BMX UNION

Name:
Michael Saavedra

Location:
Riverside Ca

Sponsors:
Profile, S&M flow

Do you have a job that isn’t BMX related?
No…. Just ride my bike.

How does a typical day go for you?
Wake up at noon grab some lunch then head to the trails. Do a little digging and a bit of BMX.

A while ago your trails got plowed, do you have any new ones in the works?
It took me almost two years to pick up the shovel again but I have a new spot in the works. Should be better then the last set of trails. (: ))

Your part in the VULT 456 dvd a while back was really good, do you have any new parts coming up?
I’m working with Larry Alvarado on a edit for Profile. As far as a full video part goes if its not all street its not going to happen. Street is what’s hot. But who knows maybe one day someone might want to see some good old fashion trails!

Do you have any new bangers you have been getting done or close to lately?
Lately its been all digging. But there’s always a few things in the works.

Are you still doing demos?
Haha Im at a demo right now filling this out. Its so chill I get to travel and do what I love for a living without having to win the X games.

Who are the main people you ride with?
Jared Eberewin aka jearbear. He’s not only an amazing rider but a really good person. He keeps it real positive and fun. I love that kid.

Who are the people you look up to the most?
My family. With out them I would be lost. As far as BMX goes I would say Corey Bohan.

Where are your favorite places to ride?
Enterprise at woodward west
Blue Bench
jurupa park
Chino park

Do you have any injuries from riding?
Not anything to bad. When I was a kid I broke my left ankle 3 times.

If you couldn’t ride anymore, what would you do?
Start real life.

Do you have any big trips or anything coming up?
Im working with profile on travel for 08. So I hope to travel to a few fun contest like the empire of dirt.

What trick do you think gives you the most trouble that people wouldn’t expect?
Haha Barspins to tire taps are a bitch.

Any shout outs?
Bmxunion for hooking this up. Matt at profile for being on top of things all the time. Woody Itson for give me a job. All the homies for help me dig Lance Jared Boe. Moller over at S&M for hooking me up with the new LTF. Larry for working way harder then he needs to on my profile edit.

Any last words or anything I missed?
Ride your bike and stay positive!

Name:
Grant Castelluzzo

Location:
Milwaukee, Wi

Is that where you call home?
yeah for sure, my parents are in the process of moving away from illinois so im here until school is done for sure.

You are going to college, what is your major and how is that going for you?
Criminal Justice is my major and so far so good this is my junior year and im still on track for graduating in ’09

You seem to be into filming and editing, is it more of a hobby than something you would want to do as a career?
Definitely a hobby. I orginally just filmed but then i took up editing also. Its rewarding to see raw footage come together with music. I helped film for Lake Owen’s promotional camp dvd for the summer but outside of that i don’t really take it all that seriously.

You do a lot of tech riding, do you find those to be easier or do you just like the challenge of lnking a bunch of tricks into one?
Its a little bit of both normally the tech stuff just comes easier to me and i also find it fun to link stuff together that people might not think of. I like how open ended technical riding is and the creativity it can bring out.

When I had the chance to ride with you a while ago, you seemed to be a really dialed rider, is that normal or do you practice your stuff a lot?
haha well thank you. I definitely don’t “train” to do the types of tricks i do if thats what you mean. Some stuff comes more naturally than others for me but i kind of think that if i can’t do a trick consistanly then i don’t really have it so i try to get trick to the point where im not struggling to do it everytime.

The Ape dragon,what exactly is the trick, did you come up with the name for that trick or what is the story behind that, and do you have any tips on it?
An apedragon is pretty much just a word i use to describe anyone who is a man on a bike. Ape is what all the dudes at fbm use to for it and dragon is something i think justin simpson uses to descibe it so all i did was combine the two to make an ultimate word for it.

Millwaukee has a pretty big scene, whats it like being able to ride with all the guys like Jeff K, Dom, lil jon,Tony Malouf, and Mike Hinkens all the time?
Well Malouf is from Illinois but hes still out of hand. The scene here is amazing. Riding with all of those guys is unreal. They are all on their own level and at the same time they are all just normal ass dudes so its real good in that way. They are super motivating and always down for a good time.

Do you have any video parts or anything coming up soon?
well if Jeff K ever gets his shit together and works on his video I will have some clips in that. Other than that not a lot besides random web stuff.

Where is your favorite place to eat?
I frequent noodles and co, Wendy’s and Culvers often and when im with my girlfriend we end up going to Cheesecake factory and Olive Garden alot.

Favorite bands/songs?
I could go on for days but right now i’ve been into Kanye West’s new c/d. Also recently i’ve been listening to lots of poppy stuff that my g/f likes alot like Mayday Parade, Cartel, and All Time Low. Im also into some heavier stuff. I pretty much listen to everything.

Do you plan on sticking around the Millwaukee area after your done with college? Well after I finish undergad im planning on going to graduate school here so I will be here until I finish that but I would like to stay here for as long as I can.

What are your plans for the winter? Any trips or anything planned?
I don’t really have anything planned yet but I definitely would like to go somewhere. Hopefully it happens.

What is your set up on your bike like, super light or set up for whatever is comfortable to you?
Well it’s pretty light nowadays since I rode Jeff K’s and his shit is rediculously light and I became jealous but im not going crazy with it. I want it to be as light as I can get it without having to worry about dieing if a part fails.

5 things you would like to do in the next 5 years?
1. Get my bachelors degree.
2. Get my masters degree
3. Travel outside of the country.
4. ride alot with all of my friends.
5. maybe start a career

If you won the lottery what are some of the first things you would do with the money?
First thing I would buy a Porche 911 turbo since in my opinion it’s one of the sweetest cars ever created. Then I would probably buy a house so I didn’t have to worry about that later and I would do something boring like invest the rest of it so that I could live off it for the rest of my life. I would probably also work on a philosophy degree in addition to my criminal justice degree im already working on.

Do you have any shout outs or thanks?
wow there’s so many. My parents for always supporting me and my riding. My girlfriend Libby for always being there for me. My best friend Chris Beers. Jeff Dowhen, Antonio Wothe, Jeremiah Hughes, Anthony Mingione, Matt Hess, Andy E, Kuntz, Lil Jon, Jeff K, and Mike Hinkens for making me have a good time when i ride. Matt Coplon at Profile for the product hook up for filming Jeff and Mike. Garey at Misled, and AJ at LNKF for everything. Anyone else who has ever made me have a good time on my bike thank you.

Any other last things I might have missed you would like to say?
Just have fun and keep riding.

Name:
Alex Bermudez…AKA “The Lord of D”

Location:
San Diego,CA

What exactly is Give D, and What does the D stand for?
Oh man here comes my dumb story….One night some of my old riding buddies and I were shreddin the high school we attended.We were still beginners in riding ability and that night I set out to learn disasters with the crew.Well after so many tries I finally landed my first disaster…Everyone was siked as fuck and when I came to the group to receive praise I stuck out the fist and said “D for disaster”.Everyone acknowledged the fist pound as “D” from that night on and ever since then its been accepted as proper praise in SD.That all happened when I was a freshman in high school,its been over 6 years now of that term being in use.From there it spread around our area and then traveled with us to other parts of Southern California…I hear crazy things all the time still about being the inventor of D and all that…It’s kind of weird sometimes that anyone would even care to mention it all…D is just a fist pound.haha.But Give D is a crew,a way of life…A group of people who try to put fun,creativity and positivity back into BMX.

So are you the man in charge of Give D?
Yes,I’m the owner and operator of Give D Clothing.I would be nothing without my team though,together we make things happen.Web edits,clothing designs,contests,parties,everything…

The team is pretty large, with a lot of pretty well known guys along with a few unknown people, is there a reason for it being so big compared to most teams?
Haha yeah,we have a rather large team,but we’ve downsized a bit lately.We’re down to a solid 12 person team but we have a large crew of people who are still GDC homies and all.If you support D then your a part of Give D in one way or another…We’re no different from your average sized bmx team.We just try to bring something different to the table with everything we do…

Give D is a clothing company, when do you expect to have some stuff up for sale?
We recently brought our new line of D shirts right in time for Interbike.The new line consists of 5 different shirt designs and soon all will be available via Paypal shopping cart on both the Dspace and D site.All of the new tees can be viewed right now on both the D space and Fasetto.com.We’re gettin around to numerous bike shops with carrying our apparel and we hope to soon be in Dans Comp mailorder…Stuff is for sale as I type this,you just gotta be local right now to get your hands on D goodies…Soon that will all change…

Is the company a full time job or is it something you do on the side for fun?
Well,the company started in September of 06′ as a side project due to my full time construction job.Shortly after creating GDC I was laid off due to downsizing of the company I worked for…My care for a construction career quickly faded out after losing my apprenticeship and I started really focusing on the company and what GDC could possibly become.I could’ve continued my apprenticeship elsewhere but I realized I wasn’t cut out for that 8-5 life,building custom kitchens and bathrooms…

Do you have any big goals set for the company?
I dont know if its considered a big goal but next year I want to have a prime D booth at Interbike with a legit GDC DVD debut at our booth.Between now and then we’ll have a ton more monthly web edits on Defgrip,new shirt designs,work our way into Dans comp/bike shops and get our first DVD out…

There has been a few web videos floating around a bunch of the bigger websites, is there a DVD in the works?
We try to pump out a constant flow of web edits,we’re constantly producing and making things happen wherever we go.GDC just recently got into really making web edits often,thanks to Nuno and Harrison at Defgrip.Defgrip recently picked us up for monthly web edits and we couldn’t be more happy with how its worked out.Expect a lot more web edits all the damn time….A DVD is definitely in the works.After this coming Friday,when “I Love L.A.” drops on Defgrip,we start to really put in work with the DVD and everything else we have in store…

What can you tell us about the DVD, whose in it, when is it expected to be out, is there a name for it, who all has parts?
Ha I can tell you what I would like and what I know for a fact…What I would like to happen is to have the DVD out by December or January…What I know for a fact is all of the D team will be in it.Thus being…Hoang Tran,Kyle Hart,Albert Mercado,Chris Hervan,Nick Corsiglia,Dirt Ron,Steve Kennedy,Steve Kerr,Steve Woodward,Tammy McCarley,Braden Ross and myself.Of course there will be others such as Dennis Enarson,Alfredawg Mancuso,Mario Carrasco and other friends of D in there as well…

It looks like the majority of the team is from the south west, is it kind of based around that area of the country or is this going world wide?
Give D is San Diego based,we all live here and we’re basically a big family that always together.Whether we’re riding,chillin or partying,we’re together kickin lots of ass.We have no plans on beefing up our team any time soon with out of towners but we can always use the support from everyone no matter where your located.I’m not sure how world wide we’ll get,only time can tell.What we do know is that we’ll keep riding and doing what we do best always…

Is there any big road trips or events planned for the team?
We plan on a roadtrip soon,no exact location on where yet,but soon…Next big event for the D team and San Diego for that matter is Biketoberfest at our local YMCA park.Its where we ride almost to often and its where you can also find us on a normal basis..GDC took title sponser this year for the event and I’m pretty stoked on that…We have a lot of things in mind,its only a matter of time until it all starts hittin.

Where will people be able to get their hands on Give D goods?
Well,like I said were workin our way around to bike shops in SD and soon Dans Comp.Right now you can find our shirts at Henrys bike shop in Santee and during the next week,in a few other bike shops around Southern California like Omega bikes,Epic,etc..The Paypal shopping cart will be equipped soon and if you really want D goodies,you can send me mailorders and an address to send merch to.All of which can be done if you email me at [email protected]

Is there any shout outs or thanks you would like to throw out?
First off,I would like to thank my grandmother,Doody…Shes the absolute reason why GDC is even around.She funds everything we do and is the sweetest lady on earth and I love her very much.Thank you to my crew for always kickin ass and producing to the best of their ability,which is always above and beyond expectations.Give D crew consists of my closest friends and they’re what keeps me going and flowing with positivity.Huge thank you to Nuno and Harrison at Defgrip for everything they’ve been able to do for us thus far…Also thank you to B-Dubbs,Jim Bauer and Nuno again at Odyssey.Thank you also goes out to my beautiful,supportive girlfriend Lauren,shes always there for me doing what she can.Thank you to everyone out there who supports Give D and everything we do!!! Thank you for this Interview Kurt! D to everyone!

Any other last words or anything I missed you think should have been?
69 brother.That is all.

Alex had said he would try to get a few guys from the team around for an interview.. so hopefully you can check back in a few days and see who was up for one.