Would you believe it that Vince Byron stopped Jamie Bestwick from winning his 10th consecutive BMX vert Gold medal at the X-Games? Check out Vince’s BANGER of a first run that ultimately landed him in 1st place beating out Jamie! That 540 flair at the end is so wild.
X-Games Park 2015 – First Practice
The X-Games are about to kickoff this weekend in Austin, Texas and you know a bunch of your favorite pro riders are in town to throw down. Here’s a look at some of the park practice that Dennis Enarson, Drew Bezanson, Sergio Layos, Chase Hawk and a bunch of other guys got in on the first day! Looks like we’ll be seeing some wild riding from these guys!
“Here’s all the highlights from today’s three hour practice session on the park course. Some dudes took it easy (Bezanson, Fernengel, Dhers), other dudes just joked around (Wattz and Baldock), one dude had a rough day (Gary Young), and others looked like they already had their contest run mostly figured out (Cranmer, Hawk, Fox, Sergio)… check the vid.” – Ride BMX
X-Games Austin Preview with Jamie Bestwick
Jamie Bestwick has been a pretty unstoppable force when it comes to vert in the X-Games. For 2015, he’s hoping to make it a 10-peat, so X-Games dropped this short but sweet preview for what could possibly come in just a few short days!
Scotty Cranmer and the Road To X-Games
It has been a bit of a Scotty Cranmer day today between his signature shoe release and this, and that’s okay! Here’s a video where Scotty talks about his history with the X-Games and what keeps him motivated after all these years. There’s a ton of riding mixed throughout this that makes it a real good watch!
“Before his return to X Games Austin 2015, BMX Park invite Scotty Cranmer discusses his history as a top competitor at X Games.
X-Games Austin 2015 Preview with Anthony Napolitan & Morgan Wade
With the X-Games just a few short days away, they caught up with Morgan Wade and Anthony Napolitan. First up we have Morgan, who spends some time cruising around Austin, Texas trying to see just what he can get with an X-Games gold medal, and then after the jump we have Anthony who talks about being back in dirt after not riding the dirt portion of the X-Games since 2006 to go along with some riding! Take a peek!
X-Games 2015 Course Preview Renderings
Today, the X-Games 2015 Course Preview Renderings were released online for us to get an idea of what’s to come here in about two weeks down in Austin, Texas. As expected, we have a flowy bowl setup for park that looks fairly similar to last years course, which were assuming they will be making out of cement again, a pretty straight forward dirt course with a slight right hip to it, the mega ramp and vert ramps. You can check the renderings after the jump.
We’re still pretty surprised BMX Street isn’t apart of the X-Games this year with how popular street is. Given, Garrett Reynolds wins ever year and based off his 2015 Red Bull Video it would likely happen again this year, it is still a very substantial part of this sport of ours.
Either way, we can’t change that… So, let’s just take a look at the other course renderings after the jump!
Chase Hawk House Check
Have you ever wondered how Chase Hawk is living? Well, here’s your chance to find out! Head over to the X-Games website to watch a video from when their crew rolled through Chase’s house in ATX to take the tour!
Editorial: Perceptions
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.
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