I hear ya.. I'm employed now, but only cause a friend got me a short term gig.. It's all who you know these days..

What did your wife find??

She is running the office for a backflow prevention company... As for me, until the kids start school and we get Nathan potty trained, it almost not worth while for me to get a job.. Daycare would kill us...

Brian

It took some Big Air to do a double front flip. Imagine tryin to do one with little air. What ever any body did on the 1\4 pipe, it did not compare to a double front. He did hit the 1/4. Maybe next time he can do a double double

That's what tipped me off. I was a stay-at-home dad for a time last year. It was rewarding but not financially. Hang in there, Brian. You seem like you have a good head on your shoulders and I'm sure it'll work out. Enjoy this time with your kid.

As rad as the double front flip is, no one will ever convince me that it`s harder than a no handed 360 backflip (air traffic controller). Dave might be able to make it look easy, but I promise you we`ll see a lot more people doing Double fronts than ATC`s. Yes, a BIG debut for a trick not done before in competition but IMO not a stand alone winner of that contest. And the judges reflected I am not alone.

BS,
Something will come around at some point...

As for the double front, as Anthony put it the next day, it was a big air contest, not a best trick contest... But, it was rad... I am surprised Dave didn't land the ATC over the big gap, considering how far he was over shooting the smaller gap...

Brian

I'll admit,, the ATC trick is way radder than a double front flip, and I agree it would be easier too.. Just alot of courage for that trick for sure.. The ATC trick would take so much skill and preciseness, to pull of over such a huge gap.... But Mirra did that same trick last year, was the thing....If it wasn't for Anthony, the contest would have been the same as last year..

Yeah.. It seems most of the guys were saving themselves for the rest of the weekend...

Brian

I know Kevin Robinson was going for it.. He's no longer a real threat on regular vert now.. Don't think he even cracks the top 5 anymore...

If it wasn't for Jamie Bestwick, regular vert could possibly be eliminated next.. Kagy is sick on vert now..But Bestwick can't be touched right now. I wonder how many more years he will dominate? He's dominated since about 2006... Mirra may still be a vert guy if Bestwick didn't beat him all the time.

I wouldn't count Kevin out just yet. While he and Kagy seem to have hit a rough patch the last few contests they are still great riders who pose a threat. Dominant no...threat yes. While Jamie is certainly a class above, he has been beaten before. Kagy seems like he is on a mission this year so far. Unfortunatly he seems to be having a hard time keeping the rubber rampside down.

You know what would be totally effin` SICK? If the vert contests were filmed in the format some NFL games are, with that 360 degree camera view. That could really put the complexity of what`s actually happening in perspective for the people watching on a TV screen.

But one thing remains constant in almost any avenue of entertainment. If it`s big and grandiose, people will watch. When it grows too complex for the non-rider to comprehend they will lose interest. I get more ooh`s and ahh`s at the church I ride at for manualing the entire parking lot than I do for 360`s, and that`s a simple trick on it`s own. The vert routine has gotten so complicated that the casual watcher can`t really grasp what they are seeing. When people don`t watch, sponsors don`t pay for air time and events get dropped.

I agree... Watching the Xgames vert comp, the main thing that stood out in Jamie's favor to me was the fact that he maintains his height better than anyone. I think Chad has the tricks to take a win, he just needs to do them a little higher like Jamie does. The same could be said for a few other guys on the deck, too...

Brian

I fully agree. (especially the part about Kagy having the tricks to win.)The other thing with Jamie is not only does he keep his pump up, but he also mainly only does tricks that he knows he has wired while a few of the other riders are taking more chances. Not saying that is bad, just an observation. Jamie is still this gen's king of Vert. In the league with such past Vert greats as Watson, Fiola, Dominguez, Hoffman, ,etc.

Yeah, but when your "safe" run scores almost perfect with the judges, you must be doing something right...LOL Anything he does in an ally-oop is just a thing of beauty....

I was watching Chad in practice at X, and he has the height, he just has to keep it going through the run... Easy for me to say as a spectator, right? But, Chad's willingness to go for it makes him really exciting to watch.

Brian

Manualing the entire parking lot is harder than a 360. Forget it, Manualing for 10 sec straight is harder than a 360!

JC

I dated a girl from Cypress a long time ago. She was hot.

ANd I don`t know about long manuals being harder. They took me a lot longer to learn, but I get to do them a lot more often. Hard to just ride along and bust a 360 outta the blue, but I can manual almost anywhere

Manual is all in the bike set up.. mostly.... I've had bikes I can manual great and some you just can't..