Sunday, June 23, 2019
The Evolution of Red Bull Rampage
After first hearing about MTB free ride pioneer, Josh Bender, a couple days ago, this seemed like a good clip to go with for today's Sunday morning post. There are a lot of crazy things you can do on bicycles. Check the world speed record posts a couple weeks ago, to see some of the craziest. But one of my personal favorite types of riding to watch these days is Red Bull Rampage footage.
It all starts with a huge chunk of rock and dirt, out in the middle of nowhere, like the back country of Utah. Then they let that chunk of rock and dirt erode for about 100 million years, into a steep, crumbly, ridge-lined, chute filled, huge drop blessed, formation. Then, about 32 years ago, a couple guys invented Red Bull, because somebody has to sponsor this insanity. They built that up until mountain bikes got stronger, and a guy named Josh Bender, showed people these insane natural escarpments were rideable... sometimes.
Then about 2002, somebody decided to hold a contest on this crazy terrain. That's when this clip above comes into play. Thought this clip is three years old, they give a good, quick look at the history of the Red Bull Rampage, and the insane progression that's happened over about 15 years. There's still some weekend left... shouldn't you be gettin' that bike out after watching this? I thought so.
Friday, June 21, 2019
Josh Bender: The craziest guy you never heard of
Here's another crazy video that popped up on YouTube, since I've been looking all kinds of bike riding for this blog. I never heard of Josh Bender until last night, when this clip showed up in my feed. I've watched pieces of the Red Bull Rampage, quite a bit them, lately. That's the event where the top crazy downhill free ride mountain bikers are invited to show up at some big, burly butte somewhere in the desert. Utah seems to be the main place. The riders and their teams figure out different lines from the top of the mountain, and have a couple weeks (I think) to dig out the lines, build jumps, and fortify the landings to some huge drops. Then the handful of riders get a couple of runs each, to try and put together a line that's huge, progressive, gnarly, and filled with tricks.
I'm not a mountain bike guy, I'm a fat, old, Has Been BMXer who likes watching where the BMX and mountain bike world has gone in recent years. It blows my mind how insane riding is these days. But I know, from being around BMX freestyle fairly early, there always has to be a pioneer. Somebody has to go first. And often, it's one guy, or one woman, that has some idea that even the most talented riders of the day think is completely freakin' nuts. I met some true pioneers in the 1980's, people like Bob Haro, Tom Sims, Dave Vanderspek, Rodney Mullen, Mark Gonzales, and A.J. Jackson. Each one of them either invented an action sport, or took one into an entirely different direction. Now I know Josh Bender is another one of those people.
The weird thing about watching this is that, even though I was a mediocre BMXer, even at my best, I actually did some small drops back in the day on my BMX bike. A friend who rode motocross for fun took me out to some MX trails in Hollister, California in 1986. One spot I found was a dried out pond where I could bunnyhop off the road around the top, and into a steep downhill. That downhill worked into a small dirt cliff, and got higher and higher. The way it was set up, I could keep dropping off a little father down the road, and gradually work up to a bigger drop. After half an hour, I was bunnyhopping off the top, dropping past an 8 foot high, vertical dirt bank, landing 10 or 12 feet down from the top. It was a blast, and I totally different type of riding than I'd ever done. The landing was soft enough to provide some cushion, but not suck my tires in. At the time it just seemed like something fun an different to try. I only did it because I was able to slowly work up to a bigger drop, which fit with my riding style. I would have never dropped a vertical drop that was an all or nothing scenario.
I'm sure many other riders did similar things as well back then. Downhill "bonzai" jumps were a big part of early BMX racing. Those were big, long drop offs to a downhill landing. I once had BMX pioneer Scot Breithaupt tell me about how he actually went off a bonzai jump in a BMX race, and he jumped completely over another rider's head, and landed in front of the guy. I knew Scot was crazy, and a very skilled rider, but he also told some tall tales. I took that story with a grain of salt.
At the race that weekend, Scot not only introduced me to the guy he jumped over, who confirmed the story, but another old school racer sitting nearby said Scot had once jumped over his head in a race as well. So good sized downhill drops have been done on bicycles for many years. But nothing like the jumps we see Josh Bender doing in these videos.
In the late 80's, I worked at Unreel Productions which made videos for Vision Skateboards, and also Sims Snowboards. In those days, snowboarders were starting to do big cliff drops, mostly in the back country of the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, as well as Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and a bit later Whistler/Blackcomb in British Columbia. My main job at Unreel was dubbing videos for the whole Vision/Sims empire. I made copies of all the raw footage that came in from cameramen, and also any finished videos anyone needed a copy of. One of the best parts of that job was that I saw all the video coming in and being edited. I remember seeing the early snowboard cliff drops, 10-12-15 feet drops, which seemed pretty crazy in 1988 and 1989. Then I saw more footage as cliff dropping became a thing, and over a couple of winters, drops went from 15 feet to 20 then up to nearly 40 feet.
Around that same time, mountain biking was gaining steam, and full suspension bikes were becoming a thing. As I watched some snowboard footage one day, I wondered why mountain bikers weren't doing cliff drops. Not 40 foot drops, but 6-8-10 foot drops. Watching this video below, I realized the sport was still trying to find itself back then, as cross country and downhill were diverging into separate genre's. In addition, the bikes may have had suspension, but they just weren't made for the kind of abuse cliff drops would put them through.
It took another 10 years, and a crazy young guy living out in the Utah back country, to make big cliff drops into a thing. Now I know, and you do, too, that guy was Josh Bender. Here's another video I found, 26 minutes long, from 2009, and filled with burly drop after drop after drop. So here's a longer look at Josh Bender, the guy who led the way, opened the door to what we now know as the Red Bull Rampage and some of the craziest bike riding anywhere. Enjoy.
Thursday, June 20, 2019
XVII
This is Andrew, Block Bikes shop rider, Lancaster local, and a young guy who likes to have fun on wheels, and sometimes off wheels. I met him when Rich Bartlett, the Block Bikes owner, took me along up to Woodward West about a month ago. Andrew came with us, to session all the good stuff at Woodward for a long evening. Rich and I didn't know it, but Andrew was on a mission that night, he wanted to land a solid backflip into the foam pit. It was buggin' him, it was stressin' him out. His first one got kinda stuck upside down and didn't go well. But he got it together, took a deep breath, and hucked one all the way around. Progression. In the last minutes of the session that night, Andrew got his flips pretty solid into the pit, and the stoke was evident. Mission accomplished.
In this edit, which he shot himself,with a couple added camera people (I shot the flip), and thought out and edited, Andrew tries out a bunch of fun things. He sessions the trampoline, a scooter, his BMX bike, a quad ATV, a motorcycle, and a side by side. More than anything, I realized Andrew's having a lot of fun (between the inevitable bails) when he's not here in the shop.
Hey, tomorrow is Friday, the weekend is near. I hope you have as much fun this weekend as Andrew had in this video. It may give you an idea of what to spend some time doing the next few days. I need to keep an eye on this kid, I have a feeling there's more cool videos on the way.
Four guys, four customized bikes, and 250 miles of abandoned railroad in Patagonia
Since I've been doing this blog for the last couple of months, I've come across all kinds of bicycling adventures, besides the typical BMX street and MTB downhill videos that rank high on YouTube. One bike trek idea I keep bumping into is rail biking on abandoned railroad lines. ABANDONED is the key word in that sentence, you don't want to do this on active railroad tracks. If you do that, you'll wind up like the cartoon coyote after chasing the road runner.
This video caught my eye a couple days ago for a few reasons. For one, it's another rail biking video, which I thought was interesting to start with. Second, the background scenery is beautiful. Third, it's in Patagonia, Chile, a long ways away from here. Fourth, it's a long trek, these guys set out to ride 250 miles, along a rail line known as El Trochita. Last, these guys are all retired, they appear to be in their 60's. When they bill it as the "adventure of a lifetime," they mean it.
The video is nearly 25 minutes, which is a long watch in today's busy world. It's mostly shots of them riding down the tracks past their video camera. But it's cut together fairly well, and they meet some interesting locals, and local wildlife, along the way. It's a cool little video, and a type of bike trek most people probably haven't heard of. So here's a look at rail biking, yet another type of adventure you can have on your bicycle. This is a good little video to chill with a beer and watch after a long day. Or something like that.
Wednesday, June 19, 2019
Odyssey Tourism Bureau: Australian BMX street, park, and kangaroos
Here's some guys from Odyssey tearing it up in Australia. Zen minimalist blog post today, that's it.
Oh, and this blog, barely 10 weeks old, just hit 5,000 page views last night, thanks to Slash and Fergie, you know, long time BMX icons. Cool beans.
Tuesday, June 18, 2019
Slash was a BMXer
If you've been alive at any point in the last 33 years, you've heard this song. Yesterday someone had a post on Facebook with the Guns 'N' Roses BMX T-shirt on it. So I commented that Slash was a BMXer. Someone else came back with this interview (below), that I'd never seen. I knew I had to post it, it's pretty cool.
There was a story, way back in the 80's, just after Guns 'N' Roses hit big time, that Slash an Duff met each other at a bank, while riding their BMX bikes. No one was sure if it was true, but it was cool at the time. GNR was as big as could be, and BMX freestyle was a tiny, weird little sport. It was cool to think this guitar hero had been one of us at some point.
Then a year or so later, there came a rumor that Brian Blyther, and one or two other riders got back stage at a Guns 'N' Roses concert, and Slash walked up to them and said, "Hey, you're Brian Blyther." I think I asked Brian about this once, and he confirmed it. Brian, call me out if I'm wrong. Anyhow, it was another cool story, tying one of the world's best known guitar players to BMX and freestyle.
Many hears later, I saw a photo or two of someone jumping, from like 1978, that was supposed to be Slash, but you couldn't tell for sure. Then, yesterday, somebody shares this interview, and here's the man himself, talking about his days as a hardcore BMX biker in his early teens. Pretty cool little interview.
Here's a little bonus footage of Slash goofin' around with his bike on tour, not sure if there was beer involved, or he was just rusty from years of not riding much. Thanks Jared Cyr for posting this clip on Facebook.
Get your guitar wherever you can find a good deal. Get a new BMX bike at:
Monday, June 17, 2019
Crankworx Slopestyle insanity from Innsbruck last weekend
Three completely freakin' insane runs from Crankworx Slopestyle in Innsbruck this past weekend in Innsbruck. David Godsiak. Emil Johansson. Bret Rheeder. There's nothing to write. Just watch the clip.
Saturday, June 15, 2019
Phil and Hailey haulling butt on Burke Mountain
Here we have a rally watchable GoPro POV (Point Of View) video of Phil and Hailey doing a bunch of different trails at the Burke Mountain bike park in Vermont. There's a ton of cool single track riding, much of it through the woods. There's a lot of jumping on this, Phil from this Skills with Phil channel definitely has some jumping skills. He clears most of the jumps, and stops to work out and try several unofficial gaps along the way. The part where Phil's following Hailey, and they're on parallel double tracks just looks really cool visually. The big "wall ride" in the still above looks more like a wooden berm to me, but lots of fun. It's barely noticeable in the video. All in all this a good POV video of what looks like some really fun, and pretty burly, downhill, MTB trails. A good video to watch and get psyched to go ride, and hey... guess what... today's Saturday! And there's a cameo appearance by Red Fox.
Friday, June 14, 2019
Up and down super steep hills in Indonesia
Are the hills in America (or Australia) just not steep enough to really challenge you while riding? If you said "Yes," well you're a pretty sick individual. And probably a hardcore cyclist. So this guy says Indonesia's the place to really find the steeps. This video has insane hills, beautiful scenery, and a tip on a great place to stay near the end.
Thursday, June 13, 2019
Fat bike tour of Death Valley and Las Vegas desert area
OK, this one looks totally fun to me. Yeah, I'm weird and I like the desert. I try to find a wide variety of bike tours, trips, and treks from all over the world, to share in this blog. Today I wanted to see what videos there were from the American West. On a personal level, after ten years in the humidity of The South, I'm back in California, and living in the desert town of Lancaster, north of L.A.. So I went looking for a cool bike trek in the Western U.S. today. Fat biking Death Valley and the Las Vegas area desert through Arizona and into California, is definitely not for everyone. It's not for many people at all, but that's the whole point. I love the old sign that says, "Nothing."
The deserts of the American West look so wide open and desolate, but it's amazing how much is going on in them, how much wildlife there actually is in the deserts, and how many human made ruins there are all over. So there's your bike trip inspiration for the day, have a good one.
Wednesday, June 12, 2019
Suggestions for an Old School BMX video night
This is Ride On, the 1992 video by former Skyway factory rider, street legend, and all around good dude, Eddie Roman. In 1989, the major bicycle companies decided freestyle was over, and mountain bikes were the new thing. So they pulled money from BMX racing and freestyle, and the more mainstream, non-bike businesses, did the same. The major bike companies sunk their money into mountain bikes, and only GT and Haro kept some BMX and freestyle guys sponsored. The money left, we had no reason to wear MX type leathers to ride anymore, and flatland, street, vert, and dirt jumping were all progressing at stratospheric levels.
Rider-made videos were growing in number, rider-owned companies were springing up, mini ramps were still a new thing, as were spine ramps. The 1990 recession was officially over, but the economy didn't really come back until late 1996. Like that guy in the Monty Python movie, freestyle kept saying, "I'm not dead yet." Ron Wilkerson was putting on vert and street contests. Mat Hoffman stepped up and started putting on contests as well. It was a tough time to get a good job, but a great time to ride BMX bikes, because only the hardcore riders were left. That's the world this video was made in, and if you're going to invite some of today's young riders to check out an old school video, this would be my first choice.
A few posts back, I wrote asking if Old School riders thought it was a good idea to show our world of the 80's and 90's to today's riders who may be interested. People went apeshit on Facebook. The post got something like 400 views, 175 likes, and maybe 60 comments, most of them negative. I was baffled by the response. Obviously, a lot of those who commented didn't read the post. I learned why blogging legend Seth Godin disabled the comments on his blog more than 15 years ago.
My idea was a simple one, I thought it would be cool suggest that some Old School riders might want to have a little event to introduce today's BMX riders to a little of our shared history. It wasn't a mandatory thing. I know most Old School riders don't want to bother doing this. I just wanted to suggest it, for the handful who might like the idea. Have an "Old School BMX video night" at your shop or skatepark. Or your house if you're not too creepy. Hold a "Old School vs. New School game of BIKE" at a favorite riding spot. Maybe even have a demo or small contest, 80's or 90's style, if you're really motivated. That was it. "Hey, here's an idea, give it shot it if sounds cool." That's all.
For the handful of people who actually thought it was a good idea, here are my top video suggestions to pick from :
Joe Kid on a Stingray - (2005) This is the best, and only, documentary looking at the whole history of BMX racing and freestyle, from 1970 to 2005. Produced by Mark Eaton. You'll have to find the DVD, it's not online. From Scot Breithaupt and the early races at the B.U.M.S. track in 1970, through the rise of racing in the 1970's and beyond. The movie also documents Bob Haro and the birth of BMX freestyle, and it's rise during the 1980's and beyond.
The Bob Haro "Master Class" - (2012-France)- This is Bob Haro, the guy who invented BMX freestyle itself, giving a one hour slide show and talk about how it all happened. French Old School riders Seb Ronjon and Franck Belliot put this event together in 2012, and just shared the video with me a couple of weeks ago. It's on Vimeo, so this link just goes to the blog post I did about it, which has the video on it. I spent a while in the industry, and was around old school riders for the better part of 20 years, and I learned things I never knew in this talk.
Freestyle's Raddest Tricks by BMX Plus! magazine- (1985) This was the first freestyle video I ever bought. When this was made, BMX freestyle had only been a sport for two years. The first skatepark contests were in 1983, and flatland and ramps contests were in 1984. To make a video like this you had to hire a professional video production company, using $50,000 cameras and a $500,000 editing system. Consumer video cameras were still a new thing, and decent editing was pretty much impossible. This video probably cost $30,000 to $50,000 to produce, so only top factory riders with uniforms and helmets were allowed in it.
The Curb Dogs video - (1986)- This is the anti-BMX Plus-style video. Led by San Francisco's visionary BMXer/skater Dave Vanderspek, the Curb Dogs was a bike/skate demo team an unruly posse from San Francisco. In addition to Vander, brothers Maurice and Ray Meyer, and Tommy and Tony Guerrero were members, among several others. Vander and the other Curb Dogs saw the future, avoided uniforms when possible, pioneered street riding and skating, encouraged and helped up-and-coming riders, and set the course for the future. Dave, unfortunately, died in 1988. But his legacy lives on, partly in this video.
Dorkin' 4- Mark Eaton- Not sure where you can find the whole video, but the Dorkin' series, starting with Dorkin' in York (1988), has to be on this list. With one trick in Austin in 1987, Kevin Jones changed flatland forever. Here he is from Dorkin' 4, about 1992 (?)
Headfirst-(1991)- Eddie Roman- This video, almost entirely of one rider, Mat Hoffman, is, WITHOUT A DOUBT, the single most influential BMX freestyle video, ever. Almost everything in this video was brand new tricks, and basically Mat and Eddie said, "OK guys, here's the next 20 years of vert riding. Oh, and we'll up the ante with street riding you've never seen, and Chase Gouin on flat, just to round it out." Oh yeah, Eddie is the Veg-O-Matic at the start.
The Ultimate Weekend- 1990- Steve Emig (that's me)- Am I an ego maniac for putting my own video on this list? Probably. But this self-produced video did have the first handrail slide down steps, the first icepick grind, the first mini ramp in a BMX video, the first spine ramp in a BMX video, the first 360 over a spine in a video, and the first person to try one handed and no handed backflips (into water) in a video. There are more firsts as well. Oh, and did you ever hear of S&M Bikes? Chris Moeller, the S&M Bikes crew, and the P.O.W. House riders (Pros Of Westminster), this is the first video they were ever in, as well. Keith Treanor is the star of this video, and, as a hungry rider straight outta Jersey, he stepped up and put himself on the map in it.
44 Something - (1993)- S&M Bikes- This is another video I edited. It's the second S&M Bikes video, but this one sold thousands of copies in the hands of S&M owner Chris Moeller, and heavily influenced the emerging Mid School BMX world of the 1990's. It may have been the top selling BMX video of the 1990's. No flatland, more dirt jumping, more street, and Chris Moeller, Dave Clymer, Keith Treanor, Mike Griffin, Jimmy Levan, and a little Brian Foster make for a tight, "get psyched to go ride" video. Ryan "Biz" Jordan once told me he watched this video every day for like a year, until he wore the video out, in his early days.
Rippin' - The BMX Action Trick Team video- (1985)- R.L. Osborn is one of the original pioneers of BMX freestyle, starting just after Bob Haro himself. Coming out the same year at the BMX Plus video, Rippin' found really disappointing sales. That's a bummer, because R.L. and Ron Wilton introduced thousands of people to BMX freestyle, and inspired a lot of them to start riding. R.L., as top pro rider and entrepreneur, was the guy I most wanted to model when I got going in freestyle. That was an epic fail on my part, but I did make it into the industry, which was cool. Unfortunately, this is another video made by a professional video production company, and this one bores even me.
Monday, June 10, 2019
The Fit Bikes crew at Street Fighter 6
Over the weekend I felt the need for speed, and showed some haulin' butt bicycling in three different flavors. It's Monday morning (here on the West Coast), time to get the blood flowing with some New School street riding. A few months ago the Fit Bikes posses loaded up the van for a long ride east to Phoenix. They joined the roving BMX bandit brigade for the Street Fighter 6 Jam, on a tour of AZ street spots to see who could step up and throw down. Big drops to flat, and big hops off a little ramp. Good stuff.
You guys all know where to find your Fit Bikes and components, right? Yep, that link below will get it done for ya, and have cool stuff showing up at your door...
Saturday, June 8, 2019
The fastest person on a bicycle is a woman who pedaled at 184 mph
There are a lot of dangerous things you can do on a bicycle. But riding inches away from a dragster, at well over 150 mph, is probably the most dangerous. Tiny mishaps, mistakes, or accidents would all likely lead to death. This two woman team blew the doors off the old world record. Denise Mueller-Korenek pedaled 183.9 miles an hour on the Bonneville Salt Flats in 2018. Another woman, pro race car driver Shea Holbrook, had the daunting task of driving the specially designed dragster, while making sure Denise was within a couple feet behind her. This 21 minute video shows a dangerous kind of bicycling that even the craziest street, park, vert, and MTB downhillers wouldn't want to try. It's a 21 minute video, a testament to goals and Girl Power, and a really interesting watch. Check it out.
Human Powered vehicle World Speed Record 138 km/h or 85.75 mph
Here's another type of World Speed Record, the human powered vehicle. Basically, that's a bicycle with a really cool fairing. Kinda reminds me of Mork's spaceship in the Mork and Mindy TV show way back when. Anyhow, this Dutch guy hit the leg afterburners and hit 138 kilometers per hour, or about 85.75 mph to us Americans. That's some serious flat ground pedaling.
Mountain bike World Speed Record- 138mph
Not your standard mountain biking video. It's a bike. It's going down a mountain. It's going down a mountain faster than I've ever driven a car, and more than twice as fast as I've ever ridden a bike. One or both of those is probably true for most of you, as well. For this weekend, I'm throwing a little different type of bike stuff at you. Enjoy. We do not sell bikes like this one here at the Block Shop, or in the online store. But we do sell bikes and components that go fast enough for nearly everyone.
Friday, June 7, 2019
Dual rippin'
Here's a new video out by Brandon Semenuk and Ryan Howard. I can't help but wonder how many times they banged elbows, or almost took each other out getting these lines down and shooting this video. Anybody remember the MTB dual slalom races way back when. This is like that idea on steroids. Really cool little clip. Maybe you should watch it first thing on this Friday morning, you'll want to fake like you're sick, leave work, and go ride.
Thursday, June 6, 2019
Danny Macaskills on Adidas video
Always cool to see a new Danny MacAskill video. His Danny Day are video just came out recently, but that was more of a fun video, getting crazy with the kid trailer on the mountain bike. Here's Danny by the sea and in the highlands doing his trials/MTB thing again. His moves are tech and gnarly at the same time, and he takes some pretty good spills along the way. Welcome to Adidas (they're still around?). I guess it's a good thing they picked him up, since I had to ask that question.
Wednesday, June 5, 2019
It's up to us Old School riders to teach younger riders BMX history
Here's the trailer for Joe Kid on a Stingray, Mark Eaton's 2005 documentary that's our BMX version of skateboarding's Dogtown and Z-Boys documentary. This is the best overall history of BMX and BMX freestyle there is, but there are tons more old school videos showing different riders, scenes, and time periods.
Yesterday, I had lunch with Rich, the owner here at Block Bikes, and Dakota Bratt, who I didn't really know anything about. Halfway through his football sized wet burrito (OK, not quite that big), he showed me this clip. What? Manual across a skatepark, to backflip, back to an extended manual? Freakin' amazing. It would take me a month to learn how to do that trick in a video game. So, Dakota's got mad skills.
Over the course of lunch, Rich and I, both in our 50's now, were talking about riding back in our early days, the 1980's, and how things have changed so much. We talked about the absurd amounts of money in the BMX world, compared to the days of $200 pro purses. We talked about the X-Games, and competition riding compared to video segment based riding, and just riding for fun. We talked about how old many of the basic tricks are, yet the young guys today combine them, and take them to huge levels, and to different street obstacles. We talked the idea I threw out a couple of blog posts ago, of having contest where a rider/video person team would have a 6 hour video shoot, a single day of editing, and what kind of rider and video person would do well in that scenario. I explained the 5 categories of getting a trick dialed in (from that same post), compared to today's one-and-done video shoot tricks. All in all, it was a really interesting conversation.
But time after time, Rich or I would start talking about something, and we'd have to ask Dakota if knew about this rider, or about that trick, or something else that happened long ago. Many of the things were huge events in our day, but are simply not even known to Dakota's generation. He's 25, I think he said, he's not a 13-year-old Woodward camper. He's been riding for several years. This continual stopping to ask Dakota if he knew about this rider or that event led our conversation to the Old School Versus New School thing. We weren't dissing him, but more exploring his view from his years and riding, and sort of wondering if today's riders even care about the history of BMX and freestyle.
In one sense, I noticed a kind of bias in Rich and myself, that a rider should want to know the history. Personally, I think it would be cool to see younger riders exposed to a bunch of the old school history, riders, and tricks that fell by the wayside. There are a lot of of tricks, that with a proper introduction to the younger riders, might add new ideas and fresh style to the New School lexicon, and give them some new avenues to explore as riders. As I thought about it, I realized that Rich and I knew BMX and freestyle history because we lived through most of it. And since we were both involved in the industry, we wound up meeting riders that came before us, and learning their stories, and later watching many of the home videos that now populate YouTube and other sites.
The whole thing reminded me of something else. I got into BMX riding in Boise in 1982, started buying magazines in late '82, raced through 1983 into 1984, and then focused on freestyle, the new thing that became a sport that year. So when I got a job a BMX Action and FREESTYLIN' magazines in 1986, I was only four years into the whole thing. But the first night working at the magazine, we went into the office, working overtime, because the BMX Action 10th anniversary party was that weekend. Gork (gOrk at US BMX these days) and I dug through a bike box full of ten years worth of color slides, looking for the best 100 photos to put in a slide show. It was an old school BMX event... in 1986.
It turned into about the best thing that could have happened for me. I didn't know hardly anything about the history of BMX, or even the early days of freestyle. And I was suddenly working at two of the magazines. I would find cool slides, having no idea who most of the people were, and I'd show Gork a slide, and he'd tell me all about it. I got a great, and really interesting, overview of BMX history, on night one of working at Wizard Publications. It was just a weird bit of timing that I got hired, primarily for FREESTYLIN' magazine, at that particular time. With Gork being so cool, and taking the time to explain all these riders to me (photos of Tinker Juarez, and "Trash Can" Morgan stand out in my memory), learning the history of this sport I was so psyched about was fun, and interesting. But today's riders don't get a cool introduction to BMX history like I had that night. Yes, there are videos online they can find, but there are thousands of videos from their own era to watch, let alone everything else they have access to these days.
I realized that younger riders have no obligation to go look at old riding videos and learn the history. It's a progression-based sport, they're looking forwards, not backwards. If all of us Old School riders think there's something worthwhile about younger riders learning our collective BMX history, then it's our obligation to find a way to show it to them. And it's our obligation to make it interesting for them, to give them a proper introduction to what they missed, simply by being born at a later date.
As I thought about this, I remember when Stacy Peralta's skateboarding documentary, Dogtown and Z-Boys, came out in 2001. I lived near the Van's Skatepark at a mall called The Block, in Orange, California. After winning several awards at film festivals, the movie actually played at the theater at The Block, and everyone at the skatepark was talking about it. The moves in the documentary were largely basic by 2001 standards, but the Z-Boys had incredible style. Within a few weeks, I started seeing kids, young kids, at the skatepark mimicing the guys in the movie. Kids 6-8-10 years old were doing stylish carves on the banks, and even wearing a fedora in one case, like Jay Adams in the movie. The documentary was widely watched by all ages of skateboarders, and brought a whole new flavor and great style to a couple of new generations of skaters. I think it's possible to do something similar in BMX from time to time. I think Old School tricks, style, and ideas can add some fresh blood into today's, and tommorow's BMX riding.
How could this be done? If you own a bike shop, skatepark, or just have a house with a good ramp where kids ride, you could have an Old School video night. Get some younger riders and some older ones together, and watch "Joe Kid on a Stingray," or one or two other classic old school videos, and then answer whatever the questions the kids may have. You know, important questions, like "why did guys where really short shorts in the 80's?" (Yeah, I'm guilty).
Another idea at a local skatepark or riding spot would be to have an Old School vs. New School Game of BIKE contest. If you or some friends can still ride fairly well, put your trick bag on the line against some young riders, and make sure somebody's shooting video. A recent Scotty Cranmer video where Trey Jones and Big Boy tried to do tricks from an 80's "101 BMX Freestyle Tricks" book was hilarious. They actually gave some props to us old farts, after trying 5 tricks each.
If you like this general idea, I'm sure there are plenty of other ways to show younger riders some of our collective history in a fun and interesting way. Oh, and if you go up against Dakota Bratt in a game of BIKE, and he says he's got a "manual trick" for you, just take the dang letter.
Tuesday, June 4, 2019
Workout ideas for MTB riders
I told you I'm trying to mix it up, and get all kinds of things that are bike related into this blog. I'm the last guy in the world to be giving workout tips, but keep one thing in mind, you get good at riding your bike, by actually spending time riding your bike, and learning news skills. That said, if you're going to the gym anyhow, here are some ideas to workout muscle groups that will come into play when mountain biking. If you're an elite level rider, that's where ideas like these may really make a difference in your fitness and riding.
Monday, June 3, 2019
How to buy your kid the best BMX bike
Your kid wants a BMX bike. You'd like to him or her set the controller and phone down and get outside and ride. It's be great for them to get some exercise and some sun. Now what?
BMX stands for "bicycle motocross," a sport that started in 1970 in Southern California. Kids back then took their banana seat equipped Schwinn Stingrays and started racing on dirt tracks, mimicking the motocross riders of the time period. Back then, BMX bikes all had 20 inch wheels, the standard size for children's bikes. As BMX racing grew, BMX "cruisers," bikes with 24 inch and 26 inch wheels joined the party. These days, BMX bikes come in a wide variety of sizes, styles, makes, and price ranges. How do you pick the right bike? That's what this article will help you figure out.
To get started, let's find the answer to these basic questions:
1. How old is your child?
2. How big is your child?
3. How much are you looking to spend. BMX bikes range from low quality, $50 balance bikes for toddlers, to over $1,100 for high end, pro rider, signature model bikes. Well made, solidly built bikes, start from 4130 chromoly (higher grade steel), start at about the $325 to $400 range.
4. How much will your child actually ride the bike?
5. How hard will your child ride the bike?
6. Does your child have a favorite rider or favorite bike company?
Let's go down that list, beginning with age and size:
Toddlers, age 2-4, who can't pedal yet- Balance bikes are today's tiny version of the original "hobby horse" bikes, that go back to at least 1818. Here's what they looked like. Actual pedal powered bikes were invented around 1875.
Balance bikes are tiny bikes with handlebars, a seat, usually with 12 inch wheels, but no pedals. They're for toddlers ages 2 to 4, maybe slightly older for really small children or kids who may still be learning to balance. On these bikes, kids sit down, hang on to the bars, and "walk" to push themselves along. According to Dan, manager here at the Block Bikes shop (in Lancaster, CA), balance bikes really help today's toddlers learn the basic balancing necessary on a bike, and most kids are pedaling by ages 3 or 4, never using training wheels at all. There are a lot to choose from,the seats can be adjusted to the child's height on most bikes. Prices range from $50 to $225. We carry the high quality Kink BMX balance bikes here at Block BikesOnline BMX Store.
Toddlers age 2 to 4 who can pedal- For the smaller kids, a 12 inch bike will get them going. For kids a bit larger and taller, a 14 inch bike will be a better fit. Click the links to see the Kink BMX bikes we carry here a Block Bikes.
Small children ages 5 to 9- The next size up, for the small children to pedal around, is the 16 inch bike. If your child wants a BMX bike, it's likely they know who BMX Caiden is. He's 8 (maybe 9 now), has 129,000 followers on YouTube, and routinely jumps huge jumps. the kid's amazing. Caiden rides a custom made 16 inch bike by Fit Bikes. Here at Block Bikes, the Kink BMX Carve is our most popular 16 inch bike. It's durable, and should handle all types of riding for the average child. If your kid starts jumping like Caiden, 1) Start a YouTube channel for them, and 2)get a custom made, 4130 chromoly bike. That's pretty unlikely, because Caiden's off the charts of the 8-year-old riding spectrum, but are great young riders popping out of the woodwork.
Larger kids ages 7-9 and smaller kids 10 to 12- Back in the olden days, when I was a kid, a few 5-year-olds got 16 inch bikes. I actually learned to ride without training wheels on one (remember training wheels?). But we actually started riding on 20 inch bikes when we were 5 or 6, and the bikes were huge for us. Today's balance bikes and wide range of bike sizes have largely removed the need for training wheels, and kids have 4 bike sizes to choose from before they hit the standard 20 inch wheel BMX bike.
For the kids who really like riding, be it around the neighborhood, maybe competitive BMX racing, riding skateparks, pump tracks, or even dirt jumps, but just aren't quite big enough to really handle a 20 inch, there's the 18 inch bike. Kink BMX has a great model in this category, the 18 inch Kink Kicker. Again, 18 inches is the size of the wheels, and each of these bikes is proportioned around the wheel sizes. This size is the interim bike for a serious rider who needs to grow a bit before they can really throw around and manhandle (or womanhandle) a full size 20 inch bike.
Teen riders- From age 10 or 12, most kids can ride a standard, 20 inch bike. So the question of "which bike is best?" becomes one of riding habits, quality, and price, more than anything else.
Why bike shops, and all serious riders, hate bargain store bikes. Yes, you can save a few bucks by buying your child a bike at one of the big discount stores. As serious riders and a worker at a bike business, we hate those bikes, because they're the lowest common denominator bikes. They're made as cheap as possible, they're heavier, they're not as strong and prone to breaking with any kind of jumping or skatepark riding, and the components (wheels, cranks, brakes, etc) are of poor quality. I once had my handlebars snap mid air, not realizing they were not chromoly. It did not feel good. I only rode full chromoly bikes after that. Trust me, that's not a surprise anyone wants.
In addition to that, bargain bikes are pretty close to worthless if you try to resell them later. Higher quality bikes hold a big chunk of their value for many years. There's a saying among riders, "Friends don't let friends buy bargain store bikes." Yes, some people are on a super tight budget, and their kid needs a bike to ride down the block now and then, and that's who bargain store bikes are for. If you're reading this post, you're probably not in that category.
Is your child going to just use the bike for ride around the neighborhood, or maybe to a nearby school? If they don't plan on any kind of jumping, skatepark, or ramp riding, a bike from a good quality company, in the $275 to $350 range is your best bet. These bikes will handle "normal" riding, and jumping off the curb now and then. The Kink BMX Curb model (around $289), and the Kink BMX Launch model (around $319) are two good bikes in this range. These bikes have hi-tensile steel frames, chromoly forks, and hi-tensile steel handlebars. Hi-tensile steel is used widely for many purposes in many industries. In the bike industry, 4130 chromoly steel, a lighter, stronger (and more expensive) alloy has long been favored for BMX and other bikes that are jumped or ridden really hard. It simply holds up much better under extreme riding. For normal riding that most young people do, hi-tensile steel if fine, and saves you $50 or $100 or more. But once you start jumping, riding ramps, or the local skatepark, chromoly is a much better choice.
Does your kid want to ride the local skatepark, pump track, dirt jumps, ramps, do street riding, or maybe start racing at a BMX track? Then you want to step up to a complete 4130 chromoly frame, forks, and handlebars. These bikes start in at around $380 these days, and you can get a great bike for $400 to $500. The Kink BMX Whip model is right smack in this sweet spot. It has 4130 chromoly frame, fork and bars, good quality components (wheels, cranks, pedals, brakes, etc), and runs around $429 at the time of this writing. If I had a kid who planned to ride quite a bit, this would be my pick. Yes, there are models that go up in price, but this is a very good quality bike for the money.
Higher priced bikes are usually based around the same quality of bike frame, forks, and handlebars, but the components, the other parts on the bike go up in quality. Yes, I work for a bike retailer, we'd love to have you put a $750 Kink BMX Williams model on your credit card today. That's the signature bike for their top pro rider Nathan Williams. But I'm going to be straight with you, a bike like the Kink Whip would be just fine for nearly any serious rider. Rather than spending the extra $330 up front, buy the Whip, or a similar bike in the $425 to $475 price range, and see what parts of it, if any, your child damages. If your kid tacos the back wheel, put the money you saved into stronger wheels. If your kid bends or snaps the pedals, buy higher quality pedals. That's a much more sensible approach for the majority of parents buying bikes for your kids who plan to ride often and ride hard.
Is your kid a serious rider, AND over about 5' 9"? Most of the bike models, like the Whip I mentioned, have an XL, or slightly longer version. Here's the Kink BMX Whip XL. It's got a frame that's a half inch longer up front. That doesn't sound like much, but it makes a world of difference when you're riding. That helps the taller kids not bang their knees, while pedaling or in other maneuvers. In some cases, short kids just prefer a longer bike, as well.
So there's an in depth look at how to find the perfect BMX bike for your child, whether they're 2 or 17. There are larger bikes, with wheel sizes of 22," 24," and 26" wheels. Most of those are aimed at adult riders, like BMX dads who rode in their youth, though there are kids who are into the large bikes. But that's outside the scope of this blog post. In the urban Bike Life Movement , (NSFW- language, narrated by my old friend Todd Lyons) for example, doing wheelies on 26 inch BMX cruisers is the thing, but that's a subject for another time.
Here at the Block Bikes Online BMX Store, we carry Kink BMX, Subrosa, S&M Bikes, and Fit Bikes, in the BMX world, and in our physical shop, here in Lancaster, CA (North of L.A.), we carry a full line of mountain bikes and everything else you need, as well. I focused on linking to the Kink BMX bikes in this post because the 2020 models just came out right before I wrote this. Have fun, and go ride your bike.
-Steve the Blogger
Matt Ray scorching the hot streets of Arizona
As an old, mediocre street rider, from way back in the Dark Ages of BMX, I have the urge to just fill this blog with one amazing street, park, and trails BMX clip after another. But the whole point of the Block Bikes Blog is to show a wide variety of bike riding adventures. Yeah, I know, I'm lagging on road bike videos here, but that's because of my old school BMX, anti-spandex prejudice. I'll work on that.
In any case, I looked through the last several posts, and decided it's a good time for a solid BMX street video. As luck would have it, this Shadow Conspiracy edit of Matt Ray popped right up when I went looking for one. This clip is only 4 days old, it still has that new video smell. This is a smokin' good street part, too, so enjoy it. And you know we can hook you up with all your Shadow Conspiracy goods online, right? I thought so...
Sunday, June 2, 2019
Desert backcountry trek: plane, bike, rock climbing and rafts
Here's another adventure trek, with a guy named Steve "Doom" Fassbinder. Would you go into the backcountry with a guy nicknamed "Doom?" Apparently that wasn't an issue for his friend. He's had is eye on a first ascent of some remote rock towers. "First acsent" is climbing lingo for being the very first person, ever, to climb something. This adventure starts with a small plane flight into a remote area, followed by fat bike riding, then they do the climbing, and then raft their way out of the region, then more fat bike riding back to civilization. A little bit of everything in one adventure. It's a short and cool little video that makes you want to head out into the desert. Somewhere.
Saturday, June 1, 2019
The Five Levels of Doing a Bike Trick
I've always had a tendency to overthink things. My dad was an draftsman/engineer, and I grew up watching him think to solve mechanical problems. I learned to think my way through things. My dad wasn't an athlete, and I wound up sucking at every sport (except dodgeball) as a kid, and into my teen years. When I got into BMX, I finally found something I liked doing enough, and was driven enough, to get halfway good at. But I still would overthink every trick I tried to learn. A big part of my personal learning process and progression in riding was learning to stop thinking intellectually, and learn to let my body awareness and subconscious take over.
One place where my overthinking did come in handy was writing about riding. It was during my short stint as a magazine guy at Wizard Publications, riding at The Spot in Redondo Beach every night, that I classified the various levels of learning a trick. Today's BMX is largely a world of video-based riding, where landing a crazy trick, or combo once, and getting that make on video, is much different than competition based riding. Yes, there are also competition based riders, but the pros there are a tiny minority or total riders these days. I thought it would be interesting to write my 5 classifications down, and put them back out into the BMX/bike world, and see what people thought. So here we go.
Category 1- You land trick or move for the first time. After a period of trying, maybe a couple of hours, maybe ten years, you land a trick, new to you, for the first time. This does one major thing, you now know it's possible for you to do it. You may not land it again for several days, or even months. You may not land it again, ever. But you did it, and if there's video or reliable witnesses, you can prove you did it.
Here's the controversial part about Category 1. If a rider lands a huge, scary, gnarly trick or line for a video part, they're still only at Category 1, if they only do it that one time. No matter how hard or gnarly the situation is, it's still Category 1.
Category 1 Plus- Originality- When you land a completely new trick for the first time. By landing it, you prove to yourself, and to everyone (if caught on video or seen live) that it CAN be done. That's the creative side of progression, the originality part. In today's world, this almost never happens anymore. Yes, I know, us first generation freestylers had that era. Most basic tricks have been invented, and as good as today's riders are, the focus is on taking "standard" tricks, and doing them bigger, or on different terrain. That's another form of progression, but even if you a tailwhip across a 13 story roof gap, it's still a tailwhip. The gnarliness has progressed, but it's not a new trick. I think there are still entirely new things to be invented. Bike flips in the air and the end over end bike flip things are an example of entirely new things in the last decade or so.
Category 2- You learn to do a trick most of the time. If you try a trick 10 times in a row, and pull it at least six, you can do the trick. You can't do it every time, you may miss it in a contest, a demo, or the first three times while shooting video. But you can do it most of the time.
Category 3- You can do a trick nearly every time. You've got it "dialed" as we said in the 1980's. If you tried the trick, move, or line 100 times in a row, one right after another, you'd land the trick, without touching down, at least 95 times. You may miss it once in a great while. But you've got it, it's solidly in your trick bag now. You'd pull it out in a game of BIKE (we played "FREESTYLE" BITD), to give someone a letter.
Category 4- You OWN a trick. You can land it 100 times out of 100. You STOMP it almost every time you do it. It's just a matter of how much style you put into it at this point. It's like walking, you don't even have to think about it, it's just there when you need it.
Category 5- You can land the trick solid in a contest or high pressure situation. You've got one shot, all or nothing, and you land it solid. You've got the trick dialed, maybe you own it. But even in a high pressure situation, you STILL land it. that's Category 5.
The double backflip on a BMX bike is a really crazy trick, even today. But that trick is over 20 years old. It's the trick that incredible rider Stephen Murray was doing when he crashed and got paralyzed from the neck down. It's a high conseqence trick. And he did that trick on a regular basis before that.
Jay Miron first landed a double backflip on Canadian TV in 1997. Dave Mirra landed one at a CFB contest in early 2000, I believe, and then at the 2000 X-Games. That's where most people thought the double back was invented, because that was where it first got worldwide media coverage. But no one had that trick consistently. No one wanted to do it on a regular basis for years after that. Yet, before Mirra, Miron, Cory Nastazio (trying it here in early 2000), or anyone tried it and landed it consistently, there was a guy who quietly took that trick to Category 3, maybe even 4.
No hype, no fanfare, no widespread video parts. Koji Kraft, the guy in the red and white shirt in the photo above, was that guy. This clip, from about 2009, is the best I could find on YouTube. This is from 6-8 years after I saw him land two or three doubles in person. (Yes, I got video of one or two of them, that was in the video footage I lost in 2008.)
The first time I saw anyone land a double backflip, in person, was Koji in Huntington Beach, in (I think) 2001. There was a big box jump with an extended kicker, the perfect set-up. I saw Koji do 2 or 3 of them that day, all in between the main demos and competitions. He was practicing a trick that scared the crap out of the very best jumpers in the world at the time. My point here is that no matter how crazy a trick is or how burly street line seems, it will, most of the time, be makeable on a regular basis at some point. Not always. 900's on vert are 30 years old, and no one has them on lock, as far as I know. But most tricks, no matter how burly, someone will have dialed later one.
With this idea in mind, do you know what I think would be a really interesting idea? Have a BMX (or MTB) video contest, kinda like X-Games Real BMX or Real Street, but give the team six hours to shoot the footage, and one day to edit a clip, say 90 seconds, or maybe even 3 minutes, if you want to make it real interesting. You know what that would do? I'm pretty sure a whole new group of riders (and video people) would rise to the top. As much as I think Dakota Roche's latest edit is just pain insane, I wouldn't pick him if I was the video guy in this type of competition. I'd pick Koji, or Bill Nitschke, or Rick Moliterno. Anyhow, this is just and idea I'm tossing out there...
Back in our competition-based days in the early years of "BMX freestyle," as we called it then, this was where we wanted to be. Getting sponsored, doing a photo shoot (when actual film was involved), or putting on demos, people wanted to see what we could actually do consistently. Most people now don't realize, BMX freestyle didn't begin as a sport. It began as demos, and then trick shows. Riding skateparks was recreation before that. There were no competitions for several years, and there were no videos for years.
People outside your immediate group only knew you could do a trick if you could land it the one time they saw you ride in a contest. When you went to a magazine photo shoot back then, the photographer would have you do the trick 3 or 4 times, before they bothered to snap the first photo. Film cost money, and there was no need to waste money if you sucked. Then, once they did start taking photos, they'd shoot a whole roll of film of that one trick. A roll of film had 36 photos, and you could usually squeeze one or two more on it. It was, "That was great... now do 36 more."
Imagine any top video rider today, and saying, "OK, let me see you pull this crazy move 4 times before I turn the video camera on. When you do that, then I will shoot video of you doing it 37 MORE times. That was STANDARD back in the 1980's. Yes, tricks are bigger and burlier now, there's more danger of life threatening injury much of the time, but most of today's riders can't to 90% of the tricks done back then, let alone to that level. Most freestyle tricks are long forgotten.
So that's it, that was my 5 categories of tricks I developed, and wrote about (in the AFA Newsletter, American Freestyle, I believe), back in 1986, and 1987. If any of you have thoughts or comments, let them fly my way on Facebook or wherever.
-Steve Emig: The White Bear
You know where to order your BMX bikes and components, right? Yeah, I thought so...
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