Back in the spring of 2015, when I first asked Brett if he wanted to be on the Sunday AM team, he told me, “There’s nothing I want to do more.” It was the perfect answer, and he wasn’t kidding – Brett’s been beyond stoked to travel and film with Sunday, and it’s easy to tell if you’ve seen his incredible Grow Up part, which you can watch right now at the top of this page.

Don’t think any of this comes easy. It’s not uncommon for Jake’s attempts at a clip to number in the hundreds; that’s not a testament to a lack of skill or ability, but to how hard what Jake’s doing really is, and to how dedicated he is to making the crazy shit he cooks up happen.

The other thing about Jake is he’s a perfectionist. Jake will try something 100 times, pull it nearly perfectly, hate one almost imperceptible detail, and give it another 100 goes. There are clips in his Grow Up part he landed seven or eight times, still wasn’t happy with, and we had to convince him to use. I don’t think I’ve ever filmed with a rider with such high standards.

A big part of Gary’s sustained upward trajectory comes from how he keeps it fresh. Gary is nothing if not adaptable: he continues to evolve with BMX and embrace new forms of riding and changing bike setups while still maintaining his core pedal-to-the metal style of hauling ass and charging through any obstacle in his path. Gary rides everything, and he rides it at full speed and with unmatched authority.

A great example: the barspin in Mexico, pictured above. It has to be one of the most impressive bike riding feats I’ve witnessed in 20-odd years of BMX. The barspin was wild in and of itself, but the conditions with which Aaron had to contend should have made it impossible. By the time he’d hopped the ledge a few times and was ready to throw the bars, there had to have been 100 people in that little square, most watching intently and filming with their phones while others carelessly cut him off on approach. Everybody spoke Spanish, and the language barrier meant Jake was having little luck playing crossing guard. The crowd booed when Aaron would take a run up. Imagine the pressure! Aaron got it done.

Aaron works hard on a lot of other things too. Between being a pro rider simultaneously filming for two full-length video parts (don’t miss his upcoming sure-to-impress Etnies Chapters part), a prolific social media enthusiast, a husband, a business owner (follow @burrocheese), and 100 other interests and endeavors I’m not thinking of, it’s hard to know how he finds enough hours in the day. Even with all that, Aaron has been known to personally answer almost every message and question sent to him over social media. Yep, he’s a pretty great guy too.

This young man is unbelievably confident on his bike and will casually fire out hyper-elaborate tech combos and the most dangerous and intimidating stunts without breaking a sweat. Mark has this extraordinary ability to set aside any fear and lingering doubts and fully commit to every go. I guess it’s easy to be confident when you’re as comfortable on your bike as Mark clearly is.

It’s not hard to see how Mark rides at such a high level – his enthusiasm for riding is virtually unmatched. He’s always the one pushing for the night mission after a long day of filming, and he’ll happily solo sesh his flat rail for hours on end. His energy is seemingly limitless, and it spreads easily. Mark brings a lot of life to any situation.

Even with his abundant skill, Mark works for it. He’s constantly pushing his limits – it’s fair to say he goes down harder and more frequently than anyone else on the team (he has the ender crash section in the Grow Up bonus), but the struggle is no match for his determination. Mark shrugs off the most brutal wrecks and keeps going until he lands it or physically can’t continue.

The word “casual” gets thrown around a lot when describing highly-skilled bike riders, but Chris is the poster boy for casual. Chris routinely fires out the craziest shit like it’s nothing; I’ve never seen anything like it. Even after years of filming with him, I’m still taken aback by the caliber of the stunts he’s dreaming up, and perhaps even more so by his carefree attitude towards them. For the incredible amount of risk Chris is taking, he’s cool as a cucumber.

With Chris there are usually no run ups and no second tries. Even on the rare occasion he’s actually sweating something, more often than not it’s one and done. The last five tricks in his part were all first try. That’s unheard of.

You see, Chris may send wild moves on the reg, but he’s no hucker. To the contrary, Chris thinks through everything he does, and if he calls something out you know it’s been fully analyzed and deemed within his capabilities. When you’re messing with as much speed, distance, and gravity as Chris is, you can’t be rolling the dice.

Aside from its sheer magnitude, the other striking thing about Chris’s riding is its diversity. Chris can do it all – the biggest gaps, drops, wallrides, and rails, put together a flat ledge line, trick every jump at the trails, flow a ramp like it’s nobody’s business – Chris feels at home on all terrains and at all speeds, even if his preferred mode is hauling ass.

But to me, the best thing about watching Chris ride is that as calculated and dialed as he may be, he pushes it to the limit and sits right on the line between in control and total disaster. His riding has a certain looseness to it that keeps you on the edge of your seat and just a little bit scared for his life. It’s that little bobble, that extra bit of seemingly accidental kickout that gives his riding so much character and makes it so goddamn entertaining.

And, Chris is a true renaissance man. When not effortlessly dominating his bicycle, he spends his time making music, painting, filming and editing BCAVE videos, and enjoying a whole slew of other creative interests that keep his mind productive. He’s also a solid dude and one of the most easygoing people you could ever hope to travel with, and while I don’t have any actual tallies, he probably spent more time on the road filming for Grow Up than anybody else. Watching his part, it’s easy to see that dedication.

Watching him ride, it’s even easier to appreciate the breadth of Erik’s fertile imagination. Erik can do whatever he wants on his bike, and he chooses not to do what everyone else is doing. Erik could be a tech rail master or flat ledge god if he wished, stacking the usual tricks in new and innovative ways and linearly progressing BMX in standard increments, but he is destined for so much more.

You can always count on Erik to see a spot where no one else has and look at a classic spot in ways others haven’t. Erik’s M.O. is to seek out and locate a unique spot, and then do the unthinkable on it. Never content to simply make do with the obvious, it’s his determination to go above and beyond, to carve his own path and dream up ideas no one else would ever think of, that defines Erik’s riding.

Erik has more fun on his bike than anyone I know. He’ll happily ride the most ridiculous non-spot as hard as he can for hours, or, even more impressively, be 100 tries in filming some impossible trick and still laughing and cracking jokes. Even when riding at the highest possible levels, he’s really just playing around. While cataloging footage for Grow Up, I discovered Erik had – by far – the most B roll of anyone one the team, and nearly all of it was him being stoked and goofing off. Erik possesses a singular positivity and enthusiasm for living that radiates outward and inspires those around him.