Jake Seeley Interview

April 20, 2008

Jake is good, I mean… real good. The kid has blown up big time in the last year. The kids on the come up love him and in all reality he really is on the come up and I think hes going places with riding. I mean he 540s down stairs like a champ…

Name:
Jake Seeley

Location:
Williamstown, a small town in Massachusetts

Sponsors:
Manmade clothing, Coalition and Sunday bikes

So BMX has been good to you so far… What is your definition of BMX?
‘bicycle moto cross’ haha as long as your havin fun with your friends it’s all good, when its got to do with a bike its called bmx

You grew up racing, then trails and park.. Are you 100% street now or do you hit the trails once and a while?
Definatly cant say that im 100% street I ride some park but dont really enjoy it that much and I ride this dirt bowl by my house thats a lot of fun. I haven’t road trails since I hurt my knee about 4 years ago riding them. I’ve definatly grown to like riding street the most though. Theres more originality in street riding which makes it fun thats what makes me love to ride it.

What are some things you look for the most when your searching for spots?
Things I tend to look for the most when riding are spots most riders wouldn’t look at and think of riding them, stuff that you could be original with. I also like to ride a good uprail so i tend to look for rail set ups a lot

What is your dream spot to ride?
Moore Park

Do you feel racing and trails has effected the way you ride now?
Definatly allowed me to have more bike control with my riding now.

You recently had your Defgrip/The Come Up edit out, which was a big hit. How stoked are you to have a lot of people dig your riding?
Definatly couldnt be more siked that people where into it, its always a good feeling when people are into your riding.

It said you have a full manmade edit coming soon, when will that drop and what can we expect to see?
The video should be coming out by the middle of this summer, it would have been out by now but there was some problems getting my clips and Darren had a bunch of problems with his computer that kept putting the video on hold. The footage now is getting pretty old so im going to work on filming all new clips for it this spring

Do you have any signature stuff coming from Manmade?
Not that I know of. There really hasn’t ever been any talk about it.

You have been on Sunday and Coalition for a little while now, How are things going with that?
Real good both companys have helped me out a lot I’ve actully just recently got put on Coalition which I was really excited about, I love the image the company has and the parts they put out. everythings been working out really well with that.

What parts do you break most often?
Theres really only one part I go through the most and thats my freecoaster, I’m pretty sure I’ve gone through six of them in the past year. Its deffently not a cheap part to be going through either.

What are some new tricks you have got going on these days?
I’ve been just working on trying tricks I wouldn’t normaly try like I’ve been trying a lot of 5’s off things hopfully soon doing it down a set. mostly tricks not having to do with grinding. trying to have more variety with my riding.

*Click to see 540 down stairs!

What is one trick that you could not do for the life of you?
Nose manuals, almost seems impossible for me.

You ride brakeless, could you ever see yourself with brakes again?
definatly enjoy riding brakeless way too much to go back to brakes I really couldn’t see anything I would want or need them for there just another thing in your way to slow you down haha.

You have been doing a fair amount of traveling in the last year, where are some of the places you have had the chance to travel?
Over past year ive been to a lot of places around the country like texas, arizona and cali. Those have deffently been some on the best place I’ve ever got to ride for sure. couldn’t ask for more at the spots o got to ride at those places.

Where are some places you really would like to go to?
The one place i want to go most is Barcelona. It seems that everyone i talk to that has been there says it’s like a dream theres endless amazing spots and everything about it looks so nice. Theres no place I rather go more then there I dont think.

Who are some of your closer riding friends?
These friends are definatly the people that keep me modivated to ride Muffinman, Tom Lavorgna, Cory Godfrey, Adam 22, Spam, Alex Platt Loey and Jayren Pierson

Who is one person you have always wanted to ride with but never had the chance?
Seth kimbrough, i’ve had the chance to talk to him a bit but never the chance to ride with him.

Who or what do you think effects your riding the most?
I’d say my freinds effect my riding the most.

Other than the Manmade edit, do you have any other video parts or anything in the works?
Other than the manmade video I’ll be filming for the new sunday video. Im not to sure on if its going to be a mixed part or if the flow team will each have a part of there own. I know either way the flow teams footys going to be real good cuz they all kill it.

What are some riding videos or video parts you are really stoked on right now?
ive been really psyched the whole insight video, def one of the best videos ive seen in a while. my fav part hands down though is aaron ross and chase hawks electronical parts

What do you have planned for 08′ riding wise?
Hopfully just traveling as much as possible and meeting more rad dudes that love to ride as much as i do.

What do you think you would be doing if you didn’t ever pick up a bike way back when?
Probably be going to school for graphic design or somthing having to do with art. Im really not to sure, I just know my life would be completly different if I hadn’t picked up a bike.

What are some of your interests outside of BMX?
Films, I’m really into to creating short horror films i’ve made a few hopfully further down the road succesfuly making a full lenth one. Music, I love going to shows, I try to hit up as many as possible. A friend of mind is in a band so I often go to his shows and film his band. There sick check them out (myspace.com/thisneverhappens)

Do you work at all or is riding your main priority?
I work at a shop call The Garden. Its one of the best jobs I could ask for it’s a skate/bike, shoes/clothing shop and i run the whole bike part of the shop. The boss is really cool about letting me take time off when ever I go on trips or even if it’s a really nice day and im just wanting to ride my bike.

What are some of your favorite movies outside of riding movies?
Im a bit more of a horror fan but just the other night I went and saw the movie 21 and loved it, definatly one of the better movies ive seen in a wile.

What are some bands you are into, any unknown ones you think people should check out?
Definatly winds of plague, probably one of my favorite bands right now, i’d say check out any of the death metal/ grind core scene.

What are some of your favorite websites?
Only 3 that i really check ever Myspace, The come up, Defgrip but i’ll definatly have to add bmxunion to the list and definatly check out Yauw coming out with in the next cupple weeks, sites going to be hot!

What is a crazy story from being on the road?
Sean burns told us this story on the come up trip about this girl he knew that ‘finger bangs cats’ that had to be the craziest story i’ve heard

In your old come up interview, you mentioned you had 2 cell phones, do you still have that going on or did you get you some service?
Nope my towns still got no service but I recently got rid of both phones and got my self a black berry. so problem solved

If you could sum yourself up in 5 words what would they be?
BRAH
wet
milk
cream
juice

*Click to see big
Photo Credit: Keith Romanowski

If you won the lottery, what would you do with the money?
Build a legit skate park plaza in my town for my self and the locals that rip in my town and probably give some to my rents cuz they definetly helped me out way too much with cash over the years, so it would be nice to pay them back and just have the rest to buy some nice stuff for my self I guess.

Do you got a lady friend? and do you have any game advice for the guys having trouble getting chicks?
Nope cant say that I do, I wish I had some advice but im one of those kids having truble finding a girl. So I wouldnt be so much help haha. A girl friend would be nice but it will happen when it happens. Im not stressing

Who or what are some of your biggest influences on your life as a whole?
My Parents/Grandparents and friends but mostly my younger brother hes the one that keeps me reminded to stay on the right track because I want him to do the same.

If you could spend the day with anybody alive or dead, who would it be and why?
It would be my grandfather hands down I had some of my best exsperinces with him.

What are some things you would like to accomplish in the next few years?
To prove to my grandmother that my riding can take me somewhere in life

What is one food you could never get sick of?
Steak cooked on the Grill

When you leave the house, what things do you always have with you?
cell phone, bike, knee brace

How do you feel about websites like myspace?
Im into it, I dont know why but it’s a good time killer when your sitting around. It’s also a real good way to stay in touch with good friends from out of town.

What would you do if something happened and you weren’t allowed to ride your bike anymore?
Defintly a hard question to answer. I really dont know it would be so devistating.

How do you feel about big contests and BMX racing being in the olympics?
Not into it personaly just because of the competitiveness and seriousness of it, but its deffenlty helping out the industry a lot. Hopefully BMX just continues to grow more and more.

If you could change one thing about BMX, what would it be and why?
People stressing about other peoples riding, people worry way to much about how others ride just worry about your self, ride and have fun. thats what BMX is all about.

Do you have any shout outs or thanks?
My Mom, Dad Al my Brother, Grandmother, Grandfather who was a huge part of my life, All my Friends you guys no who you are. Bill and Matt over at the garden with out those guys I wouldn’t have the best job ever. Jay Elling, Kieth dom and scott for taking all my photos.Adam 22, the dudes helped me out so much. big thanks to Mr. Jim C at Sunday Darren from manmade, all the guys over at coalition and Hell on earth and finally like to thank Kurt over at BMX union for giving me the chance to do this interview thanks for eveything guys with out all these people i wouldnt be the person i am today.

Albes Road Trip Recap

April 19, 2008

Flip just emailed me telling me about all the fun they had on their big road trip they took for Albes..Click that link to see photos and stuff, real good stuff! There is also a Video on Go211 check that out!

Craig Mast Interview

April 19, 2008

As you know, Craig rips… You also know that news broke yesterday of him being put on Eastern’s pro team, so it is kind of weird how I happend to send him an interview just a few hours before that came up.. So, here is the interview it’s a good one!

Name:
Craig Allen Mast

Location:
Youngstown, Ohio

Sponsors:
DC shoes, Eastern bikes, fender guitars

Years Riding:
about 5

You have been popping up all over lately at the big contests! Is it hard to get around being only 17?
Na, its not so bad DC is real good about sending me everywhere. But being 17 is deffinately rough when traveling, I cant sign for anything, and im not a huge fan of being left out of the festivities.

Are you still in school or what?
Ya, i”m still in school. My high school is paying for me to take online courses. They agreed to do it after the superintendent saw me on NBC for the dew action sports tour.

You recently got 3rd at Jomo pro, how do you feel about that contest? any highlights of the weekend for you.
That’s definately one of my favorite contests, they treat the athletes great. Every minute of the contest was a highlight for me.

You are doing front flip flairs on pretty tiny quarters, how the hell did you pull that one off?
Ive been messing around with that trick for awhile now, but i was never able to figure it out. 3 days before the contest i took a trip out to camp woodward. It took me about 5 trys on the resi before it just clicked. And that was about it, now I got it. But so every one knows Keith Macilaney invented it on vert. ( i know i spelled his name wrong)

Actually in general how the hell did you get so good?
Haha, never give up.

You have been riding with a full face the entire time, why? Do you dislike the way you look? (haha kidding)
(laughs) well it acually took me quite some time to get smart. I knocked 4 front teeth out twice, ripped my chin open 3 times, and broke my jaw, before i decided enough is enough, best thing i ever did.

In 06′ you were 35th in in the dew tour standings.. 17th last year, what are you looking to do for 08′?
1st or at least top three, and if not this year the next.

Since your still in school, what do your friends think of you being on tv and stuff?
Well i haven’t seen a whole lot of those kids for awhile, but they did play a bio i did for fuel tv. ounce at my school. I think they think its dope.

How are things going with the sponsors, when will you see you bumped up to the pro teams?
Thats funny you asked this, because i acually got picked up by eastern yesterday and they put me on the pro team. But i have to pay my dues it will come with work.

Your riding is pretty crazy, who or what are your biggest influences on your riding?
I used to ride a park called Section 8, i would give it more than half the credit for my riding today. But I guess their would be three people in general that helped me mold threw out the years. Steve lucket, Sonya, and Steve Cuesta were their names. They all helped me out so much. Steve Lucket was the owner, he let me ride for free and gave me many a motivational speech. And Cuesta was kinda the reason i started riding. He did every thing he could to help me out.

If you could only ride one kind of thing for a week, what would it be and why?
a section 8 kinda thing. R. I. P.

This might seem odd, but what tricks can you not do?
I cant 720 anything big, never could cant figure it out.

If you could play a game of BIKE with any pro, who would it be and why? and would you win?
Allen Cooke, cause i would laugh the whole time. Big ramps he wins, small ramps i win.

If you could ride anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?
I would do anything to flow threw section 8 again.

Outside of the contests do you have any trips or video parts planned?
Eastern has a tour coming up in june, but other than that my schedule is pretty empty.

You would appear to be a trainer, do you train at all or just wing it?
haha a trainer huh? I guess you could say that. I realized quickly that if i wanted to do this for ever i had to make a living. But in the end im just trying to ride.

What do you think you would be up to if you never got into BMX?
Id probably be sitting in math class hating my life.

Outside of riding what are some of your interests?
playing that fender is a huge interest of mine. I love making music.

Since your getting close to being done with high school, do you plan on going to college or try this whole bmx thing out?
Ill probably end up going but for now ill just stick with what makes me happy, my bike.

How is the relationship status, aren’t you dating like a 24 year old? How did you pull that one off?
Hahaha, shes so not stoked right now. Na shes only 20. She’s awesome tho, definately makes me happy.

Rumors are that a score board fell on her once?
Hahaha, This rumor is true. In Baltimore last year for he first stop of the dew action sports tour, she was standing in the vip stands when a huge time clock fell on her head. It cut her forehead to the bone. The best part about it was that it happened 5 minutes before my run. Talk about stress. !

What are some bands your into?
Metallica!, Metallica!, Rush.

What is your dream car?
Blue Shelby mustang

What are some really big things you believe in? Like life wise..
I believe that Jesus saves. He saved me once.

If you are able to vote by the time that comes around, who are you or would you vote for?
Probably the green party, the other choices aren’t so good.

What would you do with the money if you won the lottery?
no idea.

What kind of advice do you have for kids just getting into bmx?
have fun, hold onto your teeth, helmets are cool, your parents are your best sponsor.

What kind of advice do you have for people looking to get into the contest circuit?
I would tell them to do their own thing, thats the only way to stand out.

Do you have any shout outs or thanks?
Thanks to Eric from DC shoes, Leigh Ramsdel from eastern, Allen Cooke, Steve Cuesta, Steve and Sonya, Dave Mirra, my best friend Malone, My awesome women Mia, my mother and my father, and God.

Anything else you would like to add I forgot?
Get sick!

See More BMX Videos at VitalBMX.com

Matt Lawton Bike Check

April 18, 2008

Matt Lawton who owns Tempered Bikes has a bike check with all of the new prototype stuff they got coming out on the Diversity site.
Why am I mentioning this? Well because there should be a interview I did with Matt up on here in the coming few days.. get stoked the guy is an interesting dude.

New Layout!

April 18, 2008

So…
BMXunion has changed again…

So heres the deal, people had been wanting to have the site.. a little less… well clustered on the text side of things, So I finally got the coding working for it to do the “click here to read more” thing. I am stoked on that.
I have a bunch of stuff on the right side all organized and I think it looks real clean..
Obviously there will be changes as the day goes on.. So I hope you like it!

Speaking of Beloe

April 15, 2008

I was just informed that Beloe is having a contest where you litterally can win stuff because you have a pair of shoes.

Check out the Contest right there.

Get some!

See beloe for info on the Bauers!

Beloe: Bauer Review

April 14, 2008

So, Beloe has been out for a little while now, and they seem to be getting pretty popular fast. After wearing nothing but Etnies for the last 6 or 7 years I had finally tried a new brand. I was really into the things Brian Osborne was doing so I figured why not give them a shot. So I ordered up a pair of the Bauer’s since they seemed to be pretty popular and looked real cool.
Now I am sure most of you reading this know about the whole thing behind Jim Bauer’s shoe design.

This shoe is based off the last few bikes he has along with a bunch of the colorways he has had for parts.
This started from a ledge he painted for a contest a while back. I couldn’t find the photo of that ledge and him painting it so if anybody has that could you E-mail me that?

So back to the shoes, so I have had them for a few days now…
Originally I was going to get the stitches but my buddy Rob got them so… that just doesn’t work out.
So alright, first real test of the shoes was work. Working retail blows, it also blows when you work for 7 hours and don’t get to sit down at all. So I was standing in these brand new unbroken in shoes which I figured was going to be a disaster. However, they are actually real comfy with good arch support and a feel of a wider shoe; not super tight on the sides like a lot of shoes now days. They aren’t like wide looking though so that is a perk. I really like the feel of them for sure a difference between my last few pairs of shoes for sure. The toe of the shoe is real stiff, I don’t know if they are because they are new or because they were made that way for footjams and other good tricks. I just know that it is a perk for all those kids with 20 different footjam variations.

The look of the shoes as you can see are a little “different” and by different I mean the colors, pink, and baby blue are two of the colors, along with a little brown mix. I kind of had to laugh because my mom happend to be around when I opened up the box and the first thing she said was “those things look kind of gay”, I know shocker. I was pretty much over the colors before I ordered them so this didn’t phase me, I explained the story behind the design and then it wasn’t so “gay”. I actually got a lot of compliments on them the last few days now that I think of it, being that they are different and have a cool design people dig it. (esspecailly girls)

So I took them out for a spin on the bike at the skatepark. Truth of the matter is that it is awkward riding in fresh shoes that aren’t broken in. My feet slipped a bit on the plastic pedals I rock and just didn’t feel like I was moving comfortably in them. This is obviously the fact that they are new though. The rubber hasn’t been broken in on the bottom giving it more grip and flex to comfortably stand on the pedals. This is typical among all new shoes! So I rode for a bit, did a few footjams and the toes were safe and it was solid. I really liked the feel after I got used to them a bit I can see these shoes lasting a long time too. I don’t ride brakeless so I am not one to jam my foot in the tire and rip my shit up but I think they would do decent against all the street dogs out there.

Overall I personally feel they were a good investment. They look good, chicks dig them, they are really comfortable and pretty good for riding in (I am sure they will be real good after a week or so). So if my opinion at all matters to you, which it doesn’t, then I would suggest these for you to try out. I don’t know how many people are like me that only rock a certain brand but if you feel like mixing it up it is worth a shot to try Beloe’s out.

They run around $64 dollars, along with the other shoes that are more in the $50 dollar range. I don’t think that is half bad considering that most shoes cost that anyways.
You can pick some up at:
Dan’s and
Albes

Ride BMX: Insight – Review

April 11, 2008

Alright, so here is a review that is going to be a litte different!
Myself and Alex from Give D are doing reviews on it from two different perspectives.
Myself, only seeing the DVD (which I watched a few times in the last few days)
and Alex, who was at the premiere, and has seen it all plenty of times. Sure this might be a long read but I think overall you will get an understanding of how good we felt it was.

Kurt’s views
So this is how it goes in order I guess is the best way to do this.
The intro which is a lot like the trailer plus a few extra clips, the song is the same too. However, maybe I am just weird but I was super into that song and want to find more like that.
Something I thought was cool is the guys in the video all talk about the different challenges with filming parts and just their perspective on things, I found that pretty interesting.
So then after the intro it rolls into Dakota’s part! I don’t even have to tell you the kid is good, you already know this.
Somebody complained on another review of mine I didn’t tell what was going on tricks wise, but I don’t want to give it away so I will describe the stuff a little better this time through.
He has a lot of wall ride lines, and a lot of bank to wall rides where he does some spins including a man sizes 540 out of one. There is a pretty big rail hop then immediately after he rides up a pretty straight up and down pallet.
He also does a 180 off this big ledge going about mach 10 into the street, brakeless like a champ. However, I was kind of bummed on his ender banger, it was just a ice over into a drop but I couldn’t tell how big the drop was, so I was bummed on that.

Next up was Chester Blacksmith’s part, this part was rough for Chester I guess, he got broken a lot filming for this including a compound fracture in his leg, they show you that crash which is badass, his wheel explodes! Some of the things I was super into was the loooong multiple kinked rail that turned a bunch, super good. He also does this double peg to over into a bank, but he beat the hell out of himself doing it! real tough dude. Remember that photo from Ride where Chester was bailing like way up in the air out of a tree?
Well, they show that, and the one where he actually lands, I am shocked he has ankles and pedals let’s just put it that way.

Darryl Toccos part up next! I am going to throw this out here, this personally was my favorite part. I don’t know what it was about it but I just liked it a lot. The weird thing that I am shocked I was happy about was the number of barspins he did.
He litterally does a barspin in almost every clip, I usually would get bored, but the way he does barspins is super fast and does them clean as hell. Also, he had some really good tobbagons too! He does a pretty long rail to real clean tobaggon out, hot!
The other was this ginormous pole jam! It had to easily be a 5 foot tall pole jam, he did multiple variations out of it and it was rad. Sorry if I seem overly excited about this part.

The friends part was cool, it was just a mix of other clips collected throughout the filming. As you can see from my notes in the picture attached, Van does a real clean rail ride to whip.
Sean Burns is an animal, massive 360 down a big set! He takes himself out the first try but gets it done. Nathan Williams has some real good clips. There is a guy with a red bandana I don’t know who he is, but being a pussy like I am, this makes me nervous.I feel like I am going to get stabbed or something watching this dude. Brad Simms does like a 30 stair double peg up the rail, man sized. That Eric Litchenberge dude is good, he has some sweet clips. So over all this part was really interesting!
I didn’t really take the time to stop the credits to get all the names but there was like 10 people in this part and it turned out to be solid.

They did a 4 way part with Mark Gralla, Jeff Kocsis, Dave Belcher, and Tom White. If you have paid attention to the web videos and stuff lately these names all sound firmilar. Some really smooth lines from Mark, the kid kills it! A lot of wall rides and nose manual tricks so I am sure if your a street dog you will be into this kid. Jeff has a few good lines, my favorite was a hop onto a block thing, to 180 gap onto another block to cab out, that is some difficult stuff! Dave has a clip where he manuals a truck beds like side, so an inch at most. He also ices up a big rail!
Tom does some real cool stuff in some good spots, however his banger is a over to double peg, where if he messes up he could have falled probably 20 feet to death, RESPECT!

Jared Washington has a smile that is contagious, now that might sound gay, but seriously the dude is smiling like his whole part it is real cool. Except when he gets 13 flats trying one trick, then he ets pissed! haha Some of his good stuff includes a superman seat grab, fast barspins and whips, and a bank into ice into bank whic seemed to be a pain in the ass for him, it was good. He finishes stuff up with a smith up a rail to barspin out, real good stuff!

Mike Brennan makes me hurt. The guy kicks his own ass all the time! He makes some awesome grunts too when he falls and he is a tall dude so he takes it like a beast. His song for the part is Eye of the Tiger so you know it is awesome.
If Mike reads this, stop killing yourself for real! I couldn’t believe how much he got worked making this part. He has a few different spots where he does sprocket stalls to over, and well, one of which is like a 7 foot drop into a bank, I thought that was really cool. His ender trick is a massive whip into a ditch, I cannot believe he lived after his first go at it, that’s all I should have to say about that. High five on riding in basketball shorts too! I want that trend to really kick up I am all for basketball shorts.

Davey Watson is good, backwards manuals down stairs, jumps big ass drops, 180’s big ass drops, gets kids in park all excited watching him do some stuff. The talent he has is wild. He apparently likes to party.
He seems to be a very positive grateful guy who enjoys what he’s doing! He even does a man sized icepick, I think to be honest this was one of the first parts I have seen of him and I think that I want to see more of this! I laugh when I think of his ride video interview from the premiere where he talks about being drunk doing his big stuff, which makes me wonder what clips he was actually bombed in.
I spy B Dubs in the background of the last clip too which is the man sized icepick I talked about.

The bonus stuff is really cool, the guys talk about all the stuff that happend throughout the making of the video and just the challenges to making a good video. I think this is cool because you see the stuff normally not seen when videos are put together. This is the part where they show Chester’s crash where he snaps his leg I believe, and blows out his backwheel! That stuff gross’s me out. Jared admits to “showering in that shit”…please tell me you have seen my new haircut?
There is a full on crash section, a lot of it is Mike just rocking himself making the video, I am shocked he is alive and gets up and rides everyday. RESPECT. They also mention getting pistol whipped.. so I am curious what that is all about!

Overall
The filming was real solid! I think that it was cool that there wasn’t a lot of fisheye shots which made life better for me. I guess I just personally dislike all the distortion from the fisheye shots but that is just me. The quality is clean too!
The graphic work is clean and not overdone. There isn’t a ton of moving things throwing your eyes everywhere, just simple stuff but still looks great.
I felt like the editing was good too! It was well put together and there wasn’t much for extras, a few slow-mo’s here and there but they just made some tricks look even better. So I am a fan of that.

The Music was interesting, it had a good mix of hip hop and classic rock stuff. I think that is good because over doing it on rap kills it for me, but over doing it on other stuff can do that too. I got a good vibe from the songs esspecially Mike’s song haha.

Here is a kicker I liked, the run time for the video is about 36 minutes not including the Animal promo and Ride Staff section. This is good because videos tend to drag on after a while, but this video is pretty quick and will get you excited to go ride.
I think with that being said, with summer coming up quick I could see this be the “Wake up and watch, then go ride” video.
Little note of the ride staff section, Fudger can ride better than you… I want to see a legit part from him sometime! The other guys on the staff also can rip it. Fat Tony impressed me. He wears a helmet for all of his clips, this is really cool because nobody else in the whole video had a helmet on and to be honest with all the brain injuries lately like Levan, it should start picking up but that is just my opinion! Don’t get pissed! haha

Alex’s views
Wow, where do I start with this video? Its so damn good, the showcased riders, the music selection, the editing, the trickery…

Well, I guess I’ll start with this statement, Ride BMX has full regrets firing Ryan Navazio… Why you ask? Because this is the best Ride video ever produced and I don’t see something with the “Ride” name on it topping this video for a long time without the help and ability of Navaz. I could be wrong but hell that’s my opinion on that subject…

Anyways, the DVD is packaged in a clean looking case, Dakota on the front, killing it of course. That’s always a good sight to see and if you don’t like that, you can suck it. Flip the case over and you’ve got 6 really unique, talented riders, all of which do their own thing when it comes to riding. They shred way hard, pure and simple. Now open up the case and you’ll see this glorious DVD and some prime photos from the past filming trips for the making of this video… Pop that disc out, put that in your player and take notes on what you’re about to watch…

The movie opens up with an awesome montage, little tastes of all the riders and different scenes. I really like how they have a text screen at times to the words of the rider that’s speaking. It gives a good feel to the video, really legit in all ways… Dakota is the first featured rider and he gives you the rundown on what its like to film in Southern California… All of what Dakota says is true, so if you plan on filming in So Cal then you need to be prepared for long driving sessions and shutdowns. Dakota’s a real local dude and I’ve had the opportunity to watch him shred fairly often now. This video is no exception, you can basically watch Dakota shred a lot of Southern California’s most famous spots with some of the most original trickery. The song for Dakota’s part fits amazingly well and I think that’s what really makes the section. I don’t need to get down on droppin the tricks that are fired out, if you’ve seen anything from Dakota, you know how he gets down. You’ll just have to watch it for yourself, if you haven’t already. I’m just going to say that Dakota is one of my favorite riders and his section does not disappoint.

Chester Blacksmith’s section is next, a little shorter than the rest of the sections but for an obvious reason why… I’m sure a lot of people have witnessed that terrible crash on MTV or Youtube and can see why this dude is such an ape. This section has some gnarly moves but the best part about Chester is that a lot of his riding is basic stuff. He just goes higher and does it bigger than anyone else, its plain to see he’s not much for tech riding, just big ol’ beefy stuntin’. This video doesn’t show his gnarly wall ride crash to destroyed leg and I think that’s a good thing…

After that section its Darryl Tocco, I was never really a fan of Darryl Tocco until his sweet, sweet Insight section ended… I had never seen much from him but this video part opened my eyes to how much ass he kicks. He shoots smooth as butter bars into and out of everything, its ridiculous. Barspins shouldn’t be in the combos he does, but they’re definitely there and there’s lots of em. It’s another example of where the chosen song makes the video section so appealing, Darryl’s a tech master on everything he rides and he makes it all look so effortless…

A really good friends section follows and it’s got plenty of cameos and good riding from all over the place. Cameos include Van Homan, Kurt Rasmussen, Jack Maddox, Brad Simms, The German and more… I’m real stoked on Kurt’s and The German’s clips, both are local California dudes and both are way kick ass. It’s just good to see that they’re getting good coverage, they deserve it most definitely. For those of you who don’t know The German, his real name is Eric Litchenberger and he’s a good friend of mine. Eric rides no pegs and shreds rails as if he ran pegs, he also happens to tire ride everything in sight like its no problem. Germans are crazy accurate, so I’ve heard? I also happened to see a clip of Mike Hoder in there as well… Weird.

Next is a four way split between Mark Gralla, Jeff Kocsis, Dave Belcher and Tom White. I won’t lie, I don’t care too much for the split section because I only happen to enjoy Tom White in all that, I just don’t care much for the other dudes. It’s a couple of Chase D clones and Dave Belcher, with lots of Tom White doing the gnarly shit he does. There’s definitely some tech stuff within the section that’s sure to get you stoked, if you’re into it, its all street shredding too… I really like how the riders are introduced, getting pulled along side a truck or something… It’s put together real well, looks real cool and the song is real prime as well, it’s a good little section but I’m just not feeling all the riders so much…

Jared Washington follows with some real damn good shredding, I was real into this section because I was used to watching Jared in the old Animal videos. His riding was a little shakey and his bikes were always really sketchy… I hate watching a video part with a whole lot of klink-klanking bike sounds in there, dial that piece in!! I would say this was a major upgrade of what I was used to, his riding ability went way up and he seems to be riding some real dialed bikes finally. All good things to see, his grinding skill on numerous obstacles is real fun to watch and his grind combos get me stoked. The only thing that was weird to me was the beginning of the section where he’s gone through a dozen tubes trying a bump up 6 stair to curve wall to tailwhip off the stair set… It just seemed like I was going to see something real gnarly, I feel that they just built it up to much. Really good and fun to watch though!!

Mike Brennan is an animal and definitely clocks in somewhere way past 6 foot tall, he makes any bike look like a 16 inch. His riding speaks for itself, creative, gnarly and even tech at times. He has a little of everything and showcases all of that in his section. He rides to Eye of The Tiger by Survivor and rightfully so… This part put Mike Brennan on top of his game and I’m sure we’ll see lots more of him in the near future. I have no complaints on this section, it’s to damn good and if there’s anything wrong with it, it’s that he throws whips and bars down things you shouldn’t even be sessionin’. Mike Brennan kicks ass. Watch the video and see why…

Davey Watson has a section dedicated to out of hand grinds, switch, opposite and sometimes both in the same grind. He also happens to session his front and back wheel a lot, with ridiculously fast 540 cabs, real long manual lines to 180, which are also fast, footjam whippers on everything, and fakie hangfives… Davey’s section is basically tech stuff mixed with gnarly street riding, he says “Whad Up Doe” during a hanger tooth… Hoder has another clip of himself with a rail hop/gap in there as well. How many hidden clips of Hoder are there in this video anyways?? I definitely like the song but I don’t know if I like it to this section, I think they should’ve used something else. It’s the best riding I’ve seen from Davey and I really enjoy watching that dude shred. He’s got a kick ass, don’t give a shit attitude as well. Can’t beat that…

Shortly after there’s more montage stuff of the riders shredding, taking it and speaking about the filming process for Insight… There’s definitely a “my new haircut” reference after the credits… SHOWER IN THAT SHIT!! Once that’s over you get to the good stuff with the bonus goodies on the DVD… Crash section kicks ass, Brian Kachinsky wins that crash section, hangover tooth on El Toro rail to chest bash… So brutal… All sorts of bails and biffing on everything, I love watching the crash sections. Animal has a solid promo in the extras as well, some real good clips in there and its filmed and edited pretty well… Then if you’re feelin it, you can watch the ride staff shred it up a bit…

This video definitely kicks a lot of ass, if you haven’t seen this yet you need to get off your fat ass, purchase it, then sit on your fat ass again and watch it. This video gets me stoked to go out and ride every time I watch it and that’s how a video should be…