etnies

BMX Team Report of the Week

Morgan's face wreck!

Mike Escamilla rapped things up on the Disney movie he was doing stunt work for this past week and walked away, for the most part, unscathed. He also put a new bike together and watched the Tony Hawk Boom Boom Huck Jam at the Anaheim pond on Friday night.

Mike's shoe the Rooftop 3 is in stores now

Taj Mihelich is still nursing a hurt thumb that he sustained in England at the Download Festival a couple of weeks ago, which has left him time to watch plenty of movies and hang with his girl. Taj also worked with T1 co-owner Joe Rich on revamping their bikes and drew up some new dropouts for the frames. He also got to do some reading and played his bass quite a bit.

Check out Taj's shoe the Roscoe

Ruben Alcantara is enjoying some down time at home in the sweltering heat of Malaga where he has been hanging with his family, riding a little with friends and surfing. He has actually been trying to get an MRI on his back after having some serious back problems for the last couple of years which have been slowing him down.

Ruben's first pro shoe the Terranea is in stores.

Jamie Bestwick has been home quite a bit which is to be expected now that he is a dad, son Samuel was born a couple of weeks ago and is doing great according to Jamie. Jamie has been riding as much as possible (whenever Samuel is asleep I think) getting ready for the Gravity Games vert contest that is coming to Woodward Camp. Gravity will also be a great warm up for the second leg of the Mountain Dew Action Sports series in Denver on July 7-10. Jamie missed the first stop in Louisville so he could attend the birth of his son.

Sergio Layos is home in Madrid hanging with his mom and brother and enjoying some time with his girl. He went to watch her race quads a few days ago only to get the scare of his life when he had to witness her eat shit and have the quad land on top of her. A doctor’s visit to check out her neck confirmed that she was fine, but the thing that helped her most was the dirt being nice and soft beneath her, not to mention ample safety gear…. Pheeewww! Sergio must have too much time and money on his hands because he decided it would be a good idea to buy a remote control helicopter only to later find out that he sucks at flying it! That’s money well spent. Besides all that, Sergio has been shooting pictures and developing negatives.

Joe Rich has been home in Austin enjoying hanging with his parents after being gone for the last two months in Europe. He has been catching up on work at the office and working on revamping the T1 frames with co-owner Taj Mihelich. Joe will be heading to their manufacturer in a couple of weeks to get the ball rolling on the frames. It’s hot as hell right now in Austin so sessions are confined to evenings and Joe has been killing the newly renovated T1 ramp, but during the hotter part of the day he has been developing negatives as well as shooting plenty of photos.

Josh Stricker spent the whole of last week on the Red Bull “Mean Streets” competition where he was on team Philadelphia. The team didn’t win but Josh won best trick at one of the stops for doing one of the biggest gaps of his life and scored himself about $2500 when it was all said and done, he is stoked! Currently Josh is chilling at home in Austin and getting some footage together for an etnies commercial for Props video magazine. Be sure to check out Josh’s interview in a future issue of RIDE BMX.

Morgan Wade has been healing up fine after the Louisville Dew series stop where he bruised his kidney. Morgan got back on the horse so to speak last week and headed up to Allen Texas to check out a new cement skatepark with Joe Simon, Joel Moody and a bunch of other friends. For some reason Morgan decided it might be a good idea to hang up on a quarter pipe and smash his face into the ground splitting the living crap out of his mouth, knocking himself and receiving a massive concussion. A quick trip to the hospital, 20+ stitches later and some heavy meds, Morgan was heading home to do some more healing. Saturday Morgan helped clean, organize and judge a small local contest at the 5 hip ditch in Austin Texas. Check out Morgan’s interview in issue 56 of Props video magazine.

Check out this interview with Morgan on FAT BMX.

John Heaton went to the first Dew series stop in Louisville where he had a very un-fun time. He spent last week at Jellystone hanging with his friends doing demos and also hanging out with Dave Freimuth who was up there just chilling. John is getting ready to head out to Ottawa this coming week to do shows for Canada Day, from there he will be heading over to France for the Fise contest in a couple of weeks. Once he returns home to Canada he will be packing up his belongings and heading out to Vancouver where his fiancé will be attending school and John will probably have plenty more to ride and more people to ride with.... Did we mention John is engaged?!

Dave Freimuth was at the Jellystone Park last week with MacNeil Bikes and etnies teammate John Heaton hanging out and having a fun time. Dave has been trying to ride but has been having back problems as of late. Dave also plays on a softball team and was stoked to announce that his team won both games in a double header. More news later from Wisconsin.

Garrett Byrnes is home in New Jersey after returning from the Download Festival in Donington England where he rode a bowl contest and got to witness Sabbath play. He has been working on and riding trails a bunch as well as staying busy with his new job.

Sandy Carson is on his European vacation but has been having a chain of bad luck. First up, he had some of his camera equipment stolen from a hotel in Italy, luckily he kept a lot of his photos and other equipment separate from the rest so whoever took it only got some of his stuff. It sounded like an inside job, but being in a foreign country it would have been hard to prove it, hopefully insurance will help pay for the lost property. He has been using a borrowed camera in the meantime. Next up, Sandy was out riding and took it hard on a handrail in Cologne and hurt his ribs, he’s not sure if they are broke but right now he is chilling and hanging out with the Federal team and will be heading to Berlin for the Rebel jam in a week before heading home to Austin.

Why Did The Chicken Cross The Road?

What really happened when the chicken crossed the road...

And the Weiners Are!

This is one of two submissions from the same kid in Portugal. He also sent the water fountain photo below on the right. Not only were these the two funniest efforts, they also were the best efforts that didn't use Photoshop. I mean, he got down to his undies and humped a statue in public for the cause. At least this kid gets out of the house.

It wasn't easy, and it took longer than we thought, but here's the winners of the etnies.com Crazy Photo Contest and some explanations as to why they were chosen. Thanks to all who entered, lots of you made us laugh. There will be plenty more contests to enter in so stay tuned. One side note: You winners are about to get some email from us with details on how to claim your prizes. If we don't hear from you in two weeks from the day we send the email, we have to pick another winner. Slacking=forfeiting!

Submitting one photo good enough to get our attention is no simple task. But this guy sent two bangers in, hence earning himself first place and three pairs of etnies kicks. We also like that, other than skating, the only stuff on his brain is sexual and toilet-related hijinx. I wonder who drank from this fountain after the photo was shot?

Most Photoshop entries were kinda janky, which actually makes them really funny. A "doggy front blunt" down a nine-stair rail is pretty damn sick. And hilarious to boot. Yes, the dog is wearing etnies. I think we might even sponsor him. I wonder if he landed it? Is that a skateboard or a toboggan he's riding? This effort earned a pair of etnies.

This photo has nothing to do with skating. I'm not sure it has anything to do with anything. If it was two horses or cats mating, it sure as hell wouldn't have been as funny. It won a lot of votes because it was the randomest, funniest scenario submitted to us. Who even knew llamas rocked etnies? Homeboy only wins one pair of etnies, so he's gonna have to buy a pair if he wants to hook up both llamas.

Once again, horribly done in Photoshop, but brilliantly primitive and downright funny. Blowing fire out of your ass while wearing Artos. Classic. One pair of etnies for you my friend, just keep them in a fire-proof area!

etnies Downhill Jam for Mac!

The etnies Downhill Jam is now Mac friendly. Enjoy!

BMX Team Report: Euro Trip '05

Prague, just one of the many amazing sights the team encountered on their trip through Europe.

Mike chillin' at the worlds.

Mike Escamilla spent the last few weeks healing up from his shoulder injury in preparation for the remainder of the Mountain Dew series and the movie he has been working on for Disney. In the movie Mike does some stunt double work for one of the actors. Mike went to the Czech Republic a couple of weeks ago to attend the world championships. Mike was still hurt at the time so he just hung out, enjoyed the beautiful city of Prague and helped play team manager to the etnies team. Mike will be heading to Denver for the second Dew tour stop on July 7.

Check out Mike’s shoe the Rooftop3 in stores now.

300,000 people love BMX! ...and Slayer!

Taj Mihelich spent the last few weeks in Europe shredding. Taj rode at the worlds in Prague where he placed 21st in Mini and 41st in Park. The comp had a packed field and Taj rode real well. Taj stayed in Prague for a few extra days to enjoy the sights and shoot some pics. Following the Prague trip, Taj headed to England to attend a rock festival called “Download”, the festival was in conjunction with Ozzfest and had about 300,000 people in attendance. There was a vert bowl contest going on at the same time which Taj entered and rode real well and placed in the top ten. Taj also entered the manual contest that they put on a got second and was real stoked. He also entered the best trick contest, but while trying an alley-oop lucky grind he popped off of the coping going mach 10 and wiped out, hitting his head, splitting his eyebrow and getting KO’d in the process, he also hurt his thumb a little…3 stitches later and a little woozy Taj was good to go. He took a few days off his bike and traveled around the UK with a few other guys from the etnies team doing the A4 distributor tour hitting up plenty of good spots with crap loads of kids in attendance. Taj returned home to a sweltering Austin, went straight back to work and only to find out that he had broken his thumb from the fall in the UK. He’s got a thumb cast and a few weeks recoup.

Look at Taj’s shoe the Roscoe online or go find it at your local shop.

Ruben and Taj.

Ruben Alcantara spent the last few weeks in Europe cruzing around with etnies teammate Joe Rich doing what they would like to consider a train tour culminating in Prague at the worlds. Ruben entered the Park contest and rode amazing nailing down eighth place with a lot of admirers on hand as usual. Ruben hung out in Prague for a few extra days before heading to the UK for the bowl contest at the Download festival where he placed respectfully and got to witness some sick riding and skating. Ruben ended up winning the manual contest and earned himself $1250 in the process (which he could not believe). To top it off he saw some sick bands like Slayer (which he did some serious head banging to), Helmet, the original Anthrax and capping it off with Black Sabbath. Following festival Ruben did the UK A4 tour and shredded everything in sight, he got to ride possibly one of the best wooden skateparks ever called “Interlect” up in Blackburn UK. Ruben went home to catch up on some serious R&R and enjoy some family time, he deserves it.

Ruben’s new shoe the Terranea is in stores and online. Check it!

Josh Stricker was out in Hastings England before hitting up the worlds where he rode well but I don’t think he was too stoked with his performance. Oh well, next time huh, I think he got 45th…then it was off to the bar. From Prague Josh headed home to Austin for about a week, taking care of some things before heading out to the East coast where he was invited to compete in a Red Bull event called “Mean Streets”, the event entails specifically designated spots, and teams (Josh is on Team Philly) have to utilize the spot the best they can and in turn the best stuff at that spot gets rewarded cash, at the end there will be an overall team awarded as well as awards for best tricks, best filmer etc etc. Should be good, Josh thinks he’s doing pretty good and says he did the craziest gap he’s ever done which earned him an on the spot $500 bonus, so he’s stoked. Josh will be heading home for some serious R&R after he gets done with this.

Keep an eye out for a RIDE UK interview with Josh coming out soon.

Jamie and 6lbs 8oz Samuel David Bestwick.

Jamie Bestwick has been spending as much time at home as possible getting ready for the impending contest season, riding at Camp Woodward and learning all kinds of new shit. He spent so much time at home he even missed the first round of the Dew Tour, but for good reason, in preparation for his first born…. His son was born on Thursday June 9 at 6lbs 8oz and 21 inches in length. His name; Samuel David Bestwick. Congrats Jamie and Kerry.
Jamie took off to Geneva Switzerland at the tale end of last week to a demo for the guys at the UCI and let them get a feel for what BMX vert is all about in hopes of including BMX vert in future Olympics. While there Jamie also got to check out some supercross BMX racing. Jamie returned home to get as much R&R as can be expected with a new born around. Jamie will be heading to Denver for the second stop on the Dew Tour.

For all you slackers, Jamie’s Woodward Camp/etnies giveaway is over. So if you entered keep your fingers crossed…if you didn’t, you’re dumb and you suck.

Morgan owned the street comp and Sergio got third.

Morgan Wade just signed with etnies and in case you’ve been under a rock for the last couple of years, Morgan has been destroying anything he touches, going bigger than most dare and taking BMX by storm. Morgan headed over to Prague for the worlds two weeks ago and showed those Euros just how powerful he really is by taking second in the Mini ramp contest and first place in the park contest by going higher, faster and farther than anyone. Morgan did his best to hit the ceiling of the contest arena while he hit the 8 foot quarter, topping out at about 13 feet. Morgan headed home for a day or so then took off to Louisville for the first stop of the Dew Tour where he placed… a respectable LAST! Morgan ate it hard, was coughing up some blood and had to go to hospital where doctors determined he had bruised his kidney. The doctors actually gave him the all clear so long as he stayed off of his bike for a little while, so he spent his off time off moving down to Austin from Dallas. Morgan will be in Denver in a couple of weeks to compete in the second stop of the Dew series, hopefully he’ll do better there and stay on his bike.

"That's right, I got third in mini."

Check out Morgan’s interview in the latest issue of Props video magazine. Keep an eye out for pics and a full interview with Morgan on etnies.com.

Sergio Layos also headed out to Prague after spending some time at home in Madrid with his family. Sergio rode three disciplines at the worlds, Mini, dirt and park. He got third in Mini, fourth in Dirt and finally third in Park. Sergio showed just how amazing he really is…oh yeah, he also won best trick in the contest with a tailwhip transfer! Overall a freaking stellar outing for the 19 year old Spanish boy. Congrats Sergio! Sergio has been home for the last couple of weeks.

Garrett Byrnes has been home working hard on his new career, Garrett is a heavy machinery operator and as time goes by he will end up operating cranes and all kinds of crazy heavy duty machinery. Garrett was scheduled to head out to England for the Download festival but I think he was inebriated or maybe he swallowed too much salt water from surfing because he thought his flight to England left a day later than it actually did, which meant he missed his flight. He made the same flight the next day so he missed the main contest but he did arrive, after a crazy triple train and multiple bus rides, to the event where he threw his bike together and competed the manual contest where I think jetlag got the best of him. Nonetheless, he got to see some amazing riding, sessioned in between everyone else’s runs and got to see some bad-ass bands play. Garrett is home surfing his brains out and working like a mad man….I forgot to mention that while surfing the other day Garrett got to have a session with an 8 foot shark on the Jersey shoreline!

Joe Rich spent the last month and a half away from home; the first 4 weeks of that were spent running around Europe on trains with etnies teammate Ruben Alcantara shooting pictures and getting footage to hopefully produce a short film. The trip culminated in Prague where Joe and Ruben met up with the rest of the etnies team to hit up the worlds. Joe didn’t compete due to some issues he was having with his arm which he wanted to rest. Joe, as well as a few other guys hung out in Prague to shoot photos and do some sight seeing for a few days before heading over to England to hit up the Download festival where there was bowl comp with skate legends Tony Alva, Kevin Staab and many more. Joe rode awesome and this bowl was right up his alley, Joe placed second and if you were there to witness it, Joe was riding every available minute and should for sure have won the MVP of the weekend. Following Download, Joe, Taj and Ruben did a small UK tour for A4 distribution which went real awesome, one stop the team showed up at a public cement park where there were about 1500 kids waiting for them. NUTS!!! The team judged a small contest and a serious game of foot down in one of the bowls. Joe is home now in Austin sweating his balls off and working at T1.

John Heaton was over in Europe a few days prior to the world championships in Prague just tooling around and hanging out with etnies teammate Dave Freimuth getting into all kinds of trouble as they usually do. John hit up the worlds competing in both Mini where he placed eighth and park where he placed tenth, overall a good outing. John headed back home to the Toronto area where he has moved out of his house and moved into his fiancés parents house for the time being….That’s right. I said fiancé! John got engaged a week ago and is loving life. Congrats John and Andrea…. Speaking of loving life, John was planning on selling his VW GTI and had a buyer who was 100% into it, so John bought a cheaper car in the meantime so he had something as soon as the other dude bought the V-dub and wouldn’t be without a ride…… well, the 100% dude backed out on the deal so now John has two cars on his hands. does anyone want a tits pimped out diesel VW? Other than that John has been riding around his old stomping ground in Woodstock Ontario, he also rode at a park in Vaughn where he decided it might be a good idea to send himself across the park bruising his heel and jamming his hip, needless to say John has been taking things a little easy since. John heads out to Wisconsin to hang with Freimuth for a while and to do demo’s at Jellystone Park.

Check out Dave's perfect posture.

Dave Freimuth was over in Europe hanging with the MacNeil team prior to the worlds in Prague which he planned on competing in but hurt his back, so he spent the last couple of week hobbling around like an old man with a 2x4 stuck in his ass. He did enjoy all that Prague had to offer regardless, just so long as it meant standing up dead straight. Dave returned to Appleton where he and his wife Patie went up to the Wisconsin Dells for a mini vacation. There was plenty to do like water rides, mini golf, some nice scenic boat rides and all that good jazz. After that, Dave got distracted from going to Tony Mortenson’s backyard ramp jam in Minneapolis by hitting up the Jellystone campground skatepark that he loves so much and also did a little fire pit BBQ as night fell. While home Dave has been visiting the chiropractor every other day for his back which has been helping some. Also Dave has been helping revamp the Area51 skatepark, putting some new stuff up there for the kids. Dave and Patie through down the big-bucks and bought a brand new pool…one of those bad-ass inflatable 12 foot by 3 foot deep beauts you can buy at the supermarket. Hell Yeah!!!

Sandy Carson started this years Euro vacation flying into Prague to hang with the etnies crew and compete in the worlds where he placed 47th…remember contests don’t mean everything, check out Sandy’s part in the Federal video. Sandy's been cruising around and shooting photos, he went to Vienna for five days and rode some street with his good friend George and his buddies. George shoots photos for the hell of it and to submit to some different magazines. Sandy went and saw an art show as well as a philharmonic orchestra. From Vienna Sandy headed to Krakow Poland, he left his bike behind in Vienna because according to everyone it’s just too sketchy to take anything of value because things are so shady. After that Sandy headed back to Vienna to get some laundry done and pick up his bike before jumping on a bus and heading to Budapest Hungary. He’s been riding solo missions because he can’t find anyone to ride with and it’s been next to impossible to contact anyone, so Sandy’s been putting his tripod to good use shooting photos of himself riding on a timer. Sandy will be off to Cologne on Tuesday where he knows plenty of people and will be meeting up with the Federal Bikes crew at the Suzuki Masters contest and from there he will be heading to Berlin for the Rebel Jam. Sandy’s going to do a whole DIG article from his travels and experiences, it should be interesting.

Check out the Euro Trip '05 Photo Gallery.

Emo haircut Alert!

AAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAH

Every now and again, we find, (or get sent) some links that are just too good not to share. Check out this well-produced video presentation on a new plague that's infecting the planet.

Band Night at the Skatepark!

Check out the one of many Band Nights planned for the etnies Skatepark of Lake Forest this summer. This Saturday, June 18 is the The Rabies, The Indigents and Powerflex 5 featuring skateboarding legend Steve Alba. The $5 fee to get in goes directly towards keeping the skatepark free for all.

Some New Video Footy

First is a video from RideBMX.

>> Sergio Layos riding the Primo ramps.

Next, some mini ramp footage from the Worlds in Prague.

>> Morgan Wade’s second place ride.

>> Check out the jam session that got Sergio third place.

Dew Action Sports Tour!

The first round of the five stop Dew Tour starts today and will have TV coverage from June 10-12 on NBC Sports and the USA network. Check it.

Schedule
All times are in Eastern Standard Time.
As always, check your local listings.

• June 10 – 12:00-1:00AM USA network
• June 11 – 2:00-4:00PM NBC Sports
• June 11 – 12:00-1:00AM USA network
• June 12 – 1:00-3:00PM NBC Sports

BMX Freestyle Worlds '05 Results

Sergio Layos got some solid results with a top three in park and mini ramp and fourth in dirt. He also got the Oakley best trick award for a huge transfer in the park comp. The other etnies stand out was Morgan Wade who killed it, winning the park competition and getting second on the mini ramp!

Povah's team report will be coming soon with all the inside news from Prague so check back soon.

Results...

Dirt

1. Kye Forte
2. Cory Bohan
3. Adam Baker etnies
4. Sergio Layos etnies
5. Heath Pinter
6. Romuald Noirot
7. Ryan Barrett
8. Patrick Guimez
9. Marcus Hampl
10. Luke Fink

Morgan Wade and Sergio go first and third in the park comp.

Park

1. Morgan Wade etnies
2. Alistair Whitton
3. Sergio Layos etnies
4. Luke Fink
5. Ben Hennon etnies
6. Hannu Cools
7. Dave Osato
8. Brian Kachinsky etnies
9. Tobias Wicke
10. John Heaton etnies
11. Ruben Alcantara etnies
12. Kye Forte

Mini Ramp

1. Koji Kraft
2. Morgan Wade etnies
3. Sergio Layos etnies
4. Mark Webb
5. Alistair Whitton
6. Luke Fink
7. Kenji Tsuruta
8. John Heaton etnies
9. Hektor Garcia
10. Juan Ruiz

The Terranea Is Out Now!

Ruben Alcantara's first ever pro model is out now! The Terranea was designed by Ruben specifically for BMX with System G2™ inserted into heel
and STI Foam™ Level 2 cushioning footbed with heel support.

<< Check out the Terranea at your local shop.

"It's crazy, because I worked on the design of the shoe while I was in many different places in the world. So, much of the inspiration comes from everywhere." -Ruben