We all have some different reasons to ride whatever types of bikes we do. I have three different bikes, but could have a dozen more of some different varieties. For bike junkies it is not always about what style of riding, but more about the ride itself. This is similar to fitness junkies or gym rats. They just enjoy the feeling of doing it.
Give it a shot. Get out on a bike, get in the gym. Do what you enjoy. Life is too short.
While my younger daughter was away, my older daughter and I decided to try and learn more about shooting video. Our goals were to work on three things: zooming in and out during a shot, capturing different angles of the same shot and keeping the subject in the shot.
Taylor also prepared a script for her introduction and practiced it a few times. Nothing like on the spot improvisation.
During the video shoot she moved around the park and tried some different things, while of course trying to stay out of the tracks while riders were moving around.
The 2009 Dew Tour Stop in Salt Lake City was the most amazing BMX riding I have ever watched. Let me clarify, I watched only the Park section so far. Words don't work to describe it. You have to watch it to understand.
As a next lesson in shooting video, I asked my two kids to shoot some video again of me riding some BMX trails. This time around we focused on framing the shot and keeping the subject in the shot throughout a clip and just shooting the clips so we did not have to edit. The clips are unedited and drag in a few sections, but it does show how we are progressing to shot better quality clips.
As I learn more and more about video I figured "why not get my kids involved and learn with them as well". I took them to a local BMX Park to shoot some footage of me riding the trails. We had a great time and learned allot about video. Specifically, they learned where to position themselves for a good shot, how to capture action and the importance of timing. Of course at their young ages they don't realize they are learning these things, but I can see them getting better.
Whatever the subject, I am hopeful they will keep shooting and learning. I enjoyed it and they seem to have a knack for it. Enjoy.
Check out Taylor and Paige's Mini BMX Movie. Thanks to the Town of Littleton MA for the park and to the locals that have built it. Lots of fun.
I just love this trick and the photo I took of myself a few months ago. Can Can Footplants are never out of style, even if they are not as exciting to riders as some other tricks. Oh well. I love them.
You have all likely driven, or been driven by a bike that just does not fit the basic mold of what you have ridden. Most bikes have just two wheels. This seems to be the definition of a "bi-cycle", but it is actually becoming a broader more general category for people. A "trike" or three wheel bicycle is no joke. It is no longer a term reserved for the "Green Machine" or metal stamped childish trikes we all had. Trikes are sophisticated. Take a look at this video from Harry Gordon on YouTube.
For people of all physical capabilities, fitness, riding skill and guts, there is a bike out there in most cases. Visit your local bike shop or do a few simple searches online for the following terms.
As a kid you had some things that just simply made you smile or were fun. As we age that does not always change. In some cases it does. Life takes over and we forget the simple things that make us giggle and lauch, the things that get us motivated and the things that get us to step out of our comfort zone. I realized recently that riding BMX bikes was one of those things. I loved riding trails and I loved riding ramps for my entire childhood and into my young adult years. Why stop? I can still physically able and have the guts to still do it.
Here is a quick shot of me conquering a set of jumps that we dreamed about at the local trails for decades, literally. Once someone build a set of jumps there...we all tried it. EAsy. Life is funny that way. As soon as you think someone else did something it seems that much more possible. I never saw someone do it, but just having the set of jumps there made me wonder if it would be easy. What do I have to lose. 25 years of riding should prepare me for it? Right? Yes, it did. Easy. Fun. Memories. I'll be back.
Throughout all the phases of my "Life of Bikes" one stands out as just pure fun. Don't get me wrong BMX Freestyle is the heart and sole of my bike love, mountain biking is great fun and exercise, BMX Racing was a great passion and way to start this whole love affair, but BMX trail/dirt riding was just pure fun. We all do it at some point in our lives. We ride the neighborhood trails or jumps and maybe progress to something bigger. You just do it for fun.
I spent a few years after BMX Freestyle bouncing back and forth between mountain bike and BMX trails/dirt riding. Loved them both, but just got too weary of the bruises and damage trying to get up to speed on the top riding. Then mountain biking took over until recently. Now I am realizing, why only one or the other.
Ah-ha! I now have a great Haro mountain bike, a nice Haro freestyle bike and on it's way through E Bay, another Haro - a trail/dirt bike to toy around with a little.
I have no intention to get too wild or even try the really gnarly stuff the kids are doing. I recognize that at age 39 there are some limits I need to accept. I do love just cruising jump section in nearby trails or BMX parks. This bike will do just that with a little TLC.
Who knows, maybe I will even try an old man's BMX race for kicks sometime. That would be fun, but I am not sure I can do the uniform thing.
So what are some of the top trail/dirt riders doing? Check our Haro's Dennis Enarson in this clip.
Fakies are a somewhat rare trick to see these days in a world of mega complex airs. They are still a pretty difficult trick if you consider what goes into a high fakie. You go up straight and come back down the same way. No spin, no ability to look downward, all faith in what you are doing.
The hard part about fakies is the landing is rough if you don't judge it right. If you pull away from the vert too far you will end up on the lower part of the transition and not roll away too easily. If you don't pull out enough, you may hit your front (or heaven forbid) your back tire on the coping as you come down. Nasty in either case. See the video below for examples.
Ideally, and this is what masters like Mike Dominguez, Dennis Langlais and Jeff Larson did way back when fakies were in vogue, you want to land your front tire near the coping and your rear tire at the same time.
A cool old school trick for sure like so many others that have faded away with progress. I see them still happening, but not with the height or clean roll-outs of the late 80s. Maybe I am wrong about the quality of fakies today. If so, let me know. I would love to see more of them.
Long live the fakie.
This photo, converted to a drawing with some simple "edge effects" in a photo editor, is of Mike Dominguez at the Velodrome in Los Angeles, California in the late 80s. See the video with Ron Wilkerson and Mike D blasting a few many years ago.