Sorry for the poor photo but I wanted to share this with you as quickly as possible because it has changed my life. Funny how a “kids” bike can do that eh?
I don’t know if it’s apparent or not but I haven’t been much of a rider for a while. I’ve spent the past years focusing on career and family, as I know many of you do. Hell, this blog is focused on old school riders so I know who my audience is. You people work for a living!
I had been dusting off my old STA250 when I could but it wasn’t enough to pretend that I was still a “rider” in the true sense of the word. I rode everyday for many years to try and innovate and bring something new to Freestyle BMX, whether it was through my riding (ego) or through my bike company (super ego). Your comments and e-mails have given me a good look at how my contribution to BMX has affected you and I sincerely appreciate all of your correspondence and I can’t tell you how much it means to me. I’m no Mike Dominquez, Kevin Jones or even a Rick Moliterno but sure, I had my moment of being a “known” rider. It’s nice to hold onto those feelings and remember the excitement and fun of riding “professionally” but things change quickly and without notice.
The mistake I feel I made was to have loved this sport much more than I could handle. I started a bike company to express not only my commitment to this sport but to make my mark on it. It turned out to be more like squeezing a puppy so tight then suddenly realizing that you’ve squeezed all the air out of it. It seems like a grand idea to show everyone how much you care about something but then in the end, in my mind, I think I ended up killing what made me so happy. Being a rider gave me a lot. It gave me confidence and friendships that last till this day. It taught me that hard work and perseverance would allow me to achieve my goals in life. It made me believe that people were actually interested in my thoughts, feelings and ideas. Those are characteristics worth preserving and I tried to do just that though this blog.
I started this blog in 2006 to try to do something I’ve always done well, which is sharing. I was sending out links of things I saw on the Internet to so many riding friends I thought I would just consolidate it into one place. I had no idea where it would go. I felt that I was sharing information about not only BMX riding but also the things we as “mature” riders think about because what are we all in the end? We are showmen and creative people aren’t we? The whole reason I practiced and learned my first trick (back wheel hops) was because I wanted to show it to someone (my Dad). So that’s what this blog came to represent, another way for me to show you something without actually wowing you with some new “backwards” trick. It worked out and hundreds of people visit this site everyday. It makes me feel great that a lot of you find the same things that I do interesting. It truly does. The problem is this… I think after the past few years I started to fool myself that doing this blog was a lot like actually riding. It took this new bike and a few conversations to make me realize that not only should I share myself through this blog but also through my riding like I had started to do oh so many years ago. I learned an important lesson with this new bike. Some people prosper by “faking it till they make it” and others fool themselves by “making it then faking it”.
I don’t want to be and will not be the latter so I’m letting you all know now that if this blog isn’t as updated as regularly as it used to be please excuse me… I’m out riding.
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