I had never been to the ocean before. It sucks living in the middle of the country because you see a lot of lakes and rivers, but nothing compared to the ocean. I took a whole bunch of pictures, and got Kosman to snap a few of me. For a cheap little camera the photos turned out pretty good too!

This would probably qualify as “hyper gay”. I was too lazy to photoshop this into a sequence type thing. That would be myself sprinting into a big group of birds. It was funny at the time.

After that we hit up Clairemont to ride for a few hours. A bunch of locals and Gary were there so that was a lot of fun. Some of the kids that ride there everyday ride like champs. I wish I had that park and weather to ride everyday.

After riding Alex and I met up with his good friend Andy for some Robertitos. If you have been following my posts about this trip you would realize we ate there pretty much everyday. Real good.

After the food we went to a smaller get together with some of the Give D! crew. It was super chill… until some of the girls got a little too rowdy. Before we knew it there was a battle royal between the girl who owned the house and one of the girls there for the party. It was pretty awesome to see since chick fights are always the best. This one got gnarly with some body slams and blood. That was the ender to the night and that worked for me.

Today was a fairly uneventful day. It was funny because the day I leave John Ludwick, Bill P, and a dude named Mario all flew in. So, we spent time around the airport until I had to go.

This would be what I do when I get bored. I snap photos of myself sitting at the airport waiting to get on the plane.

After that, I flew back to the frozen tundra known as Minnesota. I went from upper 70’s to about 8 degrees. Ouch. I would probably still be there if my classes at college didn’t start on Monday or have to work. haha. That would be my trip though. Until next time.

I would like to thank Alex for giving me a place to stay and driving me all over the place with him. Kosman for the laughs and free Red Bull, Kyle, Ron, Hoang, Gary, Ohio, Nick, Chris and the rest of the Give D! crew, Vince Kroff, Andy, John Peacy, and all the other dudes who were around in the 6 days I spent down there. They made it awesome.

Alex checking out the finished work on his neck. Looks real good.

I’ve learned these last few days that San Diego is more San Diego county because everything is so spread out that you gotta drive a half hour to an hour to get to anything. It isn’t a bad thing, but it is different…At least for me. This is a photo of Alex’s car rolling over 120,001… 1 because I was too slow on getting my camera out. Also, notice to the left.. That’s some double mangina going on right there. Funniest picture inside of a picture ever.

Today (Thursday, also known as day 4) started out a little later due to not having anything really to do. We hit up Robertitos… which is “the god of burritos” for breakfast. It was good stuff and filled me up for the day of riding ahead of us.

After the food we met up with Dirt Ron, Kyle Hart, Vince Kroff, and John Peacy at a park that wasn’t peg friendly, but since John was a rad dude and cool with the skaters we got to ride it.

The park was a lot of fun, but nerve racking because there wasn’t really much we could do besides air tricks. A few clips were filmed and then we moved on to a much better park…

This would be our next stop. Believe it or not, as bad as this park looks it made for a really good session. We had to be there for at least two hours riding and filming with Kosman. Believe it or not there will be an edit from this… It was that good of a day.

After we rode we stopped by Alex’s buddies shop Omega Bike Shop. It was pretty cool to see all the BMX stuff they have in the shops. Plus the owner races, and rides trails and stuff so that was a plus.

After that we hit up a Jack in the Box and got our fat on. Now I am sitting here typing this away and ready to crash for tomorrow. Sounds like a session at Clairemont, swing by the ocean, and some other riding will take place tomorrow.

Alex and I were supposed to be at Gary’s place at like 8:30 to start loading up the truck… but the alarm clock got set to P.M instead of A.M… Oh well, we were on the move by 9. I dominated with a Red Bull for breakfast. Awesome.

Obviously there was trophies to be moved. I know I suck at taking photos. In the third photo you can see about 200 racing trophies from way back when. The one being held up that you probably can’t read says “Top Cock Award…Beginner Division Street.. 2nd Place”. One of Gary’s many old trophies.

I am pretty sure this photo in itself has a lot of history. That would be from left to right 3 or 4 old Dirt Bros Industries Gary Frames, and then the different versions of his MacNeil frame over the years. That was super cool to look at for a while.

This photo was just funny because all three of them spent about 5 minutes trying to figure out how to get the legs of the table off. They were supposed to detach pretty easily. After they got one off somebody told them to just leave them on. I know that isn’t as funny to you as it is to me. This next photo will make you laugh.

There were a few mice in Gary’s garage that he had been trying to get rid of for a while and couldn’t. While digging through a closet in his garage, we hear a pretty girly scream come out of Gary’s mouth when he discovered this bad boy. I am sure some PETA dude might be pissed about this next part. The trap that Ron is holding the mouse above is pretty wild. Basically, it is an electric chair for mice. Moments after this photo, the mouse was zapped into heaven. Gary forgot to tell us that would happen before the mouse did a drop in. R.I.P little buddy.

The label explains it all…

Upon digging through boxes of old BMX Plus, Ride, and other magazines we stumbled upon this little gem. This would be a photo of Gary and his now wife Sarah from their prom in 2001. I should be selling this photo to some gossip magazine.

The man himself dominating that big ass Budget Rental truck in reverse.

Seeing as this is the first time near an ocean for me, I had to take the typical photo of the ocean seen in the first.
Kosman and Gary were neighbors until today. After we dropped the first load, Alex, Kyle, and I rode the car pool lane back. Since we got about an hour ahead of the rest of the dudes we stopped at Kosman’s to chill and watch the new Give D! edit seen below. I snapped that photo off his deck. Thought it was pretty.

Alex modeling some NIKE ID shoes. So awesome.

After all the fun of moving was done, Alex and I proceeded to meet up with Steve Kerr and some other S.D Locals at the “hot spot”. I got a flat and one of the guys hooked me up with a tube, very much appreciated. Due to it being dark, and me using a little point and shoot camera the picture action was weak. I snapped this massive wall ride by Steve Kerr. So gnarly.

So, that would be day two. I am about to crash for tomorrow. I am not sure exactly what is going on yet but I am sure there will be some entertaining photos at some point. Thursday will be a real good day, but you will definitely have to check back later to see what that is all about.

Let’s recap exactly what 2008 consisted of. I could sum it up with one word. Awesome.
Instead, I should probably explain a little more of what BMX was this year for me. Last January, well in all honesty… All I can remember until spring was me stuck at indoor parks, blogging away, pounding out interviews, that was about the 5 month mark for this site. As time went on, spring came around. I threw a contest in.. April? May? Whatever.. It was spring. It turned out awesome, and I was stoked to do it.
Summer came faster than I could imagine, and it went just as fast. I was riding at least 6 days a week at that time. It was so good. When temperatures hit below 0, and the snow covers everything. That small outdoor park just down the hill that you get real sick of all summer long starts looking real good.
Fall hit, I was back at school full time, working all the time too. This is when life started getting awesome.

I made my way out to Las Vegas for Interbike and without a doubt… The best experienece of my life. Sure, the convention will kill you if you are there all 3 days, all day. The night life is what you go for. NORA Cup, Mosh Party, Limo Party, Running the strip with Kyle Hart and Dirt Ron.. I don’t think you understand. I started counting the days until this years the second my plane landed back here in Minnesota.

And before you know it, it was winter again and here we are.

A lot of you people are firmiliar with me because of The Come Up which is great. I am really into the site, but currently I am not posting on there since it’s slower and Adam doesn’t need help with the 50 posts a day. So, I will be guest appearing on there sometimes. I am more than stoked to still be able to do that at least. In the mean time to fill up my time, Justin Kosman and Alex at Give D! got me a spot on the BNQT BMX blog. I am not sure of all the details yet, but I should be doing something with them soon!

I leave on Monday for San Diego to hang out with Alex, Justin and the Give D! crew for a week. Expect to see some awesome photos, maybe a video, and good stories to come from that. I am really excited just because I have been down to riding about once a week if that. That and I have wanted to go to San Diego since I started riding about 9 years ago… So that will be checked off my list of things I want to do in my life. haha

As for BMX union… Here’s the plan. I am clearing the list. I have a whole bunch of interviews I never got back and I am real bummed about that. It sucks when people are all about it then I have to send a reminder, and then another, and still nothing. Oh well, can’t win them all.

So, I will be sending out emails to companies, riders, and an invitation to anyone who thinks they know of somebody who deserves an interview for 2009! I can’t wait to see how things go this year. I want to do more than 100 interviews. I think I did that last year, so why can’t I do it again?

Also, with all the random dudes that helped with this site over the last year and a half it has really only been me and Alex lately. So, if you are into blogging and feel like you have something to contribute. Let me know and I will get you in on this! Check my email to the right there.

Maybe the site will even get redesigned? We will have to see how things go!
Maybe a few t-shirts and stickers will be done.
All I know is that things will still be rolling. Get stoked!