PDXCROSS grew out of two infatuations among an improbable group of un-hipsters in Portland, Oregon. We love photography. We love cyclocross. A few beers among friends and we decided to marry the two loves by making our kind of pictures during Portland’s cyclocross season — and we’ll race now and again too. We’re having fun. Stick with us, come dust or mud as we push our pictures to say more about you — riders, organizers, supporters, friends, fans — the family of cyclocross.

Contact us or post a comment below whenever you like.

Mike Davis (left) makes pictures for pdxcross and did the heavy lifting in editing the thousands of dirty pictures with his wife, Deb Pang Davis, into this book, all with the demeanor of a gray whale. He was named Picture Editor of the Year, twice, and 
is working his way through the alphabet of cities: Anchorage, Albuquerque, Beatrice, Columbia, Chicago, Detroit, D.C. (for National Geographic magazine and The White House) and others. Visit Mike Davis's website.

Rob Finch (second from left) pays most of his bills as a professional photographer. Lucky for him, he married Francesca Genovese, who everyone agrees must have been drunk to say yes. Rob sees his beginner class cyclocross “career” as just one step of a greater evolution that started in childhood when his mother would make him walk home from soccer practice because he was too muddy. Therapists please contact him directly. Oh yeah, and he was named Newspaper Photographer of the Year in 1999 and 2002.

Pamela Royal has a southern accent from life as a photographer in the South. She and her husband, Jamie Francis, are 
responsible for the sweet manners at pdxcross.com. Pam races cyclocross in the morning, then plays a full game of soccer with large men in the afternoon. In her spare time, she makes pictures while being mom and while trailed by their two kids.

Jamie Francis (sitting) has traveled to far corners of the world making pictures. These days, he travels to every corner of
Oregon, which lets him return home for dinner with his family. When he can’t be home for dinner, he just brings the family along and they go bathing in hot springs and camping. Jamie races Beginner Class.

Torsten Kjellstrand (second from right) snuck in from Sweden more than three decades ago and married an American named Jean. They have two kids. They’re all faster on a bicycle, smarter, and better-looking than Torsten. He too was named Newspaper Photographer of the Year (1996) and still says “Holy Moly” when marveling at cameras that don’t use film. Torsten races the Slow Old Men category – Master C.

Tim LaBarge (right) works as a freelance photographer and is husband to Sara and is the father of two. Tim cruised around Portland on a cyclocross bike for more than a year before discovering his bike’s higher purpose. Now he races in Master C. Sara also races. Our archives show that she races with an uninterrupted smile. Tim also smiles during races, which makes us wonder: what’s their secret?

Heidi Swift is a mud connoisseur and accomplished whiskey drinker. Born to a feisty newspaper re-porter, she spent her youth chasing ambulances and sleeping under chairs at political events, vowing never to follow in her mother’s footsteps. She could not escape her fate and now writes and photographs to fill time between rides. She competes in the Womens B category, making her the only pdxcross-er with serious racing creds.

Deb Pang Davis makes photographers look better by creating designs that make sense of chaos, including the Dirty Pictures book. She runs Cococello, a web and print design studio. Her former cubicle life includes working as an Art Director for magazines such as National Geographic Traveler, Virtuoso Life and several newspapers. Watching everyone race makes her giddy; almost as much as being married to her husband, Mike Davis. She now knows how to patch and change her own tire.