etnies

I have always had some strange love to Bmx. Even as a small child, my mother says that I would point and say “BIKE”. As the years passed I fell in and out of riding due to the many sports that I liked to play. Then, at about 15, I met two other people that lived in my small town that rode Bmx. Since that day Bmx has consumed my life.

Bmx to me is a healthy drug. Someone that loves it will go to great measures to do it. Spend hundreds on a bike, drive for 10 hours to ride a spot, dig for days to fly through the air for a few seconds and over come an injury that was caused by riding, just to ride again.

Bmx is a blessing to many of us that ride. I know for a fact that it has been a helpful crutch that has helped me this far. When you have the shittiest day, that half hour session makes the day feel like it was the best of the year. All those kids that you knew that got addicted to drugs, had kids at a young age and now their life is a mess—we all know these people—I think to myself, “There is a chance that it could have been me if I would have never found Bmx.”

Having a passion is always a gift. Having bike riding as a passion is a blessing. I feel that because of the things that Bmx has brought me, anything is possible. When I look at a long-term goal and think “F@#* how am I going to pull this one off?" I remind myself of how many years it took me to learn tailwhips. Then I think, "well if I put half the time into this goal as I did learning tailwhips then that will be a walk in the park. The same goes for getting myself mentally prepared to do anything. I think of the mental preparation that I go through in my own head before I go for the burly trick the first time. Nothing takes the mental preparation that really going for it does.

One of my favorite things about Bmx is how scary it is. It is always ready to scare the shit out of you! Hitting big trails for the first time always scares the shit out of me. You will be sitting there, the jumps in front of you, almost shaky thinking “well f@#* here we go.” After getting through it, I always get that same wonderful feeling and am always a little shaky.

Above all, I would have to say “THANK YOU BMX!” You have beat the shit out of me over the years and I will probably have long-term health effects because of you, but you have given me a lifetime of great stories, amazing trips, an insight to the world I live in and, above all, so many amazing friends!