Wednesday, June 18

Spoke'n Word -- 06.18.03

By Josh Root
EXPN.com

First off, Congrats to Mat & Jaci Hoffman on the birth of their son. The news out of Oklahoma City, OK, is that Jet Mathew Hoffman arrived on May 12, 2003 at 8:00 a.m. weighing seven pounds, three ounces. Good times! Could the upcoming CFB at Woodward be the first contest Jet sees his dad ride at? Maybe not, since Mat is still on the mend from another ligament surgery. He had his anterior cruciate ligament replaced the other week. This was a replacement for a previous synthetic ACL that was almost ripped in half due to various wear and crashes. It should be a quick recovery.

I hear that Mosh Bikes team rider Mike Ardelean is on the cover of the newest 411 Video Magazine. I also hear that he was around the country on the Baco tour. Baco, for those who don't know, is a company run by flatlander Chad Degroot. Famous for their videos and wacky pranks, including an appearance on The Jerry Springer Show aimed at getting chicks, the tour was probably an interesting adventure for Mike and the other riders, both on and off their bikes.

In other 411 news, Anthony Moreschi, the guiding hand at 411 BMX for issues 1-4 has moved on to greener pastures. Robbie Morales (411 BMX's host and Fit Bikes owner/rider) and filmer Joe Sederquist, are manning the wheelhouse these days.

With a new son, a mending knee and a CFB coming up Mat Hoffman has plenty to keep him busy these days.

Since we're talking about video magazine news, the second Props Mega Tour is going down as I write this. The Mega Tour concept is that teams of riders roll around various cities with their own vans and filmers. Then they all get together for demos at specific skateparks every couple of days. Afterwards, the Props crew edits the hours of footage down into a nice package for you to pop in your DVD player. The crew includes Brian Foster & Edwin Delarosa from Primo, Sandy Carson & Corey Martinex from Federal Bikes, Matt Beringer & Brian Wizmerski from S&M Bikes, Heath Pinter & Marcus Wilke from Mosh Bikes, Jason Ens & Taj Mihelich from Etnies and Jimmy LeVan & Dan Price from Metal Bikes. They are hitting four skateparks in PA, NJ and NY. I talked to Mosh Team rider Matt Purro of Portland, and he told me he was really excited to go to a bunch of new spots with riders he looks up to.

Congratulations to Edwin Delarosa who turned 19 on May 11. Edwin and Mike Escamilla just returned from Rooftop's Samurai road trip. Edwin also finished filming a Fat Joe video in the Bronx before he left. I wasn't aware that Edwin was so young. Makes me feel even older when I think of what that guy can do on a bike. His riding is just amazing. There are few people out there who can match his technical street style. His 360 to Smith grind down the ledge at last year's Toronto LaRev contest was a typical example of the kind of skills he's putting on display.

Flatlander Trevor Meyer, who recently ended up leaving Mongoose for Giant bikes, has been running around the country once again doing BMX demos. It's almost like the old days when he was on GT touring all over the place on their non-stop demo tour (strange to think of four years ago as the "old days"). In what has to be one of BMX's strangest crossovers, he'll be doing some demos on a tour with country music singers Brooks & Dunn. I guess there's a stronger connection between BMX and country music than Kevin Robinson's karaoke.

If you're on the east coast look out for Mosh team rider and Portland resident Matt Purro. He'll be seesioning parks and filming on the second installment of the Props Mega Tour.

This year's BMX Freestyle Worlds will be held June 26-29 in Portugal. It's a summertime European contest that was one of the first anywhere to really get an international mix of riders. Dirt, Vert, Flat, and Street will be the mix this year. Once again, "mini-ramp" will be left out. Which is really too bad. The Worlds was one of the last big comps to have a mini-ramp class, and it was some of the most inventive riding I've ever seen. However, the street course is looking pretty amazing this year; check it out at www.2003bmxworlds.com. Ryan Nyquist is not going to defend his three pro World's titles in Portugal this year. The event clashes with a Triple Crown event in Denver, CO, and Ryan is choosing that event over the Freestyle World's. I'm sure he's a little bummed, since the Worlds are always a good mix of amazing riding and good nightlife. But he's been in Europe a lot lately for other contests (like the FISE in France), so it's understandable.

Over the past few months, Joe Rich, Nate Wessel, Garrett Byrnes and Ruben Alcantara have been on the craziest BMX traveling adventure to ever go down. Though skateboarders have been touring to all sorts of strange places for years now, as far as I know, this is the first time anyone has tried a round-the-world BMX trip. They've been to South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii and Spain (though not in that order). Recently they've been chilling in Barcelona. The purpose of the trip (other than to see the world), was to get some filming done for the long-awaited TerribleOne video. Yes, yes, we all know that Ruben is on MacNeil Bikes. But this is BMX, not the NBA. And so friends ride with their friends, no matter who pays their rent. Sadly though, Nate had to come back early due to a badly broken tibia. How did he break it? Goofing around grinding a 12" high ledge. He ended up flying back to the US for emergency sugery. As a slight plus, he was able to have some ankle problems fixed during the same trip to the hospital. He'll be out 6-8 weeks.

Ryan Nyquist will be not be defending his three-time BMX Freestyle Worlds title due to a conflict in schedule with a Vans Triple Crown event in Denver, CO.

Speaking of T1, Taj, Joe and the crew have been doing their part to tone down the skater-BMX war that seems to be escalating by pointing out that most everyone in BMX skates a little bit. To this end, they made a few T1 skatedecks as presents for their team. The extra decks are sold in their online store and are a way for BMX riders to buy a skate deck from a company they support. Why the war? I mean yeah, bikers can chunk up a ledge if it doesn't have coping, but so can skaters, and so could a guy with a hammer. Life is imperfect, stop worrying about everyone else and just go have fun. Maybe our mutual love for razor scooters is what brings peace in the end.

Dave Mirra is everywhere. Six of the first 12 pages of this month's Ride BMX are Mirra shots. True, they are ads from Haro, DC, and Maxxis, but still ... no matter what crap he gets from some parts of the BMX world claiming he's a "sellout," or that he's strictly a competition rider, that guy deserves whatever he gets. I still think Dave is one of the riders who pushes the sport and pushes himself. Disagree if you want, I don't care.

That's about all for now. Lots of contests and tours going down this summer, here are a few of them:

2003 Core Tour Round 1, June 13-15, Venice Beach, CA, USA

MSS Round 2 (vert only), June 14-15, San Diego, CA, USA

Carhartt Flatland Jam, June 20-22, Jugendpark, Cologne, Germany

2003 World Championships of BMX Freestyle, June 26-29, Parque de Exposiçoes de Beja, Portugal.

Vans Triple Crown 2003 Round 1, June 27-29, Denver, CO, USA

2003 KOG Round 1, June 28-29, Oasis 21, Nagoya, Japan

Go to as many as you can. There's nothing that will stoke you out on BMX and riding more than watching 45 eight-year-old kids fighting over a T-shirt at a product toss.