to for his bike. Maybe even a Whistler trip. This was truly one of the best nights of my life and I am sure others will say the same. There is nothing better than helping a friend that is hurting and in need.
The following morning Keith posted this on Facebook:
"Those of you who don't know, Mt. Biking, trail building, a racing saved my life! It gave me a knew one, one that I could be proud of. That is why I have given back to the biking community every chance I can. That why I have been passionate( at times to a fault) and tried to be as selfless, and humble. I always believed that you get what you give, and I feel after last night, I have more giving to do. Those that think, what's all the fuss over a bike, maybe now you know a little bit of why this means so much. Greatest sport there is! Greatest people there are! Greatest life is on the trail!"
And we added him to the secret group so he could see what happened and he left this there:
"I think I've stopped crying long enough to compose a couple words that will never come close to what is in my heart. After my bike was stolen, I spent the following day on the couch, numb. Shattered, destroyed emotionally. I was 2 parts away from having my perfect bike. All of you have given me the greatest gift ever. Rarely does an average person get to see any kind of payback, let alone see that they have done some good in their lives. I have been given so much more than the best bike on the planet. You've given me love, family, immeasurable friendships, pride, dignity, humility, and my life back! I love you all more than my words can articulate! And yes, I broke down crying 3 times while writing this!
P.S. Holy $#!% this bike is awesome!!!
More thank you's to come, and more import, more trips, rides, builds, & memories together!!!! Many, many more!!!!"
![Keith and his new wheels.]()
Special thanks to all those that gave and gave.
-Kindaslow
On a whim he sent out an email to guys at X-Fusion who had just introduced some sweet forks and were starting to make a name for themselves in the high-end MTB world. Eventually, this resulted in Keith working a sponsorship deal with the X-Fusion and the WTF which led to a good friendship with John Valera, the X-Fusion Sales and Service Manager. Keith has a way of making friends and being just a generally likable guy.
A year or so after I met him, Keith managed make friends with this guy that moved here from New York. Sharing a mutual love for mountain bikes and supercross Keith and Adam hit it off. At the time, Adam was the local rep for Mongoose/GT and always had some nice things floating around in his garage. Slowly Keith was able to con Adam out of a frame here and tires there. Eventually upgrading and getting nicer stuff and riding even more.
Fast forward to 2013 and Adam is now a rep for Giant bikes. He helped facilitate Keith getting a basic Giant Trance through a local shop, Santiam Bicycle, which was a pretty significant upgrade over his previous bike. It’s deep red paint job, 27.5" wheels, and near perfect fit made this an ideal bike for Keith. It took him quite a bit to be able to finance the bike and it was his crown jewel. It was the bike that would help take him to the next level in his pursuit of Enduro racing and just plain having fun in the woods. Once again he slowly began to upgrade parts here and there. Constantly calling Adam or me on the phone to discuss parts, riding, and what he wanted to do with the bike.
On March 12, 2014, after having an epic bout of the flu he set off on a mini vacation of riding and just plain not working. There was a break in the usual grey and wet Oregon spring and he took full advantage of it out at Sandy Ridge. This would be his first trip out after adding a new X-Fusion fork and shock which he had spent the better part of 3 months trying to scrape together the funds to get his mitts on. It would have happened much sooner if it wasn't for the fact that he was taking what little extra cash he had and was helping pay a friends bills as they struggled to find a job. Because of this, things were tight for a while, but he was happy to help out and eventually was able to get the bike close to the way he wanted it. The time spent made this first ride on the new gear that much better. Pics were posted from the top of the hill, he was stoked. With the ride over and feeling good he stopped on his way home from the ride he at a grocery store and that’s when his life changed.
With his bike safely locked to the roof rack of his car with a relatively stout cable lock, he set off for a post ride RedBull and some snacks. Returning to his car 5 minutes later to find the roof of his Subaru looking disturbingly more aerodynamic than it was 5 minutes prior. Nothing remained of his beloved trail killer and reality soon set in. One of the biggest loves of his life had been taken from him. The store's video surveillance did not extend much past the front of the building and as most of us know, the police were not able to or really willing to do much as bikes are stolen in Portland at about the same rate PPD hands out parking tickets. Not having renters insurance there was no recourse to be had. The only thing to do was to run around like Paul Reubens in Pee-wee's Big Adventure handing out flyers and trying to let people know what happened on the slight chance that the thief got stupid. It was like a bad dream for him, for me, for Adam, and for anyone else who knows Keith. We all knew how much this bike meant to him.
Keith called me up on March 14th around 3pm to talk strategy on replacing his kidnapped love. He was dejected and sounded the most depressed I have ever heard him. But he was trying to be upbeat and positive. I knew how tough it was for him to have to go through this having recently gone through a burglary of my house as well as having other stuff ripped off throughout my life. As he laid out the story of what happened and how he was moving on and accepted what had happened, I went from the rage of wanting to get an assault charge to having a little voice in the back of my mind tell me "you need to do something positive to help Keith". My rage went away as I mindlessly agreed to whatever Keith was saying on the phone while my mind race over what I could do to help him out. After we said our goodbyes and told him to hang in there, I immediately set to work. I messaged 9 people that knew Keith, dug trail with him, or I thought otherwise might want to see what we could do. Within an hour I was overrun with support, so much so I started a "secret" group on Facebook and invited a bunch of mountain bikers that we all knew and that knew Keith. Some had only ridden with him once, but still what could it hurt?
At exactly 5:13pm that rainy Friday night, I thought I would take a shot in the dark and I called up John Valera down at X-Fusion. I knew that he and Keith were friends and that he could be a good sounding board for idea. Much to my surprise at their lack of banker's hours, John picked up the phone. He was stoked on the idea and sounded grateful that people were picking up the cause for Keith. He committed to helping however he could do to make this happen. After that it was probably one of the best and busiest weekends of my life. Somewhere in the top 10 at least. With the group on Facebook started and people joining up, soon there were 41 people plotting and scheming to make this happened. In what was one of the most amazing outpourings of generosity I have witnessed, people started giving. First up was Adam from Giant, he said that he would get a frame to Raul from Santiam Bicycle at a price that couldn’t be beat. Then came the cash, people started giving and giving and giving. So much so that by Sunday morning I had to tell people to stop as I was afraid we were going to end up with way too much. Even then people still continued to give. Vic from The Gravity Cartel/Spank Ind. came in and said he'd throw down some Spank bits with only one stipulation, “There better be tears when he’s given the bike!” Mr. Maximum Radness himself from Hi-5 Bikes threw in a mess of top of the line locks, some small parts and a sweet hat. Mike at Olson's Bicycles let me order all the drive train stuff, brakes, etc. for cost. Adam convinced Devyn at Race Face to throw down some killer grips and a nice blue N/W chain ring. Last but not least John at X-Fusion dropped a Vengeance fork and Hilo seat post into the mix and we pretty much had a bikes worth of parts on the way. The amount of generosity from all of these folks made it hard to see the computer screen sometimes.
It took a couple weeks to get everything in and built. Between Tracey (Keith's girlfriend) and me we were able to con him out of some of his old parts to recycle to the new frame. It took quite a bit to keep him contained so that he wouldn't discover our little secret. I ended up volunteering to "sell" his DH bike for him as I had done this for him in the past to help him fund a new frame, which Adam lied and said wouldn't be in until May. Vic followed suit when Keith called him with some questions about some Spank parts. We didn't want him to do anything that would jeopardize the goal of our mission. It took three and a half weeks to coordinate everything and get all of the parts together to build the bike. My living room and garage were a mess of boxes and bike parts much to my wife's dismay. Once everything was assembled we had what ended up being Keith's dream bike. Everything that he was ever planning to do to this bike, we had done in less than a month. Everyone involved was super stoked and it was one super clean looking Trance.
Conveniently, a mutual friend, fellow shredder, and selfless donator to the cause April had her 29th birthday right when things were wrapping up with the bike. Her kindest act was to donate her “Birthday” party to him on Saturday, April 5th, a party we knew he would want to attend because it was at the Lumberyard out in NE Portland. The perfect place for the final covert operation to go down. They have riding, food, drink, music and enough room to handle all our shenanigans. And everything was set.
Saturday couldn't come fast enough, we were all there waiting. It was a bit nerve racking when Tracey texted me that Keith was going to be late as he was watching supercross instead of celebrating with the rest of us. He sounded a bit down on the phone earlier in the day so I was very worried that he wouldn't show up at all. But much to everyone's relief he showed up about a half hour late thanks to some tactical nagging from his ball and chain. Soon after the guest of honor's arrival, as folks were putting on their battle worn knee pads and bike shoes I found Keith sitting no more than 7 feet from his new bike. In all of its glorious pink butterfly and electrical tape wrapping, he had no clue what was about to happen. As he sat there, he recanted his tale of woe to another friend, Terry, that hadn't heard the full story of what happened to his 2 wheeled girlfriend. Not wanting to give myself away I wasn't able to get any video of the exchange, but it was just about perfect given what was about to happen.
Then came the big moment. Everyone had shown up. Keith's parents were there with his girlfriend plus some family friends and it was just about go time. Since it was April's birthday she got the joy of going up in front of the crowd to start unwrapping gifts. First were a couple bottles of Jäger as she stalled so that everyone could be there to watch. These were ultimately meant for Keith but she had to stall somehow so Keith's parents could find a place to see. Then came the bike. In a moment that showcased Covergirl April's true acting ability she declared that the bike was not for her but for Keith. As he was pushed forward by the crowd of friends everyone started cheering and heckling. Then he lost it, almost. Much to Vic's dismay he was able to keep it together. Very well actually. Things got blurry at times for me and a couple others. Adam, who was one of the key players in this conspiracy was on my phone watching the live video via Skype. His wife recounts that he got all choked up and teary eyed as well when watching him open his new and improved enduro machine.
It was truly one of the greatest things I have seen during my time in the bike industry. The amount of generosity and just plain good that people had done was humbling to witness. So much so, that not only were we able to get Keith a new, sweet bike. We also had some cash left over thanks to some shrewd shopping and hook ups to give him some cash for race entries or to do whatever else he wanted to for his bike. Maybe even a Whistler trip. This was truly one of the best nights of my life and I am sure others will say the same. There is nothing better than helping a friend that is hurting and in need.
The following morning Keith posted this on Facebook:
"Those of you who don't know, Mt. Biking, trail building, a racing saved my life! It gave me a knew one, one that I could be proud of. That is why I have given back to the biking community every chance I can. That why I have been passionate( at times to a fault) and tried to be as selfless, and humble. I always believed that you get what you give, and I feel after last night, I have more giving to do. Those that think, what's all the fuss over a bike, maybe now you know a little bit of why this means so much. Greatest sport there is! Greatest people there are! Greatest life is on the trail!"
And we added him to the secret group so he could see what happened and he left this there:
"I think I've stopped crying long enough to compose a couple words that will never come close to what is in my heart. After my bike was stolen, I spent the following day on the couch, numb. Shattered, destroyed emotionally. I was 2 parts away from having my perfect bike. All of you have given me the greatest gift ever. Rarely does an average person get to see any kind of payback, let alone see that they have done some good in their lives. I have been given so much more than the best bike on the planet. You've given me love, family, immeasurable friendships, pride, dignity, humility, and my life back! I love you all more than my words can articulate! And yes, I broke down crying 3 times while writing this!
P.S. Holy $#!% this bike is awesome!!!
More thank you's to come, and more import, more trips, rides, builds, & memories together!!!! Many, many more!!!!"
Special thanks to all those that gave and gave.
-Kindaslow
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Member since Apr 7, 2000
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