Henry White Archives

Editorial: The BMX Industry and Community

April 1, 2015

Photo: Kurt Hohberger / Texas Toast 2013

Words by Henry White

If you haven’t picked up on it, I have a lot of views on the industry that many don’t like to talk about. My biggest pet peeve is the oppression we have all endured just for loving our sport. Maybe you haven’t experienced the struggle, that’s ok I won’t hold it against you, but there are many out there that will, in fact there are a lot that will. To many riders, BMX isn’t just about what you can do on a bike, it’s about the experiences you’ve had and how you translate that into your riding, aka your “style”. Which can be a beautiful thing, but that’s not what gets me riled up, it’s those who hold themselves over another because they’re not at the same riding level, it’s crap, bullying and not needed. Who cares what tricks you can do, shouldn’t we all just be enjoying ourselves and helping each other progress, after all BMX is just a leisure recreational activity right…or is it?…

[Read more…]

Urban Recreation – KC Badger Interview

March 25, 2015

Our friend, Henry White, hit us up with an interview he recently did with KC Badger talking about BMX and his other hobbies like fly fishing and how it effected the way he looks at things! It’s a great read and can be checked out RIGHT HERE!

[Read more…]

Editorial: Perceptions: Vol. 2: 3 BMX Riders Walk Into a Bar…

March 22, 2015

Photo: Eddie Welsch
Words by Henry White

“I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and riding with some spectacular athletes throughout my life. Whether it was my best friend Dustin Brakke who got me into riding, or shooting pics and vids of the legend Van Homan at a local bike shop tour stop for Fit, you tend to notice a lot about the traits of BMX athletes. As I discussed in Vol.I of Perceptions(BMX Union) the outside world tends to dismiss us because of our loud and boisterous attitudes, as always, it’s what they tend to overlook that has them at a disadvantage. Our outgoing, adventurous personalities combined with our incredible networking skills are vital in our success within the industry. Many outside our industry will have this forced upon them in college or are lucky enough to be natural at it. There’s no doubt it’s because of these traits that our numbers have grown incredibly since it’s inception, regardless our industry has remained and continues to be comprised of relatively small communities. Within these communities, almost everyone knows one another or has at least heard of each other, a trait you won’t find in traditional sports until you get into collegiate athletics, even then you have to break out to be noticed.

Breaking out: an often difficult step necessary to make it in an industry. A universal concept in all sports but in BMX we only encounter it in our search for sponsorship. Today’s generation an athlete often starts out as an individual, getting a friend to shoot some video, being sure to tag all the companies whose products they support before posting it on social media. Then, if lucky, the networking and talent will pay off and they’ll pick up that ever elusive sponsorship-everyone has heard of it, few have actually obtained it. It’s for good measure though, there are just too many riders in the industry for the competitions and companies that are leading and shaping our industry. What they put into their handful of pro riders would take too much away from the company. After all, they can’t treat everyone the same way.

What about team team play though? A rare topic of discussion in our industry…Does that make us a tad bit narcissistic? If you’re perception of being sponsored is all about you and your skill alone, you might want to rethink your approach. A bad attitude will keep you from a sponsorship just as quick as a lack in talent. If you haven’t noticed, every sponsor has a team of riders, I know for some people it’s obvious, others…welcome to the conversation. What I’m getting at is though we are a sport of individual riders, we should embrace the idea of team competitions and concepts, X-games introducing dirt doubles is only the beginning. In fact, if you take Mark Losey’s program that essentially created a NASCAR-esque rider poll position, the possibilities are endless, his contributions to the industry are seemingly endless too. I know many are against it and some are still on the fence but it’s really a remarkable innovation for our industry. Innovations, things we need more of, imagine a competition where riders are no longer judged just as individuals but their scores contribute to the overall rating/score of their sponsor, who’s had to carefully select their pro-team for an all around competition of the many disciplines (dirt, street, park, vert, flat). Revolutionary, I know, why hasn’t it happened? No one knows.

It’s things like this that leave me hopeful for the future. Hopeful that my peers will look past the harsh realities of the difficulty in making pro, and decide to push the pedal on their own ventures. I’ll be 32 this year, no real chance of becoming a professional athlete, my biking skills are far surpassed by the generations that lead our industry and those that are being raised as the next legends. I’m ok with that though, it will never stop me from getting on my bike and enjoying the sport, much like the adult softball and football league’s filled with drunken banter and witty conversations. Which leads me to my last thought; three bikers walk into a bar, one- a cameraman, the second- just a biker, the third- a digital media content manager. The Bartender asks “so who’s the pro?”…. All of them raise their hand. It’s this thought that helps me realize that though I might not be the best rider, I have other skills that are valuable in contributing to our multi-thousand dollar industry. Skills that will allow me to pursue my passion of riding until I can no longer hang on to my grips.” – Henry White

Interested in doing an Editorial piece of your own? Get ahold of us!

Editorial: Perceptions

March 16, 2015

Photo: Photogallery: X-Gams Austin 2014
Words by Henry White

“Perception: The ability to see, hear, or become aware of something through the senses.: “the normal limits to human perception”.

I wanted to include the definition just to be clear. I’ve had a running thought in my head about societies perception on Action Sports and their participants. We, the participants, all know they have it wrong, well at least my generation does, but the road then wasn’t quite as paved as it is for the next generation. Hard to realize that X-games has been around since 1994, but where would we be without them. It could be said that the catalyst of success in our industry was the X-games. It could even be said that they are our generation’s answer to the Olympics. As a matter of fact, though relatively new, BMX Racing as an Olympic competition hasn’t raised as big of an audience as the world of BMX Freestyle.

So why is it that society still views it in a negative light like it’s not as big and popular as the NFL, MLB, or NBA? I would blame the marketing, we’ve all been labeled, typecasted even. “Extreme-games”, it’s all in the name, marketed as such because the participants and viewers are not boring! We tend to exceed the normal limits of behaviors set by societies perception. Say what you will about the radical fans of traditional sports, I’m not knocking them, but show me a sport that has just as many if not more viewers that are actively participating in that sport. Our personalities have a tendency to be loud, outgoing, and adventurous types, clearly exceeding the normal limits of society. For us, you could even say that our game never ends, we are an industry of constant progression, and continual motion.

The beautiful thing about society is that it’s not linear, always changing in one direction or another, thus far my generation and those before me have been witness to an amazing evolution. With each decade new technology, a new mastery of balance, and amazing architecture that was beyond our wildest dreams and never considered ridable. Quite an incredible journey it’s been seeing as our industries roots date back to some gnarly downhill SoCal backyard races. By the way, if you haven’t seen Joe Kid on a Stingray, you’re blowin it!

I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m tired of society seeing our industry as nothing more than a dangerous activity. Sure, the next generation will have it better, but what about now? I guess we just have to live it, and show them the unlimited possibilities, though they’ll probably never get it. For those that do, we embrace you, and encourage you to join our ranks and get to pedaling!

Misguided perception or not, we stand together as a strong community, and we should all be damned proud of it!” – Henry White

What do you think of Henry’s thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.

Interested in writing your own Editorial piece? Get in touch.

[Read more…]