he area around Tyler Bechtel's house in the heart of Woodstock, was even more unassuming than Chip Beck's bar of regulars. Chip's hang-out is a drinking establishment after all; a place where ludicrous acts of human achievement are at least plausible. Tyler, a professional clown and entertainer, lives in a simple, quaint neighborhood, basically on the edge of suburbia. Reed College lurks nearby, a Trader Joe's peeks out from around the corner. The street is adorned with telephone poles and SUVs, a neighbor owns a greenhouse. It is here that Tyler does the work that makes him one of Portland's proudest institutions, and where he is poised to set at least one of three unique and breathtaking records:

1.) Most rope jumps in one minute while on a unicycle--160.

2.) Most milk crates balanced on chin--38

3.) Most pint glasses balanced on chin--81.

Even more impressive is that Tyler has already set a record of unbelievable proportions one that has never been recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records.

Approximately five years ago, Tyler spent three months riding his unicycle--across the United States! For the journey, he brought along an official one-man support staff, who drove along beside him in a van and logged all his stops and daily mileage. He also stopped in over 150 towns to give interviews and was honored at the end of his trip with a half-hour television special on the Learning Channel. Even still, Guinness has yet to recognize his accomplishment.

"I was very bitter at the time," Tyler said to me in the living room of his very normal home. He is a young man, thin and wiry, with a soft, reedy voice, and a wide, expressive face. He sucks down coffee like it's water, smokes the occasional Camel. Like Chip Beck, Tyler Bechtel does not strike one as a record breaker.

"Guinness is a company that sells books, television sponsorships, and markets towards 12-year-old boys," he continued, "and if you can do something that will help them further their objective, then you're gonna get a record. Whereas what I did, though it was extensive, it wasn't going to help them tomorrow--it was all in the past. I mean, you put your heart and soul into planning something for a year. You spend three months riding across the United States. You get there. All you want is a little certificate to hang on your wall, maybe two lines in a book."

"So finally you just decided to scratch it?" I asked.

"Well, you know, every kid wants to see their name in the Guinness Book of World Records, so of course I wanted it. Of course I still want it. But at the same time, if you spend three months pedaling across the country, you don't care who believes you or validates it, or where it's printed, because it's so much bigger than that. I mean, I don't need you to believe me. I believe myself. I still got a scar on my ass. I believe that."

Tyler's unrecognized epic saga really does seem to have put things in perspective for him. He didn't keep a cent of the pledge money that he earned on the unicycle trip, instead donating it all to charity, and he intends to do the same thing when he breaks the records he is currently training for.

"On the trip across the country, we estimate that we raised 20 thousand dollars for The Shriner's Hospital for Children; but more importantly, we estimate that we earned them priceless publicity."

We moved outside into the street. Tyler demonstrated his technique for jump roping while on the unicycle. He balanced milk crates on his chin, then pint glasses. The effect was amazing. Tyler transforms the crates into a great tower that ascends off his face and into the clouds. The pint glasses appeared less dangerous, but that was before the ones near the bottom of the stack started breaking beneath the pressure of the ones above them. Glass cascaded down, close to Tyler's face.

He risks his life, it seems, to set these records--and for what? Fame? Glory? Certainly not money. He doesn't seem to have the urgent sense of competition that Chip Beck so amply demonstrated as his driving force. It's hard to tell why Tyler Bechtel does what he does, though he seems to hint at it as our time together draws to a close.

"It's really nice to do something stupid, have a bunch of people look at you and say, 'yeah, what I'm doing is stupid, but I'm doing it so that you'll pay attention to this great organization like the Shiner's Hospital for Children.' So that's my goal, when I do this stuff: to 1) challenge myself and 2) to help somehow. I'm the type of person, who when I die, wants to know that the world was better off because I was here. That's it."

He said this without pretension, with an earnestness that would have surprised me before I embarked on this quest to meet record breakers. Now, it just seemed like par for the course. That is, Portlanders who combine amazing achievements with down-to-earth sensibilities feel almost commonplace to me now, and I love them for it.

Phil Young, Chip Beck, Tyler Bechtel.

They stand as symbols of an entire city; good people with some ambition. They are the essence of Portland, in my eyes. They are the epitome of the values that make this city glow, even during its darkest moments. You should be proud of them for what they have done, but you should also be proud for what they represent.

They represent you.

THE MOST PINT GLASSES AND MILK CRATES EVER BALANCED ON SOMEONE'S CHIN... IN THE WORLD