Random As Rhyme

People love carnage so I decided to give the people what they want. 10 straight up BMX/MTB crashes. Some are pretty funny others are pretty rough, all worth the watch. The flip side of positives of riding are defiantly not very pretty.

10.
This one is pretty old, but “Flush” Fernandez actually did do a few successful jumps before this one in this video along with Robbie Miranda, Adam Strieby, and Colin Winkleman (rip).

9.
The first one in this is pretty stupid, but the one near the end is hilarious. Poor homeless guy (haha pun).

8.
I plan on trying some downhill riding this year and I really, really, really hope this does not happen to me.

7.
I’m really not sure how his front wheel did that. Were all his spokes lose?

6.
People always leave flatland videos out of lists like these. But this fall looks terribly awkward.

5.
Another old one but still pretty good. Not sure what he was thinking when he did that, or better yet what was going through his head as he cleared the second set sans bicycle.

4.
You can guess the outcome of this one after about 3 seconds. I really hope dude was ok. Damn.

3.
900s used to be a make it or get knocked the fuck out type trick. Not so much anymore.

2.
Poor girl, at least it hit her shoulder.

1.
This one was on MTV’s scarred (which I can’t watch) and is terrible. Not for the faint of heart. I hate stair gaps.

I know, I know, its Thursday and I owe you an article about something I always wanted. But I have been feeling myself lately (not like that) and I decided to pull the ‘my blog my rules’ card, again, and post some new riding shots of myself and a little commentary to go with them.

Sessions for me normally start out like this and throw down a few straight airs since unlike a lot of the younger kids I need to warm up. I can’t just drop in and throw down. Sometimes there is nothing more satisfying then just cruising the mini and airing it out.

X-ups are pretty much my go to trick, they are a fun simple timeless trick, I toss these out almost as much as I do smith grinds. I really don’t know what I would do if I hurt my shoulders and couldn’t x up anymore.

Tire-grabs are another old favorite of mine, I normally throw them soon after my first x-up of the day. Apparently this is about the time I start breaking out the funny riding faces as well. Good thing I am no model.

Toboggans are a recent addition to my shallow bag of tricks. My friend Mike has been doing them for ages, and since he is in Calgary now I figured I could poach his trick until he gets back. While filming this video I finally learned to get them decent.

I learned to whip on this very ramp about a year or so ago and it is still my favorite ramp to do them on call it nostalgia or just comfort but I can do them the best on this ramp.

Everyday I am out riding I get the excitement of my first session and hope it won’t be my last it’s a feeling that is hard to describe to people who don’t ride but those who do know exactly what I am talking about.

All photos credit of:John Best Challinor III

About 11:30 last night I was talking to  my friend Chijioke about a lot of the drama and BS surrounding the BMX scene lately and I got to reminiscing about the olden days. The days of BMX that were simple and raw. The days when it really really fun. So I figured a list of some of the stuff I fondly remember about BMX would be a good way to wrap up the week.

-Remember your first curb endo?
-Remember your first bunny hop?
-Remember when you had to tighten your headset by hand multiple times a session?
-Remember the local trails girl that peed in the woods?
-Remember when their wasn’t a local skate park?
-Remember when you learned to do a 1 footer?

-Remember when your BMX bike was also a mode of transportation (and you had a seat post!)
-Remember the sound of an ACS claw as you cruised downhill?
-Remember the sound of your face hitting the ground when your dicta freewheel exploded?
-Remember master links?
-Remember plastic Mongoose grips?
-Remember Mongoose?

-Remember launching to flat?
-Remember your highest number of stairs dropped?
-Remember riding without a helmet?
-Remember sessioning the same feeble ledge until your frame bent?
-Remember when bottom cup height was high?
-Remember when smiths were impossible?
-Remember stationary icepics?

-Remember your first contest? How did you do?
-Remember the first backflip you ever saw in person?
-Remember the first time your trails got plowed?
-Remember the first time you tried to impress a girl and ate shit?
-Remember when you ran a dirt bike chain on your 44 tooth sprocket, with a bash guard?
-Remember your first concussion?
-Remember your first video?
-Remember your favorite video?

-Remember your first road trip?
-Remember when your bike was 50lbs and you didn’t care?
-Remember when you didn’t talk shit on the internet?
-Remember the love?

Whenever BMX is getting me down, which isn’t often, I think back to the great times I have had on my bike over the years I have been fortunate enough to be riding and remember why I got into it and why I still love to do it.

It’s a shame a lot of kids starting these days won’t be able to appreciate these same things, but hopefully they will be able to look back on something, cause one day when we are all old it will be all that’s left.

So here is a quick update on my Selfless BMX project for those of you who have been following along.

On February 12th I sent the parts I mentioned before plus 3 of my “If Skateboarding is not a crime why is bmx?” T-shirts (that were produced in conjunction with the Action Sports Coalition), a bunch of stickers and one more Hoffman Bikes stem I found kicking around.

My parts box was pretty much empty aside form washers/cables etc I might need. But as luck would have it I snagged a pair of clear plastic Animal Steven Hamilton pedals in a product toss a few days ago, so I should have no problems getting a new box of goodies back together to ship out.

As far as cost goes, it was not cheap and it’s going to take about a month for the parts to get to Jamaica but I figure my karma points are threw the roof right now and that’s something that’s never bad.

I am probably going to start researching how to get some not for profit funding slowly so that the next box I send (I have people wanting to donate already) will not be at such a cost to me. Some funding would hopefully also allow me to send some new parts as well which would be awesome.

In other global BMX news it seems like someone else is doing some good stuff for BMX around the world. Chris San Augustin from North California organizes events in Thailand. Here is a video of the fourth one he has done.

I’m off to try and learn no handed airs.

I have been riding for awhile now and have acquired some pictures a long the way. I figured it would be interesting to post up a few of my favorite (but not necessarily my best) and discuss why I like them so much.

This first one has got to be around three or so years old judging by the clothes and the bike set up (and lack of helmet).

From what I remember the entire session was pretty good and the weather was just right for riding and shooting photos.

We shot this photo about 5 times so that I could extend it as far as possible. This trick is a classic which I should do more often.

This next isn’t a great photo at all. Lyndsey took it with a point and shoot from the stands which were pretty far away from the course. The result meant that I am pretty much the only thing out of focus in the entire shot, but that’s cool because I think its a good representation of how fast I was going.

This box jump was sixteen feet long and with 6ft transition on both ends, it was made for men. It was pretty fun to jump but I pretty much died trying to trick the bastard.

I remember crashing once in practice and people thought I was koed because I was not moving, really I was just making sure I didn’t make in my pants.

This is a shot of me blasting over a height pole at my friend Harley’s (now Harley@tenpack) BMX Bonanza at the simcoe fair.

Mike, Teddy, Jeff, Lyndsey and myself made the trek out to Simcoe and were rewarded by great weather, great riding and a great crowd.

From what I recall Jeff, Mike and Teddy all rode pretty well.

Since I don’t remember my standings it probably means I didn’t do well however I had a ton of fun in the high jump contest and became a carnival spectacle at the same time. Awesome!

This is a picture of the group of riders from Southern Ontario wild boys who invaded Camp Woodward, only 2 of the people in the photo below are not from Southern Ontario.

We all basically rode non stop learning as much as possible.

I also hit my head and  forgot a lot of the weekend, but I take the good with the bad.

The shots above are both from the same day and it’s hard to put into words how great of a day it was.

The vibe of this session was amazing and it had nothing  to do  with the pros that where in attendance or the  tricks that  where being  thrown down.

Every single person  on this day came out to ride and have a good time, there was no competition, no rivalry,  and no drama it was just a great day of BMX.

Riders from all over Ontario  came out to  remember the short life of an amazing little shredder named Ian Carmichael.

Ian and this day were a gift and may he always rest in piece.

Normally my ideas take about 6 months to a year before I move on them but I am pumped for this one so  I am going hard.

It’s been about a week after my idea and I couldn’t be happier with how smoothly and quickly things are moving along.

I have been in contact with A-wire from the Krash Test Dummy Stunt Team on facebook almost daily and recently sent him a photo and some information on the parts I am sending off.

Macniel Lighter Bars
Odyssey Milk Bars
Odyssey 14mm Front wheel
Hoffman Stem
Mosh Stem
KHE Ti pegs
Industrial Steel Pegs
Profile Whippit sprocket.

He hit me back with these encouraging words:

I hope to get them boxed up within this week and send them out before I head off to Jamaica. I am probably going to package in some shirts and stickers with the parts as well.

I am going to ask for some shots of the parts being used in return to throw up here and just help me get more pumped to send more.

In the mean time here are some cool shots A has been sharing with me.

Chillin with Travis Pastrana

Bunny hop contest, on grass legit.

And finally they have some team members in this music video

Stay tuned for more updates… I am off to get some much needed sleep.

I have had this book for a very, very,  long time. If I recall I purchased it at a book fair at my elementary school in grade 1. Which would put the year about 1989, which was 8 years before I raced my first race.

I figured since this book was publish in 1987 making it over twenty years old it would be pretty interesting to scan it and post it online for everyone to see.

Enjoy.

The next book I need to scan is also pretty interesting. I won’t scan all of this one though cause its pretty big.

Murray is such an inspiration, I can’t imagine how hard it must be for him right now but listening to him talk you would never know. I think it would be an honor to meet him. Everyone should watch this video, It’s hard to face the reality that this can happen to any of us.

Stay Safe, Stay Positive, Stay Strong.

720 bars to fakie, who else even does 720s to fakie? Or 720 bars for that matter other than Ryan Nyquist. Garrett is on a whole different level of shit god damn.

Oddly enough, the crowd didn’t make that much noise. If this happened at notro the roof would have blown of the place.

Oh and if you have not seen it yet, Garrets video part in the Nike video is worth a watch.

I wrote this 10 years ago, so I guess I am going on 10 years of BMX. WILD. Expect an I still ride 08 soon.

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I was on a solo mission a few days ago and had just got out of a feeble in my local supermarket complex thingy and almost ran into my friend Jay B’s cousin. He looked at me with this shocked look on his face and asked you still ride? I replied of course I still ride what would I do if I didn’t, I would be completely lost and I proceeded to say later and go ride.

Now that I think about it I would be completely lost without my bike. My bike is a form of self expression, its helped me get stuff out of my system whether it is joy or anger or whatever.

Without my bike I would probably be a druggie or something stupid like that wasting my life. I need my BMX bike it is a part of me, no wait I need to ride, it doesn’t really matter what type of bike or terrain as long as I am on a bike I can have fun (even on a tricycle can have fun).

A lot of people think it is strange that a bike can mean so much to me but it does. Take it away and I will not be me I will be a bazzaro me (superman reference).

I won’t be the guy who never seems pissed of of sad about anything, I won’t be the dude who is always up for having fun or chillin, I dunno what I would be like, thinking about it just scares me.

So next time you feel like asking me If I still ride don’t because you already know the answer. When I am 40 I will still have a bike and ride it as much as physicall possible.