I don’t usually feel too accomplished with my riding but looking back, it’s nice to know I was able to learn some new things, combine old things and still enjoy riding flatland at the age of 48. Here’s to a new year, thanks for watching!

Thirty days later, this is the result. It’s a hodge podge of undertakers, randomness, one wall bounce and some old school BMX things I hadn’t done in a few years. And, instead of stressing over next to impossible tricks, I had fun with the oldies.

Here’s a quick rundown if you’re curious:

1. The first barspin undertaker to cancan I landed.
2. The first double barspin undertaker to cancan I landed. (while it was raining outside, hence the weird angle)
3. The same stupid rolling combo I usually do, but this time, I grab the frame on the invisible hand part.
4. Tailwhip to undertaker to one-foot long rope-a-roni. (I need more space to roll this further.)
5. Tailwhip to undertaker to cancan.
6. Cancan to undertaker to cancan. (Kinda stupid but oh well.)
7. Peg wheelie to undertaker. (Super old but still fun.)
8. Peg wheelie to undertaker to cancan in a really stupid hat. (I was having trouble getting this right and then thought, if you wear the dumb hat, you’ll land it first try. That was unfortunately a correct assumption.)
9. Half-hiker to dave duster to fire hydrant to backward hitchhiker to wall bounce inspired by Mark Lewman’s sequence from Freestylin’ over 30 years ago.
10. Footjam to smoothie boomerang smith decade thing.
11. Squeaker to undertaker.
12. Shane’s original trick request: Throw a cancan in between the undertaker and smith decade. I thought this would take a few months to get right but it only took an hour and five minutes.

I really wanted to keep August mellow because July was a serious trial, and too many serious trials makes riding unfun. It worked for a time.

First trick is a half-hiker to one-handed hitch, something I’ve done before and just had a natural inclination to try again. The whip to grab feels really nice. The ride out, not so much. The shorts, they are my dog’s favorite thing to lay on.

Second trick is a brakeless gerator to backyard to rolling overtaker exit. I didn’t think these were possible in the garage (cause I usually roll them straight) but it worked out. I’ve also depended way too much on back brakes going from peg wheelie to gerator so it’s nice to know that it’s not really an issue anymore.

Third trick is a silly half-hiker/invisible hand/hitch link. Just something I had written down that only took a few minutes to do, as opposed to the three hour marathon sessions from July…

Fourth trick is a one-handed (very briefly) double tailwhip to undertaker. It’s stupid.

Fifth trick is a straight up footjam to backwards hitch to complicated ride out of a corner. No notes.

Sixth trick is dave duster to backwards hitch. This seems like something I’ve done in the past but I couldn’t remember when or where.

Seventh trick is a stalled undertaker. No notes.

Eighth trick is where I started to want complication again: barspin undertaker to gerator to rolling overtaker. I wanted to do this last month but it took a few hours to land and my mental fortitude wasn’t having it. This month though, it happened in 15 minutes. It’s sketchy, but I’ll take it.

Ninth trick is I don’t know why, a power mower to step-over decade boomerankle. I am terrible at decades, this feels a weird void from time to time.

Tenth trick is a barspin undertaker windshield wiper. I couldn’t do these a few months ago (kept bashing my privates.) Scott Powell assured me that I could, and an hour later, it happened. The ride out here is stinky. I would like to get to a point where I can stall it on both sides and just hop back and forth but we shall see.

Eleventh trick is why you’re hearing this song. I was trying this barspin forward rope-a-roni to rolling overtaker for an hour and coming close. Then this song came on and it happened. It’s basically inspiration from Nick Watts and me liking rolling overtakers this month.

Beginning with the barspin to undertaker to gerator: I went for the smith out on the first day, tried it for two hours and failed. The next morning, it happened within 15 minutes of starting to ride. And I’m sure this isn’t limited to me, but here’s the scenario I return to often: I start trying something, I get pretty close, then as I continue to try it, my attempts become worse and worse. Unfortunately, it’s always better for me to walk away and come back, even though that choice is something I never want to do. Because basically, it means that I sit around for an entire night agonizing over the scenario I’m going to re-create the next day in the garage… As Foreigner once said, “Head Games!”

(In case you don’t want to walk away, try this Andrew Huberman trick: Put the bike down, pick something in your line of sight that is far away from you, and focus on that for 10-30 seconds. It’s supposed to widen your focus, let your mind drift and accelerate learning. And I’ve actually seen some small benefit to it.)

Then I went for the double barspin and the barspin to gliding backyard, but I didn’t want to drive myself nuts going for the smith again, so I didn’t.

Then I fooled around with two tailwhip to backwards hitchhiker things, which are kinda no-brain, feel good tricks for me. (I don’t make the rules of when my brain decides to get involved.)

Then came the double tailwhip to undertaker. I was going for more of a traditional old school double tailwhip but veered into pinky squeak territory, then came back the next day to add in that silly cancan on the next one. If you have a front brake and are bored, try a stationary double tailwhip. It’s super hard!

Next up was a random rolling trick that involved a switch elbow glide dropped down to steamroller, pulled back up to hitch. Nothing to write home about but it felt good. And then I did a frame change….

Put together my old S&M Intrikat as a brakeless bike and did a steamroller to feel it out, then popped into invisible hand before throwing to hitch. Again, it felt nice so I’m sticking with it.

And here is where I bookend the month with a repeat of the beginning of the month. The no brakes double barspin to undertaker took three days to land, over 5 hours of attempts, in 102 degree temps. I was finally coming to the conclusion that it wasn’t going to happen, and then it actually happened. That was Saturday, July 30. It’s now the next day and I’m still exhausted and sore, but it’s on video and I never have to do it again. Again, as Foreigner once said, “Head Games!”

The undertaker to backwards wheelie to barspin undertaker: It took four days to land. I’ve seen Scott Powell and Rob Ridge pull out straight up double undertakers, no backwards wheelie. And I’ve tried to no avail. It can, probably happen, but for now, I remain an undertaker to short backwards wheelie to undertaker fool. Initially, I came really close to landing one of these on the first day of trying it, and then three more days had to pass before it just clicked. Brain got out of the way and everything just happened. I have other plans for this but because this took four days, I need a break.

The reverse cancan undertaker was a by-product of trying the reverse cancan undertaker to rope-a-roni. And that also took a while to get right. I swear, it just wasn’t my month for landing things in one session.

The two tailwhips to backwards hitchhiker were my way of saying, “okay, I need a few easy things to do that are fun and won’t break my will.” I’m kinda over looking at that Heresy frame but also too lazy to switch it out.

The half-hiker to invisible hand to g-turn to backwards hitchhiker happened after two hours of attempts on a 95 degree night. This, I will blame on the garage floor. There are some small bumps I’m still acclimating to. And even though I ground bars, I was too tired to redo it. So if you can’t find em, grind em.

The pull up to caboose thing is kinda difficult. It’s half brakeless lawnmower, half dump truck and not consistent. Combined with a pivot to upside down wheelie and then revert out the same side, I spent a good three hours trying to land this. And the final result is not hugely impressive.

The backwards elbow glide to undertaker was another trial: It took close to two hours to land. And I started trying it, thinking that it would be 15 minutes of attempts. Also, the camera adds a huge gut apparently. I will keep my shirt on from now on.

The last two smith decade clips are less than spectacular, but on 105 degree days, it’s just nice to ride for a few minutes.