Hal9000

So, last weekend I went to this event in Portland called the Mini Bike Winter Olympics. Totally insane, no-holds-barred series of (quasi-) bicycling events. The highlight of the weekend was an event called the Ben Hurt Chariot War. It was indescribable.

I took some photos:
http://halbergman.co...cts/chariotwar/

To get the feeling of how insane it was, I direct you to a short film my friend Richie produced:


The whole thing reminded me of Armageddon, which was... whoa, eleven years ago now. This was quite a bit more fucked up, and in many ways a whole lot less mature (despite the makeup of participants being "adults"), but nonetheless, the energy felt the same. Same DIY-style ethos with weapons and armor, same raging adrenaline, same general disapproval by mainstraim society. There was even a spectator at the chariot war with a home-made PVC potato cannon, indiscriminately launching chunks of potatoes at the participants.

Take away the bikes and give these guys Nerf guns (or even leave the bikes in), and it's the same idea, with alcohol and fireworks.

Makes me want to go to a Nerf war now.

I'll keep lurking and if something pops up in the SF Bay Area, I'll definitely try to make it. I've got a group of friends in LA that would probably be super-down with doing a Nerf war again.

Does anybody have fireworks?