Well, I'm sorry this took me so long to do, but I had to dig out some old photo albums to get to these pics. I figure you have all seen the magazine pics, so I'm going to show you some shots you have never seen. Even though I don't make it here often enough, I sincerely appreciate all the nice things that have been said over the years. I hope you enjoy the pics....

This really is Joe Kid "Itson" on a stingray. This pic is from 1973, I was 10.
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/freestyl/1973jump.jpg?t=1182832012[/img]

Here I am a few years later on my stroker II with moto mags. Go fast, launch, and hang on. This is how we did it way back when.
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/freestyl/launchjumpstroker.jpg?t=1182832242[/img]

I finally got a light bike. A powelight. It took me forever to learn table tops this way, but once I did, I had them on lock.
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/freestyl/turndowntable.jpg?t=1182832368[/img]

Early years of street riding I guess, or as I call it, just riding. I use to practice my fakies on guide wires believe it or not. I use to roll about 2 feet up and then straight back down.
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/freestyl/cablefakie.jpg?t=1182833004[/img]

One of my first ever public shows at the peddlepower bike shop. A few big name pros showed up here to see me do a 540 on a ramp in person. Rollin on a VDC. The show was me and Martin.
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/freestyl/peddlepowershow.jpg?t=1182832560[/img]

Then came the vans tour. The most fun I ever had on a tour. Me, Martin, Brian B, Mike D, and Kele and Beetle Rosecrans. Ska! Oh yeah, pic was taken at Woodward East. I think we did the first ever bike show there and may have been the first bike riders there period?
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/freestyl/Vanstour.jpg?t=1182832657[/img]

The shows on that tour were fun, but what we did before and after the shows was more fun. This was a huge ditch we found at one of the hotels we stayed at on the east cost. There were big pipes sticking up from below and if you fell, you were going to get hurt. Me, Martin, Mike, and Brian all jumped it. Brian did it first from what I remember. Notice the helmets and pads, we were all a bit scared for sure, but it was a lot of fun after you got that first jump over with.
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/freestyl/canyonjumpvanstour.jpg?t=1182832803[/img]

Finally I think this is the guy you all remember. Hutch tour, some where in the US? Pic was sent to me by a random person. I'm glad they sent it.
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/freestyl/Hutchtour.jpg?t=1182832923[/img]

Anyhow, I hope you enjoy the pics, I had more but you can only post 8. Riding has been a big part of my life for sure. In a couple of weeks I will post some modern day pics as well. Woody.

..that is AWESOME!!! Thanks for sharing those...the first freestyle show I ever saw was the Vans tour at the shore mall in cardiff circle NJ..it's all your fault!!! Post more!!

Great stuff, Woody. Thanks so much for sharing.

WOW! Those are so cool! Fakies on a cable, that's INSANE! Cool stuff for sure.



(gotta love the background stuff in old photos!)

Cool set of oldschool pix , there was a chronic lack of easy to use happy snaps cameras in the late 1970's & early 1980's for taking fast action shots.


As you mentioned Woody , the first time you figure out how to swing your body , hips , bars & bike the right way when launching off a jump & pull off your first _proper_ Table Top , you never look back , the flow of it all is a huge revelation that stay with you forever.
I don't know about you but I can still remember the exact place & jump where it all come together for me all those years ago

The later years , when you were on the front of my Maths Book



Apart from a severe personality clash between the Maths teacher (woman) & myself back then , she had the hide to tell me that this photo was done using "trick photography" , I got up into her face & said I do this kind of stuff myself every weekend , I can assure you that it's all _very_ real. It both panicked & rattled her that I took the insult so personally.
If I saw her today I'd still trip her over & cause her a great deal of discomfort & inconvienience for her messing with my grades & test scores back then...

Thanks for sharing the the pix & memories

JB

Great pics and cool stories...Thanks Woody !!

This is so great to see, thanks for posting, Woody. It let's us all see that we're really all just the same. You came out to our town way back when and did a show with Dominguez one year, and you guys stayed and rode with us afterwards on all our dirt jumps. We'd met just about every pro rider but I remember you specifically because you were such a class act, one of my friends recalled afterwards that you never said a swear word the whole day.

I was amazed at your jumping ability! You got so much height and landed so soft, I was definitely schooled that day. I have to admit that I was blown away by that image of you flat out of that skate bowl in BMXA "Hot Shots", I think you were riding a Basset. If there's one thing I'd like to know, is if that was a flyout and you landed on ground, or was that an aerial and you went back down the bowl? I remember seeing that picture and thinking, "that isn't possible..."!

Most of all though the day riding with you was a lot of fun, so thanks for that, and thanks for all the fun of watching your career through all the magazines and performances over the years, and thanks for being here and sharing this history with the rest of us.

Awesome! That's the pic! ^^

Great thread Woody, thanks for being one of the first Pro freestlyers to start a thread like this. Oh yeah, keep the pics coming if you have 'em.

The picture of me on that basset was taken at the big O skatepark in Orange, CA. I actually have a test sheet with lots of pics of me riding the front "kiddie" bowl jumping over people and inside the big 3/4 pipes. In that particular photo, that was a fly out from way up in the air. If you look at the bottom of the pic, you will see a white pole sticking up. There use to be a mesh fence around it to keep people from falling in and we did small ariels, maybe 2 or 3 feet out. Any higher and the fence was an issue. Once I heard the park was going to be closed, I got the guys that worked there to take down the mesh and I started going as fast as I could down the bowl and flying higher and higher. The Park was right next to a skating rink and one night on a bet for 20 bucks, I went out of the bowl and over the fence you see next to it. The landing area was small and the landing was harsh to say the least, but it was all I knew back then. To this day, that is my favorite pic of all time. It's also one of my first. When I found out I was going to be in the magazine, I went for broke as they say. Steve Giberson and Bob Osborn were there that day. 1981 or 82. I think.

This is what this site is ALL ABOUT! It's cool of Woody to share these pics with us. It's also cool that Bill, Hal and Rick give us this site so Woody can share this stuff. I wasn't a freestyle guy at all but these kinds of personal pics and info are SO cool!

Thanks Woody.

these pics are soooo cool! Thanks for taking the time, Woody!

Hope to see you at Rockford next year...

Here we go, pics part 2.

This is me trying to learn to catch air. Only problem was, the ramp was at about a 45 degree angle. But when you pulled real hard, you could catch a foot or two.
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/freestyl/tyringtocatchair.jpg?t=1182839212[/img]

Ramp to ramp in the school yard. We actually pulled the stairs off a temp building on the play ground over a weekend to build this mess and then jump it.
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/freestyl/ramptorampjump-1.jpg?t=1182839237[/img]

Learning to boost and then land soft. Some times the landings didn't go so soft though.
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/freestyl/boost.jpg?t=1182839307[/img]

Flatland show in Chandler, AZ at the BMX Nationals. I raced here as well. VDC FS bike #1.
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/freestyl/chandlerAZShow.jpg?t=1182839364[/img]

My favorite news paper picture of all time. From the Indianapolis 500. Normally they kick you out of places like this, but they actually invited me in and cleared an area for me to ride in. If I didn't have this article to prove it, I probably wouldn't believe it myself.
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/freestyl/indy500pic.jpg?t=1182839426[/img]

Flatland pic from a Vision photo shoot during the Diamond Back years.
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/freestyl/elbowglide.jpg?t=1182839536[/img]

Pics of my Scirocco after the mods, but before I had the rims gold plated....
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/freestyl/Scirocco.jpg?t=1182839672[/img]

Finally when I first got into freestyle back when I was into racing, Bob Haro and RL Osborn were the riders I looked up to most. Later on this was the man right here, Jeff Larson. His nickname was Rambo. He died last year very quietly and I was sad to hear about his passing. He was a Hero to me for sure. This picture has remained with me for many many years and to say he was ahead of his time was an understatement. This picture was motivation for me every day back then. Backwards, backwards drop in. He also did 5 foot rear wheel out fakie airs! RIP Jeff.
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/freestyl/rambo.jpg?t=1182839956[/img]

One final pic..One of my favorite Trick Stars ever. Jet black. This was taken at an AFA maters event. I have no idea how I did, but I sure wish I had that bike back
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/freestyl/blackhutch.jpg?t=1182840370[/img]

Flatlander forever...

Ummmm......that is one of the most amazing tricks I've never seen before (the backwards, backwards drop in). I never even though of such a thing, nor had I heard of Jeff Larson before this thread. Great stuff Woody.

[ June 26, 2007, 02:50 AM: Message edited by: STRIKE ]

quote:

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Backwards, backwards drop in

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WHAT.



I cant even wrap my brain around that! How...the...

Excellent pics, Woody!