I haven't dropped a line in a while, but with school and my thumb healing I feel like I've sat half of the summer out. This photo sums up what the last few months of my life have been like. Over the summer I've been trying to re-learn my old study habits (if there were any there to begin with). I tore the ligaments in my thumb and that was enough to keep my sessions to "roll around status" for a while. I'm beginning to be able to hold onto my bike now while waiting for the next sunny day. Nothing too exciting really but I promise to write something interesting when it happens.

--Dustin

So I'm riding to work the other day, down a hill with a car just in front of me. The guy is going kinda slow, so I was watching to see if he was going to turn. He wasn't signaling and once he got mid-way through the intersection I figured out he wasn't gonna turn.

Just as I made that decision and let go of my brakes he does an "Oh shit that is the corner I want!" kinda turn.

I didn't really have any options but lock up and slide into him. I wasn't going all that fast cause I was watching out for him to begin with, but I hit him hard enough to get stuck with him and get taken around the corner.

I was wearing a jacket and once I fell to the ground it was like a normal crash on a bike but one of his rear tires rolled over the edge of my forearm. As soon as I felt it I was convinced (you don't get that feeling and not have a broken arm.)

I got up, walked to the edge of the road and started moving my arm to see if I could still move it and see if there was anything that didn't feel right. I could move my arm okay but I could already feel it swelling up.

Now, after a week and a half I'm still dealing with physio but the only thing it seems came out of it was some road rash and a bruise that moved through my arm.

I’m crediting this one to the jacket I was wearing. My arm probably would've been a lot worse if it was straight rubber and pavement on it. This came just over two weeks after I broke my nose in three places too.

I must have a horseshoe up my ass or something. They say bad luck travels in threes so we'll see what happens next..,

‘til then,

Dustin

Okay, so I guess some things have changed, but at the same time... nah, actually things have changed for me. I quit my bike sponsor a few months ago and made the inevitable decision to go back to school. I decided it wasn't fair to my current sponsors to try to ride, travel and go to school full time. So I told them just that and left the decision to keep me as a rider, in their hands. I told myself that as long as I was straight-up with everybody, that, at the end of the day, it'd be the wiser choice. I rode for etnies Canada for five years before falling asleep and thinking “a shoe is a shoe” and riding for a different company for a year and a half. When I woke up I was fortunate enough to be welcomed back to the etnies family, which is where I will be until I feel I'm just not gettin' sideways on my bike anymore.

I've been pro for 9 years and every decision in my life, before and during that time, has been to explore and experience all with my bike. I've met some assholes, as well as some truly unique people. I've been to shithole towns and topless beaches in the south of France. I know I'm not the most recognized guy out there and I probably won't try jumping the Grand Canyon anytime soon.

I hope I don't sound arrogant by writing this, but from my perspective, it's nice to know that there are companies out there actually give a shit about the riders that are and aren't winning every comp, getting every cover and the most coverage. Those are the ones that aren't gonna jump ship when the waters get a little rough. With that said, many thanks to anyone reading this as well as etnies, Primo, Square One, Ten Pack Distribution and We, The People, for supporting the riders, both the everyday ones and the rock stars for keeping our “sport” as cool as it is. Cheers! See you at Hastings.

Dustin