I started riding back when I was in 4th grade. I had a Huffy that I rode to school, actually I rode it every where. It was a chrome BMX style is all I remember. Just after I got my cast off from breaking my ankle playing flag football during recess at school, I graduated to a Dyno Compe with mags. I was psyched on it and wanted to start racing but got distracted and ended up having a skateboarding/hoodlum phase for a few years.

Fast forward to age 13 and I had lost the skateboard but was twice the hoodlum. I dont remember how but I ended up with a GT Performer frame which I remember was better than the Dyno Compe frame and only so because it was chrome. Looking back I think the only thing different was the Performer had a bigger platform for flatland tricks. Awesome.. My neighbor at the time had just started racing and I went to the track with him one time and a legend was born (kidding).

I lived for BMX all through my teen years and couldnt be bothered with anything else. The bad thing about that is, I didnt really care to be in school because all I did was day dream about being a pro BMXer some day, or what kind of chaos I was going to cause after school. I used to stay out late and get into mischief with my friends on our bikes. I did however, graduate high school [surprisingly]. We caused a lot of havoc in Boulder City but thankfully I was never caught for any of it. The best thing about BMX for me was that I never got wrapped up with the bullshit of drugs or alcohol. I would ride my bike to school and pass all the losers at a park near the high school that we called Stoner Park. I would just see all these losers over there smoking cigarettes before class. They were the same kids who always went to desert parties and got drunk on the weekends, and also the same kids who would drive by the high school at 10pm and get a window broken out of their car by me and my friends as we spent a lot of time trying to get in chases with cars.

I broke my Tibia and Fibula bones in half at age 17 at the local track in Boulder City and after surgery and 3 months recovery I was back on the bike. It was a gnarly fall but didnt really hold much weight to my near death experience of a lacerated liver only months prior. Both crashes would of most likely been avoided had I not been using clip pedals, so for over a year I was riding platforms for life. So as you can probably guess, I wasnt very competitive up until I was racing 18-20 expert getting my ass handed to me. I clipped back in just around the time that the NBL Grand Nationals were rolling around and I think it was either 2nd or 3rd moto I looped out on the double out of the first turn and took a pretty nice dirt nap. My weekend was done there but I remember watching the 18-20 expert main event and I told my friend Rick that I was standing with, "Im going to win that title next year." I then walked over to pick up my National #17 plate for the year.

The first national of the 2000 season was at my home track in Boulder City and if I remember right, I won 18-20 expert both days, and in 16 and over open I won the first day and got 3rd the next day. After this race, Nate Berkheimers dad picked me up on his team Bad Boys Racing. Hands down I can say it was my second most factory ride Ive ever had next to my current ride with Haro. We went every where around the country and by mid season I was capped out in points in 18-20 expert before anyone else in the class. That September I won my first national #1. Photo to the right is me (#1) and Spanky Gravenmier (#3) doing battle at Southpark, PA.

 

At that point I was approached by a bike shop team that gave a bunch of empty promises and if you ever learn anything from me, stay loyal to the people who are loyal to you. I left the Bad Boys and started riding for this other team and here is where I was welcomed to shady hotels and could have been seen driving around Florida in a warn out old Ford van. The van had no air conditioning and furthermore only had 2 bucket seats in the front. I remember driving across inland Florida in a plastic picnic chair in the back with my team mates Austin McClain and Mike Weatherford. Ive got to say though, we have some great stories to tell and some awesome memories riding for that team. The photo to the left is me during spring break 2001 at the Sandboss Jam somewhere in Florida

 

The year after winning my National #1 18-20 expert title, I turned pro at the NBL Grands. I made it to my semi but my luck stopped there. The following year I started riding for Deviate Industries which was a motocross clothing company and sub branch of Nirve Bicycles. I was team mates with Alan Foster and Neal Wood so I was among superstars. That year I had a pretty good season and was making some money, but hadn't yet won a race. Lack of support was a big reason for lack of success. I was a broke kid just trying to make moves. Although I look pretty factory in the photo to the right, the only money that I had coming in was $50.00 a month from Spy Optic. I could of never made it past my amatuer years without the support of my mom and dad and for that I can't thank them enough. Photo was at the 2002 NBL Grands where I was on track for a big win until I came unclipped in my semi going into turn #1 while holeshotting. Unlucky.

 

Photo: Mulligan/Transworld.

Just after the Grands in 2002, I was picked up by Answer Products and was now getting my entry fees paid which I'm sure my dad was psyched to hear as he was my sponsor at the time! Joey Licata is such a good guy and helped me out so much over the years. I rode Answer Forks since I was 17 and when he first started giving me forks, I certainly didn't have anything to show for. Joey believed in me though and as years went on I was eventually a part of his team which had been a dream since I started racing. Just months after getting on Answer, at the Fall Nationals in Delmar I got my first A-Pro win. I doubled on the weekend and was so stoked. $1500 richer!!!! I kept the ball moving all through the season and into 2003. Fast forward again to September and I was on top of the podium again, this time as the 2004 NBL National #1 A-Pro. I finished 2nd in the main event but had a clear points lead so I was golden. The guy who won the main got busted for steroids a few months later in France. Crazy. After winning the A-pro title it was mandatory that I turned AA which I probably wasn't ready to do. I was pretty fast but was only getting entry fees paid and wasn't able to go to as many races due to the cost of AA entry fees. It is $110 per day to race AA and you can enter A-pro for the whole weekend for $110. Not just that, but it got annoying calling my friends asking if I could sleep on their floor at the races or if maybe they could pick me up at the airport. Dealing with that type of drama during race weekends is a lot of stress. I have to thank Jeff Sack though, he always picked me up at the airport and gave me a place to stay. I can't say much came of my 2004 season on the NBL tour, however...

2003 was the last year of BMX Downhill in the X-games and I was denied to compete because the organizers basically said I wasn't good enough, or didn't have the credentials. Although some people were able to compete that I was clearly faster than, my lack of people skills at the time got me no where as I sent a very unprofessional letter to the organizer. Had I taken the time to be a gentlemen I would of most likely been granted an invite to compete. Live and learn. 2004, the UCI hosted a supercross race on the same track at Woodward West. I made my way through qualifying with 3rds and 4ths and before you know it I found myself in the main event. This was my first time on a downhill track and hands down it is the most fun I've ever had on my bike. I had one of the last gate picks in the main event but I went ahead and chose lane 8 because it had worked out for me perfectly in the semi final. I got a great gate but was stuck outside headed into turn 1. As you can tell in the first photo taken on the jump into the first turn... me, Prokop, Dewilde and Stumpy were pretty even headed into turn one. I was far left in the red gear. I entered the turn in 4th behind Stumpy, DeWilde and Prokop and as we were about half way through the turn and I was setting up a high low, Mike Day dove in and swooped/parked everyone. As you can tell in the above photo, with one foot off he hit DeWilde into Prokop and at the same time hit Stumpy's back tire blowing his feet out of the pedals. I dove under the action and was gone. With some help from Mikey I was crowned the 2004 UCI World Cup Champ. Still to this day the biggest win of my career on the craziest track I've ever ridden. Mikey was by far the fastest guy on this weekend and would have won hands down had he got a good gate in the final, but that's BMX. Mikey ended up 2nd and because the second round of supercross at Woodward East got canceled due to weather, we all got paid twice so I made nearly $5000 and Mikey nearly $3000.

 

 

Although I had just won the biggest race of my career I was still faced with a minimal race budget and remember showing up to Prunedale the following week to get smoked in AA. I didn't care though because I was still grinnin' from winning the week before. At the end of the 2004 season, Greg Romero asked me what my plan was for 2005 and I really didn't have an answer. I remember I was contemplating quitting racing. Greg made me an offer that if I re-classed to A-Pro for a season that he would sponsor me under his frame company Revtec and pay my entries. Hesitant due to pride I wasn't quick to agree but after a couple days I decided I'd rather race more and make money then race AA on a very limited budget with Answer. Shortly after, while visiting California with my friend TJ [Lavin], we had a dinner with the current Fox team manager, Tony D. TJ asked Tony if they wanted to sponsor any racers for 2005 and although Tony wasn't willing to pay me he offered to give me all the product I wanted from Fox if I raced in their gear. Pshhh, no problem count me in! Tony said that he liked how my bikes and gear were always well kept. Even if I wasn't doing good I was always looking good and that still catches the eye. Look good, Feel good, do good. In 2005 I raced A-pro and was on the podium almost every weekend. I didn't do one sprint session the whole year, had a limited gym program and spent most of my time at home out at the club or bar with my friends. I won the NBL National #1 A-Pro title for the second time which surely isn't anything to write home about, the second time around anyway. $5000 richer though. 2005 was a great year.

After the 2005 season I was back to square one. Although Greg helped me out a great deal in 2005, he was still racing AA himself and needed to worry about getting to the races and not be paying for some one he was competing against. TonyD told me that Haro Bikes was looking to pick up a AA pro and told me to contact Jill Hamilton who was running the team at the time. Haro? I didn't even know what to say and when I finally got the nerve to call her I probably sounded like a jackass with a golf ball in my throat. Jill asked me what I was looking for and I told her, expenses paid and enough salary to pay my rent each month would be the ideal sponsor. Deal sealed and I was good to go for 2006! Shortly after, TonyD returned to Haro as the BMX Brand Manager as well as my team manager which was/is awesome. 2006 was a pretty good year for me. I started the year off in Reno and made the AA main event both days with an 8th each day. Just a few weeks later Tony got me a last minute ticket to Florida for stop #2 of the ABA Pro series because he "Had a good feeling about it." The race wasn't on my schedule but he sent me and I made the main on Saturday and won day 2. It was crazy. That was my first AA Pro win and you can tell in the photo to the right while standing on the podium that it hadn't hit me yet that I just won. That, and that Bubba is standing on the #2 box and still taller than me. Sigh. The other photo is me along with Mikey Day, Bubba and Stumpy at a UCI round in Boulder City, my home town.

 

Jason Richardson was my team mate on Haro and he was back from a gnarly broken femur injury in 2006. We had a lot of fun traveling together and he basically handled everything from flights, rental car booking, hotel booking, I just had to show up. It was nice. In 2007 things went a lot better for me. I started the year off with a 2nd and a 3rd in Tennessee. Went to Guthrie, Oklahoma and finished 2nd behind Mikey Day. Fast forward to September I went to Colorado and won AA Pro both days and finished 4th in Reno just two weeks later. The photo above was taken in Madrid, Spain during time trials. Madrid was my first International event, where I finished 7th in the main event out of more than 80 Elite's in attendance. I was one of three American's to make the final which was cool. I went in to the ABA Grands 5th in AA Pro points but could of made my way up to 4th with a good weekend. I had the harder semi final of the two which was me, Kyle Bennett, Khalen, Cristian Becerine, Danny Caluag and The Mosquito. I got out good and entered turn 1 behind Kyle and Danny and they hit going into the turn and sent Kyle off his pedals and I was high sided on him. It was the craziest race because me and Kyle were nearly stopped in turn 1 as we pedaled at the pro section in 4th and 5th going way too slow to clear it. I pulled up as hard as I could on the first one and landing pedaling. Kyle cased and couldn't make the next set as I yanked the next one to the moon again and landed sweet. I was back on track behind Khalen who couldn't make the 3rd set so he jumped off his bike. I landed perfect and ran his bike over and went over the bars. Kyle was able to roll through the 2nd and 3rd pro section to pass us on the ground as Mosquito made his way by as well. Cristian did well in the final so he passed me for the overall which put me back to 6th for the year but I can't complain as 2007 was my best year thus far in AA.

2008 is now underway and things are going awesome. Khalen Young is my new team mate on Haro and I've kinda taken the responsible role in booking flights, rental cars, hotels, etc... and what do you get when you combine two dudes with extreme A.D.D and throw in a team manager with even worse A.D.D, a whole lot of fun and that's what team Haro is about. I guess this is where the story leaves off for now....

Follow your dreams