Danny Knudsen

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June 3, 2023

I'm late to this as I just heard the news about Danny passing. I've fallen out of the cycling world a bit and from many of my friends from it. But even this late I wanted to post about Danny. I met him through our our mutual team and even though our... more

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February 25, 2023 · via iPhone

Danny was one of the first people I met when I retuned to Portland in '90 and got sucked into the bike racing scene. I had no friends and no idea what bike racing was...but I was running a team- Ciclo- and Danny was there to be my best friend, confidant,... more

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Shawn Graybeal reacted on this.

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February 19, 2023

I was intensely saddened by the news of Danny. Reluctant to write this. Started many times and then the flood of tears and I would stop. For Danny and me, you have to go back to the Ciclo days. Me the scruffy messenger-type. Danny ever graciously... more

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Elizabeth Schmidtke Knudsen reacted on this.

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January 25, 2023

This one is hard to write. Danny came into our lives via my brother Gordie Cumming and cycling. In the early days the team would stay at our house if they came to Southern California. When I would travel to Portland back in the 1990s to visit my... more

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Elizabeth Schmidtke Knudsen reacted on this.

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January 20, 2023 · via iPhone

These are from our trip to Death Valley, CA in (in think) 1992.

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Elizabeth Schmidtke Knudsen reacted on this.

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January 20, 2023

Danny was my brother from another mother, and it's taken a long time to muster the courage to admit that he's gone and open this page to write to write a remembrance because that means I have to read what everyone else has written and admit that he's... moreDanny was my brother from another mother, and it's taken a long time to muster the courage to admit that he's gone and open this page to write to write a remembrance because that means I have to read what everyone else has written and admit that he's really not going to come bounding around a corner with that magical energy he always...ALWAYS had...no matter what the occasion was.

I first met Danny Knudsen when I was too young to differentiate between siblings and friends, and since I don't have any siblings it didn't matter so he became like an older brother who just just happened to race bicycles with my dad, who behaved like an annoying younger brother most of the time anyway so it kind of worked out.

We would've been bound through the close-knit world of Oregon cycling no matter what, but he happened to come to Death Valley with me and my parents' and Don Lehman one disastrous year that none of us will ever forget.
My dad insisted on leaving our hotel in Susanville before dawn, when it had been snowing and icy the night before, and I specifically remember Danny and Don and my mom saying "David, don't you think we should maybe wait for the salt/gravel trucks?" but my dad is a stubborn dick, so we got in the Volkswagen Vanagon. Long story-longish, we hit a patch of ice and spun around and around before we hit the ONLY rock on the side of the road for MILES.
I remember Danny saying "Oh man, I thought I saw Elvis for a minute!" and it took me years to realize he'd been joking, but I think about it every time my life flashes before my eyes.

Years later, we'd both grown up quite a bit.
He'd started a family that he was so unbelievably proud of. After my dad's stroke we reconnected, and he said that there was a pact between him and another of my dad's teammates to look after me because they knew he never would even when he had the capacity to. We spent hours talking, and we realized just how much we shared in common both with struggles in our past challenges but also just who we are in deeply meaningful human ways. He told me things about my past that I never knew, and told me he'd tell me more things later that I now know I'll never learn.

I love you Danny.
We ALL love you so much, and it was such a privilege to share this time on earth with you because you helped shape each of us in profound ways and we'll have to repay you by being better people in HUGE ways because you never did things in small ways. less

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Elizabeth Schmidtke Knudsen reacted on this.

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January 19, 2023

Generous to a fault, unfailingly kind and upbeat, and just an all-around great guy and drummer. He was also damn funny. Unbeknownst to each other, We both decided to take up learning guitar later in life and both bought Telecasters. We had so many... more

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brian auker and Elizabeth Schmidtke Knudsen reacted on this.

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January 17, 2023

Danny,
Thank you for coming into my life! Who could have known that when we met in December 1991 at Ciclo bike shop for the first organizational meeting of the bike team, that I was meeting someone who would help shape me as a person. I truly would not... more

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brian auker, Elizabeth Schmidtke Knudsen, and Shawn Graybeal reacted on this.

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January 13, 2023

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January 7, 2023 · via iPhone

Elizabeth Schmidtke Knudsen reacted on this.

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January 7, 2023 · via iPhone

I got the pleasure of meeting Danny through Gordie and Liesl. From the moment Gordie introduced us, Danny made me feel like I was “in”. His intense and detailed story telling, wild humor, and energy made being in his presence something like going to... more

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Elizabeth Schmidtke Knudsen reacted on this.

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January 7, 2023

Elizabeth Schmidtke Knudsen reacted on this.

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January 7, 2023

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Elizabeth Schmidtke Knudsen reacted on this.

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January 6, 2023

Elizabeth Schmidtke Knudsen and Shawn Graybeal reacted on this.

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January 5, 2023

My wife Carella and I lived across the street from Danny and Lisa. Danny and I bonded over his past career as a cyclist and my current one as a pro soccer player. He always always said to me whenever we said goodbye, " I believe in you this is your... more

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Elizabeth Schmidtke Knudsen and brian auker reacted on this.

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January 3, 2023

Cabin.MOV

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January 3, 2023

Dannys Laugh.mov

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January 3, 2023

Happy New Year Danny E.mov

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January 3, 2023

IMG_0193.MOV

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January 3, 2023

Elizabeth Schmidtke Knudsen reacted on this.

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January 3, 2023

Elizabeth Schmidtke Knudsen reacted on this.

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January 3, 2023

Elizabeth Schmidtke Knudsen reacted on this.

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December 30, 2022

Too many amazing memories to share about someone who was an older brother to me. I remember his sardonic reactions more than anything, especially towards the people who deserved it.

Zurich, 1990. Just landed on a rainy night, somehow made it to a... moreToo many amazing memories to share about someone who was an older brother to me. I remember his sardonic reactions more than anything, especially towards the people who deserved it.

Zurich, 1990. Just landed on a rainy night, somehow made it to a hotel in an industrial area, and found the only restaurant open. No idea what the menu said so we just pointed when the waiter arrived. No beers, because we were bike racers, so we ordered sodas. The food arrived and we started eating, Danny kind of looking at the plate not quite sure what to make of it. After a bit the old waiter returns and in hand-gesture/Swienglish I ask what we are eating. He says something and points to his lower back and then his chest and I realize he's pointing to his liver, heart and lungs. I realized this was not going to end well so I quietly tell Danny what we are eating and in one movement the food falls out of his mouth, he picks up his coke, and asks for the check. The look on his face, his eyes wide open staring at the waiter as food falls out was unforgettable.

I will miss the "Fuck That Shit" attitude and team slogan-for-the-year he and Eric Van Doren came up with when they raced for Team Oregon.

I will miss the comments and expressions he made, every time. after a server would bring us a beer, set it down, and start walking away. Every time. Every time he had a reaction and it was funny as shit. I think that practice came from watching too much Mystery Science Theatre 3000 stoned out of our minds and accepting that everything in life can be made fun of or mocked.

I will miss the text thread with him, Ducci and Gordy about our annual get-together, somewhere. One of us would say "hey, let's go here" and then I'd be on pins and needles until he responded with a yes. It wasn't complete until he was in. It didn't happen unless he was in. If Danny was in, it was whole. If he were there, things were going to be ok.

This year was different. He didn't make it so just the three of us met up. And we all had a good, deep conversation about it and decided we would no longer meet unless it was in a time or place where Danny could be part of it. And we didn't have the chance to tell him that. less

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Joseph Durkee, Elizabeth Schmidtke Knudsen, and Shawn Graybeal reacted on this.
Gordie Cumming It was always the four of us, always and forever. Then it was not. I will forever remember our last gathering together in Ashland in that '70s-themed lounge. Everything else from then on will just be different and we will find a special way to include... more
- December 30, 2022

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December 30, 2022

I have no idea where to start for this. How do you capture 33 years of friendship, brotherhood, and family in a paragraph or two? You can't.
Danny was literally the second person I met in Portland when I moved here. Where else but PIR. Since that... more

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Elizabeth Schmidtke Knudsen, Joseph Durkee, and brian auker reacted on this.

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December 30, 2022

Love you so much, Danny, Lisa, Nina, and Else. I will miss your big expressive heart, hugs, silliness, double peace signs, and so much more.

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Elizabeth Schmidtke Knudsen and brian auker reacted on this.

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December 29, 2022 · via mobile

Danny, I've known you a long time and we've been through a lot - from crazy late nights out after shows and all manner of riding, to marriage, children, jobs good and bad, buying homes, moving, good times and not so good times. Through the hardest, rain... more

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Elizabeth Schmidtke Knudsen and brian auker reacted on this.

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