Thank you everyone for the life changing experience. Special thanks to Jason Brandt, Dylan Pfohl, Polo, 8 Mile, Stephen Murray, Sean & Nick, Marcy & Joel, G&G, Woodward West, Debbie Williams, Da Compound, Shane, Link Foundation, Caleb Gilbertson, BMX Plus, Stolen & Fiction Bikes, AJ Anaya, Ben Snowden, Alex Landeros, Victor Salazar, Bryce Tyron, K-Rob & Simon, Big Daddy, Tristan JMC AJ Haines Kenny Jay Colton Walker, everyone with trails, everyone who holds a shovel, photographers & filmers, & I’m sure there are more !!

Introducing the Stay Strong Link. A small symbol that we are all connected. I am part of a Non-Profit called The Link Foundation, and we’ve put together a brand new hand painted recycled BMX chain link bracelet for Stephen Murray’s brand, Stay Strong. Available now at Stephen’s home in Riverside and orderable online at http://linksupport.org/?cat=32 For those of you who don’t know X-Games Gold Medalist Stephen Murray, please take one minute to read his incredible story http://staystrong.co.uk/about Thx again Stephen

Here is Stephen with his two boys and his brand new Stay Strong Link “Greatest Dad” necklace that I helped him put together last night:

Soooo wild walking away with this… Speechless as you can see in the video hahh

Last year I flew out from MN & roomed with Satterfield just to ride in this event, and this year I happened to only be 4 hours away while living in Riverside, CA so we cruised out to Vegas for the weekend. My close friend Jeff from back home came to visit that week as well, love having close friends at out of town events we had a blast like usual only this time with gambling & gambling on gambling more. This event is basically a pro dirt comp & music festival with bands like The Used Underoath Less Than Jake etc http://extremething.com/ with a $100 comp entry.

Practice was wild the day before the event, & I fell on my tailbone and literally rode the finals the next day with a black ass. It was also too windy to ride the entire set so a best trick comp was put in place on the last set instead. Basically 30-40 pros split into two 30 minute heats, which was rad cause it felt like a fun session at any other dirt set. I had a few bangers ready for the world & apparently it worked out 1st place $1,000 later on the podium next to Colton Satterfield in 2nd and James Foster in 3rd.. Everyone killed it.

Special thanks to everyone, all the riders threw down !! Had a blast, check out the video above that Dylan Phfol put together for Kurt Hohberger’s site BMX Union.

“podium 1st place. 3 no foot can to oppo whip. truck to oppo whip. 3 indian air seat grab. truck to can tire grab. 3 oppo whip to whip back. extreme thing bmx dirt comp & music festival thkuuueveryoneeee http://fictionbmx.com/ love u all viva las vegasssss http://bmxunion.com/blog/videos/2012-extreme-thing-contest-video/”

No words will ever explain the feeling of this.. 45-50 MPH on a BMX bike. Tires screaming louder than you’ve ever heard. You’ve made your commitment. No stopping from here. Send it.

Wasn’t even expecting to ride this thing outside of a few dreams, until I was at camp with Alex Landeros who casually says “wanna ride Mega?”……”Sure.” hahh (scared out of my mind) there’s such a small number of people who have ridden this thing. And the 28′ quarter is the scariest part.

Ben Snowden, Kevin Robinson, Simon Tabron, Big Poppa AKA GOD, Dusty Wygle, Will Blount.. All of us walked up that monster roll in. The nice part about Woodward’s Mega is that is like a big table top, and to some point, you can gradually work your way up to the full gap until you get to this 35-40′ turning point where you do not want to start hanging up. This clip was my first time landing the 50 footer, I sent one full speed straight jump, bailed, & then started flipping.. Everyone says it’s easier to flip… Good. LORD. And the quarter, INSANE.

Special thanks to Alex for the full face & pads. Props to Ricky Moseley & John Andrus for this clip.

Life highlight.

Recently finished the popular Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson.. Incredible life story. From being adopted as a child & hunting down his birth mother, to Microsoft investing in Apple & even starting development on the iPad beforeee the iPhone.. Literally no boring parts. Highly recommended. Get the audio & listen to it on your way to work every day. 26 hours… Perfect for a road trip by yourself from MN to LA:))

http://www.amazon.com/Steve-Jobs-Walter-Isaacson/dp/1451648537

Lesson learned, do not talk with Evan’s sister after he hasn’t responded to anything in a few weeks & when I disappear use this as evidence !! Sunday March 4th 3:15PM PST went off for 60 seconds very vulgar insecure “IF YOU EVER F*$#ING TALK TO MY FAMILY AGAIN…” We’ve tried helping for over 6 months now, intervention with his closes friends, etc, at this point use your own judgement when you or your kids are around him. All of us are all still here for you Evan, let us know when you’d like to talk:))

Special thanks to QBP & everyone who attended, another fun Frostbike weekend in Minnesota.. New products & catching up with vendors, dealers, & my old coworkers. Love seeing everyone. Saturday night we had a fun session at The Factory, great to see Ride BMX Magazine, Odyssey, Volume/Demolition, Eye BMX, 50/50, etc visit & compliment our facility. Thanks again

Congrats to Grandma & Grandpa Jean & Irve on their 60th wedding anniversary married on Valentines Day. Good luck to anyone tryin to compete with that !!!! Celebrating with both of their daughters’ families in Hawaii, thank you soo much!! Love you both, Happy V-Day everyone:))

Forgetting Sarah Marshall anyone ??

5:30 AM climb to the top of Diamond Head for Sunset

Snorkeling at Hanauma Bay

Tree of Life, Pearl Harbor

Bike Factory BMX shop, met Cuyler back in ’06 at Mike Collins’ place for Mat Hoffman’s CFB Comp in Oklahoma.

Our entire family:)) Thx again G&G

By far the funnest event I’ve been to… Just threw together this edit. Love Costa Rica.

Evan & I went to Hawaii almost 3 years ago, and I just ran across our skydiving videos. Neither of us have really seen these since, so I took both of them & made a single edit. I surprised Evan with it on his Bday, brings back a ton of good memories !! Love it. Do it. Don’t be scared. Everyone should experience this at least once in their life.

I was born in New York, grew up in Minnesota, and I’ve been here ever since. I graduated high school here, graduated college here, worked for 5 years in the bike industry here, instructed a college course for 2 years here, started a few businesses here, and throughout all this time I’ve been riding BMX bikes. I’ve traveled a lot, inside & outside the country, however one thing I’ve never experienced is what it is like living somewhere new.

You will meet many friends from all over the world through BMX. Huge riding scenes in North Carolina, Florida, Texas, Utah, Arizona, California, UK, Australia, etc. It really never ends. You have opportunities to ride with other riders all over the world.

This was not an impulse decision, I’ve thought about doing this for a handful of years, and I’ve thought about going to a handful of different places. The first step was paying off all school loans, new car, and any other debt that I may have had after college. The second step was moving away from my full time job at QBP and supporting myself 100% by self employment. I had also been instructing a web course at Hennepin Technical college while I was self employed, however I eventually had to hold back on that as well, as it was my only commitment to being in town every week.

For the past year I’ve been ready to do this when the opportunity was right. My long term roommate Evan had been looking at buying homes this fall which made me start thinking that this may be the winter to pull the trigger & try something new.

Where do I want to go? It must be warm, with lots of bike riders and places to ride, including dirt jumps (my favorite thing to ride & something we don’t have much of back home). Is there anywhere like this where I have other family in the area as well? I do have family in Southern California, visited a ton of friends out there, Woodward Action Sports Camp is there, Stolen/Fiction the bike company I ride for is there, my Grandparents from South Dakota drive down there for every winter, maybe that would be a good place. There is an area just outside of LA called “Riverside” which is a part of an area they call the Inland Empire, that all of the dirt jumpers talk about, tons of trails, riders, etc. I’ve even heard about rumors of a neighborhood block where 3 pros have homes all with their own backyard dirt jumps. Maybe this is where I want to spend some time…

On January 1st, 2012, Evan & I moved out of Minneapolis. Congrats to him on buying his first home, I packed my life in the jeep and decided to drive 30 hours to Riverside, California. Special thanks to my parents & Caleb Gilbertson for letting me store a few things at their place. The wildest part was moving out of my old place without knowing where I would sleep next, not to mention moving to a place I’ve never actually been to (I’ve spent a lot of time in CA but never actually been to Riverside, only heard good things through BMX).

It was quite an adventure. Special thanks to Walmart in Lincoln Nebraska for their parking lot the first night of traveling, Everly Gohman in Breckenridge, CO the second night, my Aunt Sherri in Vegas the third night, and Jason Brandt the fourth night who happened to be a spontaneous last minute contact that let me crash at his place who was ironically right in Riverside. Within 24 hours, and viewing a dozen different living options, I found and signed an incredible winter apartment lease in Riverside, CA.

My new place is beautiful. Family is here. Weather is here. Riding is here. Come ride trails you now have a place to stay..

Back soon:))

Talk about a unique event. Celebrating the city of Minneapolis and our local talent, Sarah Edwards from Pixel Farm introduced her I AM MPLS! Fashion & Art Show to the city last year in 2010, and it was an honor to be invited to be a part of the show for 2011.. Taking place at the Fine Line Music Cafe downtown, local talent including designers, models, comedians, bands, dj’s, photographers, and more took the stage starting at 9pm. All of my rad clothing & accessories on the runway was hooked up by B Resale Shop, a kick ass clothing store in South Minneapolis on Nicollet Ave.

Check out the review & photos on City Pages. Overall great attendance & support, and VERY entertaining. The Rhythmic Circus was definitely one of the highlights of the evening, also check out Laura Robertson’s (shredder at The Factory !) new I AM MPLS dew !!

Special thanks to Sarah Edwards, Chloe Glarner, Allison Bross, Katherine Price and everyone else who came to support our city’s local talent !! Looking forward to next year !!