smbbmx Colin Thiessen Master

Shaun Hildebrandt interview
Peg city Scene Check
$2.04 Canadian
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Subscriptions in Canada $10
plus GST number R768984.
Copyright 2008. All rights
Reserved.
Editor Colin Thiessen
Managing Editor Colin Thiessen
Associate editor D.j Sibbick
Contributing editor Pat Madill
Researcher Colin Thiessen
Art director Colin Thiessen
Photographer Onion/Matt
Graphic Design Colin Thiessen
website www.smbbmx.net
Advertising Department
Colin Thiessen 1(204)425-2777
SMBBMX Magazine is published
two times a year by
Southern Manitoba pub. Ink
Morden, MB R0G1H0
Frontin
Personally I have always had an
interested in both BMX as both a
sport and lifestyle , graphic design
and many other types of art as a
pass time activity. So I have decided
to create a magazine to reflect two
of my favorite things in life.
There are many articles in the
magazine that might interest you if
your into the Canadian BMX scene
at all. Through this magazine I am
really trying to promote Manitoba as
a great place to ride with great
People. With a scene check of
Winnipeg and interview with a local
Manitoban rider I think I did as much
as possible to positively promote
Manitoba as a hot spot for riders on
the come up.
Progression
The history of B.M.X (bicycle MotoCross) and how it all started is much different then what most people, even those who ride
BMX today know. The BMX Style we know today is
what riders would call “free style” but now probably know better as street/ park/ dirt or flat land
riding. Keep reading and you may learn something new about BMX racing and how it really
started, the beginning of free style in BMX and the
trick originators in the sport.
Most people don’t really know how the whole
BMX thing started these days because at the beginning of it all no one kept track really, The riders were just a bunch of kids having fun on pedal
bikes. Those kids were from a place called
St.Anthonis in Holland. They thought they were
just imitating their favorite new sport which was
moto cross but with real motorcycles. The sport of
motocross was when bunch of athletes would race
their motorcycles around a set up track with
jumps and sharp turns in a circle. Back in 1956
when this was all happening there was no specific
bike made for what they were doing till 1963
when a company named Schwinn introduced a
bike called “The stingray”. All the extreme bike
riders in Holland discovered that this bike was
nearly perfect for what they were doing. While all
this was happening BMX got its big debut in
America through the film On Any Sunday, a motocross documentary. In the intro to this film it
featured some young kids riding their Stingrays
like they were on dirt bikes and soon after over
70% of all bike sales in America were Stingrays.
From there, BMX racing started and became a
huge hit; a massive amount of money and sponsors got involved with the sport. So for a while it
was all about BMX racing; then a certain individual by the name of Bob Haro decided he was going to switch things up a little bit and try to take
his previous skills of BMX racing and throw in a
little bit of his freestyle skateboarding skills that
he had done since the mid 60’s.
1
Bob Haro
By doing this he basically
created a whole new sport and was daily doing new
things which people thought were impossible on a
bike. By 1977 he was recognized as the first freestyle biker and soon others started to try the same
tricks as Bob but it was still an underground movement; they were considered rebels because they
were doing something new and different; just like
skate boarding in the 1960’s. That same year he
decided to start his own company named “Haro”
and through this company he made his own freestyle designed bikes made for all types of trickery.
People couldn’t believe what they were seeing;
“Bob and John Swangen had invented a bunch of
tricks with 20 inch bikes that would make your
brains fall out!” (Hand) By the 1980s people were
starting to think; “Freestyle riding on 20 inch bikes
could be the next phenomenon.” (Romocinski).
S.M.B * MAGAZINE
“ L EGEND ”
Though some how freestyle BMX managed to
stay an underground sport, and not get over run
by the industry and their plans of money making
through doing crazy tricks it still managed to
progress rapidly through all off the 80’s and 90’s
with many riders such as Matt Hoffman, Dennis
McCoy “DMC”, and a young Dave Mirra. Matt
Hoffman stood out as one of craziest riders and
is still noticed as a legend in the sport; he invented literally 100s of tricks people though were
impossible like the back flip, and the flair
(180 back flip). But things haven’t slowed
down at all since then. In the last 10 years
the sport has changed a great deal with young
guns like Mike Spinner, Scotty Cranmer, Aaron
Ross, and many other big name riders pushing
them selves past the limits of what anyone
thought was possible and basically defying all the
roles of physics. Competitions like the dew-tour,
x-games and metro jam are making riders have
to work to win because they are all throwing
down new tricks like just the other day Scotty
Cranmer did the first front flip tail whip at the
dew tour park event; and right before that Mike
Spinner did the first 1080 degree spin in the air
ever seen in competition at the same dew tour
event. So that’s pretty much the complete history of BMX from racing to freestyle in a nutshell.
Both the versions of the sport are still going
very strong to this day and Bob Haro is now “a
ledged” (Lewman.) for starting such an epic
sport if you can call it that. B.M.X history is being changed and is progressing everyday for the
better
*
MATT HOFFMAN
25 foot air on the H.B’s 25 foot Ramp
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S.M.B * MAGAZINE
Kimberly Stephens Academic Essay
“ Do you want me to put the grip tape on for you?” the man at the sports shop said to Katie as she purchased her first piece of sporting equipment. She had so idea what
the man was talking about so she just smiled and hesitantly said “ugh... sure, thanks.” She was buying a skateboard even though she had no clue how to ride it and knew
nothing about it. She had just moved away to college and all of her new friends hung out at the skate park. She hung out there with them almost everyday and although
her roommate went there and didn’t skate either, Katie felt like she had to in order for her new friends to really like her. So she bought the skateboard to portray the
image she thought her new friends would like. It only took them a few weeks to realize that Katie didn’t want to skate for the sake of skating and enjoying it; she wanted to
skate to impress them and only skated when they were around. What started off as a way to make people like her more, ended up with people realizing Katie was very
fake and someone who changed her image based on the people around her.
A poser is an individual that tries to take on an image that he/she has not deserved. In the story above, Katie does not deserve the image of a skateboarder because
skateboarding is just something she does to impress people; she doesn’t do it for herself. I have run into some version of this story many times in my life. The prime
reason for this is because I do a lot of things that most girls don’t, such as race BMX and ride four-wheeler. I do these things not to impress people, but because I truly
enjoy them. But I will admit, when I first started racing I felt like a poser because the reason I started was not solely for myself. My motive to start racing was my
brother; he wanted me to do it so bad and all of our guy-friends were doing it, so I did it to hang out them and my brother more. By definition, this entitles me as a poser
and I definitely felt like one. However, my love for the sport grew and now I race because I want to. Most of my friends don’t do it anymore and my brother moved away to
college and only does it when he’s home so the fact that I still race because I want to shows that I am not a poser. A lot of girls that race, however, are.
I have met a lot of girls like this and from my own experience as a female BMX racer, I can see why they may want to portray this image. For one, it is easy to notice
how much more desirable they become to male BMX racers or just young adult males in general. A certain personality comes along with the riding image. A female that
races bikes is different than most so boys see this as a girl that probably is more laid back than most and easier to get along with. This image is just what the girl wants
to portray and in doing so they are really just being like every other girl that has 30 purses and 15 pairs of high heels. All the girl is trying to do is impress the boys, as
most girls are trying to do whether they approach it through posing or through self-image that may or may not be true. In trying to be different and set herself apart
from other girls, these girls come out exactly the same only worse; they are not only trying to impress everyone but they are going the extra mile and trying to be something they are not. Boys are not the only ones that love a girl that does something as bold and different as this sport; the media loves it too. One day when I was practicing before a race, the local newspaper showed up at the track. They were looking for a couple people to interview and before I was even aware that they were there,
someone came up to me asking for an interview. The man had been sent over by one of the track officials who had said to interview me because I was a girl that raced. I
did the interview and the next day it was in the paper and had emphasis on me being a female racer. This shows that the public loves when females do male-embraced
sports as much as men love it.
The media not only is attracted to this kind of story, but they also promote it. In most magazines made for young female adults you can almost always find something
about the way the “perfect girl” (in relation to a man) should act. This is obviously a very loosely used term as the “perfect girl” is different for every man. Generally
speaking, I think this term usually implies a girl that is not so high maintenance but just naturally looks good; she can be “just one of the guys” if her man wants her to;
she has no problem with her boyfriend going out with his friends and doesn’t get jealous of his other female friends; a girl that is always trying to make her man happy.
The article “‘Reading’ the Print Media” by Fiona Ann Papps talks about the reaction women have when they read these things and the influence it ultimately has on them.
Papps says, “All women noted that women’s print media provided women with information on what men wanted, in order to attract them into a relationship, but did not
encourage women to “be themselves” in this process.” This statement alone strongly shows that a larger number of women feel as though they cannot be themselves if
they are going to be liked. This article uses this idea mostly focusing it on their attachment to men and relationships, but it can be used more generally as well for instances such as friendships or everyday interactions with people. Participants in the study from this article argue that “if you are going to change yourself for a guy, you
are not being yourself, and if the guy doesn’t like the real you, then he can just keep on movin’”. I think this relates a lot to the ideas I previously mentioned about how if a
girl acts really fake to impress a guy and maybe she does get the guy, he will eventually figure out that the girl he knows is fake, the real girl is hidden so why would he
stay with a fake person? A person that he really doesn’t even know…?
Altering one’s self image to impress another is common in almost every individual, some more than others. I don’t think this act is a crime but I do think it’s something we
need to recognize and help when we can. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be liked but I think when someone changes their self so much to fit a more likeable image,
they are no longer and individual. They are attempting to be like everyone else and in that, they are just like everyone else, everyone else that just wants to fit in. What’s
wrong with being your own person? Who cares if some people don’t like you as much as they like someone else? In the long run, they’ll like the person that was real the
whole time, not the one that changed just to impress them.
Work Cited
Papps, Fiona Ann. “‘Reading the Prink Media.” 30 April 2007. American Sexuality Magazine. 13 November 2007. <http://nsrc.sfsu.edu/MagArticle.cfm?
Article=729&PageID=0>
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S.M.B * MAGAZINE
Photo Matt Wolfe Colin Thiessen 540
4
HEAVY METAL
Within the last few years the sport and life
style of BMX has been blowing up, not quite into
the mainstream yet but as close as I would ever
want it to be. With this new wave of people and
young kids getting involved in the sport a lot more
money is being thrown around in the industry.
Most people would think this is a good thing for
an industry but I would disagree in this case.
Ever since the BMX industry started making
more money it has to put more money into their
products which means the products should be
higher quality right? But what I have seen is
companies focusing on making their products as
light as possible with the “best” techniques.
These unbelievably light parts are said to be just
as strong as any other high quality part made but
all I hear about is people breaking these light
parts not long after purchasing them.
There new products which always break, still
Cost the SAME amount of money as a stronger
heavier product that would probably last years
and years without showing signs of bending or
breaking. So people pay the same amount of
money for their products …but the products break
within a few months of buying the product, giving
the industries even more money. I am all for supporting BMX in general but there are some companies that are in it for the wrong reasons, just
for a quick buck or two while BMX is growing in
popularity. These companies are the ones that
are making excessively light products to sell to
the unaware consumers .
6
Because BMX is growing rapidly in
popularity, A lot of younger kids getting
into the sport and the first thing they are
being told is that they need a light bike
because their not strong enough to learn
on the average BMX bike. To a certain
extent this is true. A weaker rider will
learn the basics much faster on a lighter
bike, but with that they will learn the basics with No style or character. becoming
a BMX clone that rides just like every
other trendy light bike riding kid out
there.
I think it’s a problem when the average
street or park frame is lighter then most
of the BMX race frames out now. The
point I want to get across is that riders
should stop supporting the companies
that are in BMX for the money and building excessively light bikes just so they
break and people will have to buy more
and more product and give the idiots running the companies more and more
money. instead Riders should start to
support rider owned companies that put
the money right back into the sport by
making lasting products.
*
By Colin Thiessen
S.M.B * MAGAZINE
Photo Onion
Even fisher hangover tooth
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S.M.B * MAGAZINE
Photo Onion
Mark tail whip to fakie
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S.M.B * MAGAZINE
Photo Onion
Cole Dow tabletop at Komenda
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S.M.B * MAGAZINE
WWW.REPSET.NET
Check it daily
By Taj Mihelich
Www.etnies.com
sort of an editorial, sort of me thinking out loud
I have to admit, I've been thinking about this a lot
lately. I've developed quite a collection of bikes and other
wheeled objects and its fun riding all of them. BMX is my
first and strongest love by far, but I wonder if a smile from
my beach cruiser is worth any less then one from my
BMX? Bikes are the best! I wish everyone rode a bike,
and I wish the cars on the road were replaced with bikes.
Unlike snowboarding, skateboarding, surfing, or any other
"action sport" bikes have a very functional secondary
side; transportation (well, they're all forms of transportation I guess, but if you had to travel across town bikes
would be the way to go... er, unless you lived in a city that
was flooded with great waves!). Although this really has
nothing to do with BMX exactly, riding a bike to somewhere can save you money, creates no pollution, and
keeps you in shape (well, hell, it is National Bike to Work
Day on Friday).Last summer I rode some 4-cross MTB
and had a blast. Its just like BMX racing used to be when
I was a kid. Super fast, fun jumps, big berms and laid
back atmosphere. I don't know if I'll ever do it too much,
but it sure was great. The track was a hell of a lot more
interesting then any of the BMX tracks I've seen in
years.You could ride the 4-cross track on a BMX bike, but
it wasn't nearly as fun. The track was just too bumpy and
you got going too fast for a suspension-less little wheeled
bike. So here I was, riding a mountain bike and it felt
maybe even more BMX then BMX racing did.
11
That kind of got me thinking about how there's tons of different bikes just waiting for whatever kind of riding you
might want to do. If what you're riding is bumpy, downhill
and fast having suspension and bigger wheels makes
sense. If what you're riding is smooth and Skatelite or if
you're grinding up a handrail ride a BMX. If you're riding
to the grocery store ride a bike with baskets, or get yourself a touring bike to go across the country and go camping... ect. There's a whole new world of BMX "style"
mountain biking happening right now. They are starting to
have their own magazines, and their whole entire own
sub-culture of cycling. On first glance it seems pretty lame
to me, as it looks like most of the guys are just doing old
school BMX tricks on big wheeled bikes (though for sure,
there are some guys pushing it). On another hand
though, I wonder if the guys riding those bikes aren't just
doing it because they feel alienated by the "BMX Scene".
Or maybe they're afraid of the little bikes 'cause they look
too small? I don't know. After thinking about it all for a
while my thoughts just turn back to the idea that there are
simply different bikes for different applications. Sort of like
how you use a different paint brush depending on what
you're going to paint, you know, you use the one that fits.
Looking at it that way I think its all kind of the same. BMX
is about way more then just the bike and if its fun and
you're enjoying it maybe it doesn't matter if its a BMX, a
MTB or a skateboard?
*
S.M.B * MAGAZINE
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Photo’s By Onion
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S.M.B * MAGAZINE
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S.M.B * MAGAZINE
He rode the streets of Niverville every night
before the dark with his friends Dave and
Luke, who was usually called Swabb by his
friends.
“Hey swabb” Kyle said. “What do you think of
this idea I have.”
Swabb replied “..What’s the big idea?”
“I have been thinking, were goof enough now
we could start getting out there, you know going to some competitions and junk like that.”
Swabb looked at the ground for a view moments thinking intensely.
“you think so?” he said as if it would never
happen.
Dave came riding up after a man from across
the street told him to stop screwing around on
his bike.
“what are you thinking about there Swabb?”
Dave said, still slightly angered at the old man
from across the street.
“well Kyle has this idea that we should start
traveling around entering in competitions and
what not.. What do you think about that?”
Kyle smirked as if he knew what Dave would
say, because Dave was the type of person that
loved to just get out there and do something
different. Dave replied right away just as Kyle
expected.
“That’s the best idea I have herd in a long
time! Why not get out of this dump for a
while.. I mean its not like theirs much to ride
here anyway.”
Swabb gave him the strangest look and
asked.
“Well what about school? We don’t have time
to be traveling around all over the place for no
reason.”
“No Reason!” Dave exclaimed.
“what do you want, to go back to school and
get harassed by the hockey jocks and there oh
so popular friends. Come on Swabb you cant
be that much of a nerd. And you’re the only
one that is 18. We cant get hotel rooms of
anything without you, we can take my Astro
van, travel across Canada!”
Swabb hung his head low again
with a sigh.
“ What ever I guess I am down
with the idea.”
“Yes!” Kyle and Dave shouted.
“so what’s the plan then guys?” Dave said
while sitting on his bike dreaming of the
future.
15
“Well I say we head out to street justice in Edmonton…..
Next week.”
“Next Week!” swabb said shocked.
“Yeah common we only have to miss three days of school,
and Robb-o the owner of fit bikes will be there, its perfect, if
I ride hard maybe he will see me and I could pick up a sponsor or something.. If I do I will give you guys free stuff
haha.” Right after Kyle laughed It was dead silent for a second, they both knew he was dead serious.”
“Well then I guess its on.” Swabb said with a smirk. “we
better get home I guess there’s school tomorrow hey?”
Dave said “ yeah.. not like I am going anyway but we will
ride later.”
Kyle woke up extra early this morning and had this weird
feeling in this stomach, but thought nothing of it and proceeded to get ready and go to school. While opening the
door to enter the school, out of the corner of his eye he saw
his least favorite people in the in the school. The jocks, then
he looked a little closer and saw Swabb slowly being cornered by the jocks. Kyle knew right away there was going to
be a fight and before he could even react it was over and
Swabb was down on the ground and the jocks all scattered
about as Kyle ran up to help his buddy.
“Luke are you alright.” he said wide eyed. Luke looked back
at him dazed and mumbled get me out of here.”
So Kyle got him up and acted as a Crutch as they walked
back to Kyle’s car by then Luke was almost back to his
senses. As soon as they both were sitting comfortable in the
car Luke looked over and replied.
“Lets go today.”
…Kyle though he was hearing things.
“what did you just say?” he almost stumbled on the words
as he realize what Luke meant.
“Lets go on the trip today, we can start now and take our
time getting there we would have 4 days were we could stop
in all the towns and cities on the way. I don’t want to be
around here anymore its not worth it let just go now
please?”
Kyle didn’t say a word back to Luke and pulled out his
phone and dialled a familiar number.
“Lets Go.” he said, and on the other end of the phone
was Dave who was sleeping in as always.
“What the he** are you taking about?”
“Lets start the trip today, me and Luke are going to go
pack our stuff into his van and we will be at your house by
10 am be ready!”
Dave was excited and not so sleepy “alright man! I will be
ready.” he exclaimed without second guessing his actions.
Kyle and Swabb proceeded to drive back to Swabb’s house
then Kyle said.
“So what was that all about back there anyways?”
Luke just snarled back” don’t worry about it, you know
there just jerks it was over nothing, I just don’t want to see
them for a while.”
Kyle shrugged and replied.
“what ever man, I know what you mean lets
get packed.”
So they jammed all of they’re bikes and
clothing into the back of the Astro van and
headed to Dave’s. Sure enough Dave was sitting on his front steps ready to go.
The next 4 days flew by as Kyle, Dave and
Swabb had the time of there life driving
across the mid southern half of Canada and
everything went smooth minus the lack of
sleep and poor fast food diets.
Then came the day of street justice and after being at the street justice park for a
whole day before they were felling fairly confident on the course.
Kyle signed his name on the sign up page
slowly as he thought of every trick he was
going to do and the exact lines he wanted to
do to impress the judges that hadn’t arrived
to the course yet.
Dave popped up out of no were as always.
“hey Kyle what’s up?”
“I think I am going to enter in Pro.. ”
Dave smirked “awesome Go For Gold!” he
said, he really didn’t care what was happening as long as everyone was having fun and
riding there bikes. He then walked over to
the sign up sheet and him and Swabb both
signed up for the amateur competition.
Swabb was only really interested in the best
trick competition which was at the end of the
day.
First up was Dave in the amateur competition,
against 4 other no name riders in his heat.
“Good luck” Kyle shouted out from the crowd.
Then it started and Dave did what he does best
and had the most fun possible during his run and
the judges defiantly noticed that and gave him
the highest score in his heat. Through out the
next three heats of amateur riding people were
crashing and bike parts were breaking, no one
ended up beating Dave’s high score.
And Dave came out the winner of the
amateur competition.
“No way!” Kyle said after witnessing
the awesome event.
I cant believe that just happened!”
Dave didn’t seem all that phased by
what had just happened he was just pumped on
having a good time.
All he said was “you up now Kyle, have a good
time.”
16
there was going to be four heats in the pro. Competition
and Kyle was in the fourth.
He sat and watched as the first and second rounds went
by with amazing riding from all types of big name pro’s he
has heard all about including his favourite rider Dakota
who rode for fit bikes. Dakota rode during the second
heat, then during the third heat Dakota started walking
towards Kyle, Kyle didn’t know what to think of this then
suddenly Dakota said.
“hey kid” while looking directly at Kyle
“Wha…what me?” Kyle said quickly then looked at the
ground as if he was wrong .
“yeah you” he said “what’s your name, I saw you riding
yesterday in your practice, your really good.. Probably
have a chance t winning the whole thing.” he laughed
“ oh… I didn’t know anyone was watching.. Thanks a lot”
“ yeah not a problem, you know the owner of fit bikes..
One of the judges is really watching you and thinks you
could have potential to be on the fit bikes team… just
thought I would let you know that.” then he shot a quick
smirk and walked away.
By this time it was Kyle’s heat to ride. He got out there
and started to ride his heart out and nailed every trick he
has practiced for the day before. The five minute heat
went by very fast and at the end he barely knew what
happened, but the crowed was cheering and his 2 best
friends Dave and Swabb came running.
“What the heck!” Dave screamed jumping up and down
like an excited child. “since when do you shred so hard!”
Kyle didn’t know what to say.. did he win?, he didn’t
know and nether did anyone else.
Then Rob-o got up to the mic and said
“This was a fine display of riding today in the Pro class,
and it was honestly one of the hardest things to judge and
pick a winner for. But in first! We have the young gun Dakota!”
Kyle’s hopes and dreams were shattered for a second for
he thought he has won. Robb-o continued to talk and Kyle
started to listen to him again when he said.
“And in a near second place is the new addition to the fit
bikes team …….Kyle!”
he almost couldn’t believe what he had just herd, he
didn’t win the contest but he just got everything he
ever wanted and was not bothered by the fact he came
in second behind Dakota.
After a quick celebration with friends and others members of the fit team he realized it was time for Swabb
to ride in the best trick competition. Kyle ran up to luke
and said the same words that Dave said to him before.
“Just go out there and have a good time.”
“Alright” Luke agreed.
Kyle could tell Luke was a little bit nervous. Luke wasn’t known to
be the smoothest rider of all but everyone knew he has some serious moves and if he could pull it off he would with out about win
the contest. He called this trick the nipple twister personal, it was
really a 720 quark screw flip. No one else does this trick and it basically makes no sense at all.
There was only 6 other people competing in the best trick competition and Swabb looked to be the least confident. The others
dropped in and some landed there tricks and some crashed. Swabb
just sat back and watched till the others were done. Then he
dropped in and suddenly looks as confident as ever. The crowed got
to there feet, due to the intensity in the stadium, everyone knew
something big was going to go down. Swabb took of from the lip in
perfect form and before anyone could get what was happening to
make sense it was landed and the crowed went wild. It was obvious
that Luke swabb had won the best trick contest.
So it was over the purpose of there trip was completed in every
possible way. Dave went out and had the time of his life and will
continue telling the stories of the events that happened on the trip
for years to come. Luke swabb walked away that night with more
confidence then ever before and was never bullied by the high
school jocks again. And Kyle became the BMX star he always
wanted to be. He had his sponsors, his friends and his bike and
continued to travel around the world riding in competitions and
making new friends from then on.
*
BY
Colin Thiessen
17
VÉÄ|Ç g{|xááxÇ
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S.M.B * MAGAZINE
Photo Dave Hawthorn
Mark Downside whip
FIT B
Mark and Brook busy putting in Work for the Fit team in Canada.
Photo Dave Hawthorn
Brook Price 180 the rail
BIKES
New Fit part in the making for oh - eight
City Life
Within the city
A Tight Grip, ten stairs
Bars turned, some hang time
Gentle landing once again
Then Rides away with a grin
*
Hit the FlÉÉÜ
Gravity pulls down
Still Fighting to stay afloat
Cement closing in
faster than ever before
Foot slips, Body hits Concrete
*
22
Photo Matt Wolf
23
Shaun Big rail hop
S.M.B * MAGAZINE
Photo Onion
George Table air
24
S.M.B * MAGAZINE
B
like an earthquakes tremendous rumble
And then you go
MX is life, it is everything
you pedal profusely to gain speed
flying off a ramp
you hit the ramp....
flying through the air
perfect....
like a bald eagle
so very smooth....
having no boundaries
flying, thinking
some fear flying like a lethal obsession
wow....
yet most stimulate their will to succeed.
freedom....
few fly with the fallacy of future fame
time is going slow
few possess the future of fame and fortune
A second is like a minute in your head
while shutting out phobias of great failure
phobias that power adrenaline rushes
The rushes that make your heart beat
like the beating of a thousand drums
The rushes that make your hands sweat
like ice melting in the summer's sun
The rushes that makes your guts gurgle
And then you snap back into reality
your coming down!
Thinking
am I going to succeed?
>
happiness?
rolling away
going to crash?
away from fear
sadness?
You prevailed
Your five feet from the land- you overcame your fear
ing
you succeeded
four feet
Thinking
three feet
that wasn't that hard....
two feet
kinda scary,
Freaking out
but fun
one foot left
Then you go for it again
half a foot
with confidence
inches from contact
by: Shawn Bennett
And then
OATS Rational
This is a fairly good poem. It ’ s a little long and dragged out though. Nonetheless it is the best I could find on my topic since not many B.M.Xers are into the
whole writing poems about BMX. I don ’ t know anything about the author. I am
pretty sure he ’ s just some no name bike with nothing better to do one day
other then write a poem.
At least this poem has rhyme and rhythm. And a view alliterations “ The rush
makes your heart beat. Like the beating of a thousand drums.
26
S.M.B * MAGAZINE
JOE Simon >
Street
Instead of Park, we can go back to a street discipline at the X-Games.
At least it's looking that way. After testing the set-up in Mexico city and
doing it again in Dubai, it looks like ESPN is going for the new set-up for
the Los Angeles X-Games too. We'll see if it happens but the Street
contest at the Dubai X-Games was a good one. Ryan Corrigan, Ron
Kimler and Nate Wessell flew over to build the course. They were given
crappy wood but they made the best out of it and since this was considered "real street" it can't be perfectly smooth I guess. Riders that
were invited weren't your average superstar transition park riders
either. To see riders like Nigel Sylvester, Ian Schwartz, Brad Simms,
Van Homan, Aaron Ross, and Sean Sexton at the -Games is quite
strange but hey, they kill it at "real street" so they were the ones riding in Dubai. Another interesting fact was that the riders did not have
to wear helmets. With the Dubai heat that was a welcome move and
most riders took the extra risk. over wearing a bucket on their head. If
you think this is where the changes end, you're in for one more surprise. The course was divided in three sections:
-The A frame
-The Euro gap
-The rail/ledge/stair section
Dubai
15 riders entered the contest and they were divided in 3 groups of 5 riders. 10 of them
would make it to the finals to form two groups of five. All in all this is not too strange but
each group of five had 8 minutes to ride each part of the course.
The riders started off with the A frame, a section with rails without the stairs. Each group
had an 8 minute session here and got scored by Head judge Big Island, Leigh Ramsdell and
Paul de Jong. The next group got to work on the A-frame as soon as the first group was
done, followed by the last group. This was part one of the street contest.
The next 8 minute sessions were had on the Euro gap which was more of a step-up type of
deal and the last 33 1/3% of the score was give to the rider for their riding on the ledges,
rails and stairs.
You would have to be a well rounded street rider to make it to the next round. Being a rail
expert alone wasn't enough and if you fancy transitioned ramps and spines, you were totally
out of luck as none of the ramps that counted had any serious transition in them.
Invited but not making it to the next round were Britain's Ben Hennon and Robin Fenlon.
Joint last and proud of it. Maybe not proud but both riders were happy to be in Dubai and
that counted for all of the riders at the contest. Matt McLeod from South Africa rides dirt a
lot and adapted to the course with dirt influence but the street hawks were here so he got
stuck in 13th place. 12th was for 17 years old Maxime Charveron from France who entered
his first big international street contest. Just missing out on making the finals was Holland's Mark Vos. Mark did well on the A-frame with shirtless fast speed bar spin to ice pick
grinds but his other two scores gave him an average of 79.78 and the top ten were all in
the 80-s range.
http://www.fatbmx.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=3719
X Games
Axel Juergens' bike got him through qualifying and Sean was feeling
good in the finals. His no-handed 180-s are awesome and so are his
hang-5-s down the ledge and various other original moves. He's a pleasure to watch as he has it all: style, skill, tech, and balls.
San Diego local Gary Young wasn't having too much trouble with the
Let's move straight to the finals here. Same procedure but with two groups of 5. Eight-minute
heat and knowing Gary he was looking for original lines on the course.
sessions at the three sections of the course and with a decent price purse up for grabs, the
street riders stepped it up. Greg Illingworth killed it in qualification and he woke up sore on finals With the course being divided in three sections his ability to mix different ramps together was limited. He did however ice pick the snowday. After a bit of cruising around he was back to his old self and did better at each section to
fenced rail on top of the Euro gap that no one had touched and also
finish 10th.
Ian Schwartz found the cheap hotels rate at $ 160, = per night too outrageous and stayed in the made a little wall ride out of the Euro gap. Growing up riding with the
athlete tent most of the time. When he got to the course you could see a very unique riding style, Dirt bros has taught Gary to use every little obstacle and he was no
which in part has to do with his free coaster style riding. Ian goes fakie as much as he ride for- stranger to any part of the course. 5th for Gary young.
ward and was eyeing up a fakie to backwards bunny hop over a rail which would have been the Brad Simms and Van Homan tied for third place. Their styles are different but each one of them showed bangers. Brad rode on the rails, ice
craziest trick of the contest but it wasn't meant to be. Ian got 9th.
picked up the rails and did giant 360 drops to flat. You almost start
Brian Kachinski can take a bail or two and he slammed more than the two times. But knowing
Brian he gets up to start pedaling even faster if he needs to. Our "brother from another mother" feeling sorry for the bike when he goes for another one. Van Homan did
peg grinds on the A-frame to hop over the rail at the end with a bar spin
was loving the street course. He normally has to search for a rail set in a park course but he
mixed in there. He also tail whip jumped over said rail to flat, which
found plenty in Dubai. A few too many bails left Brian in 8th.
probably helped him win the tiebreaker for the third place check and a
Nigel Sylvester is a name that you would never really expect at an X-games event but his 7th
bronze medal at the Dubai-X.
place result shows that he fit in well on this street course. The temperature in Dubai was a bit
different from that of NYC at the moment but Nigel got to work and showed his skills. Bar spins, Aaron Ross was on fire and so was his bike. Neon orange with some
360-s to flat, truck drivers. Smith grinds, over to 50/50, 180 drops, hard 180-outs, the brake- neon green cranks. But it was allowed at the Dubai X and the crowd got
into him. If you've seen the Grounded video you know what Aaron is
less rider did it.
capable of. Add a few months and you'll see that he has all the tricks
Kink's Sean Sexton wasn't riding a Kink all week. His bike got lost at the airlines and they were
dialed. Well, almost. Aaron looked like Ice Ice Baby when the contest was
telling him wrong things until the finial day.
over. Icepacks everywhere to ease the bruising. Aaron slams a lot but
he also does the biggest moves of the contest. That hang up on that 360
over the ledge to flat was nasty. After getting second in Mexico city,
Aaron picked up another silver X-games medal in Dubai.
This leaves us with the winner: Garrett Reynolds and he deserved it. He
must have crashed only once during the whole weekend and slammed
his knee on his handlebars once when his chain broke. There's no need
for him to wear pads if he keeps riding like that. His first move in the
morning on the course was a peg grind UP the rail to bar spin, like it
was a bunny hop on the 4 inch curb. Garrett rode the A-frame section
partly without a chain and still got second in that part and won the Euro
gap and Stair set with a significant difference. His average came out at
93.44 and after picking up the prize money his wallet didn't fit in his
tight pants no more.
The new set up is different. The new set up is fresh. New faces
and riding that's going on in the streets all over the world. Will you
be invited to the next X-Games?
RATIONAL
30
This is an article about an event that took place in Mexico and
it is the first of its kind in the x-games. It contains some aspects of a feature article like details about all the riders in the
event and some of just a normal new story. It’s the closest
S.M.B * MAGAZINE
BE THERE
Fast Eddie Air
FOR 2008
WINNIPEG SCENE REPORT
All photos by Onion
O
ver the last few years Winnipeg Manitoba has seen many changes
in the BMX world. Within the last riding season their has been three major skate parks built in different areas of the city bringing the total
amount of skate parks to an impressive eleven parks and out of those
eleven parks ten let in bikes. The only one that doesn't allow bikes in is
The Edge indoor park made only for skate boards. But that’s alright
because the locals in the area all pitch in money in the winter to rent a
wear house and local Dave Macnabb gets to work on building
amazing ramps to ride over the winter seasons.
With all the new parks (the forks, skate west and the Michael
Komenda Memorial Skate park.) their has been a lot more attention
set on Winnipeg and the locals. Like Brook Price and Mark who are
both now sponsored by Fit bike co.
its obvious that Winnipeg made a right choice in building all the new
parks since the crime rate for younger people has dropped
Significantly within the last year. Winnipeg realizes this and will be building a major skate park in every part of the city.
Along with the parks there is A lot of great street riding in the area and,
just get a hold of a local biker from one of the parks and they will
probably be glad to give you the tour.
Writing by Colin Thiessen
The Plaza at the Forks has become one of Canada's best skateparks. Covering a total area
of over 44,000 square feet. It was designed by Newline Skateparks.
It opened on June 30th, 2006.
The Forks Skate Plaza
The Michael Komenda Memorial Skatepark
located in Marj Edey Park in South Charlswood.
This park was designed by Newline Skateparks
Komenda memorial park
Skate Park West is located in St. James at
Sturgeon and silver Ave.
It was designed by new line skate parks
34
Skate West Park
S.M.B * MAGAZINE
Bandits not So Bad
Young bandits on bikes save the Neighbourhood
T
he BMX bandits P.J (Angelo D’angelo) Judy
(Nicole Kidman) and Goose (James Lugton) are a
few teenage Australians who basically live on their
BMX bikes through the entire movie, at the beginning of the film tour around the inner city of Sydney
in the year of 1983 were it shows all the 80s culture
while they have a racing scene across the city to
the mall. The film manages to capture the 80s life
style perfectly with Nicole’s naturally Big curly hair,
which in most other movies was straightened and
calmed down, also with retro racing style BMX
bikes that broke all the time and the ridiculous
clothing they wore back in those days. Technically
this Film should be considered complete Garbage
because of the horrible acting, I seems like they
are forcing everything about their character; and
not to mention the lacking original storyline. But
somehow the cheesy one-liners and over done
“extreme Tricks” of the time make up for all the horrible mistakes. The special effects in this film were
probably top of the line for 1983 with clips
Slow-motioned and slowly zoomed in during all the
crash and big trick scenes this gave it a kind of dramatic feeling while being played to the typical
techno music remix you could hear in almost any
80s action movie.
The whole storyline in this film is the basic; young kids have something the bad
guys need and it is holding up the bad
guys plans to get rich, so theirs a big
long dragged out scene were two of the
bad guys goons chase the kids around
in a big black Cadillac while the kids are
on there bikes. But I still don’t see how
anyone can hate on a movie that ends
with a chase scene were there are
probably around 200 kids chasing down
the boss goon and 2 others in a truck
because they kidnapped Judy (Nicole
Kidman). In the end they take out the
bad guys and of course there has to be
a funny mishap has to happen at the
end; so the bad guys crash into a big
semi truck full of foam? And it tips over
and covers all the bad guys in a thick
layer of foam. I am sure younger kids
would love this movie even to this day.
But for you young adults, if you have no
interest in BMX history or the early films
with Nicole Kidman I highly doubt you
will find any humour or use to this film. I
still recommend trying to get a hold of
this movie and watching it to see home
far BMX and Movies maybe even
fashions have all come since
the early 80’s.
*
By Colin Thiessen
S.M.B * MAGAZINE
35
RAD
“Rarely does a film's title
speak for itself”
When this movie came out my life was BMX. I had dreams of ridwww.film.com/movies/rad ing my bike over a cliff and flying until I landed safely on the
“This movie is
not your regular
five star movie. It
doesn't really
have what you
might call a
"plot." Nor does
it have "three dimensional characters." Or for
that manner,
any sort of
"character development" at
all. In fact this
movie contains
none of the "key
elements" required to make
a "good" film.
But y'know what?
It doesn't matter,
because it still
rules.”
beach where many hot, naked chicks proclaimed their love to
me....Actually my dreams are still like that. Anyways, back to the
movie.
Our hero is none other than Cru Jones. Cru is basically King
Choad. He's whiny and he's lame. To tell you the truth there really
aren't any characters worth rooting for except maybe Bart Conner who plays the God of the Choads. Y'see Bart's on a pro BMX
team. And along with other teams, he's coming to Cru's town to
compete in a race called.....HELLTRACK!
Of course Cru wants a chance to race. The only problem is that
he has to take the SAT's on the same day of the race. Oh shit,
what's he gonna do?! Sure Cru could just take the SAT's on another day and race instead, but since the filmmaker's wanted to
keep this movie grounded in reality they must've decided to
keep people as useless and brain dead as they normally are.
So they have this big parade to celebrate the coming of Helltrack. And Cru sees Lori Laughlin, and man does he wanna pop
her wheelies. She in turn wants to ride on his pegs. BMX lovin' is
inevitable.
Later that night, Cru sees Lori at the high school dance. She gets
him to follow her into the gym so they can "Bicycle Boogie." They
perform a sexy BMX dance, where both of them perform stunts
that are so insane and retarded you'll wonder how on Earth anybody worth a shit could've gone, "Hey, yeah, that makes sense!"
But again, prime example of why this movie rocks. This scene
alone has to be the greatest on screen dance performance
ever. Fuck Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, or whoever the heck
he is. He can't ride a vert ramp so he sucks ass anyhow.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with this movie, it is awesome
extreme.
*
By The King of the Bros
www.lotekbrand.com
The life style of the average BMX Bike rider is probably much
different then one would think. Being a
Rider myself I understand this life style to the fullest but most people wouldn’t get it at all. From the
none riders point of view BMX would look like a bunch of kids probably in to tight of clothing) riding
around on little kids bikes flailing around like they are in some type of circus but it is nothing of the sort.
If I could describe BMX in one word it would be “Network”
Through riding “little kid bikes” I have meet more good friends then through any other activity I have
been involved in. This network could be nearly world wide since there is riders all around the world
and most riders get along just fine at least the ones that I have meet personally. The thing is some
people get into the whole BMX thing for the wrong reasons.. Money fame of some type or just to show
off a little bit. Though are the riders that usually wont get along with other riders because of the jock/
training mentality. But if you think about it the sport needs those jock bikers to stay in the sport or else
there would be no one going to competitions like the X-games and Dew tour and representing our
sport. So basically if there was No jocks in BMX there would be no publicity and no publicity = No
money in the sport and probably less up and coming young riders because they wouldn’t here about
BMX at all. But back to BMX being a network through BMX I have meet so many real people that are in
it for the right reasons and that is to have fun.. the same reason we all started.
I asked a good friend of mine Shaun Hildebrandt a
local BMX bike rider from Morden Manitoba a few
things about what he through about the life
style of most Bikers and he replied. “I think
BMX might be the best thing that
happened to me ..ever. I have been able to
travel around Canada and go places I would
never be able to go if I didn’t have a bike …
and this is the same for many other
bikers… I mean I am not sponsored or anything.
3
Shaun
. 3 to F
la t
Nose bonk
9
I still have to pay for all my traveling but
it is so worth it.” he also said “ If I didn’t
bike I don’t know what I would be into..
Probably a lot more Ghetto stuff like
drugs or getting drunk all the time.
Since I bike it keeps me out of A LOT of
trouble its like my natural high.” and I
totally agree with this I think A lot of
bmxers would be low life’s if they didn’t
have this creative and social outlet in
there life.
For me BMX is like an art that lets you
express yourself in what ever way you
want.. You can be smooth and gentle
with your tricks or fast and aggressive ..
I guess it could tie in closely with music
to in that way.
I asked Shaun what an average day for
him would be like and he told me “ well
if it was summer I would wake up eat..
Maybe work depending on the day
then ride around and have fun maybe
try to learn something new. And if not
that I would be on the road to the nearest skate park to ride and hang out with
all the other riders from around here.”
I think this represents the Nonprofessional side of BMX biking perfectly. As long as your having fun riding
your bike you know its all good and
good things will come from it like
maybe starting your own shop to sell
quality BMX products and BMX brand
clothing witch is what Shaun would
really like to do some day with his life
after some after school education and
much… much more riding.
www.lotekbrand.com
i
vis
m/
. co
en
sd
or
th
au
w.
ww
The Sanctuary
There are many places from my past that keep a firm and permanent hold on my
to
r ts
ho
ws
vie
ry
D
id
av
M
S.M.B * MAGAZINE
t/
43
By
memory. One of those places is a small and densely foliated area on the fringes of
the town where I spent my high school years. It was a place unknown to all but the
most seriously involved BMX racers and freestylers.
Early one spring afternoon, we rode our bikes across town to a patch of woods at the
edge of town. A few of the older guys drove to the site. The entire area was undeveloped, with no houses or buildings nearby. We arrived at the end of the road, where a
grassy field precariously sloped downward and collided abruptly with a seemingly impenetrable wall of trees. Armed with hoes, shovels, saws, and wheelbarrows, we
made our way down the slope and through the trees until we arrived at the hill where
the work began.
For at least a month, we sawed, dug, and shaped the land. The work was hard, but
the payoff did come in the end. What we had created was the most diverse and complete BMX dirt-park we had ever seen. There was a racetrack that wound its way
through multiple dirt ramps, high banking turns, and a flat straightaway. In addition to
the track, there were also several “daredevil” jumps that were attempted by only the
bravest (or perhaps the most mentally deranged) riders. These ramps would loft a
biker up to twenty feet in the air, perhaps over a gaping twenty-five foot wide ravine or
some similarly perilous obstacle.
During almost any daylight hour, someone would be there digging, riding, or just sitting on the hill at the center of it all. Sometimes during the summer, I arrived very
early in the morning before anyone else, when daylight was only a vague glow in the
eastern sky. At that time of day, the atmosphere was very different from the energetic
hours that followed.
Spider webs spanned the trees, symmetrically perfect and dotted with dew that reflected the light of the morning sun, highlighting the fragile nature of the moment. The
morning shadows covered what the mid-day sun exposed, while the sun slowly
started its long journey to the western horizon. Like a silent audience of many watching one, the trees solemnly encircled me, isolating my soul from the multitudes of the
Earth. The air sat motionless, as if waiting for something to happen in the stillness of
morning. A few birds sang a sparse and quiet soundtrack to the whole scene, a reminder that I was not alone in the world.
After an hour or so, others would show up to start another day just like the last one.
For two years, this was my sanctuary. It was an area of physical exertion, mental contemplation, and spiritual awakening. Sometime after we stopped going to the track, I
heard that the whole place began to deteriorate. New arrivals would come, but they
did not work to preserve the track. Eventually, the woods consumed our park.
I haven’t been back since we stopped going to the track so many years ago, but I can
imagine it overgrown and blocked with branches that embrace each other in a tangles
mass of confusion. I can picture the rabbit holes dimpling the sides of the ramps. In
my imagination, the whole area returns to the state it was in on that first day, when
our wheelbarrows could barely make it through the shrubbery.
At first, this made me a little sad, but after some thought, it seems that this is how it
should be. This was our place, and after we had gone, it returned to its natural state,
allowing it to remain only our place. No one else would ever again get to sit on that
hill and contemplate. No longer would riders be found racing through those trails or
jumping those ramps. Those things remain in the living memory of a select few that
carved a sanctuary out of the wilderness.
Shaun Hildebrandt—
Hildebrandt—Chad Fher — Colin Thiessen.