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.

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The Birth of the Freestyle Movement - 2nd edition book signing party

 NorCal/Golden Gate Park riders, Mike Golden and Chris Rothe, checking out the second edition of The Birth of the Freestyle Movement , at the signing party.  Chris Rothe and Maurice Meyer are the ones who thought to offer me a ride, knowing I wouldn't make it to the event otherwise.  Huge thanks to Drob, Chris, Chris' son Max, and Mark McKee for letting me hang with them all weekend.  It was an epic time.

This event, put on by author Dominic Phipps, as a book signing and promo party, was held at the 10 Barrel Brewing company downtown San Diego, the afternoon and evening of May 25th, 2019.  The first edition of the book came out in 2017, and while it was really good by all accounts, people started giving Dominic ideas about the scenes and things not covered in the book.  I've heard that the NorCal/Golden Gate Park scene was mentioned by nearly everyone, along with the Dirt Brothers and several other scenes that had major influence on BMX freestyle's early development.  So Dominic went back to work, and revamped the book, which is the 2nd edition, seen below.

Huge classic photos were blown up and on display at the party.  Really cool touch.  No flatland pics, but the epic ramp, pool, and street photos brought back memories to all of us.  My personal favorite was the huge Dave Voelker air, and you can find out why in the "part 2" blog post.  At one point I was sitting near these photos, and Pete Augustin came up and put his phone right up near my head.  I was thinking, "Man, you don't need my pic, I look like hell these days."  Then I realized he was taking a selfie with the big photo of him that was behind him, which probably made a really cool pic.  A selfie with himself.  I think all the riders in the photos got pics with the photos at some point. 

Freestyle pioneer, BMX Action Trick Team founder, and all around entrepreneur, R.L. Osborn (right), and his son Dylan, at the skatepark earlier in the day.  Both were at party later.

While the official reason for the party was the 2nd edition book launch of The Birth of the Freestyle Movement, the real reason was to bring together as many crazy characters from 80's BMX freestyle as possible.  That was a huge success.  The biggest surprise appearance was R.L. Osborn.  He's kept such a low profile since moving on from freestyle, that we actually had Sasquatch out looking for R.L. at one point.  The word was that he was sick of the inherent drama of the BMX world way back when, and when the Old School events started happening, he wasn't sure if he wanted to rehash the old days all over again.  It was really cool to see him at the skatepark earlier in the day, he was a huge influence on my own life, and many many others. 

The original skatepark legends, Eddie Fiola, Mike Dominguez, Brian Blyther, and Rich Sigur were all at the event.  Martin Aparijo was representing 80's flatland legends, along with R.L. Osborn.  Todd Anderson was there representing the Camarillo Ramp crew and.  Dave Voelker was there representing San Diego and bass fishermen everywhere.  Kevin Martin, Ron Wilkerson's announcer, organizer, and all around solid guy BITD, was there.  Racing legend Stu Thomsen was there.  Oakley announcer The Duke was there.  I met a guy from Moo's Bike Shop in Riverside, part of the late 70's early 80's BMX racing scene, old school even to me,who told some us some good stories about those days.   

The Skyway/NorCal/Golden Gate Park posse was well represented.  I went to the event with Maurice Meyer, Chris Rothe, Chris' son Max, and Mark McKee, all from that scene.  Ron Wilkerson, who began his bike life as part of the Golden Gate scene, was there.  Maurice brought a plaque with Dave Vanderspek's photo and number plate, along with the commemorative brick with Dave's name one it.  Robert Peterson showed, and was as fun to talk to as ever.  Hugo Gonzales was there, I spent quite a while talking to him, hearing crazy stories from the 80's.  Mike Golden flew in from Dallas for the event.  Mat Hoffman, who started his freestyle career was the wonderkid on the Skyway team, was there, after putting on a vert contest earlier in the day.  Craig Campbell, longtime U.K. Skyway rider, was there, I heard.

BMX industry guy, infamous brother, and all around character, Frank Scura was there.  Everytime Frank and Ron Wilkerson started talking, I half expected paisley confetti to fall from the ceiling.  Wizard's long time epic photographer, Windy Osborn, was there.  I didn't even realize that until right before we left, so I didn't get a chance to say "Hi" to Windy. Epic vert rider, now nursing a reconstructed ankle back to health, Simon Tabron, was there.  I somehow missed saying "hi" to him as well.  Dennis McCoy was there, even after knocking himself out on a 900 attempt at the contest that morning.  He pulled a beautiful, smooth, barspin 540 in that run, before the 9 slam. 

One guy I was hoping would show up was Bob Haro, the man who invented this whole sport.  He wasn't there in person, but this great photo of young Bob (below) was on display.  We dated this shot, which I'd never seen before, at probably 1979 or 1980. 

Everybody wants a photo of Mat Hoffman.  We were telling stories about how Mat seemed so crazy back in the late 80's, us older guys were actually worried he might actually kill himself riding some day. A few of us were talking about how, at the Palm Springs GPV and halfpipe event, we were debating whether Mat would take himself out riding, or wind up doing construction in a few years.  That was when none of us saw freestyle lasting much longer.  Yeah, Mat proved us all wrong 100 times over. 

 Golden Gate Park posse.  L to R: Marc McKee, Max Rothe (behind Marc), J.D., Chris Rothe, and Robert Peterson, checking out the book. 

 Two of the craziest riders ever, trading tales, Dennis McCoy and Hugo Gonzales.  Hugo's a truck driver now, and loving it.  Hugo told Chris Rothe, me, and a couple others a story about this line at Campbell skatepark, inspired by a photo in the book.  Hugo said there was a line at Campbell skatepark, where he'd hit a transition, fly out over an 8 foot high fence, and land on the top of a carport next door.  But he had to hit the tranny at an angle, and not fly too far, because if he overshot, he'd fly over the 8 foot fence, case on the carport, and then Superman dive 8 feet down to the concrete on the other side of the carport roof.  Yeah, he was doing that in like '83.  Gotta love Hugo.  Talking to Hugo was probably the overall highlight of the party, for me.

Another great conversation was when Eddie Fiola introduced me to Dawn, whose first job was working in the snack bar and selling T-shirts at Pipeline Skatepark.  Dawn and I talked for at least 20-30 minutes about Pipeline and that whole scene.

That was the evening, looking around, finding someone who looked kinda like someone you knew, but hadn't seen for 10-20-30 years, and then walking over to see if that's really them, and telling stories for half an hour.  That just kept going on as most of the people got progressively buzzed and shared pizza and apps. 

Curb Dogs represent.  Robert Peterson, I forget the name of the lady in the Curb Dogs shirt (sorry),the Dig Magazine photographer in the background (he shot tons of pics, check the Dig BMX sight soon), and Maurice Meyer, rocking the Skyway T-shirt.

All in all, The Birth of the Freestyle Movement (2nd edition) signing party was a great time.  I think it was Maurice Meyer who said a friend asked him what the old school BMX events were like.  Drob told his friend, "It's like a high school reunion, except that you actually like everyone."  Exactly.

Thanks Dominic Phipps, it was a great time.  The night owl of our crew, Mark McKee, helped shut the bar down with Ron Wilkerson, Frank Scura, Scott Freeman and a few others, after we left.  If you're an old school freestyler reading this, buy the book, and check out the various package deals.  And make plans to show up at one of the old school events, it's a great time.  First class night, all the way.

Words and photos by Steve Emig/The White Bear.  This blog is brought to you by Block Bikes Online BMX Store.  Check out a few more photos on the Part 2 blog post. 

Brooklyn Banks Meet the Street 1989- Part 4: It's Magic

I know it sounds weird, but there was this time, long, long ago, when MTV played music videos 24 hours a day.  It was revolutionary.  A cable TV channel figured out a way to play commercials all the time.  That's what a music video is, a commercial for a song, to make you want to buy the album.  Yeah, OK, people used to BUY music, and there were these plastic things called albums...  Uh, this is going to take to long to explain. 

Back in those days of the early and mid-1980's, 70's punk rock was beaten down into a commercially profitable genre called New Wave.  Guys in oversize blazers, skinny ties, lots of keyboards and synthesizers.  That was the sound track of our young, Genretaion X lives, at least until someone took the time to properly introduce us to underground music like 70's punk and 80's hardcore.  In those days, even though I was into a brand new, little, underground sport called BMX freestyle, The Cars were one of those new wave bands that were in heavy rotation on MTV, on the radio all the time, and in my cassette player.  They were one of my favorite bands then.

When I became a part of Idaho's very first trick team, Justin "Jay" Bickel was the center of it.  Jay's parents, Dwight and Cindy Bickel, were totally on board and supporting our riding.  I owe them a ton.  Wayne Moore, the old guy (17 at the time) decided to move on after a few shows with the three of us performing.  Jay and I reformed into the Critical Condition Stunt Team.  We did shows and rode in parades all over the Boise area, nearly all arranged by his mom.  So thank you Jay, Cindy, and Dwight, you gave my weird self a place to find a purpose back then. 

I would drive over to Jay's house, on the west side of Boise, where Jay had a six foot high quarterpipe and a four foot wedge ramp in front of the garage.  We'd practice our tricks for hours, trying to impersonate R.L. Osborn and Mike Buff, the BMX Action Trick Team, 1,500 miles away in SoCal.  As we rode the ramps and did flatland in the street, we had one main cassette playing in Jay's ghetto blaster, The Cars first album.  It was a favorite of both of us.  The lead singer was this tall skinny guy named Ric Ocasek.  We saw him in music videos every time we turned on MTV.  The Cars were huge then.  That was the summer and fall of 1984.

Five years later, in the late summer of 1989, Rich Bartlett and I got tired after the Friday morning session at the Brooklyn Banks.  The two of us rode back to our posh hotel room in midtown Manhattan and chilled for a bit.  Maybe we needed to fix a bike or grab some tool, I can't really remember.  Anyhow, after a a short time in the room, we rode back towards the Brooklyn Banks.  It was a pretty casual ride.  We'd hit a little curb cut jump, or bunnyhop little things we saw along the way.  It wasn't a balls out ride, like the night time sessions with Mat Hoffman, Dennis McCoy, Steve Swope, Rick Thorne, and the other two guys, our roommates for the weekend (see previous Brooklyn Banks posts).  Rich and I were saving our energy to ride the contest area and the banks later, and for the night time rides.

We were both hungry, and decided to stop for lunch at a classic New York City deli we saw along the way.  We turned our bikes upside down, right outside the door, and pushed them close together, to make them slightly harder to steal.  We kept half an eye on the bikes, as we entered the crowded deli, a quintessential New York experience.  We got a couple of killer sandwiches and drinks (paid for by Vision Street Wear, thank you very much), and stood at the little shelf, facing out the window, to eat.  Life was good.  Fat sandwiches, listening to the loud New Yorkers yell at and joke with each other.

A tall, skinny guy walked up to the door of the deli, right outside our window.  I was busy eating when Rich said, "Dude look, it's Ric Ocasek!"  I looked up.  Holy crap!  The lead singer of The Cars, that band we'd both seen a million times on MTV, was outside the glass, a few feet away.  He looked super tall, maybe six foot six, and even skinnier, than on TV.  He seemed to be another local at the deli.  As he opened the door, he paused a minute, and looked down at our BMX bikes, which were probably an odd sight, even in New York City.  I don't know why, but he checked out our bikes for maybe ten of fifteen seconds.  Rich was stoked, "Dude, Ric Ocasek is checking out our bikes!"  I was stoked, too.

That was a time when BMX riders were not famous.  Sure, WE knew all the top names, hell we knew them all personally.  But the world didn't.  Even in 1989, BMX racing and BMX freestyle very rarely showed up on TV.  There was no internet as we know it now.  People read magazines, but BMX hardly ever got a mention in a mainstream magazine or newspaper.  As much as BMX freestyle blew up from 1984 to late 1988, it was still largely unknown to mainstream America.  Everyone had seen a bike trick or two, as quick cuts in TV commercials, but they didn't know anything about our sport.  Then suddenly, a famous musician, someone EVERYONE knew by sight, took a moment to check out these weird little bikes with axle pegs, sitting outside his local deli.  It was just one of those weird little experiences that stuck in my mind, and probably Rich's, too, from our crazy trip to New York City.  We were stoked.

Rich Bartlett (aka Block Bikes owner), and me, finished our sandwiches, headed out, and picked our bikes up.  We had a cool thing to tell the guys when we got to the Brooklyn Banks for the afternoon's riding session.  Let the Good Times Roll.

Story shared by Steve Emig

Bonus story:  After Rich read this yesterday, he totally remembered this weird little incident.  A part I forgot was that we waited outside the deli for a while to see Ric Ocasek come out.  I guess we wanted to say, "Hi." or something.  But Rich remembers us looking through the window, and Ric got his slice of pizza, and folded it in half to eat it, total New York style.  But he was talking with other locals, and taking a long time.  We got tired of waiting, and eventually took off to the Brooklyn Banks.

The video footage I shot at the 1989 Brooklyn Banks 2-Hip Meet the Street never got used for anything, as crazy as that sounds.  The tapes are in a warehouse somewhere, I imagine, and none of it is on YouTube.  So here's a taste of that contest from someone's surviving home video footage:

The other kind of street riding

When most of us think of street riding, we think of wandering around a city, ours or some new one, looking for obstacles built for some urban purpose.  Yet to a bike rider, those obstacles become an opportunity to learn something new about ourselves and our bikes.  An old trick on new terrain.  Once in a while, a new variation on new terrain.  And so we progress, as riders, and as human beings. 

So crazy fool looked at Valparaiso, Chile's endless steps and cris-crossing roads and thought, "What if we made the mother of all MTB downhill routes?"  Man, that guy has issues.  And that's why he rides.  Anyhow, that initial thought led to this freakin' amazing downhill event.  Hang on. 

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Seth builds and rides the "Murder Machine"

For those who don't know, Seth's Bike Hacks is a really cool You Tube channel I don't check out near enough.  Seth comes across as a very down to Earth guy, one who likes to try new bikes, weird bikes, unusual bike ideas, and then puts out videos about it all.  I ran across his channel a while back, checking out cruisers to find a good "next bike" to have fun and lose weight on as I get back in shape.  Seth is a good mechanic, a damn good rider, and funny as well.  Subscribe to his channel after you watch this.

For this video, he decided to rebuild his favorite mountain bike in to a single speed to try "bad ideas" on.  After a few little mechanical issues, due in part to trying to find parts on Christmas Eve, he gets the bike together, and the stars align.  Then he goes for a ride a few places. 

What many people, even old people like me, might not know, is that today's mountain biking began as a single speed bike activity.  In Marin county California, that fairly undeveloped place on "the other side" of the Golden Gate Bridge, people started bombing down mountain roads on old, fat tire, beach cruiser bikes.  That happened in the mid-1970's, and is one of the core roots of today's mountain bike riding. 

Those early cruisers were single speed bikes, and the hardcore types saw single speed bikes as the true mountain bikes for many years after. So while we think of highly designed, multi-speed bikes with shocks as "mountain bikes" today, the roots of the sport were in bombing down hills on single speed bikes. True to history, Seth hauls down some hills on his "Murder Machine" single speed.  Why does he call this bike the "Murder Machine?"  You'll have to watch the video. He tears up some single track, a skatepark, and an MTB park on this bike.  As always, this blog is brought to you by:

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Game of Bike: Kriss Kyle vs. Motorcycle Trials rider

When Rich Bartlett and I started talking about this blog idea a couple weeks ago, I knew I wanted to find things far beyond the typical street or park BMX video section to put in it.  Those are awesome, but in today's media saturated environment, I knew there were a lot of video gems out there, weird, gnarly, unique, and other bicycle related videos and stories, to be found.  This is a great one.

Every BMX rider has played a game of BIKE now and then, like doing trick shots playing HORSE with a basketball.  Wait, why the heck do they call that HORSE anyhow?  Weird.  In the old days of the 1980's, we'd play FREESTYLE, which made for some really long games, especially when we had 5 or 6 riders.  The point is, you all know the game.

Obviously, this one is different, Kriss Kyle leaves his comfort zone, and goes head to head against motorcycle trials rider James Dabill.  I wasn't sure what to expect when I first watched this one.  I also noticed the video is 18 minutes long, and thought it might drag and be boring.  WRONG.

This is one of the coolest BMX videos I've watched in quite a while.  Both riders are totally trying... AND LANDING, stuff totally outside their normal riding skills.  I was hooked right to the end.

It totally reminded me of my own days hanging out at the Huntington Beach Pier in CA, back in the late 80's, riding with skateboarders like Pierre Andre, Don Brown, Ed Templeton, Mark Gonzales, and many more.  I was always up for a game of SKATE on my bike, just because I loved trying skateboard tricks on my bike.  It always gave me new ideas for bike tricks.  I pioneered bike nollies (nosewheelie INTO A BUMP), half-Cabs, and no complys (footplant to 180) back when those things were all considered stupid (mostly because I was about the only guy doing them back then).

My point is, when you play a game of BIKE against a different vehicle, with different tricks and maneuvers possible, it opens your mind to completely new ideas on your bike.  Anyhow, this is a bit long, but a great watch.  Enjoy. 

New! Kink Bikes welcomes Hobie Doan to the Pro team

Just out early this morning, new edit from Kink Bikes.

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Go Fast, Pull Up: The Jimmy Levan Story...

I still haven't seen this yet.  I don't have a DVD player at my house, mostly because I don't have a house.  But you probably do.  Jimmy Levan is one crazy cat.  He's funny, he's cool to hang out with, he goes fast, and he goes BIG. This video/book set about his life is available, right now, on DVD or Blu-Ray at the Block Bikes Online Store, right here.  Or you can read this post, and then buy it .

I met Jimmy way back in the dark ages of the early 1990's.  It was 1991, and Chris Moeller, the pro racer, crazy jumper, S&M Bikes owner, tapped me to make the first S&M Bikes video.  Young Jimmy rode for them back then.  On one trip down to Chris' tiny apartment, for a weekend of shooting video, I met these two kids, Jimmy Levan and his friend Barstow.  Barstow probably had a real name, but I never heard it all weekend.  So we crashed on the floor of the long, narrow, "Winnebago" apartment, drank a few beers at night, and went riding and shooting video during the day.  S&M Bikes was run out of a single car garage then, and money was damn near non-existent.  The sessions were fun, cheap, and gritty. But who cares?

We hit a ditch in Westminster, near the infamous P.O.W. House, we rode in the back of Chris' pick-up truck, and we hit the Santa Ana Civic Center, one of our favorite street spots in those days.  Then we hit Magnolia in Huntington Beach, a sometimes soggy trails area in the wetlands by the H.B. power plant.  That whole video, S&M Bikes Feel My Leg Muscles, I'm a Racer, had a total budget of about $250, including beer money.  And it looks like it:



It was a fun weekend, and I'm the guy who shot all the footage in this section, which I'm pretty sure is Jimmy Levan's first ever video segment.  That's another reason I need to see this video.  Anyhow, in a taste of things to come, Jimmy jumps the Civic Center pyramid at 2:00 in the clip above, which is about 30 to 35 feet across, off of a really mellow bank.  It takes some serious racer speed to jump that, and Chris Moeller, himself, was the only other person I saw do it back then.  Even as a young buck, Jimmy let us know that he would rack up a bunch of frequent flyer miles on his bike in the years ahead. So enjoy this clip, and click the link below to grab your copy of Go Fast Pull Up.

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It's Friday... B.Y.O.B.

Try new things.  Don't be afraid to try a new bike set-up now and then to mix things up.  I rode brakeless for nearly a year in 1989, when nearly every trick was a brake trick.  I learned half-Cabs and lookback half Cabs during that period, among other things.  If your friends are riding somewhere, Bring Your Own Bike. 

In addition to the alcohol reference, "B.Y.O.B." is the opening song of this 1989 Vision skate video I worked on, Barge at Will.*  The song is by Ohio punk band The Stain.  I always liked that song it just has that street riding kind of energy and attitude.  Yeah, this is a bike blog, but a lot of riders skate some as well.  If that's the case, Bring Your Own Board.  Its Friday, there are sessions to be had.  Who knows, this could be the The Ultimate Weekend.




* If you pause this video at 46:04, you'll see Chris Miller and Ken Park both boardsliding the pool section of Tony Hawk's Fallbrook ramp.  I'm the guy in white sitting on the rail in the background.  -Steve

Trey Jones from Shadow Conspiracy's "What could go wrong?"

So here's the deal.  I'm an old guy.  52 in fact.  Ancient.  I was all about BMX freestyle (as we called it then) from about 1982 to about 2003.  I wound up working in the industry, made videos, and stuff like that.  But I've been out of the scene for over 15 years, and out of the industry for over 20.  I watch videos now and then, but there are a whole bunch of riders who've come up that I just don't know about. 

Talking about who to start looking at to get this blog off the ground with Rich (from Block Bikes Online Store), Trey Jones was one of the names he said to check out.  So I found that clip in the last post of Scotty Cranmer and posse goofin' around on Trey's new ramp set-up.  Yeah, that was cool.  But not earth shattering riding.  So I decided to go back and check out Trey's video sections. 

Holy crap!  Trey Jones is NUTS.  And he can ride.  It's not just like, "Hey, how 'bout I try to jump off this four story building, that'll look cool."  This guy's got some skills.  As an old geezer from 80's flatland, I dig the nosewheelies and front wheel G-turn to bank drop.  Oh yeah, AND there's like 43 huge drops, many with gnarly bunnyhops over rails or chains.  High risk stuff.  You young guys know all this.  But here in this section is a reminder of why Trey Jones is one of your favorite riders.  And now one of mine, too.  I'll stop rambling, you watch this clip.  And you guys (and gals) know where to get your Shadow Conspiracy and Subrosa stuff, right? 

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How bicycles change you

Doctor's told Anthony he was going to die.  So he went for a short bike ride.  Then a little longer one.  He kept doing that.  He's still here.  Did you know bicycling has helped people with Crohn's disease, among other ailments?  Now you do. 

Do your own thing...

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Let your freak flag fly...