Wednesday, October 17

Crisman Interview, Part 2

By Josh Root
EXPN.com

J: Why live in rainy Portland?

B: Portland rules. I love my friends, my family, all the spots to ride. Even when it does rain, most of the time you can ride Burnside and if that doesn't work out then I ride parking garages with my grind box.

J: There have been a ton of skateparks opening up in the northwest in the past few years, what do you think about that?

B: I think it's amazing but the only thing is that we're not allowed to ride bikes on most of them. I think there are like 85 parks now and we can ride legally on like 5 of them. It's amazing huh? All I know is if I ever build a ramp park, everyone is allowed to ride. I'd never exclude any style. Not skateboarding, or even Rollerblading.

Table over the grassy hip on a beautiful day in Oregon.

J: Do you ever feel like the focus on putting sports like BMX and skateboarding into skatepark "arenas" is bad? Maybe like it's a way to make the sport more wholesome by keeping it out of the street?

B: No way that it's bad. The more places to ride the better. Plus people are always gonna ride street no matter how many skatestoppers they put up or what anyone tells them.

J: What do you think of halfway contests like this summer's city hall skate contest in Philly?

B: I hope to God that there will be comps like those for bikes as well, and I'm sure there are alot of other people who would say the same. There have always been ramp contests for years, but thats not everybody's style. I've seen and I've met so many riders that ride absolutely incredible on street. I'm talking about guys that do tricks I've never seen done before. But they don't have the same opportunity to ride ramps like others, or they just prefer to ride street. I think that it would be great to have a contest for those dudes too.

J: Where's your favorite place to ride?

B: Street in Portland, Burnside, and a street spot in Madrid Spain called Colon.

J: What are you going to do tomorrow?

B: I'm going to go eat at a friend's house.

J: How's married life treating you?

B: Awesome.

J: Anything else you'd like to say?

B: I'd like to say to anyone that rides or is starting to ride, to have the most fun on your bike as possible. Never let anyone tell you what to do when it comes to ridin'. Riding is your choice. You can ride however you want and it doesn't matter what anyone else says. Joe Rich gave me that advice years ago. Thanks Joe.

J: Anyone you'd like to thank?

B: My Lord Jesus Christ first of all. Without my faith in him I would have never succeeded in life nor recieved eternal life. Thank you, God. Also all my friends and family as usual. All my sponsers, all the rider owned companies who have supported me and other riders throughout the years, especially Terrible One. Joe and Taj are so awesome. Jay Miron too. He's helped and supported me so much with examples and words of wisdom. Thank you.