What was your best jump or your best day racing or series or collecting... whatever...flat out, was your absolute best memory of BMX???

Rockford 2005

What made that your best memory? Come on your best memory has to have some substance??

Getting 6th in B-Pro at the Grands in 1986, my first year as a pro.........won $230, my biggest payday also.

Better Rich, but we need more details...set the scene.....what was your starting position, who was on the line, what did you do to get there.... did you do a 90 degree table top over the woops and loose first place? we want to experience what you experienced....

Getting myself and a mate a story on us in a magazine down here. It was a skatepark writeup. Got some good shots and a few average ones.
By far the biggest buzz was working with Nicole Kidman on BMX Bandits. I only had a part as an extra but I got into the "flour scene" at the end 'cause I was older than the rest. I made the back cover of the video too!

Well if you want details then it turns into several seperate events which when combined made it the high point of my BMX life.

But I'll try.

I arrived at Rockford Friday night and had the previlege of meeting Hal, DAN, Graeme, Rebel Rouser, BMXmom and others at the bar. I was looking forward to meeting Cash Matthews after nearly 30 years and was shocked to hear that he had an accident which given the severity, I thought surely he had flown back home. After getting kicked out of the bar we went to "the room" The Om and many other legendary cats and friends were there. Lo and behold, my friend Cash Matthews shows up smiling like there was no tomorrow. He managed to get past the pain and drop by to share our love of BMX. That in itself would have been a highlight but things were destined to get better the next day.

At the track I had the pleasure of meeting many other great people but the highlight at the track was seeing the great man himself. Oz and his much better half greeted me like I was family and it nearly brought a tear to my eye.

Knowing that Oz was more popular than an altar boy at a priest convention, I left him alone and walked around with Johnny Hohnson meeting other great people. I talked To Willinois, Towne, Tim and many others. The builds were absolutely beautiful and the company was great. I hung out with the guys I used to remember and looked up to as a kid such as the OM, JU and Hill. Had the opportunity to talk to PK on the phone and I felt that I was in BMX heaven. I was a bit awed by the whole thing and then spotted a familiar face looking at an old Mike Devitt book. Sure enough the face was last seen 30 years ago in the form of the great Danny Garcher. Danny is and was a true legend and I was more than happy to share a conversation with him about the old days. Bear in mind, these cats were way above my level back in the day but 30 years ago and knew them only in a passing reference, but here I was talking to these cool cats and reminiscing about Yarnell, Corona, Rancho etc.

But wait..there's more. Later that night at the presentation when Oz mentioned me in his story, I could have just said "It does not get better than this"

But no, once the legendary story about Cosmo ended and I stood next to the OM, JU, Hill, Toby
while the Houston hotties waved their pom poms.. I knew that I represented every unknown, every moto-filler, every kid who wanted to be in the magazine and didn't and I was proud of being me and proud to stand next to such legends and next to the amazing Oz.

Therefore the simple answer: Rockford 2005

Long winded I know, but you wanted details..

Like many would say, there were soooo many. But I would have to say August 4, 1978 tops them all. I had been 16 for 5 days and flew to meet up with Scot Breithaupt and the Se Team. Jeff Utterback and Perry Kramer show up at LAX to pick us up. I spend the next week racing numerous times and end up racing the PRO race at the half time of the LA rams/SD Chargers game in the LA Coliseum. This was a week of living in the pages of BMXA and with my heroes.

BTW - I'm in row 2 with Turnell Henry, PK and Tinker. HARDLY fair for a goofy Oregon back then.

Thanks to Scot, PK, JU and Stu for the friendship over the following 25+ years. The meetings over the past few years have been on par with that week in 1978.

PS Reilly - Danny Garcher is a prince of a guy. Makes you feel like you were the best guy in the world just talking to him.



[ July 28, 2005, 12:52 AM: Message edited by: BenOr ]

For me this was cool........
[img]http://images.vintagebmx.com/web_pages/rodmiles/fd_webformex_1123449241.tmp[/img]

And this was very cool........

But this............ I remember one of my buddies came up to me and said did you see the cover of the Bicyclers Today yet????? I said no?? He said you need to because YOUR on it!!!! You can almost read "Rod Miles" on my number plate.

It was also used in the subcribe add for a few months after that.......

Rod Miles
Indy BMX 77'-84'

[ July 28, 2005, 02:41 AM: Message edited by: Rod Miles ]

1st A Pro Money and 1st Pro Trophy at the ABA Lone Star Nationals in San Antonio circa 1980. Wish I had that issue of the ABA newpaper that covered that event!

winning a # 1 plate is one for sure ,showing my 7 year old son a full page shot in bmx plus "hot shots"
was neat . he said daddy is that you??? the pic was a one handed table top circa 1980 .lots of great moments , some were off the track .guys who did the summer tours wos can relate .

Carrying the United States flag around Rockford in the Parade Lap. Hands down, my best bmx memory.

winning n.p.s.a. nat #1 17over expert in '81. that year at the state national in tallahassee it poured before the main.in the main i slipped my pedals on the gate and in a panic jumped back on and passed one guy down the first straight, two more in the first corner and going into the second turn the other four locked up and slid way outside, i took the inside and ended up winning the main by about ten bike lengths. my grandma was jumping up and down as i crossed the line.

meeting Jim milton

reilley1 wrote: "Rockford 2005"

I'll 2nd that one, all the way.

nat.#3 NBL when I was 15 racing for Chuck Robinson helping my dad with our track, Going to belgium and england to race and kicking butt, being on the same team with Travis Chipres, Danny nelson being able to tell my dad on the tractor to make the jump bigger, on and on and on o ya and also after Ron House left the Vans team Everett Roscrans said he wanted me to be on his team, I lasted one race in florida and told my dad on the flight back I hated racing and didnt want to race anymore, stupid me.

[ July 28, 2005, 01:58 PM: Message edited by: scott stout ]

There are so many great memories, but the best one for me happened around 6am one spring morning.
My pals and I were finishing up our paper routes on a Saturday or Sunday morning. There was a rumor of a great trail in an unfamiliar neighborhood, so we decided to seek it out.
It was not long before we saw a trail head near the backyard of a house. It was still early, so we snuck back there. What we found was an overgrown path heading down into the raveen.
What the heck, down we went.
We were not expecting at the end of the path was this: a couple miles of downhill switchbacks, ess curves, trials, and jumps. Somebody did some amazing work in those woods, and managed to keep it pretty secret.
What makes this my best BMX experience was the sense of discovery. BMX helped us with that. My gang rarely raced, but our bikes were our transportation to adventure. This happened to be the biggest discovery we made, and the most enduring. I cannot recall how many times we snuck back behind that house at early hours.
This was in Bellevue, Washington. The trail started off a Cul de Sac near NE 156th, and ended on Lake Samamish BLVD. I suspect it's still there in some form - possibly part of a green belt and opened up for hiking.

Cool story alfa.............

the first year our team went to the indy worlds '81 we stayed with a relative of one our riders who lived in the outskirts.while there we found a frozen stream and rode it for what seemed about five miles...slippin slidin falling thru the ice, freezin our butts off...being from florida a lot of our riders had never seen snow let alone ice.when we got back it was frozen hands and feet but smiles all around. aw.

Mine is getting my first trophy ever this year.
2nd wayne afa contests 87 and 88

3rd york jam 94

4th mullaley skatepark contests

5th hoffmann contests 96 and 97
espicially 96 i entered suntboy flat. got last but i did not care. I CHOKED SO BAD!!!!!!!!!

I took my cousins place for his 17+ expert main and won it. I was 15

OK here is one of mine
I never did race nationally, just local stuff . I spent a hole year watching/studying the 15 x class while trying to get my 15 , 1st place finishes to go from intermediate to expert. Well it was the late 80's by the time I got to expert and the class had started to thin out .
The next year I got a chance to race one of the fast (to me anyway) 15experts
it's the third moto just me and him, only taking 1 to the main.
Were neck and neck down the 1st straight me on the outside I had that first turn wired so I was were I wanted to be. He moved over a little on me going in witch was perfect I swopped under him and started cranking as hard as I could.
I nailed all the jumps(all 2 of them) on the 2nd straight got into the 2nd turn with a good 2 bike lengths on him
He tried jumping inside of me on the last turn but he wasn't close enough

I don't even rember what place I got in the main but I'll never forget how good it feltto beat one of my local fast 15 expert guys to qualify for that main !!!

There are so many! Winning races was a big one, and at 18 maybe the biggest. But looking back it was the times I spent with my friends. At one time we had a big half-pipe here, and we would ride and skate it until we were worn out. We even had lights out there and rode at night. Some nights a bunch of people would gather, and we would drink and party and just have the best times. That was around my first and second years of school, I guess about the time I turned 21 also.
I remember another time when I was 15 and we set up this ramp and started jumping each other. After a while we would lay one guy at the ramp, then after every one else was down the guy in back moved up until we had 7 people spaced out to the distance of 20. We would hit that ramp WFO and land just inches away. It was real scarry when you were the jumpee! The funny part though was when this lady down the street freaked out. She came running over to my friends yard where we were doing this and was hysterical. She was screaming "YOUR GOING TO KILL SOMEONE!!!!!", really freaking out. We, being the little bastards that were just started giggling and being wise. She pushed our ramp over, then called Mark's mom. That started a chain reaction and we got in trouble. Man those were the days!
This thread could go on forever.

There was this one place we used to go jump. It had a bunch of cool jumps, and it was in some woods where we could get away with anything. We used to build fires and jump over them and do all kinds of stuff we were not allowed to do. That was around 25 years ago and in another city.
So here I am at the age of 39 looking at this site one day, and there is a thread with old jumping photos. This guy posted a photo of him jumping, and I kept looking at it thinking it looked just like our spot. Turns out it was, and he emailed me a bunch of photos of the place. I never knew him, but there were several kids on bikes that went there to jump.
Another plug for the site being a moment was exchanging messages here with Oz. My favorite part of BMX Action were the cutlines with info on how he shot certain photos, and those mags are one of the reasons I am a photographer now.

I think the highlight of my BMXing just happened today...
I was hitting the local bike path down to the bank to drop the ol paycheck in the bank. As I'm bolting along at mach .125 on my 20" there's a group of maybe 8 young dudes hanging on the side of the path. One of em has their mountain bike laying in the center of the trail. So I blaze..bunnyhop the bike, roll down the other side and jump a quick 8' off a bump and go on my way.
On my way back, the same kids are hanging there...they see me coming, one of em pulls out their bike, I bunnyhop that one, and the kids start yelling..yeaaaaaaaaa!
So, I guess still being able to haul buns and jump at 39 is my biggest thrill so far...
The older ya get, the more important still being able to ride becomes...

[ July 29, 2005, 02:01 PM: Message edited by: Brett Middaugh ]

My highlight was being 14 and getting a track built in Aberdeen, South Dakota in 1980, and then getting to race on it. There was a group of BMXers there with no place to race. We were able to get some land to use at a snowmobile track just outside of town. One of the other kid's dad did all the dirt work building the track with his Bobcat. We spent a week with shovels "fine tuning". No one had any idea about track design, but it turned out great. 6 or 7 parents organized the nights, kept the points, made sure everyone was safe, took the money, and used it to buy trophies. The local paper did a story on us. People other than our parents started coming out to watch us race. The racing was great. Big downhill right off the gate made for high sppeds and a huge jump at the bottom that sorted out the flyers from the cryers right away. That led into a high banked 90 degree corner that made for some great hi/lo passing. It flattened out after that with some whoops, a couple jumps and then a long sprint to the end where a lot of races were decided. I still remember being up on the gate with kids who, to this day, are my best friends, and being so nervous I could hardly breath. As soon as the gate dropped, it was flat out and no fear. No one in the BMX world knew who we were, but we didn't care. We were a pretty tight knit group of about 30-40 kids hanging out and living what we read in the pages of BMXA for six days out of the week. But on Tuesday nights that summer it was our turn to strap it on and we were all business. We'd seen the pictures and read the stories of Stu, Greg, and others, and we took it just as seriously as they did. Some of us went on to race bigger, sanctioned events, but for me it was never as much fun as Tuesday nights in Aberdeen, SD. Man, I'd give anything for one more night back there. Sorry if I rambled. That's my highlight. It's why I'm here. I love this stuff.

You have the hang of it now...great stories....

I doubled winning 13x and 11- 13 open at the 81' Diamond Back Summernationals at Rancho. This was in front of my home town crowd.

One main I won wire to wire. The other one was a totally come from behind win. Got a bad start, dove under a bunch of riders in the terrifying first berm, and then passed CW's Tony Denham between the last jump and the finish.

I was on a Diamond Back Senior Pro at a Diamond Back sponsored national and was congradulated by DB's head honchos Mike Bobrick, Mitchell Weiner, and Sandy Finkelman (unfortunately they didn't offer me a sponsorship).

I had a chance at a triple cause I was eligible for the trophy dash. On the line was Pete Loncarevich (DB), Eddy King (DB), Dave Marietti (Torker), and Tom Christopher (Tioga), and me. Well.... that's the way we finished. So two firsts and a fifth. Best race of my career.

Byron Friday lived with my Dad and I the year previous. He trained me hard. I won that race from his guidence. He's always been a great friend and mentor. My Dad too.
----------

But the best thing about BMX are the people I was friends with back then like Doug Davis, Mike King, Byron Friday, Shawn Texas, Perry Kramer, Kiyomi Waller, Sandy Finkelman, ect.

Better yet the people that I've become friends with latey since I've came back to BMX like Rick G (Reilley1), Greg Hill, Oz, Todd Henry, Jeff Utterback, Scot Breithaupt, Cash Matthews, Phil Maxwell, Greg Lilly, John Swanguen, ect (I could go on and on)...

The people are the best part of what BMX has meant to me.

[ August 14, 2005, 11:09 PM: Message edited by: JohnnyJohnson OMAS DirtSlinger ]

Lots of great times, just a few highlights.

Hanging out in South Jersey and having Sal Zuener ask me if I wanted to cruise to the mall with him. Sal was Factory DG by then, but never got a big head (cept his hairdo).

Racing it was winning my First ABA 16 Over Expert main and giving the trophy to this girl I had a crush on. It was at the Braddock BMX track in North Bergen NJ.

Then again maybe it was hearing my name called at the Jag World Championships by NJ legend Leapin Charlie Litsky himeslelf as I holeshoted all three motos. (Cherry picking 16 Over Novice, it was won by a NJ (Factory Puch) rider I think- we both cherry picked - last time I did that i fealt so bad)

Ive always wanted do a Summer Tour like SE used to do and when I started Hyper (along with Clay) I got my chance in 92 and that was a tiring but fun summer with Rob Dolecki(NJ). I got to do it again when I started American Bicycles this time with Pros Brandon Taylor(TX), Troy Kendrick (MN), Mike Gul (IL) and Adam Provo(CA). If you ever have a chance to do a Summer Tour, racing and putting on Clinics do it!

[ July 31, 2005, 02:24 AM: Message edited by: Racer ]

My 1st race, 1980 Canyon Country, CA. During practice I fell off my bike at the gate, endoed off of "double trouble" then fliped and landed on my back on the same double the next lap. Took last in my first heat race. However, that night was the spark that has kept me biking for 25+ years. I look back on that very painful night with great fondness. My son is a few months away from his first race now. I really hope that he doesnt crash and burn like I did, but if it means getting him stoked on biking I suppose it will be just fine.

I tripled at the redline state championships winning 15 expert, 15-16 open, and taking the trophy dash as a 15 year old

How about the 1st main win at a big race. the first
time you won both days on a national weekend.the first time you doubled.how about the first time you won open class at a big race.so many many memories it's hard to pick one. i forgot to add the
championships.district champ?? state and national.
i have come to the conclusion , that after racing for 10 + years ;there is just too much fun to pick one memory .

One was when I was racing the state series back in the day I had one of the big national riders who was always in the mags and his name pops up here on the board quite a few times seriously ask me to let him win the race in cruiser. He was in a pretty heated battle with another rider his age and that rider did not show up for the race. This was back when they combined two age groups into a cruiser class. I think it was 15-16 cruiser. We were pretty good friends at the track and it was the first time we raced each other. It was when I was coming into my own and getting faster. I was surprised that he thought I was that fast, as I didn't think I was. But I took a step back and looked at my riding in cruiser and I was doing very well.

Another would be the Sarasota National in 91. I was racing Supercruiser at the time. During that time period they had Pro cruiser and Supercruiser. Well, not enough people made it for two seperate classes so we ended up with two gates of combined pro and super cruiser. I still made the main although I blew it and hit the gate for the main. Just being on the gate with some of the guys there was awesome. It was my last race before bootcamp.

Watching Jim get back on the track after not racing for 25 plus years. It made him smile which made me smile. That was just the start of the highlights.

To many to list...

1.) Probably back in 79 when i was 9 years old watching these guys near my house build a BMX track and not knowing anything about bmx...Then 2 months later getting a Competition Sting for my 1st bmx race and winning

2.) Getting National #39 and No 1 Pa in 86

3.) Winning the 87 Regional Nationals in Johnstown. Pa by about 6-7 Bikes and beating Paul Prestis and remembering him saying there nobody in this moto beforehand at the moto boards ... and Raynor Mathews dad coming up and telling me i was Flying and he would mention me to BOSS Manager about a sponsor.then ripping my acl and pcl 2 months later ....but those 8 years were some of the best in my life

Long Live BMX !

Winning my first Worlds when I was 10. I don't remember much about the Indy race other than getting DQ'ed in my Semi for moving over on a jump, I clearly had the lead and Rennie Roker after viewing the tape overturned the decision and put me in the gate anyway. The only problem was there were 9 riders they were going to run with on an 8 man gate. I got a great gate and left everyone behind.

International at the Pontiac Silverdome. This race was a big one to win and my first taste at international competition. I don't remember anything about my race but this being the first big race that I won meant a lot to me. It was also great to win in front of the hometown crowd.

Being picked up by GT. I still consider this a highlight and I've told the story before how Scofield never called and assumed that I would ride for them. Just before the season started I got a letter in the mail from the NBL. Reggies Toledo (The number one bike shop team in the ABA) received one as did GT asking who's team I was actually on because I couldn't be carried on two rosters. I remember reading the letter like it was yesterday, the answer was easy and I still have the letter to look back on and smile.

Being put on the nominee list for the ABA Hall of Fame. As an adult this means the most to me and I thank Bill Curtin, Shannon and whoever else was involved with the decision process at the ABA a huge thank you, it really means the world to me. Hopefully someday I'll make it onto that prestigious list on the ABA site but for now I'm pretty damn excited to just be considered.

BMX has been good to me.

Tripling at the ABA Saber National and picking up a CW Factory ride in the process.

Justin

I was lucky enough to get my name in a FREESTYLIN' issue from a Masters contest, it was the only mag that listed the top 4, not top 3.. I squeeked at 4th place.. incedently enough, a chick I used to ride alot with is also in that issue, Krys Dauchy, (prob spelled the name wrong, no disrespect!).. so that was a double cool issue!! Had like 3 minutes of fame on tv as well.. featured on a local CBS tv show with the trick team and our Quarter Pipe and kick turn ramps.. theres other little highlights as well.. but I KNOW this pales in comparison to many of the members here.. but to me it was awesome!!

[ August 08, 2005, 01:14 AM: Message edited by: rad rick ]

Rick, It's not about your's against thiers...it's about YOUR'S....nice story...I never had my name in a mag..because the one I got 4th in, they only posted third place....

I made top 50 in Canada in points for the CABA(the Canadian arm of the ABA).
They sent me a patch.

The next year I was going to get top 25 until I had a tumor in my lung and they removed my left lung half way through the season.
bummer
Al.

there was a big district race at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, I think it was like '85/86?
Lost too many braincells since but...

It was pouring rain. The trophies were over 3ft tall for 1st place and I HAD to have one.

I took a 1st in my first moto and didnt have to race for the next 2 motos.

During the main, the rain was coming down in buckets(rare in San Diego) and i took the holeshot. I wasn't used to racing in mud , but I wanted that trophy more then the 6 other kids in that main.

I took the win and the 3ft tall trophy.

It still sits in my old room at my parents house and my kids admire it every time we go to Grandmas house..

Thats my fondest memory of racing..

[ August 04, 2005, 08:47 PM: Message edited by: SDOlSkool ]

Winning the 15 x class and racing the trophy dash.battling for the lead,then eating some clay!!

on the track-beating roy reboucas a few times.perfect florida state season.first national win,double-double rockford 2005
off the track-having roy make me laugh all trip long and forming a life long friendship.seeing roy win the state race at orlando and the state plate overall.mcs days

PMBYKE ,

your gonna make my eyes leak !!! no b.s , we had some great roadtrips win or loose .the MCS were alot of fun . i miss the roadtrips . sour cream potato chips and milk????? great combo for natural gas .!!!!

I'm going to add my first tabletop as one of the best memories.
We rode in the woods behind a local church, and would jump off a 15' tall drop. There was a jump at the top off the drop, and we would get some pretty decent air.
I was never terribly coordnated, so the day I laid it down flat mid-flight was a big step in my abilities.
Great times.

1. Winning the last race at the Corona Downhill in 14 Novice and with that win I was expert.
2. There is not enough time in the day to thank ''OM" for all he did for me and my family in Bmx.
3. Cleaning up "OM's" jungle at his house in trade for bike parts and I do mean jungle.What along couple of days that was!
4.Racing the SE side hack with my good friend David Montoya and winning at wesminster bmx and running second at the Corona downhill with Eric Kocen doing the peddling.

JG

JG,
Hey bro. I used to race Kocen occasionally. He was a great compettitor and a super cool guy. Heard he just bought a MTB from Mike F at Fullerton Bikes.

Great stories on this thread guys!

Johnny Johnson

HOW about the 1st time you signed your authgraph!

you mean the ONE time! i think the kid had me mistaken for someone faster.

Hey Roy put the story out here that you told me about!! Only if it is your best BMX memory though!!!