Action Sports BLOG
BMX, Mountain Bike, Skateboard Weblog

Posted: Saturday, August 23, 2008

USA Wins Silver and 2 Bronze in BMX in Bejing Olympics

It's been a long time coming, but BMX (bicycle motocross) finally made it into the Olympic Games. Amazingly though, it barely made it on TV, you had to stay up late to catch it. However, you can watch it all online nowadays, which is way cool.

Watch the BMX main events at the Bejing Olympics
http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/share.html?videoid=0821_HD_CBB_EN167

If you are from the United States and you've been involved with BMX for a while like I have, then you were probably a little disappointed that USA did not win the Gold. We did capture Silver and Bronze, but somehow that just doesn't seem right. I mean BMX was born here and kids have bee racing here for 30 years now, just waiting for the day.

It was good to see Donny Robinson win a medal, even if it was Bronze. Watching this kid grow up and fight all his life to win, you have to respect him. You see, he's always been much smaller than his competition, and even after pumping iron to beef up and get where he is today, he still stood almost a foot smaller than the other medal winners on the podium.

Mike Day looked super smooth in the prelims, and looked like he might win, but had to settle for the Silver. Mike has come on strong in recent years and had been practicing hard to prepare for this race.

Now the Gold medal. Who is this guy Maris Strombergs from Latvia? I mean maybe I've been sleeping under a rock, but I had never heard of the guy before the Olympics. Okay, I haven't raced in a couple of years, but seriously, Latvia? A quick search on the 2008 NBL pro points list shows him at number 30 in the NBL, just behind Mike Day. He didn't make the list from 2007. And I couldn't find him on the 2008 ABA list. His bio from the Olympics says he's the World Champion, but that's about all. Anyway, he was flyin' in Bejing and now he owns the first ever BMX Gold medal.

Some of my other favorites to watch were Jared Graves and Anne-Caroline Chausson. These guys are mountain bikers and oddly enough they were showing the most bmx style. Jared looked good all the way through the qualifiers, but wound up 6th in the main. ACC took the Gold in the chrased filled women's main.

Jill Kinter, USA's favorite girl took the bronze. A few years ago, Jill couldn't be beat on a bmx bike, and lately she's been unbeatable on the mountain bike. But, her time away must have taken away some of her twenty inch skills. Either that or it was ACC, who is also unstoppable on the big wheels.

Unfortunately, Kyle Bennett and Cristian Becerine did not make the mains. They both looked good in the qualifiers, but some spills took their toll on them. Hopefully, Kyle's shoulder will heel up before the NBL Grands where his number 3 and Cristian is leading in points.

That's it from the 2008 Bejing Olympics (at my desk). Be sure to watch the BMX races online at http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/share.html?videoid=0821_HD_CBB_EN167 You may have to install the player and fill out some information, but it's worth it. The quality is primo considering it is the internet.

Ride on,
Barry Page
www.atbmx.com

Posted: Saturday, August 23, 2008

Mountain Biking in the Bejing Olympics
Where Have All of the American's Gone?
Julien Abalson Defends his Gold in MTB at the Bejing Olympics

Wow! That's all I have to say about Julien Abalson, this guy can fly on a mountain bike. But, Where have all the American’s gone? As I watch this race, I’m in amazement

First, by the fact that my view is as good as being there in Bejing. And, I’m sitting at my desk watching it on my laptop. The quality of the video is excellent and the multiple cameras follow the entire race. Never before have we had this opportunity to watch an entire race with such quality online. Even when races have been covered on TV, we only catch highlights. And, XC has traditionally been hard to watch because the racers are in the woods.

Second, we are watching a sport that was born in the USA on a USA network (NBC), but there is not one American that even finished the race! American’s Todd Wells and Adam Craig competed in the finals, but did not finish.

Third, the course looks challenging, but certainly not too challenging for us not to have someone in the top 10. Where have all the American mountain bikers gone? Back in the day we had John Tomac, Ned Overand and Tinker Juarez, today there is no one.

You have to give it to France’s Julien Absalon though, once he decided to break, he was gone and they couldn’t catch him. Otherwise, the Swede's looked good and Italy's Marco Fontana.

If you haven't seen the race, you owe it to yourself to watch it. You may have to download the video player and fill out some crap, but it's well worth the effort. Here's the link:
http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/share.html?videoid=cy1h-bj-sd35-082308-145502

Julien Absalon completely dominated the race after about the 2nd lap and won his second consecutive Gold medal. His teammate, Jean Christophe Peraud, finished second earning the Silver, but he was over a minute behind. Christoph Sauser won Bronze finishing 2:28 behind Absalon.

It was too bad that they didn't have Downhill or 4x at the Olympics, but what can you say. Mountain bikers, Jared Graves, ACC and Jill Kintner all made the mains in bmx. It's great to see these athletes crossing over and remaining competitive in both sports.

You can see some pics and read some more about the Olympics at http://www.atbmx.com

Go USA!
Barry Page
http://www.atbmx.com
 

Posted: 1/5/08

Last Ride of the Year
Mountain Biking at Oak Mountain

With rain coming down in buckets on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, I escaped to Birmingham for my last mountain bike ride of the year, and it was a good one. Checking the weather often, the forecasters were calling for sunny and dry on New Years Eve at Oak Mountain. And, while the ground was saturated at home from ongoing rain, Birmingham has been experiencing drought conditions.

It was a no-brainer, grab the bike and head to one of the best trails in the Southeast, Oak Mountain State Park. Though I couldn’t locate any more hard core riders who were willing to drive 9 hours (4.5 each way) just to ride, I knew I would find some friends there. And, that I did, fortunately.

Once I arrived in the parking lot by the marina I noticed a few ladies unloading there bikes. They were on the trail before I could get ready, but more riders began to roll in. By 1pm I had met Richard from Batesville, MS and Brian from North of Birmingham, and we headed into the woods for a classic ride.

The weather turned out to be beautiful and the trail was in great shape. There were lots of leaves and a few wet spots because of recent rains, but for the most part it was tacky and fast. The time spent on this trail was exciting, exhausting and rewarding.

Nice singletrack curves through the woods with bermed turns and lots of switchbacks. Midway on the trip takes you to the top of the mountain with long climbs on ridges with nice views. While climbing isn’t my strong point any more, I still enjoy the burn. And, I know what goes up, comes down, so the downhills provide me with the most excitement. Bloodrock as it is appropriately called, provided plenty of technicality as well while we blazed down the mountain.

On one of the up and downs I noticed a leak in my tire. With tubeless tires I was not that excited about patching a tire or adding a tube. Fortunately, Brian had some CO2 cartridges and my Stan’s seemed to fill the puncture, at least long enough to finish the ride.

It’s a new year now, 2008, and I plan on many more rides like this one. In my opinion, nothing else compares to pushing your body to the limits while enjoying a long ride in the woods. My last ride of 2007 was a good one!

Ride On
 

Posted: 8/19/07

AST Dew Tour Portland, OR

BMX PARK

BMX is OFF the HOOK! Just when you thought you had seen it all, along comes 900’s on the street course, barrel roll 360’s and tailwhips galore. The level of riding today is beyond comprehension. In the words of Jamie Bestwick “The level of riding is off the charts.”

It’s great to see Dave Mirra back again battling it out with the young talent. And, there was lots of young talent at this event. Daniel Dhers has been killing it over the last few seasons and this event was no exception. Barrel rolls and 3 flair variations back to back. How about Scotty Cramner’s triple tailwhip, no handed front flip with an opposite flair thrown in? Diogo Canina did a no handed front flip, downside tailwhip and had stylish runs. Garrett Reynolds landed smooth 900’s and attempted a barspin 900. Not to be topped, Spinner did a 900 and a 1080?!  

There were too many tricks to count and enough technicality to make video gamers scratch their head. In the end it was the young talent that prevailed, Mike Spinner’s innovative 1080 was too much to overcome.

1st Spinner, Mike 94
2nd Mirra, Dave 93.5
3rd Dhers, Daniel 92.33
4th Cranmer, Scotty 91
5th Nyquist, Ryan 90.5
 

Having been raised during the 70's and 80's when bmx was born and thrived I lived the life of Joe Kid. Today I get the same enjoyment from riding my bike. Whether it's jumping doubles, railing a berm or dropping off a ladder bridge, riding a bike is good clean fun.

You'll want to pick up a copy of Joe Kid on a Stingray. You will not be disappointed. My favorite parts included Scot Breithaup's bus tour, the Laguna Downhill, Dave Voelker's 360 off the ledge at the Brooklyn Banks, Mat Hoffman's super ramp and Colin Winkleman's moving vehicle ramp jump. In memory of Colin there's a video below. Colin lived life hard and fast, like many of the riders featured in the movie. Eventually he wound up ending his own life. Make sure you don't make the same mistake, life is worth living and you are loved. RIP Colin.

Ride to live, and live to ride...
bp

 
Bike Jump - The funniest bloopers are right here

Posted: 06/24/07

Dew Action Sports Tour - Stop #1
Panasonic Open / Baltimore, MD
July 21-24, 2007

BMX Dirt
Ryan Nyquist was called old by the commentator before his last run. Well, he showed the young guys what's up with a 360 opposite whip to take the win. Cameron White nailed down second with tricks like flipwhips and barspin to turndown flips. Chris Doyle, now on Kink, grabbed third after qualifying first with various 360's and stylish runs.

BMX Park
When Dave Mirra is pulling huge flipwhips and has to settle for 9th place, something is severely out of hand. BMX is getting insane and the riders keep pushing the envelope.

If you don't follow bmx that much, you probably haven't even hear of these guys. But, take it from me, they can ride their bikes.
1. Daniel Dhers
2. Mike Spinner
3. Dennis Enarson

BMX Vert
1. Jamie Bestwick
2. Chad Kagy
3. Jimmy Walker

FMX
Besides Nate Adams, there were more new names in FMX, and these guys ain't foolin' around. As a matter of fact they are serious, but please don't try to duplicate their tricks because they are foolish.
1. Nate Adams
2. Blake Williams
3. Mike Mason

Sk8 Vert
1. Shaun White
2. Bob Burnquist
3. Andy Macdonald

Sk8 Park
Ryan Sheckler starts the tour off with a bang taking the win with smooth, consistent runs and a transfer from the quarter to manual on the BIG box that was crazy. Greg Lutzka grabbed second and Carlos De Andrade took third.

Next stop the Right Guard Open in Cleveland, OH July 19-22.

Action Sports Recap
Posted:  August 6, 2006

RIDE Action Sports
Author: Barry Page
Web: http://atbmx.com/actionsports-blog.html

X Games 12 Recap
Los Angeles, CA
August 4-6, 2006

The X Games bring together the world’s best action sports athletes for a week of fun, competition and progression. Monster ramps, huge piles of dirt and a passion for pushing the limits of gravity make this the premier event of action sports. BMX, skateboarding, surfing, FMX and rally cars all were featured in 2006.

X Games 12 is now a much anticipated super event viewed by millions on network television all over the globe. As crazy as the stunts seemed in the early 90’s, today’s tricks are past comprehension. The disciplines include adrenalin fueled and technically evolved versions of bmx, skateboarding and mx. Here’s the low down on what went down.

BMX Dirt
The sport of bmx pushes the envelope even further with innovative tricks that usually make it into other sports. In dirt, Anthony Napolatin captured 3^rd with a 360 double tailwhip and a no handed frontflip.  Ryan Nyquist grabbed silver with his now trademark 720 barspin. Cory Bohan wins his 3^rd gold with a no handed, one footed tailwhip to one footed flattie 360 to barspin late tailwhip.

FMX Best Trick
RU Kidding? Travis Pastrana does a double backflip, enough said.

BMX Vert
Chad Kagy gets the gold. After many years of domination by Bestwick and Mirra, there is a new champion, Chad Kagy. Always an innovator, Kagy pulled out a FULL bag of tricks including a flatspin tailwhip.

MX Step Up
Deegan, Clower, McGrath. Clowers gets eliminated in the first round, Deegan goes next, then McGrath. Leaving the door open for Mat Buyton to take the win.

FMX
Travis qualifies first after the course was littered with crashes. In the finals Adam Jones set the pace early with extended, stalled, big airs. Pastrana wasn’t even 100% and with no warmup he pulled a stretched lazy boy backflip, a perfect SUPERman backflip and a tweaked out nac backflip.

BMX Park
With Nyquist and Mirra both out after injuries in practice the door was open in bmx park. Daniel Dhers tailwhips to 3^rd, Morgan Wade flairs and pocket airs his way to 2^nd and, Scotty Crammer wins Gold with a front flip turndown and a 360 double whip straight into a flair.

Skateboard Big Air
Danny Way is Insane. Oh My God! Just rolling in the takeoff ramp would turn most people into cowards, but these guys roll in and launch off what seems like a tiny launch ramp over a 60’ or 70’ gap to the monster quarter pipe. Here’s what went down. Bob Burnquist SWITCH ollie 180 to frontside fingerflip for 3^rd. In the words of Chris Miller, “Ginormus”, 540 by Jake Brown for 2^nd. And, Danny Way pulls a backflip rocket air over the 70’ gap to an insanely high Christ air for the Gold.

Skateboard Street
Ryan Sheckler first won at 14, now a new contender, Nyjah Houston, challenges at age 11. But wait, this is the X Games and this is 2006. New format, new course, insanity. Koston nose blunts the Hubba and winds up 5th, Andrew Reynolds goes big and places 3^rd. Ryan Sheckler takes 2^nd, and Chris Cole kickflips a backside 360 down the steps, for the win.

Super Moto-X
Could Travis win another gold before his trademark FMX? Pastrana, McGrath, Hart, Reid and Ward. Travis grabs the holeshot! But slides out in the first turn. McGrath gets a slow start, works his way up, has a fast pit stop and then problems with his fuel cap. 45 year old Jeff Ward holds off hard charging Mark Burkhart to win Gold.

BMX Vert Best Trick
Double Flairs by Kevin Robinson, Flat spin double tailwhips by Kagy and a front flip flair by Kevin McElhinney equals insanity.

Skateboard Vert Best Trick
Everyone was holding on for Shaun White to pull the 1080, but it didn’t happen. Bob Burnquist did a fs tailslide 360, Max Dufour did a backside kickflip 360 to grind and Bucky Lasek proved his technicality with a fs cab varial heelflip?

Well, that’s a rap. If you missed it, you definitely want to go to expn.com to catch the highlights. You want be disappointed. The bar has been set so high that it is scary. Will Travis retire at the top? Will mega ramps become commonplace? Only time will tell.

For action sports auctions on hard to find classic and rare items be sure to visit http://atbmx.com/auctions/action-sports-ebay.html

X Games, expn.com, EXPN and ESPN are copyright ESPN. All accounts, recaps and editorial is purely to promote action sports.
 

Posted: 07/16/06
Dew Action Sports Tour - Stop #2
Right Guard Open  Denver, CO
July 14-16, 2006

Sk8 Vert
Skateboarding continues to progress and many of the old names are still ripping up the vert ramp. In what seemed like a imperfect day for most, Burnquist, Diaz, Rune, PLG and MacDonald all had falls on their first run. Rune went big and had a stylish flip to bs lip, on his 2^nd run, but still fell short of the podium. Andy Mac threw down a sold run but got bumped by Bucky to take 4th,. Bucky pulled it together and held on for 3^rd, and Sandro Diaz who spun every 540 known including a one-footer and a body jar grabbed 2^nd. And, Shaun White, who came out blazing on the vert ramp with a huge 1^st run that included a FS rodeo flip nabbed the win.

Sk8 Park
In what seems to be old school, Eric Koston takes a respectable 5^th competing with tomorrow’s skate stars. New talent continues to appear in skatepark competition with Rodolfo Ramos grabbing 3^rd spot.11 year old Nyjah Houston, with dreadlocks to make Bob Marley proud, skated consistently to take 2^nd place. Louisville winner, Ryan Sheckler, skating with a broken foot while most would have taken the weekend off amazed the crowd and wound up 4^th.  Jereme Rogers takes the win with big, consistent skating.

Clearance merchandise at CCS.com.

FMX
RU kidding? 1 handed backflips, superman backflips, side saddle backflips, 1 handed whips, AMAZING. The bar continues to rise as FMX takes action sports to the next level. Kenny Bartram, Nate Adams and Travis Pastrana capture the top 3 spots in that reverse order, but all of the competitors are pushing the gravity envelope. God be with them.

BMX Dirt
Guettler does a front flip to double tailwhip, to 720 and the commentators are basically raggin’ on him. He winds up 6^th???? Sure, it may not be “his” best, but who else can do that run like butter? Young Hoffman rider, Anthony Napolitan takes 2^nd.  Nyquist makes a comeback as the oldest competitor with a barspin 720 to take the win.

BMX Vert
Dennis McCoy continues to blow minds as he nears 40 years of age, pulling a 900 and taking 4^th place.. Kevin Robinson went huge with flair variations to claim 3^rd and Chad Kagy had an amazing, innovative ride capturing 2nd. Jamie Bestwick continues to dominate with style and took the win despite injuries.

Be sure to check out my Classic and Rare Auction items (Old School Rules)
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