I got a chance to catch up with Ryan at the first annual EXPN Invitationals where he is aiming to qualify for Park at X Games VIII in Philly. Plus he threw a baseball in front of lots of people at the Rangers game.
DF: So I'm standing here with Ryan Nyquist, BMX rulemaker and now baseball pitcher extraordinaire. Now Ryan I heard you threw out the first pitch at the Texas Rangers game yesterday, tell me how it went, break t down for me…
RN: It was good man, definitely a crazy experience. 24,000 people there all watching you do something that you don't ever do, which is throw a ball. I don't know, it was sick. It was kind of like an honor you know, because presidents do that stuff, not bike riders. I actually came up a little bit short on the pitch (laughs).
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| BMX ruler or Baseball pitcher? You decide... |
Yeah, tell me a little bit about that, I hear it dirted.
Well I wanted to make sure I fired it in there, I didn't want to lob it, so I was like OK I'm gonna throw it hard. So I threw it hard and everything, and it was all lined up for the strike… And I think I threw a sinker (laughs). It was actually just short of the plate so I don't think it went that bad.
So how did the crowd react to that?
You know, I think I was in the zone man. I was in the zone you know I just saw tunnel vision strait to the glove, but my tunnel vision got deferred to the ground first.
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| Ryan chatting with one of the Rangers before hucking that little white ball towards home plate. |
Did you chill in some fancy VIP seat afterwards?
Yeah we had pretty good seats right behind the dugout so we were just kind of chilling back there and stuff, and I would go cruise to the little sky club and get food and stuff.
Are you a big baseball fan?
Man I was when I was younger, I used to watch the San Francisco Giants quite a bit, but I just kind of fell out of it. I started riding bikes more and watching TV less.
Wasn't there a little turf war between you and Dave (Mirra) about who was going to throw the pitch?
Naw man... He was like "I don't want to do it" and I was like, "I'll do it" and he passed it up so it's all good.
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| Ryan prefers throwing flairs rather than baseballs. |
Are you glad he and his wife moved out of your house?
Yeah it's always nice to have your own space you know and I'm sure they wanted to have their own place. And after a while I kind of wanted to get back to my own schedule you know, but I was able to help a friend out.
Your park style is definitely coming up, and being that you haven't qualified for X Games park yet, are you taking this comp pretty seriously?
Yeah, I pretty much take all events I'm in pretty seriously. I'm spending the time to come out here so I'm gonna take it seriously. It's gonna be a tough one, I mean there's only one spot here and I definitely need to get that spot, hopefully here would be nice. But we'll see you know, just try to ride well.
Have you taken a look at the course?
I believe it's the same as last year so I pretty much know what to expect. But year-by-year the sport progresses so much that you see different lines this year than last year.
Have you been working on any new trick that you're waiting to pull out of the bag?
Not really to be honest, I'm just working on being a more well rounded rider and just working on getting stuff dialed. I'm working on a few new things but nothing that crazy you know?
Any thoughts on Texas?
Man, I thought it would be a lot warmer here to be honest, that's the one thing I noticed… I'm freezing. I didin't bring any sweatshirts or anything so I'm just going on what it was like last you know, and it was pretty cool.
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| Ryan getting ready for his qualifying chance - X-up during park practice. |
Are there any young riders here, or anywhere for that matter, that you're hyped on that we may not know too much about?
Yeah, Josh Harrington, he's a local guy in Greenville, he's pretty sick man. We ride with him on a daily basis and he rides vert really well and also does some pretty cool stuff on park too, so I kind of hope he starts coming into his own. He was in it last year, and kind of had first year jitters and stuff, but I think the more he competes the more he'll get used to it and he'll start ripping it up and definitely get noticed.
So you've been at a baseball game, you're competing in this event and I wish you the best of luck, and now it's time to give your shouts.
Yeah thanks to my sponsors - Haro Bikes, Adidas, Split Clothing, Oakley, TSG protection Gear, and family and friends for sure.
Cool, thanks Ryan.
Yeah man, thanks.
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