etnies

BMX Team Report 08-31-04

Mike Escamilla has been back on his bike for the last couple of weeks, getting plenty of riding in at the secret training facility in Temple City, which helped him acquire 10th place at the MSS contest in Sacramento last weekend. This past week, Mike has been back in training for the Metro Jam in coming up in Vancouver over Memorial Day weekend. Mikes etnies Rooftop 3 shoe is now in stores, so go buy a pair.
Taj Mihelich has been home in Austin working at T1 and getting himself healthy after a string of slightly bad luck with injuries. He will be heading up to Vancouver on Memorial Day weekend to compete in the Metro Jam. Taj is currently riding the third and final sample of his etnies signature shoe, appropriately named the Roscoe, which will be available in January 2005.
Ruben Alcantara is back home in Spain enjoying some serious rest and relaxation after returning home from an awesome trip to South Africa with good friends and etnies teammates Joe Rich, Sandy Carson and Sergio Layos. Ruben placed 2nd in a contest and the crew also did some demos. Ruben is currently stoked to be riding in samples of his etnies signature shoe.
Jamie Bestwick has been home in State College, Pennsylvania since returning from the X Games. This past week, he shot a lot of photos with French photography phenom Manu Sanz for an upcoming article in Cream magazine. Jamie has also been riding trails quite a bit. He went to the Minersville trails mid-week to ride with some friends. Jamie will be defending his LG Championships title in a couple of weeks at Pomona Fairgrounds in California.
Joe Rich has been home less than a week from South Africa and has already jumped head-first back into editing the long awaited Terrible 1 video that should be done by October. This past weekend, Joe rode the 9th Street trails in Austin. Seems he caught the trail bug in South Africa, where he and etnies teammates Ruben Alcantara, Sandy Carson and Sergio Layos rode some awesome jumps with the locals. Joe also hung out with his brother, who has been in town, and also did some dirt bike riding.
Dave Freimuth has been riding a bunch. This past week, Manu Sanz of Cream magazine was in town to do an article about Appleton, Wisconsin and Dave decided it would be a good idea to throw himself down a set of 20 steps to his elbow. So, his elbow is a little screwed, but he hopes to be in good shape for the Metro Jam coming up this Memorial Day weekend. Dave has also been working hard on the Halloween Baco Jam at Area 51 in Appleton.
John Heaton has been doing demos up in Toronto with some friends for the State Fair.
Sandy Carson just got back from South Africa, where he got 6th place in a contest and also did some demos with etnies teammates Ruben Alcantara, Joe Rich and Sergio Layos. He thinks he may have caught a flu on the 33-hour plane ride home. On Sunday, Sandy went riding, and while trying to film a final clip, decided it might be a good idea to crash the crap out of himself to take his mind off of the flu. A trip to the hospital turned up staph infection in some road rash. Sandy is off to Vancouver to attend the Metro Jam and also check out the Federal Bikes video premiere.
Josh Stricker has been home for the last couple of weeks, kinda taking things easy and chilling before taking off again to do the East Coast portion of the S&M road trip video shooting fiasco. The guys are going to stay somewhat local in NYC, NJ and DC and just basically ride in states surrounding Pennsylvania, instead of wasting their time driving to Canada, as previously planned. Josh is going to be helping out with the artwork for the video cover, which he is quite excited about. He is also going to have an interview coming up in Ride UK. Also keep an eye out for an upcoming etnies ad featuring Josh. ItҒs a banger!

Nate Wessel has been back at Woodward East, riding and cutting wood for some ramp renovations. Hes being doing lots of drawings for skatepark designs that are in the works. Nate may be going to Greece to build a park. He also has one in Erie that he had to drive to a meeting for. Texas is also in the works, so saying Nate is going to be one busy little beaver in the coming months is an understatement. Nate has been filming and hanging with all the kids at camp.
Garrett Byrnes has been home itching to ride his bike. He can almost taste it now. It only seems like yesterday that he had surgery, but itҒs actually been almost six weeks now. Hes been riding his beach cruiser around, hanging with his girlfriend Crystal, and just enjoying his lazy life, as any bike rider should. Keep an eye out for an upcoming Garrett Byrnes etnies ad, featuring a shot from Helsinki from the T1 World Tour.

Etnies Backyard Jam Coming To Derby!

Ian Carmichael Tribute BMX Jam!

Evolutuion Skatepark
2600 Rutherford RD
Vaughn, Ontario
L4K 2N6
Canada

BMX Team Report 08-16-04

Mike Escamilla hasnt been doing any riding since he hurt his wrist in Cologne, Germany at the WorldҒs. This past week, he instead went surfing with his daughter Haley and, unfortunately, had to endure the new Alien vs. Predator movie. Mike will be riding again this week in hopes of preparing himself for the MSS contest coming up next weekend in Sacramento. Rooftops birthday was on August 8. To celebrate, you should go buy the etnies Rooftop 3, in stores now.
Taj Mihelich and his girlfriend returned home to Austin--Taj with a broken rib and his girl minus some teeth. These injuries were received in the first couple of days of a BMX getaway at Woodward West camp in California. Taj will be readying himself and getting fit for the upcoming Metro Jam in Vancouver at the beginning of September. In the meantime, he will be working hard and keeping the ball rolling over at Terrible One.
Ruben Alcantara, Joe Rich, Sandy Carson and Spanish shredder Sergio Layos are over in South Africa doing some demos. They all competed in a contest last week, also. Sergio ended up in 1st, Ruben in 2nd, Sandy got 6th and Joe placed 8th. Ruben has been hanging out with Sergio on one coast and the other guys have been on the other side of the country, both groups doing demonstrations respectively. Ruben's been getting some surfing in, sometimes twice a day.All the guys got to ride some trails and also some concrete parks. Ruben recently received samples of his revised etnies signature shoe and is stoked to be riding in them. He canҒt wait to get the next samples. Check them out at the etnies booth at the Interbike trade show.
Jamie Bestwick returned home from hanging out in California with his lovely wife Kerry and competing in the X Games. He is currently shooting photos with BMX photographer extraordinaire Manu Sanz for Cream magazine out on the East Coast.Today, they will be hitting-up some trails in Minersville, Pennsylvania to do some more shooting. Jamie, like Rooftop, also put himself through seeing Alien vs. Predator this past weekend.
Dave Freimuth is on what he and Kevin Porter like to call a Baco vacationӔ. Dave picked up Mike Ardelean and Aaron Bostrom and will also be picking up Chad Degroot, and Manu Sanz from Cream magazine to head up to Jellystone campground, where the guys will do some hanging out, river rafting and also get some riding in at the skatepark that was just recently built there. Dave and his wife Pattie took in a pre-season Packers game this past week. Look out for a story on the Baco vacation in an upcoming issue of Cream.
Josh Stricker finally got back to Philly from Rhode Island and is expecting to head out to California for his good friend Shaun Butler's wedding this coming weekend. Last weekend, Josh and Brian Wizmerski went to a show where Bo Didley, Nancy Sinatra, The Romantics, New York Dolls and even Iggy Pop played. He was stoked, to say the least, and according to Josh, Iggy Pop is still an animal on stage (albeit a very old animal).
John Heaton did some shows this past week with his friend Max Vincent in Ottawa and will be doing some more this week in Toronto at some expo. John played some golf and didnt feel he was getting hurt enough, so he played some hockey. On Sunday, John went to his sisterҒs baby shower.
Garret Byrnes is home babying his wrist and being spoiled by his girlfriend, Crystal. He has been scooting around on his skateboard and doing a little cycling on his beach cruiser.
Nate Wessel has been out at Woodward East for the last week or so, getting some riding in after returning from Baltimore, where he hung out with the very injured Colin Winkleman. Nate should be receiving some prototype gloves he designed for Fox racing any day now, and is hoping they turned out how he wanted them to. Nate will be super busy soon with ramp building jobs. He has one in the works for Red Bull for a mountain bike streetstyle contest called the Red Bull Bike Battle.

BMX Team Report 08-11-04

Mike Escamilla has been chilling around home, healing up from a wrist injury sustained at the Worlds in Cologne a month ago. He hopes to be riding again in about a week. Mike took the family to a Dodgers game, where he witnessed the Miracle Man, Dave Mirra, throw out the first pitch. Mike also hung out the X Games in Los Angeles this past weekend, where he saw Lenny Kravitz play. Go buy the etnies Rooftop 3 shoe in stores now.
Now that his back is feeling way better, Taj Mihelich tied up some loose ends at Terrible One at the beginning of the week before heading out to California to do some riding and T1 video shooting at Woodward West. He was only there for one evening before slamming on the indoor spine ramp and breaking a rib or two. To add insult to injury, TajҒs girl also rides and crashed rolling in on the same ramp, knocking out three teeth and splitting her lip. Taj goes home to Austin on August 11 to wallow in his injuries and work. Look for the etnies Taj 3 shoe coming soon.
Ruben Alcantara and etnies teammates Sandy Carson, Joe Rich and Sergio Layos are currently in South Africa, where they competed in a contest. They originally thought they were supposed to be doing demos, but a contest was put on instead. Sergio placed 1st, Ruben got 2nd, Sandy got 6th and Joe placed 8th. Joe somehow crashed and bent his bars with his ribs. The guys have also been riding street in Johannesburg, as well as an old school snake run in a place called Germiston that was built in 1982.All the guys have been filming for their respective videos, as well as taking plenty of pictures. They will be in South Africa until August 22. Rubens etnies sample shoes came in this week and were shipped to him in South Africa to test.
Jamie Bestwick spent the beginning of the week at home in State College, Pennsylvania before heading out to Los Angeles for the X Games. Jamie has basically won every contest he has entered this year and hopes of regaining the gold at the X Games were dashed Friday night after a couple of falls in his runs. Jamie will be out in Southern California until Thursday, hanging with his beautiful wife, Kerry, sightseeing and visiting etnies. Keep an eye on the Outdoor Life channel for a Gravity Games TV show partly hosted by Jamie. He will also have a bike giveaway coming up in Ride BMX in which the winner will receive a full etnies outfit, a GT bike, a Boost Mobile phone, an Ogio bag and plenty more goodies to make your little heads spin. Keep an eye out here on the etnies site for a Jamie Bestwick contest in which you can win a week at Woodward East.
Dave Freimuth hung out this past week in Minneapolis with etnies flow rider Brian Kachinski, riding street and enjoying life. They rode the Lair skatepark and then headed up to Lake Owens Camp Woodward to get more riding in. The crew also went wakeboarding, and some good hot tub action went down, as well. Dave tried to film some stuff and crashed on a 360 whip, taking a handlebar to the face, requiring stitches. Just so you know, the doctor who stitched him up is also a taxidermist. I guess that makes Dave a wild animal! Dave also went to a Green Bay Packers game, now that football season has started. Keep an eye out for a Dig BMX interview with Dave in a future issue.
Josh Stricker has been stranded out in Greenwich, Rhode Island (about fifteen minutes from Providence) for the last few days, after the guy they got a ride up there with decided to stay a few days extra. Josh is up there to film for the upcoming S&M bikes video and also shoot photos to finish up his Ride UK interview. Josh should be home by mid-week. His back has been feeling better, but is still a little swollen. Another doctor's visit is most likely in the cards.
John Heaton spent last week up at his girlҒs parents cottage and chilled out with her family, playing golf as well as some hockey with friends. On Thursday, John had the unfortunate duty of attending a good friend's funeral. In fact, he rode his bike in front of the procession on the way there. The kid's name was Ian Carmichael, and he was an avid BMXer. His whole family was totally into him being a BMXer, so having John lead the procession really meant a lot to them. John is planning a jam for Ian to raise some money for his family and their expenses. The weekend was taken up by hanging out at Wakestock, a huge wakeboarding party near the beach in Toronto.
Garrett Byrnes has been healing up after having wrist surgery two Fridays ago. Things are going well, and he says heҒs going nuts not being able to ride. The only bike riding fixӔ hes been able to get is riding near the beach on his cruiser.

Bike To School? Contest!

Mission Skatepark
Longwood, Florida
Sunday, August 1, 2004

Its almost back-to-school, but not before Mission Skatepark gave the kids one last go at feeling free for the Summer. Having the contest on a Sunday was our only option, since a park down South planned a similar event on Saturday. The holy day didnҒt stop all the South Florida gangs and Georgia peaches from showing up and kicking some serious ass.

There was a small Beginner class, and every kid made it over the spine--most were even throwing no-footers over the hip! The 15 and Under class made me realize how good kids are getting at such a young age. 16 and Over was the same.

One kid even entered this class knowing full well that his age was 14. He proved he could hang with the big dogs, though, and even placed in the top threenot bad. Maybe he could have placed in Expert? That class was packed with Mission locals that knew all the lines, but they just couldnŒt seem to get it together.

A South Florida kid claimed the title, but the locals couldnt be snuffed out just like that. With OBMX putting up a crisp $100 bill for Best Trick and two other vigilantes putting in another $25, the 20-minute Best Trick event was the climax of the day. Three outstanding tricks were done: a 540 tail tap on the hitching post, a 540 air to manual to 180 out (without brakes), and an opposite wall tap on the beam seven-and-a-half feet up from the mini.Joey, the Mission boss, took the win with the opposite tap. The place was so packed that he had to do it with people all over the deck and even under the beam. He celebrated by taking his friends out for Mexican food.

A big thanks goes out to etnies for giving every kid that entered a shirt and hat, OBMX and Bully/Hammer for the Best Trick bucks and pizza, Primo, Premium, Esaych, UGP, Profile, Fit, Skatepark of Tampa and Baco Designs for giving product.

Chad
missionskatepark.com

Jamie Bestwick Defends X Games BMX Vert Gold Medal!

etnies Jamie Bestwick will attempt to win back-to-back X Games gold medals to defend his 2003 title. As the inventor of the fastplant flair and flair tailwhip, he says people will be surprised at what happens.

After stunning the BMX world at X Games 2000 by taking the gold medal and again winning in 2003, 33-year-old Jamie will be arriving in Los Angeles later this week to defend his Vert BMX gold medal. In the past months, Jamie has not just been riding, but winning 1st place in his last five contests: Bike 2004 in Birmingham, UK; CFB at Woodward West; Soul Bowl in Donnington, UK; 2004 MSS in Washington DC and recently Ramps & Amps in South Street, NY.

ғI've been working on a couple of new things at camp (Woodward), some stuff no one's seen before. I'm just really doing stuff for myself to see if it's is possible. If I feel it's time to do it and I feel stoked on my runs at X Games, then I might fire it out. We'll just have to wait and see, because I don't want to say I'm going to do something and curse myself, but I'll for sure have new stuff, says Jamie.

So far, itԒs been an amazing year for the defending Vert gold medalist, and it doesnt seem like thereҒs anything stopping him from winning gold and throwing down a few new tricks at X Games. Its definitely going to be worth watching!

Televised Schedule:
ESPNҒs SportsCenter will air LIVE from X Games X at 11:00 p.m. ET
Friday, August 6
9:00 p.m. 12:00 a.m.
Bike Stunt Vert Finals, Moto-X Step-Up Finals, Skateboard Street Men֒s Finals

BMX Team Report 08-04-04

Mike Escamilla has been up in Vancouver hanging out with Dave Osato and Jason Enns, filming for the next installment of the Samurai video series. While there, hes also been swimming and hiking. Mike has been wanting to play golf, but was unable to due to an injured wrist. His etnies Rooftop 3 pro shoes are in stores now. Go buy some!
Taj Mihelich has been taking things easy as far as riding goes, due to the back injury he sustained in Cologne at the WorldҒs a month ago. Hes been riding his beach cruiser to work to get some kind of exercise, seeing as how he canҒt ride his BMX bike. As usual, Taj has been working hard at T1. He will also be heading to Woodward West on August 4 to concentrate on the healing process of riding. Tajs etnies pro shoe, the Taj 3, is coming really soon.
Ruben Alcantara has been in Southern California for the past ten days, hanging out, surfing and riding a bunch. He put together the second sample of his signature Terrible 1 frames, and heҒs stoked! Ruben also shot photos with both TransWorld BMX and Ride BMX and entered the Soul Bowl contest this past weekend in Huntington Beach, much to the vert riders' surprise. He showed them all how to ride it truly like a bowl, which definitely opened some people's eyes to new things, simultaneously earning the respect of many vert jocks. Besides that, Ruben has been enjoying the mild So Cal weather before heading out to South Africa on August 4 with Joe Rich, Sandy Carson and Sergio Layos to some shows in Johannesburg, then on a road trip. Ruben's etnies pro shoe is looking good, and new samples should be here in the next couple of days. Check out Ruben on the cover of the September 2004 TransWorld BMX.
Jamie Bestwick has been home in State College. Pennsylvania, riding at Woodward Camp to prepare for the X Games coming up this week in Los Angeles. In fact, Jamie will be at the Ride BMX / TransWorld BMX booth outside at Staples Center from 11:15 to 12:45 this Saturday, August 7. Come by and get a signed etnies poster and stickers from him! Jamie also rode an MSS contest last weekend in Buffalo, New York and laid waste to the competition, once again. Check out Jamies new etnies ad in the October issue of Ride BMX and keep an eye out for his upcoming etnies commercial in Props video magazine.

Joe Rich has been home in Austin hanging out with his parents, who just recently moved there. HeҒs also been busting his ass at T1, helping company co-owner Taj Mihelich. Joes been getting some riding in while trying to beat the heat by going swimming. He left Monday for South Africa to do some shows and a mini-tour with etnies teammates Ruben Alcantara, Sandy Carson and Sergio Layos.
Dave Freimuth has been getting in plenty of riding outdoors at home in Appleton since they have been enjoying some amazing weather. HeҒs also been filling his husbandly duties by doing some yard work and landscaping his house. Dave shot photos at a friend's wedding this past weekend (his first). He said its much harder than you would think. Currently, Dave is in Minneapolis, hanging out with MacNeil rider Allistair Whitton and etnies flow rider Brian Kachinski.
I think John Heaton is home in Woodstock, Ontario riding.

Garrett Byrnes has been home in New Jersey, hanging with his girl. He just had wrist surgery this past Friday, and reports that everything went smoothly. He should be back up and running (so to speak) in about three months.
Josh Stricker is just about done with his interview for Ride BMX UK that should be running in the next issue. Apparently, Josh must be the flavor of the month, because Ride BMX U.S. called to see if he would like to do an interview for them, as well, so keep an eye out for that in the next few months. Josh also went to the doctors this week to check out a lump he had on his lower back. Apparently, it was some dried blood and has to be removed. Josh is going to get a second opinion.
Sandy Carson just got back from his Euro vacation and jumped straight back into work on upcoming issues of Dig BMX. In his off time, Sandy has been hanging with his BMX riding girlfriend and going swimming to avoid the heat in Austin. Sandy left with Joe Rich, Ruben Alcantara and Sergio Layos to South Africa on Monday to do some shows and a mini-tour.
Nate Wessel has been hanging out in Maryland and staying by his good friend Colin Winkleman's side. Seems Colin experienced a horrific bike riding crash, breaking both ankles, a wrist and a vertebrae while filming for a stunt show at Travis Pastrana's house.