Relief!

So 2008 is still dramatic as all hell and Im still glad to get it gone. Downtown with Roybal and the fresno crew for New yeras should be good, pretty psyked on that. Bailey just turned 1 so Hapy Birthday to her. Hit pets mart and got a fresh new hoodie and a jacket for the winter along with some way big bones and she already killed the 2 bones and they were like 3 feet long LOL. She's a beast. Relief of the day is I just got my email back from my overseas manufacturer and luckily I deal with some reliable companies and they shot me over the .pdf files of my product that was on hold for the all new CPSC certificatons. Lead is a major no no these days, I opted for powder coat over paint and guess what? No Lead Detected! Hehe Im sending it over to the appropriate peple now and hopefully it holds up and all is well. The industry for BMX is going to see some things change I dont see it as too much of a problem if everyone switches to powdercoating which IMO is better anyway... But interesting and hope BMX comes out OK. Thanks to the DJ for switching the song thought she forgot- Love ya Lisa and thanks for covering up my lack of computer skills~! Lastly Southwest has a KILLER sale in and out of Vegas right now $40 each way so if you want to hit that Nellis National its very much doable!

TwoThousandHate

Good bye 2KH8 and kick effin rocks! 2008 was by far the weakest year of my life and I aint trying to sound all crybaby emo about it but just tons of stuff that was not as rad as it should have been. So seriously 2008 file that 365 day stint in the records as a wash and hang tight for 2009 or 2KSHINE. Christmas Eve today just wanted to wish everyone a Merry One with their families and the loved ones around you maybe it isnt family maybe its just friends or close people in your life but look around in the next few days and for the most part youll see the people that have some love and respect for you and youll get calls and emails rom everyone who is thinking about you as well, let em know you care! As for me Ill be chillin with the family we have a little bit of family drama but its nuthin too major and we always overcome it right? Myself personally typical year didnt get too into it, most people know I dont do typical xmas gifts if I do get you something its because it was perfect for ya and I knew youd love it, so if your wondering what I bought people this year dont stress it I didnt go shopping a single time nor did I buy anything whatsoever. Im gonna blame it on the recession or my current week of financial hell LOL Whatever though its about family and friends and for the most part I got a good circle that keeps me psyked through the holidays :) Shout out all the people that are really thankful this year too, small things, big things, health, money, whatever it is be thankful for the situations and the people in your life. I say it all the time tomorrow isnt promised so take today and tonight and thank the ones you got love for and show em you care. Merry Christmas Kids and as always Drive Safe...

Lemons...

Sometimes you just cant catch a break! Ive been dealt lemons all week and Im makin lemonade haha. Seriously bad stuff all weekend and its gotten financially ridiculous and just really bad luck. The Blazer died after costing some money, got a seatbelt ticket?, Work has been rained out... Just never ending stuff and its extremely frustrating. BUT AS ALWAYS- The good of the week! Hit the Nor*Cal Xmas party and hung with Joey G and Ryan and all the Nor Cal ballers and shout out to all those guys that visit the blog. Haha everyone was givin me shit for takin down the money shot but maybe itll come back soon for an encore LOL. Mike, Vince, Chris, Al it was a good time for sure. No fire jumping this year but we always have next year I guess? Road trip is shapin up for January might be gone 3 weeks but we'll see. Reno-AZ-OK and should be doing it for my 09 return to Psykopath and working with Carl. Things are sounding good so hopefully it all goes well and we can get some races in and see what I need to work on for June :) Hip we built at teacups and the xmas party fire below...

href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb6ixzvjZUxugDuX90_PQpBdFz4tYw7KRcpoWU46DjUUJckV-8CUYiwttZNiAdTB4su3RilNG18FSDzAX-03yBYiBlJi_MwilqMhaei5fv9Q8TZXrUQWUOS7nzy5rr5X8fZhgUXPGMCVZl/s1600-h/fire.jpg">

Motivation....

So for those of you that dont know or arent in the loop. Stephen Murray had a cool little HBO Special that is a definite must see if your a BMX rider of any level. Im a long time Murray supporter and if you got a minute check out the HBO clips and enjoy a great person. Easiest way to watch em is click on those puppies but first scroll down and pause the song thats playing by clicking the cassette tape at the bottom of the page. Long SJ PAL meeting today things are slowly coming together and our dream park is being realized one Tuesday at a time. Much love Murray Stay Strong!

Pro-AM

Yay got 3rd last night at the Pal Pro-Am race behind Gavin Lubee and Austen Lee. Podium spot is good I was prolly good for a second but had a little plan that balled up when Austen bobbled a jump into the first turn. Always good to let the lil grom up and comers take a shot at you though and I enjoy chasing a few fast riders down as well. Couple of guys ducked out for whatever reason and didnt wanna ride which is weird but to each their own. Changed up the blog pic for a non watermarked version if you didnt notice props to B-rad for that one. Lastly and ever so important. CONGRATS LISA Our lil lady is graduating from school! Im super psyked for her she set a goal and knocked it out and now has a good lookin road ahead of her. Really glad that she got that goal accomplished and skys the limit when you set your mind to it kidd! Congrats big time and sorry mother nature decided to get all pretty meaning I have to work and miss your grad walk :( Dinners on me in Reno for sure- Have a great day and enjoy the honors you very well deserve! Nick

Get your swerve on!

Just wanted to drop this pic in as well. Shot by B-rad of course Livermore at dusk and you've heard me say it before Im not a fan of the same ol race photos so I try and have fun if I am shooting photos and Im on my race bike. Lil bit of a crooked manual/skid type thing... Enjoy and yes in certain situations gravity is under your control and the laws of physics can be slightly bent :)

Sun Ringle Shipment

My cruiser may have gotten swiped but the goons took it a week too early! 2009- Thanks again Jon @ Sun Ringle got me rollin fresh through the new year. All new 4stroke hubs laced to black envy rims 20" and 24" and of course the Shred wheels for the park bike. Pics to come in the very near future. Bailey has a lock on the shipment so in case anyone tries to make a move on the newness they got problems.

BUSY BUSY

http://www.go211.com/videos/11498/
Last few days have been hectic. Saturday woke up at 3:30am to get to Roybals by 4:30 and drive us down to Bakersfield for my first NBL State Board Meeting. I wish I was there doing some Proxy work and landing some state races for my local tracks back here but the ball was dropped and our current TO decided to pull a no show, meaning I could have gotten all my state scores without driving more than an hour, but now Ill be doing more so-cal trips and spending cash while at it :( Meeting went well a few of us younger guys are getting slowly involved and were learning the ins and outs of it for a future takeover LOL. Got home late Saturday hit the track Sunday morning and then a solid trails session with the SJ race crew. Go figure those guys never ride or at least dont call me to ride LOL Good times though and I was having fun gettin stylish and keeping it simple :) Got home to an email that has me excited and lets me know that when a door closes a window opens. More news when it becomes available or Im allowed to give out the info :) UCI Worlds 2009 I havent forgotten at all :)

ABA Grands 2008

What a trip huh? Things started out last tuesday in Fresno loadin up Robs Tahoe and the trailer for a few guys' virgin trips to the greatest race on earth and my 3rd. The crew was Dave and Becka, Rob, Me, and Roybal. 24 hour drive was like 26 when you factor in the time zone changes and stuff like that, plus with a girl in the car you tend to stop quite a bit more. No worries though got to the La Quinta and settled in the room for a few days of the best BMX racing ever. I shacked in with Adam Finch from Wa and Lisa who flew in because she ducked our drive LOL. Thnaks again Adam! Practice went off without a hitch I felt slow as usual but thats pretty much the norm lately and I wasnt too concerned with it. Lots of AA guys casing the pro section was pretty entertaining. The first official joke of the weekend was me "ducking" riding 19-27x and bringin my cruiser only. Little did we know that cruiser was only gonna be mine for about 3 more days anyway! Aflac is an ABA sponsor so the jokes were endless but all in good fun and we enjoyed it at my expense. Nag 5 race was pretty good and showed that 19-27x is no joke currently as they took all 5 of their entries into the main, except for KJ Romero taking Thomas Vallejo to the moon in the last turn, KJ's my boy and Im glad to see him back. Nic Long would win it and take the first huge win of the weekend. Saturday morning I get smoked pretty quick in my first rack of cruiser and Im watching Roybal get his 24" action on. This guy is runnin 3rd and lookin to make a move for the lead bumps his a$$ on his back wheel which happens alot if you just ride 20" most of the time, and gets sent over the bars in the rhythm section. Not too big of a crash but he crawls to his knees and I can tell hes gotten the wind knocked outta him. I hop the guard rail and tell him to sit up on a chair right there and raise his arms... hes bitching about his back and still very very short on breath. I get his shirt off and its obvious his collarbone is broken. :( His weekend is done IMO but nothing too bad. Hes still in tons of pain and Im thinkin its just a collarbone man relax... We get hime moved over medics check him out and were talking ambulance now? WTF? Turns out this fool gets 12 broken bones? 4 of his ribs are broken in 2 spots (8) collarbone in 2 spots (2) and 2 "normal" broken ribs (2) makes 12! Haha geez louise man! Cherry on top sure why not- One of his ribs or him taking a gasp of air before impact has made his lung collapse... Hes off to the hospital and I stay to race my 2nd round. I get worked again and the thought of getting moto'd out dawns on me. Lately Ive been slow since being off my bike but I aint gonna get moto's that cant happen. The racing day is done and we head to check out Al. Hes got a neck brace on because he mentioned back pain so he looks really bad. Chest tube is going on to keep his lung inflated and let the fluid flow out. Once again it looks really bad but the doc says its fairly routine and he'll be fine. Dinner at Applebees me and Alan meet a cool waitress chick who we end up talking to the whole trip and Im psyked to make another friend in another state :) Dreaded 3rd round of qualifying! I have gate 8 no help there but takin 2 out of 5... Its ABA Grands and the cut is always low from motos, Pretty stacked every guy in it has a good shot at the main and a NAG # to boot so I know Im in for a rough lap. I get out good and get into the turn in 3rd which is no good Im not much of a passer and I suck on my cruiser track speed wise get to the 3rd straight and Ive made my mind up to hit the last straight pro section without even looking at it prior, Luckily Jacob Griffith bobbles in 2nd place and I get by him so now Im on the bubble spot, no need to bomb the last straight! I was psyked, so psyked I puked :) haha If you know me when I do a full lap rest assure Im puking at the line. Got that taken care of felt like crap and waited around all day for the mains... More story to come its lunch time :)

man down!!!

so i took 3rd at abaABA grands but roybal almost died be home fridayFriday

Trippin it...

24 hours and 1700 miles... so basically 48hours and 3400 miles! So Psyked for this trip to Grands. Al,Rob,Bittner,Myself,and Bittners Breezy. Set to take off in under 24hours... www.go211.com has the webcast if ur bored and wanna see some racing and as always I will try to update~!

Toys for Tots!

This Sunday Prunedale is having their annual toys for tots drive :) I aint saying you gotta come out but if you see me before Sunday and you dont have a gift to send with me Im gonna hassle you! Show some love for the kids man drop a few bucks all you gotta do is skip the triple mocha latte frap caramel surprise and do a little good for a kid somewhere. Im off to pick up something right now and you oughta do the same.

UCI Livermore!

Haha UCI Livermore session was yesterday and Halsey snapped a shot of me ridin' Nothing too special and I think race photos never look cool but it is what it is :) Toys for Tots at Prunedale this weekend, Fresno on Saturday and PAL Friday night. Kinda busy then taking off Tuesday to the ABA Grands in Tulsa. 22hour drive with 6 people should be interesting to say the least. Pretty psyked gotta get to work on a decibel thing for the Hayward Track finishing touches... Couldnt get the pic to load haha later I promise...

LA's Burning!

For being the "City of Angels" you sure could make a case that that place resembles Hell a little more. Fires were everywhere and youll see the smoke and haze in the pics below. Gotta start out always with the Thank You's- So Bri and KB, you guys rock thanks for giving up some couch space to a random lil BMX'er kid and making me feel welcome. Shout out the road crew as well who really made the trip possible this time- Al and Robbo along with Delmy who came home with us :) Thanks for the weekend guys enjoyed it very much so. Arrived in LA at like 3am Friday and slept hard woke up to meet Bri and KB our hostess' for the next day or so and they were rad, also met Emmy but she decided to bounce to Berkeley instead of hangin out :) Hope you enjoyed that trip Emmy! Went to VSI/Intense where Robbo got the full factory hookup and Intense gained some respect points in my book for sure. Robbo is rad and shout out Pete D for gettin him setup to look fresh in 2009. Pete had white micro knobbies that fucker! Haha I was jealous yes I was :) Anyway had lunch/sushi and shot the shit for a good 2 hours it was rad. Learned a little about the fire and hoped everyone got there on time. Went out and painted the town with the girls and chopped it up and got to know them. They are chill as can be and solid set of girls making shit happen in LA. Keep it up ladies and dont let that old hag below you ruin the fun! Woke up on 2 hours of sleep and headed to the track where I realized I had a migraine puked about 77 times through the morning and managed to lose 15 pouns of water weight LOL. Sucked. Kept unclipping on the first straight but Beasted the main and won the thang all while rocking my white button up from the night before. Gotta look fresh right? Left the track and met Dale- thanks Dale for the couch space again and Diana keep that dude inline your running a tight ship there! Dale had a ton of memories to share and solidified why I love BMX. Great guy and wish him the best. Woke up after a cat invasion and headed to Magic Mountain. Good lil awards ceremony I got a volunteer button since I took a few pics LOL and had a great time with old friends. Saw Shay Shay and Kristina and didnt get to hang out much but tried. Check the pics below and ask me for all the real stories in person. Someone call 911 LA is on Fire!

So-Cal

Taking off tomorrow night to LA for the weekend. Trip consists of the normal crew Rob Myself and Al, are taking off from Gilroy tomorrow evening and then headed down south to meet up with Robs cousin whos name I cant remember for the life of me right now, but anyway she's rad and were gonna go to some show taping? Haha I guess shes in the whole hollywood trying to come up thing and Rob wants to check it out so I think thats our game plan. Also Rob is good friends with Pete who works @ Intense so I guess he wants to go check out VSI and he knows I hate those fuckers at VSI/Intense more than any other company but it should make for some good jokes while were there. State race on Saturday in Whittier and then Magic Mountain on Sunday, after that were headed back with Delmy who is Al's lady but we got this little secret thing going on that Al doesnt know about- Email me for pics! Haha Should be a solid weekend, shoulders gettin better and I road biked 7 miles today in which Im gonna start going to work and back which will be 26miles a day... UCI Worlds is mine!!!

Added Another!

Just fresh news about another company thats gonna help me out with some product for 2009. I had to chase this one down out of necessity. EVS makes the best gear out there so I had to get with em and get some stuff worked out for 2009. Thanks Jamey!

Good News :)

Not sure why I didnt post this as soon as I caught word but rather late than never. I re-inked a deal with Sun Ringle for 2009! For those of you that know my bike well you know I love me a 4stroke hubset! Well Jon Wells took over the reigns at Sun after Birk departed to that other co. and after an email or two and a glimps of what Im hoping to do in 2009 Jon was all ears and very supportive. Ill be rocking Sun complete wheels on all 3 of my bikes- 20" and 24" race rigs, and my park bike will have the 4stroke shred wheels as well. Thanks to Jon of course at Sun for believing in the vision.

http://www.sun-ringle.com/

UCI Worlds 2009- watch it unfold piece by piece...

Nick Loves Da Kids!

What a day :) Started at 2 am when I went to sleep after visiting my friend Veronica who was in a car accident a week ago with a drunk driver and got a lil banged up. Get well soon kidd! Got home after chillin with her and some friends in Hayward at 2am so I was hella tired. Set the alarm for 5am because I had to get to Al's house early to get started on the ramps for a school show. Woke up at 5am wondering if I even slept and hopped in the van to head to Gilroy. Got to Al's and he wasnt home so I slept for like 20min. until he showed up. We scooted over to home depot at 6am and started grabbing wood for a landing ramp he needed built. he was stressing it but Ive built more ramps than the average bear and I knew it was easily doable in the time slot we had (2hrs.) so grabbed everything and $170.00 later we were gone from there and headed back to his house to get things going. Al seemed a little unsure but I told him chill I got this LOL. Started cutting pieces and drawing things out as the sun came up and the rain came down. True BMX shit right there, standing in the rain building a landing ramp with electric tools- ridiculous. I knocked it out in just under 2 hours with like 1 min. to spare and joked about we had plenty of time for Mc. Donals breakfast haha. So check the pics on my work of art landing ramp :) We take off with about 45min. to spare on our trip to Soledad for the demo. We need a small plug for the trailer lights and that ends up balling us up for 45minutes so were now cutting it close or more less late for the show - haha thought we were dialed. Did I mention we leave and the landing flies literally flies upward out of the trailer? Yeah sketchy as all hell and on a normal everyday road we laughed our asses off and almost hit a prius with it. We loaded it back up changed the layout and it was good. Got to the school @ 1:00 with the show starting at 1:30 but still had to setup the PA and the ramps. Got it all done right at 1:30 while the kids were already waiting for us. No practice runs at the ramp or anything total dry run for sure...

Al n the kids...

K let me explain these shows Ive been doing shows for red ribbon,dare, etc. stuff for like 10 years I'd guess and they are seriously the best thing you can ever do for kids. Jumping over a teacher is next to God in kids eyes and if you ever get a chance man check one out or even ride in one and bring joy to the purest people on earth- Kids! They loved it every second from Al's rad speeches to singing along to Nas, and me jumping over their favorite teachers. The principal was psyked and Al was glad it all went off pretty well. I did a superman and dislocated my shoulder somehow though and that really hurt and has my shoulder all screwed u right now :( Ill keep ya posted on how long yet another injury is going to take to heal.. Whats going on? Anyway we wrap up the show meet this rad chick named Olivia who was a teachers aid and shame on me for not gettin her contact info cuz she was pretty cool in the 5 minutes we talked to her and would like to meet her again when Im not dieing from my shoulder lol. Enjoy the pics of the show and once again if you ever get a chance help the kids out and spread the drug free message its very worth it. Also theres a pic of the prototype fork as well- Moving Exodus Forward!

From this in the dark and rain...

To this beautiful creation :)

Prototype Fork...

More Exodus Stuff

Exodus is slowly rolling forward still :)

Pegs Last week I got a set of sample pegs in the mail and started testing those out. The set I am rocking are some crazy plastic stuff that bounces really high and they are alot of fun off your bike let alone on your bike haha. Anyway things are looking good for them right now 4in. long and 1 1/2 across, so they are smaller then a pleg which I think is too big and looks odd. They have less flex than the plegs Ive ridden and the odd thing is I designed mine to have no hardware, so itll be good to see if I end up having to use something inside or not. Im gonna sample another narrower set @ 1 3/8" across and see if those work well because Ive always like small pegs :)

Fork is on its way as well and Im really excited because the co. knocked out the sample from idea to cad drawing to real physical sample in like 3weeks which shows me they aint messin around. Weight should be between 26-32 ounces for the final version and like always Ill shave what I can when I get the sample in and get it all dialed up. It will be multi use designed for race/trails/park whatever you toss at it. I should have it in about a week.

Bars are waiting on a few paint scuffs on some white sets and then they will be shipping as well! Really glad to have those coming because thatll be the first real product and Ill know if things are going to catch on or fizzle out really quick, cant say im nervous about it more excited than anything :) Stickers have been ordered and Im waiting on those to arrive and still trying to get the final layout for the info card I wanna toss on them.

Knee is gettin better but it isnt rushing LOL

Vegas again...

Haha so this round of Vegas wasnt as great as interbike weekend but was a ton of fun anyway. I got there on friday morning and we went ahead and checked into our first hotel next to the track. Everyone showered and got ready for practice at Nellis, like I said this hotel was only a few blocks from the track so we dubbed it the "jock" room, because if you were serious about results and wanted a good nights sleep then this spot was definitely for you haha. Practice was cool I stopped and picked up a heating pad/icepack, ace bandage, and ibuprofen to try and get my knee moving good so I can make a race happen saturday or sunday... total came out to $7.77 so I knew gambling was going to be good to me :)

Everyone hated the track I saw it 3 weeks earlier so I knew it sucked but everyone else was bummed. Oh well. Partied, lost a bunch of money and helped Vegas keep the lights going just a little longer.

Our *Gucci* room was way too rad for a porr guy like myself. Flat screens 2 of everything like 3000 sq. ft. it was plain silly, the pool had sand around it for that matter! It was Bananas and Im psyked Steph hooked it up pretty cheap. *Gucci* what can ya say?

Saturday races went well my knee was still way stiff so I sat out and cheered my boys on. Alan shut down Elite Open and bought me lunch with Leveques money! haha suckafishes thought they were gonna beat Alan when he has gate 1 in the main adn a cell phone bill to pay? Yo ass is trippin. Not only did he win but he made it a point to cut off Arnaud Du Bois who woulda been an Olympian but some drama shafted him. Alans my boy and we roll together so I was psyked for him. Got back to the *Gucci* estate and got ready to dip out for the nightly gambling...
Roulette smoked me, slots, poker, the whole 9 yards I could not win to save my soul! Met up with the boys who had the bar on lock. Patron shots when I walked up and I knew these fools were in for a long or really short night haha. Met quite a few different people so shout out Mark the bartender that races with us, Azil from LA, It was my first chill session with Doug E Fresh and he lived up to the hype, Carla and Christian were both rad and fuckin Carla took all of our money from roulette. Me Alan and Fresh decided were gonna pool our cash and go $150 on red- we roll black why the hell did we choose red? Lost it. Carla rolls right behind us plays for like 5 minutes and upps her stack by like $120bucks so I was like you have my money give it back haha. Stayed at Mandalay till like 5,6am and then headed back to the *Gucci* estate just in time to get clothes and get cleaned up for the track at 8am. Good times for sure and things were so solid where did I go wrong? the room had some drama- Roybal was gonna toss a bike 7 stories but decided to piss in Fowlers helmet instead. Funny but nassssstttttyyyyyy. Haha Sunday everyone who at the bar is draggin a$$. Fresh crashes first round and calls it a day, Roybal only rides the main event and balls up pretty badly, Rob wasnt feeling it and didnt even show up. Haha these goons wanna run up a few hundred at the bar and then not even get to work when it comes time for the riding? haha Drove home good ol I-5 and can you believe all the little boony redneck towns out there? Barstow haha who the hell would end up in that shithole? Be glad im from the YAY AREAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Pics to be posted very soon! Stay tuned

Pics

Finally some pics from AZ. Man my comp and cam have been trippin...Anyway family reunion shots of our section, dance party, Tito Castillo me n my dad, and the family. I stopped by to visit my grandmas grave in my hometown and the amount of people that I knew from highschool that have already passed away is ridiculous to say the least. Some before even 21 years old and thats a real bummer. Lives cut far too short are a reminder to be thankful for every moment you get... Much love.

AZ Represent...

Been a few good days here in Arizona. Weathers beastly hot as usual so 95+ temps arent anything to these guys which makes me laugh because Im such a wuss now haha. Spoiled by that Bay weather for sure. Anyway just wanted to post some pics of some good ol friends from AZ. Tito is the older cat and his son is Mario Castillo. They've known me since I was a lil dude and they have always been really good to both me and my family and just solid dudes. I was psyked to see them both and had to get some pics. Mario just had ACL surgery after it being torn for a good 15-20 years so we talked about that a bit and his dad Tito had some heart surgery last year so health is definitely shining on him for sure. Aight no more rambling the reunion is today and Im psyked to be seeing so many old friends. Been watchin the Disney cup nonstop on the webcast. 150 motos so it was tiny and the usual few guys are their in my class. Woulda been nice to dice it with em but next time around :) Aight 10-4 over n out enjoy the pics yeeeee

So close yet so far...

So Disney Cup is this weekend and Im going to miss it. Maybe just bad luck, or call it what you will but I needed the scores and adding another Disney Cup on the top of the TV sounded really nice. Im pretty bummed I tried hard all day and got some half way answers from some people but I dont trek across the country to Florida and have no solid plan. Damnit. I was close but timing just bit me in the ass :) Im off to AZ for a family reunion though and thats good for me to attend. Ill take pics of course and damnit Disney was mine!

Good Morning!

And what a beautiful morning it is :) Ive never been so happy to recieve a bill in my life. Bars are set to ship in a few days/week and I need to divvy up the cash for them. Typically when I get a bill its nothing nice at all but this is one that I will happily pay and Im really excited. I almost wish I didnt already have both my bikes setup with the sample sets just so Id have an excuse to get new ones LOL Heres a morning shot of my breakfast so if you ever wonder what keeps the motivation thriving and the wheels turning theres the secret right there. Wheaties? Haha that stuff is for jocks... Enjoy the day people. Carpe Diem

Sheeesh

So Im watching sportscenter tonight and I hear that 19 yr. old Alexei Cherepanov a first round draft pick to the New York Rangers hockey team died of a sudden heart attack during a hockey game in Russia. What the hell is going on these days? 19 years old and you just up and die of a heart attack? Granted this kid probably worked harder than most of us ever will to get to where he is physically and his heart might not have been fit for it but to up and die is crazy to say the least. Anyway it puts things in perspective and reinforces my "tomorrow isnt promised theory" and lets me know that you might die tomorrow so you damn well oughta live today. Prayers to that family who Im sure is hurting at the loss of such a great talent and loved one that has been taken from them. Respect.

Worked today and hung out with my uncle Gabe. That fool is pretty rad hes a straight hard working dude that has tons of ambition just like me. We were chatting it up today on the way to dropping me off and he asks when are you starting a bike shop dude? I reply with dont think I havent thought about it man. See alot of people have asked me this question and alot of people have expressed interest in seeing it happen. The Bay is missing a real solid BMX shop and Id love to be the one to deliver it to them but in due time is the best I can say right now. Anyway we get to talking about stuff and I mention all the people I know that never go outside the comfort zone, never take a chance, just do the 9-5 stuff that they are accustomed to and never really push the limits. People- do not be afraid to fail! Try things and learn from experience, just because it hasn't been done doesnt mean it can't be done. Its all out for the taking you just have to be willing to make a grab at it. Lastly I got this email link today about tracking information about websites and stuff like that and I learned that my good ol blog here gets an average of 65.4 views a day :) Pretty awesome huh? Thanks for stopping by kids!

Bump n run?

I thought this was gonna look like a rough move but it was fairly clean actually, watch closely and check how much more I pedal than most the guys I race, whats up with that?

http://www.go211.com/u/2goldenstatenational08/videos/9876

Exodus Fork in the works...

As I have previously stated- when im hurt the only good thing that comes out of it is the Exodus project gets handled with a bit more attention. Sample has been confirmed and is in the process of being built up and shipped to me to see if all is well. Weight should be between 30-33 ounces, expect some small changes with the top cap and itll be fairly similar to 90% of the forks out on the market because it seems everyone has a basic fork out, I just took the time to make sure mine was light enough to actually function. It should be light enough to race on and not feel like a tank and its right in tune with an Odyssey race fork as far weight and thats what I rock on my park bike. Like I said if the sample goes well I may shave an ounce here or there, but details were a must before anything else. Stay tuned as it moves forward! Business cards also arrived so check the pic of that as well :)

Uh Oh...

Spaghetti-O! Yeah I am a little concerned to say the least haha. Life is good though I cant complain.

Uh oh...

So went to work and rode today which was chill. Checked out the new Roosevelt Park and it was pretty good. I aired a vert section and got spit out to flat like some old gum and hit my left knee, yeah the bad one :( Im kinda concerned cuz its all swollen and of course has some pain. Time will tell but I aint psyked about it at all. heres a pic of me snoozing at Lancaster thanks to Tina for the kodak moment!

Lancaster Ca, Race

MUD! Geez louise man saturday was going great until mother nature let it flood on us. I was bummed I mudded to a 4th in the cruiser main after looking good 1st round with the win so I was kinda thinkin 4th was weak. Foot down in every turn just had fun with the amount of mud and snapped a shot of my bike after the 1 lap. haha shitty. Sunday brought sun and luckily for me a win after some last turn kamakazi dives. I was psyked and my mom got a big trophy so alls well. Hung out with the crew this weekend Lisa was rad as always, Tina was my new addition to the cool kid list and I had a good time chattin it up with her shes legit and were pretty much buddies now, Brad crashed our hotel, Rio Frio dipped to Mexico to celebrate coming out of the closet, and Arturo and Mikey Gunz were all kicking back this weekend. I got history with most of them cats so it was chill all weekend good times in good company. I got a pic in the local paper in Lancaster which was cool and I laughed about :) Really awesome trip was cold at times and the rain didnt make it the best but the company was top notch! Thanks to all the crew and lets do it again ASAP.

Interbike wrap-up, Thanks, Kia Death :(

Ok so Ill start with the sad part the Kia of mine is DONE. White smoke, no power, sluggish, the whole 9 yards. Im sad to see it go as it has taken me to alot of places and we've pulled down some serious miles together but sometimes things just cant hack it. Bummed as all hell and no wheels right now but Ill figure it out I guess...

I am home now which is good but gotta say leavin Vegas to come home to a 5hr. shift at work isnt the most exciting thing ever and I was enjoying myself in vegas but all good things must come to an end. Gotta shout out and say thanks to the crew that hosted me while I was there and made my whole trip something of a memory for sure. Candace, Steph, and Eric- these 3 opened up their home to me and my couch surfing friends for a week and Im super thankful to them for that. Without having a place to stay for free the tirp would have been impossible financially and I cant say enough to show my thankfulness to them. Ill be back there in a few weeks for a national race and Im glad to say Steph hooked up a *gucci* room so Im sure we will all hang out and have a good time again. Thanks guys your the best and I got mad Love and Respect for you.

Interbike is over and looking back on it the week was good, had alot of fun made some contacts and hopefully it all turns into hustle stuff. Im psyked and glad I had the opportunity to attend.

Got up early this morning and had to go get the race going that I hosted another freestyle thing at the track. Lower turnout we had about 15 riders in 2 classes but I was happy about it all since I was out of town and didnt promote it much. My sister beat my mom which surprised me and my friend Scotty got the win in the freestyle class. I announced the whole day and enjoyed it all. Good times for sure. Enjoy the rest of the pics and check out Calico. Its a ghost town on the drive from vegas to nor*cal.

Nora Cup Afterthoughts...

Beautiful. Thats all I can say about Nora Cup last night. A well executed party that was so great I left my camera behind! haha silly me. Steven Murray was in the house and thats a wonderful thing. Music partying and the entire BMX family. It doesnt get any better.

Interbike day 3-4? haha good good good. If you dont know about the movie Rad, Gary Ellis the legend, or Eddie Fiola the old school blessing then you may not know who those dudes are in the pics. But get it through your head thats me and Cru Jones himself aka Bill Allen. Alot of people watch rad but Nick Valencia has a muthafuckin pic with him the real deal bitches! ENJOY THE PICS BECAUSE THEY ARE VERY MUCH SOME OF MY MOST SACRED PICS EVER. LIFE IS GOOD.

fiola,ellis,cru jones, de wilde olympic rig, my new badge!

Interbike Convention!

Where do I start? Endo told me he talked to Mirra and was shell schocked I laughed and told him that dave mirra cant do turndowns so he should relax. Ha. Ron Wilkerson let me post up in the 2hip booth with those cats and it was fun as always with that crowd. Standout things from day1 would have to be the odd similarities between EVERY companies core line of stuff. Meaning if you spray painted every companies frames and forks flat black you would never tell them apart. I made a comment to Endo about a fork that we were checking out and I said its a supercross fork with a different dropout, the owner of the com. immediately corrected me and said thats our own custom dropout!I laughed again and said ooo someone got hurt LOL. So checked out tons of stuff and wasnt surprised and was surprised at different things...

Macneil has a race frame coming out?

White is very popular and that has me bummed because I was trying to be original.

The version 3 tierra looks good but the one piece dropout thing looks odd to me...

Nora Cup is tonight and Joey Garcia my idol is presenting an award!

S&M has a crazy small fork that resembles 90% of the "new" tapered Supercross fork that every company apparently designs the dropout for LOL.

Spin Wheels are very much not dead and Ill be riding a pair soon. No Joke. in White.

Ruben has a new frame out from Terrible One and the graphics/color scheme is the best shit.

Carbon Pegs WTF?

Sun is releasing a 14mm version of the hub I have on my bike. Fuckin biters I was rockin it first!

Fly has an integrated stem thing too... Mike Days Olympic Rig...
Pics below enjoy and more to be posted as I take em and celebrate Nora Cup!