etnies

The bmx team report...

Posted by: Cropley | Monday, April 23, 2007 5 comments

Rooftop or Mountaintop?

Mike Escamilla spent last week in Alaska with the Nixon crew for their sales meeting and got to go heli boarding. It was by far the gnarliest thing he’s done in a long time...50 degree slopes and avalanches everywhere. After getting home Mike, finished up his week riding with Nate Moroshan, Edwin Delarosa, Glenn Milligan, E’man and boy in East LA. Mike’s heading to New York this week to do some stuff with Tony Hawk then off to Mexico for John Heaton’s wedding.

Jamie Bestwick has no big news this week...just been hanging out at Woodward Camp with Alex B and all the other Italian riders, as well as Steve McCann, Mike Spinner and Zach Warden. The Wife went out of town so it was a dad and lad weekend, too...Young Sam shredding it up at camp and getting into all kinds of mischief. But, other than that, nothing crazy; just getting ready for the etnies Journey’s demo and the etnies Premiere in Salt Lake City mid May. Jamie’s also been filming for the Levi Strauss website with Will Stroud. That’s about it for James...he claims his life is boring, no hanging out with cool bands or rock stars, no wild parties, just changing shitty diapers!

Ruben Alcantara had a wonderful month in fantastic Austin and then went back to little but pretty Malaga. The day he got back they had some awesome surf, so Ruben had to session that hard as it’s a rarity in Malaga to have good surf. There’s been some rain also so the trails have been kept in good shape and are as smooth as silk right now which is a welcome sight. Ruben has only been home for 4 day days and he is stoked! Ruben comes back to California mid May for the GROUNDED video premiere at the etnies HQ in Lake Forest.

Morgan Wade spent the last two weeks in Singapore competing at the Metro Jam which he won and then also competing in BMX PIG which he and his teammate Gary Young also won. Congrats Morgan! Now, back in Tyler, Morgan and Fiancé Natalie are working on some wedding plans as their wedding is coming up rapidly. Congrats again to Morgan and Natalie. Morgan is also drooling over the new rims he got from Konig that will be outfitted with some Maxxis tires that he got for his car. He will be driving out to Arizona in about a week to get some more wedding plans taken care of then onto California for the etnies GROUNDED video premiere.

Taj Mihelich rode the T1 ramp a bunch this last week. Austin had some rain so trails were mostly wet, though they’re good now. Taj did some work organizing the etnies GROUNDED Video premiere in Austin and should have the official word shortly on dates and locations, etc. It will be on the 19th of May for sure, though. He had a bunch of fun on the T1 ramp...they had Joe Rich’s birthday there which at times got a little crazy. Taj also learned a few new lines and different things on the ramp...he’s been on a big fast plant kick lately, and so adapting those all over the ramp has opened his eyes to possibilities.

Taj played a rock show on Thursday and that was fun and a number of BMXer’s came out and that was real cool. They play again tomorrow, too. Went and saw the shins and the rapture last night, they were both real good. It was at some shitty MTV event though, so the other bands were NOT good at all. Still it was a good show. It was an outdoor event and it was lightly raining so it kept things cool...kind of like a mister.

Joe Rich has had a lot going on indeed. Adam Baker is back in Austin and riding sessions on the ramp are in full swing every time that happens. Adam’s here ‘til Tuesday and that's when the thunderstorms are supposed to kick back in. Joe had a birthday and, even though he didn't tell anyone, a bunch of friends showed up at the ramp and it was a good time for sure. All the skaters were riding BMX bikes and all the dudes that usually ride bikes were skating...Good times! Joe also figured out that his new 26” Volume Cruiser inverts the same as his 20” BMX bike! Well, after a few “beverages” it does! More b-day photos.

The end to the indoor renovations at T1 is near. He has about a weeks worth of work left so hopefully all goes well. Joe went to go see Lucero the other night and more good shows are on the way. Sandy and Joe are supposed to be lining up a road trip to shoot some photos sometime at the beginning of May as well. That’s the plan that kicked in once he figured that he couldn't go to Spain this week. Joe changed his gearing and put a 27/9 on his bike which he says feels nuts. Flying' round town is the only way to describe it...it feels good. Austin is weird right now, getting more rain than he’s ever seen. Instead of nice weather all the time, it seems that Joe has been waiting for the weather to break to be able to ride, kinda like the North West scene.

Josh Stricker flew from Austin to Germany last week where he will be spending his summer making sure that he rides as much as possible and get over the laziness that comes with living in Austin for him. Be sure to check out Josh’s etnies Faction colorway coming out this summer.

Sergio Layos headed back to Madrid last week from Austin…but only for a short time. He’s heading back there in a week or so. Be sure to check out Sergio’s Variant colorway coming out this summer.