6-5-09
This week i was asked to jump at a moto-x event in Newfoundland Canada, and I have decided i need to get one of those teleporter things that you see on star trek ... ha ha. After the nightmare a few weeks ago getting to Belgium, and this weeks 30 hours in airplanes and sleeping on airport floors just to get there, i really think the "Beam me up Scotty !" deal would come in handy.
The weather was nasty. When i arrived in St John's on Saturday afternoon it was 45 deg, with high winds and raining .... brrrrrrrrrr. The guys were just getting the portable landing finished for the show that night, and to be honest, I was starting to get a bit worried.
With the show only a few hours away and the rain dying down, they decided to bring the landing to the arena and put the carpet on the deck there, instead of taking a chance on getting it wet. This was the first time the landing had been transported and it was interesting to say the least. Picture a 13 foot tall wedge, being pulled behind a pic up truck, in high winds on the freeway... well at about 50 mph the landing became airborne, all wheels off the ground, and just by luck decided to fly off into the ditch, and not into on coming traffic... one good thing, it didn't even put a scratch on the beast. Although the transporting design needed some reworking, the landing itself was super sturdy and even rolling it on its side at 50 mph into the ditch did not effect the Newfie craftsmanship.
About an hour later we got the landing to the arena, put the carpet on the deck, and a few min later the take-off arrived. No time to practice, so on saturday night myself and the "Newfoundland Lunatics" did our best to entertain the sold out crowd, and from the screaming and applause id say we did a great job.
Crappy flight up, nasty weather, no sleep and no practice but the show & the Newfies were awesome, and to me that makes it all worth while!
Now after a pretty smooth flight back to Florida, im going to get some practice in, and try to get a flip combo of any sort figured out... man its weird coming back to working on no footers and one handers again. I remember my first one hander back in the day, I was so pumped, almost crashed, but my 93 kx250 was a trusty steed and I was able to keep it on 2 wheels ... ha ha. Now im trying to do it upside down and although my brain is saying "take your hand off pussy" my body is fighting my brain and saying "no way, im not letting go of these bars for nothing !"
Ill keep ya posted on my flip combo progress, or lack there of ... and I just found out im doing a show in florida with one of my favorite fmx riders, "Cowboy" Kenny Bartram, should be a blast.
Stay safe!
5-28-09
With the summer season kickin into high gear things are starting to get busy again... I had a blast jumping on memorial day weekend down in Tampa, Florida. And finally got a good pic in the local new paper . Usually the paper photographers don't have much experience with fmx, and end up snapping the pic too early, when you are in a crouch position getting ready to trick, or late when you have already got one wheel on the landing.
97x, the local rock station, puts on a music festival on the pier just south of Tampa. With all the rain we have been having in Florida I was pumped that it held off for the day and the event was awesome. Killer bands (including The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus) great food and an incredible crowd made the 5 shows we did on Saturday go by before we knew it was over.
As i mentioned the rain just doesn't want to stop here in florida, and i have been lucky to get 2 days of practice in before heading to canada for a show at an arenacross in Newfoundland ... a great place to visit, home of Newfie Screech (crazy whiskey, famous in canada) and one of the few places with a 1/2 hour time difference. If the hockey game starts at 9 on the mainland its at 9:30 in Newfoundland. And i just got word from the promoter that they had 2 inches of snow last week ?
Great to be heading back to canada for a bit and im looking forward to seeing all the guys i used to race with before i got into fmx. Have a good weekend and keep your stick on the ice !
5-23-09
Well I earned my air miles this week , I had to head to europe for a rehearsal with Dragone (a production company that is putting on a big show in china in 2010)...and i spent more time in the air, on a plane and on my bike, than on the ground.
I left for Belgium on monday and arrived in Brussels on tues afternoon ... this is normally a 7 hour flight, but with the time difference and some sort of airline strike that left me stranded in london for 1/2 a day it was a looooooong trip.
So things didn't start off so good, but when i got there i forgot about it very quickly.
The Dragone people picked me up at the airport and bought me back to their studio in Lent ... WOW, i was not expecting their studio to be the size of a small town ...
I was pretty tired from my trip, but wanted to look around the studios, so i got a tour from one of the other athletes. The site was very impressive, with one of the largest indoor swimming pools in belgium. The show is based around the water, with a sunken pirate ship, russian swing that launch the divers 40 feet into the air and a high dive platform for the brazilian cliff jumpers... all inside one of the studios.
After the tour i got some sleep and on wed, met up with Jimbo and the fmx4ever crew... great to see them again, i did a 10 week tour with fmx4ever a few years back and had one of the best times of my life. Jimbo knows how to treat his riders and put on a killer show. We rehearsed inside another one of the studios and had a great afternoon jam. With kik ass bikes and riders from 6 countries it was an absolute blast.
After the jam session we headed back to Jimmys for some food and a few vodkas ... ok well it turned into more than a few , but it was great to see Nick, Swampy, Morgan and Jimmy's family again.
We also had time to check out Jimmy's back yard (since it doesn't get dark until about 10:30 pm) and again i was very impressed with the set up ... it looked like a small "red bull x fighters event". 10 ramps, 1/4 pipe, foam pit .... a riders paradise !
After all that i caught a flight back to florida last night and am getting ready for a show tomorrow in St. Pete. The Tampa rock station 97x has an annual music festival and im stoked to be jumping at it.
5-6-09
Well as a fmx rider we all know it not if, its when .... as in when u will crash next.
Monday was my turn. I was riding at my compound in florida and was flipping to a new landing. All was good, did 5 flips then some trix, then a few flips, then i just had a brain fart. I was heading toward the take off to flip again when my front tire must have hit a rock right before the ramp, it snapped the tire to the right and before i knew it i was on the way up the ramp, but heading way to the right ... not sure what i was thinking but i froze up and stopped pulling. Next thing i remember is being near verticle and deciding to throw the bike away. Its a scarry feeling "rollin down the windows" from 25+ feet up ...
I landed on my feet, ass and hands sliding down the landing, and i must have pushed down on the bars before i let go of the bike, because it landed perfect and rolled into the fence and just fell over. After a quick check of my body parts, and a once over of the bike i decided to go flip it again before the adrenalin wore off.
I did 2 more flips and my wrists started to hurt pretty bad, manned up and did a 3rd, but after that i was done.
Rode back to the house and tried to put my bike on the stand... OWCH ! my wrists were really sore now and i had a hard time taking my boots off.
Its two days later and my wrists are starting to feel a little better ... hope to be riding by the weekend.
hope u all had a better week than i did, and since i didnt do much riding i thought id include some pics from the 08 suzuki coors lite tour.
have a good one and stay safe !
4-27-09
Its been a long season and a lot of traveling, but this week I was pumped to have a show in my home town.
Ocala, Florida was the host of the Tough Truck Challenge. Jake Coombs, Ryan Barre and myself were scheduled to do a FMX demo on sat and sun. The winds got a little strong on sat afternoon, Ryan got blown a bit off track after hitting the 75 footer and went down. Ryan wears a good quality helmet, chest protector and a leatt and i think that kept his injuries from being a lot worse. He did break one collar bone and crack the other, hit his head and got a concussion plus 2 broken ribs and a deflated lung.
Ryan will be in the hospital for a few days but will make a full recovery... FMX is a tough sport and things like this remind me that we are not ballerinas.
With Ryan out, Jake and I decided to keep it safe for the rest of the weekend, jump some of the smaller gaps and keep the tricks to non release stuff.
The crowd was pumped with the fmx show and the tough trucks were very impressive, using part of the Hard Rock motocross track along with a huge rock pit to create a killer course. Watching these 800 horse trucks with 50+ inch tires climb near verticle walls and jump big dirt hits was an impressive sight.
Well i have been flippin consistantly for the last 2 months, but cant seem to get a variation yet. So my goal this week is to get a hand or foot off before i head up to canada for the first of the 09 shows up north.
11-27-07 The Fall Jam was a great success...
killer course, great rider turn out and lotza fans made for an awesome weekend... thx to our event sponsors Innova Tires, Spider Grips, Maxima, IDOFMX and Durhamtown PLantation.
I was pumped to be on Fuel TV multiple times this month, for the Breman Contest, and the new FMX East DVD "Gaps n Grillz" release wich were both featured on M-80.
Been havin a blast doing shows for TW's Team FMX .... check out www.teamfmx.com for info on Travis's shows.... let em now Smitty sent ya !
Want to welcome my newest sponsor Mountain Adventures, the Robert and Ryan...I have some big shows coming up in canada in the new year, but till then ill be busy practicing and tryin to get the flip to dirt !!!!
have a good one...
4-5-07 Had an amazing week ... spent 3 days at Pastranas workin on back flips and other stupid trix into the foam pit.
Travis is out control... he was pullin double backflip 360's on his pit bike ????
I was having good success with getting the body varial motion down too... not to dirt yet ... but its a start ?
Also did the IFMA ramp to ramp in Charlettsville Virginia ... had good solid runs, but was only able to get 6th, until i get the flip down its gonna be tough getting into the top 5... im not giving up, going back to Pastranas next week to try to put it to dirt !
3-25-07 Had a three night show in Richmond Virginia last weekend great crowds on Fri and Sun plus a sell out on Sat night had all the riders at the top of their game for the FMX contests.
Phill, Doug and I tried our best to keep up with Casey Higgins but he was on fire�Ķ throwin huge side saddle takeoffs to 9 o���clock knacks. Casey won all three nights with Doug grabbin second on Fri, and I took second on Sat and Sun.
Was also pumped that Innova ran the add with me in it for a second month in Transworld MX magazine.
Keep your stick on the ice!
3-15-07 thx for droppin by my site
I'm going to try my best to keep the weekly updates coming and fill the gallery with killer pics and vids.
Im really pumped about this weeks update- the April Transworld is out and I was able to score a full page add for my tire sponsor, Innova Tires (www.cycletires.com).
This weekend's show was almost a holiday. I was in Pensacola, FL soakin up some sun and riding with Doug and Lance Cossy. The Monster Jam at the Civic Center was a blast and Doug was killing it with some big KODs and his signature switchblades. Lance popped his cherry in Pensacola doing his first show and bustin out some big seat grabs over the ramp to ramp gap for a sold out crowd on Sat. night. I was happy with my runs even though a whip almost got away from me, and was able to take the win both Fri and Sat nights.
Great beaches, sweet hotel and a good bunch of guys on the crew made for an awesome weekend-looking forward to going back next year. Well im off to Richmond Va., this weekend for another Monster Jam!
Keep your stick on the ice!
2-17-07 Ridin Dirty!
We have started filming for the new vid "Ridin Dirty" - the rap scenes are being filmed today and here are a couple pics of 50 cc, Project Paul, Popa Wheelie, Young Bro and Lil Roy. Peace Yo ! ha ha .....
For more images view my blog here!
