Flat out all over the place

Sorry peeps, I got a little off of my game the past couple of weeks.  Since I last wrote, I decided to do exactly the same trip the following week with my International crew of buddies as I did in my last post.  It was tough, but I dug deep to find a couple of days to take some really talented international FMX friends out to Beaumont and Ocotillo Wells for some real American Freeriding.  I figure it is great training for my Freeride Tours that I am planning to start booking up this Spring.  Eigo Sato of Japan was the trooper of the fielfd that also consisted of Frances' Thomas Paget and Jeremy Renuat, as well as Italion Stallion Massimo Biancanchini..... And Crew of course.  Eigo went wild out in the hills and charged everything without hesitation.

I would have loved to stick around for their final few days, but I had to head out to the Indianapolis Motorcycle Dealers  Trade Show.  When I say "had to", don't go thinking it was too raw of a deal.  Ogio basically flew me out to start a band, name it 'Cheap Date' and rock the house! (in a nutshell).  HaHaHa, ok, they brought me out to be a dork and play Rock band with my little buddies Cam McQueen, Jeff Williams and Andy Bell.  Yeah we rocked.  I also found a bit of time to goof off with the folks from Racer x. Check it.

  http://www.racerxfilms.com/20080220_Mon-Tradeshow/20080220_Mon-Tradeshow.html

After all of the rocking out and mega rock star parties, I made it back to BroCal in 1 piece and exited to get a few days of riding in before heading to Vienna Austria, but of course, it rained me out.  So I hopped on a plane to Austria with zero ramp practice in nearly a month.  I'm not sure if its the old age or what, but man it gets harder and harder to sleep on planes.  Its like they made my chair with mahogany and was planning to fit  Gary Coleman in that musty, Euro Armpit smelling corner that they called Seat 23a.  Anyhow, made it to the show a bit jet lagged and lazied around the first day and won the Whip comp, Step-Up comp and got 6th in the FMX final.  Sunday I won the Whip and Step up again and actually rode with both eyes open and got 3rd.  The Masters of Dirt Show was really cool and had a bunch of highlights.  I could go on and on, but I gotta send love to my Nitro Circus Sister (and 1onWon Team Rider) Jolene Van Vugt for performing in her first ever FMX show.  After only practicing FMX for 3 weeks, she opened both shows with a 1 woman demo that was rewarded  with Standing ovations both days.  Looks like someone has some potential to go with all that craziness!

Directly after the Sunday show, I hit the Road with my Belgian Buddies Peter and Stoica, headed for the West Austrian Alps, aka, Ze Halps!  Before I knew it I was carving corners in T-Shirt weather (Al Gore is pissed) and tumbling through the many of the "Montafon" area's terrain parks.  With that said, I'll move right along to tuesday and sum that day up with the phrase "Bed Ridden"!  Now I'm in Belgium, prepping up for a show in Rotterdam that I really have no Idea what it is about.  So now u know, and knowing is half the battle.

Awesome week of Freeriding!

Awe man, I have lived in SoCal for 8 years now and have never seen the dirt as good as good as it was this week.  From my track to Beaumont, to the abandoned wastelands of Ocotillo Wells, I will be forever spoiled.  Saturday we had a little ride day @ the Ranch and were stoked out by mama nature with a little rain in the a.m., making the track "tits".  It was so god in fact , that my dawg Hot Carl and I were grinding gears in our BobCats for 5 hours tuning up the track and making a couple of new sections.  Everyone was really pumped with it, including myself.

Tuesday was unreal as well, as I helped organize a bunch of guy's out to Beaumont and session the "chocolate cake" covered hills.  you can check out the footage Simon Cudby threw together at www.racerxfilms.com .  I'll let the vid from Cudby and the Pics from Carl Stone do the talking, as I got to ride with David Pingree, Eric Sorby, Myles Richmond and Steven Haugelstein.  We didn't find many huge hits, but some fun little hippers and a wicked natural moto track that Pingree made up.  

Speaking of Carl Stone, I was lucky enough to connect with him while he is on the West Coast shooting Supercross for Racer X.  He rolled out with myself and renowned cinematographer Taylor Congdon to snag some shots.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkKzkPoBtIU . I tried my hardest to wear them out by riding from sun up to sun down, but due to there addiction to my single cup coffee maker, I was no match for them! .. We crushed it, to say the least!

Since I was lucky enough to round them both up, I decided to rally out to Ocotillo and meet Tommy Clowers and take advantage of a perfect scenario.  Imagine, 2 riders, a filmer, a photographer and a million acres of virtual wasteland that was freshly saturated with the perfect amount of water just a few days before (definitely not a wasteland to us).

I think you got the point.  I'll quit bragging for now!

Dang I love my job!

RR

Loma Linda Childrens Hospital Benifit

It was that time of the year again.  I believe it was the 7th time that MX riders had the opportunity to come and cheer up the kids at the acclaimed Loma Linda Children's Hospital near San Bernardino, CA.   It was the 4th year that Jeff Tilton and Tommy Clowers' Red Bull TnT show came to rock the  house.  I have ridden the 3 previous years, but had to pull out of the demo this year due to some soreness from my foam pit session the day before.  Being  a parent of two crazy little dudes may help intensify the situation, but even though it's sad tpo see some down and out groms, the smiles than we muster up out of these kids is priceless and will keep me coming back for years to come!  Big props to all of the sponsors and especially all of the riders and moto celebs that were a part. Steve Bauer, Jeff Tilton, Tommy Clowers, Erin Bates, Myles Richmond, Zach Osborne, the folks at Smooth Industries, FMF, Troy Lee Designs, Pro-Circuit, Transworld MX,  MXGirls.com, and a lot more including myself were all very fortunate, grateful and blessed to be a part of such a cool deal.  Big props to Steve Bauer for making this happen! Also, all of the parents being supportive and tough during hard times, much respect!

Enjoy the photos courtesy of  http://www.racetime.com/index.php/LIFESTYLE-PHOTOS/Loma-Linda-Big-Air-Kid-s-Fair.html

Also give a looksy to http://www.mxgirls.com/LLCH_KidFair/ . as they have some cool pics of the event too.

RR Ranch in full swing

Thursday I had a bunch of riding buds over to the ole Ranch to do some riding.  It wasn't anything out of the ordinary, but I think I may have over done it a bit, because I woke up Friday morning with one heck of a tight body.  i think the years of crashing things is finally catching up with me.  Hopefully it just had something to do with the lack of riding the past couple of weeks though.  Orrrrrrr, it could have something to do with me doing an impression of an ostrich jamming my head into the foam pit while trying front flips on the 110.  Who knows!  Anyhow, I'll let the photos do the talking.  These super crisp shots are courtesy of Racer X Canadas own James Lissimore. Check out is other works @ www.lissimorephoto.com  . Thanks Dude!

Riders: Tommy Clowers, Jeff Tilton, Myles Richmond, Benoit Milot, Mat Rebeaud and Muah.