Were you involved in the New England Freestyle BMX scene in the early days? We are looking for all the folks involved for a documentary movie project that will tell the story of how it all came together to put our region on the map and the great group of guys that made it all happen. Contact me to get involved for look for the Facebook group called "Grass Roots: The Origins of a New England Freestyle BMX Community".
Teaser set of clips from the first batch of videos received.
I love the progression of Freestyle. It absolutely amazes me where these guys have taken the sport. Why is that a helmet is such a bad thing? Is the "brain bucket" style helmets so distracting or is it back to the "hardcore" attitude that grew in the late 80s as the sport got more and more commerical? I get it. Freestyle is HARDCORE bike riding. Wearing a helmet in this type of riding will do one simple thing for you, allow you to keep riding your bike HARDCORE.
Regret sucks. Wear a helmet to avoid this...or worse, being incapatitated or dead. Brian is lucky to get a second chance here. He also is speaking clearly, which is not common when your skull is fractured. Come on guys. Wear a helmet.
Of the millions of airs done on BMX bikes since the late 70s, is there "one" that you can really call perfect? What would the criteria be?
Height
Style
Difficulty
Flow
Smoothness
Landing
This is a clip of Joe Johnson in the late 80s while riding for GT. What is your criteria and what would be the perfect air?
Watch a few things in this clip:
Joe's body goes up almost on a vertical plane, without a bunch of gyrations or movement. This contributes to how smooth it looks overall, the overall flow and a smooth landing. You could also say this contributes to the style as well.
The height is outrageous even by today's standards. The ramp is estimated at 10' tall. The air is about 10 feet in my estimation. What may not be very well known is that typically a higher air is easier than a lower one. The higher arc of a bigger air slows everything down and allows the rider to position better for a smooth landing or whatever variations they are doing in the arc.
The difficulty of the air may not be obvious. At first glance, it is a one foot invert. Look close and it is a really special and stylish air by one of the sport's masters. It is the style that makes this so rad. Lots of riders can and did one foot inverts. I would argue that Joe's style, and degree to which he clicks this, makes it more difficult than many combo airs. One other thing to notice. Joe switches from his normal left foot forward to landing "goofy footed" or his right foot forward (for a rider who airs to the right). This adds a level of difficulty to a smooth finish. It doesn't seem to affect Joe here, but at that height, it would be a bit weird if you were not used to all the change that high.
In 2012, I will be continuing my efforts to create new ,and at times unusual, bike video. The two projects are:
Grass Roots: The Origins of a New England BMX Freestyle Community. This is a documentary film that tells the story of a group of Bad News Bears types building a community of riders that emerged as national and global pioneers during an amazing time early in the sport. The film features a mountain of footage from the 80s and will also feature a look at a years worth of riding by the original players featured (action and interview). I have partnered with Freestyle legend Dennis Langlais, Jeff Winston to lead the project along with many of the original riders and team managers from the scene as advisors, contributors and historians. They include Ron Stebenne, Bill Curtin, Joe Johson, Chris Lashua, Steve Macomber, Todd and Darren Pelio, Kieran Chapman, Paul Delaiarro, Rob LeClair, Mike Zocchi, Daq Woods, etc... The list just keeps going and going. Thank you to all that have joined in. We are all in to tell the story.
Life of Bikes. An ongoing mission to shoot, edit and publish bike-related video content from new perspectives, new places and tell stories about living a life that has always come back to one thing, pedaling on two wheels (or flying on them). Using a variety of riding types, I am always looking at the world through a lens of a bike.
2012 is going to be a fun and interesting year. I hope you can join me. For more information or to get involved please contact Scott Moroney at moroneyscott@gmail.com or join the Facebook group "Grass Roots: The Origins of a New England BMX Freestyle Community".
Equipment used in the videos in a Countour HD, GoPro HD, Flip HD, Iphone 4 and a variety of older VHS and DV cameras. Who knows if we will come across any 8mm. That would be awesome! The forthcoming Grass Roots movie will be shot using several different cameras, including the next generation of action sports cameras and more traditional professional camera.
