Potter did not even think twice when
Mike Jones laid down in front of the
Vegas sign...he jumped him on
his hog!

The third annual etnies Two Wheel Tour is officially underway and on a mission to ride Harleys from LA to Vegas. This year the motley crew of riders consists of Todd Potter, Ox Kargola, Kenny Bell, Beau Manley, “Mad” Mike Jones and the speed demon himself, Trigger Gumm.

We kicked the tour off at Bartel's Harley Davidson in LA where we loaded up on all the necessary gear that it would take for the group of dirt bike riders to make it 1400 miles to Sturgis in Black Hills South Dakota. We stopped off at Baker to take some shots in front of the worlds largest thermometer which just happened to read 96 degrees at midnight...needless to say it has been smoking hot to say the least.

We rolled into Vegas and stayed at Hooters Hotel and Casino the first night, took a few shots with the infamous Vegas sign in the morning and pinned it to Salt Lake City where I sit writing this piece in the etnies RV.

Look for more to come in the days to come. Braap!

The crew sweated it out through 100
degree temps to pose for a photo in front
of the worlds largest thermometer.

The crew tearing up V-town!

The first night as we rolled up to the
Hotel for a little quality time and
some "hot wings."

Lookin' tough

Potter kickin' back

We'll see you in the next update bitches!

This trip was all about having a good time with friends on our way up North to do a FMX demo at the Chukchansi Gold Casino in Coarsegold, CA at the end of the trip. Marc Burnett from FreestyleMX.com brought his ramps out to the Casino to help us put on the demo/fund raiser for the families of Chris Ackerman, Jeremy Carter and Stephen Murray. We had a destination and purpose...now getting there would be the fun part!

Twitch chillin' at Jackpot

The Second Annual etnies Two Wheel Tour is now over and all had a great time! Here's how it all went down:

We started out going to Carson on Wednesday the 24th to pick up some Harley's from their media department. Everyone was supposed to be there at 10am so we could leave by 11. I lied and told everyone we were leaving at 10am so they would show up early, but that didn’t even work out so good! Potter decided showed up around 12:45, so we got a later start than we were planning on.

With 12 guys on Harley's, we left Carson, CA and headed up to Santa Maria and Jackpot Ranch. Jackpot Ranch is several hundred acres of big-ass dirt jumps that are built into the hills...it's bad ass! Deegan, Potter, Twitch, Nate Adams, Faisst, Kenny Bell, Kyle Loza, Derek Garland, Dan Pastor, Trigger Gumm, OX, Fitzpatrick and a couple other guys all came out to Jackpot for the first two days of the trip. Damion from Boost Mobile, Jordan from Rockstar and Twitch all brought out motor homes to Jackpot for a couple days. Twitch's motor home was in the shop so our buddy Marc Howser at Richardson's RV let him use one of his RV's for a couple days. A bunch of the guys started riding when we got there and were all jumping this big gap by the entrance of the ranch. Twitch and Nate Adams flipped the jump and Twitch had his film crew there for his upcoming video. We hung out there for a while after dark and then rode this bitchen windy road 20 miles. Good times.

That first night we went into Santa Maria to get a hotel because we had way too many people to stay in the motor homes. After pulling into the hotel around 9pm we all went to the bowling alley on the corner and ordered up some pizza and drinks before trying to bowl. We got done bowling around 11:30 and I snuck out of there to get some much needed sleep.

After barely getting my head to the pillow, I get a phone call from the front desk at 3:50am. The lady asked if I was with the crew that rode the Harley's into town and immediately my mind started racing. What did they do this time? My job as the team manager is often compared to a babysitter. When things break team managers often pay for it. If someone gets arrested we bail them out. Even after planning this trip for about 2 months you can still never be prepared for all the things that happen on the road. So, the guys at the desk said that a bunch of the Harley's are lying on their side out front of his office. At first I thought someone hit them with a car or something. When I got to the front, sure enough there were 6 bikes knocked over and resting on the bike next to them. Some asshole had pushed the bikes over! There was a palm mark on the first bikes gas tank that slid up the tank where he had pushed the first bike over. That took down the first 3 bikes with the 3rd bike coming to rest on Trigger's bike. I don’t think the asshole was happy with that so he went back and pushed over the bike next to Trigger's and that took down about another 3 bikes and they come to rest on my bike. All the bikes except one that was parked there on the very end took some damage. The hotel had a security camera and we could see the guy run away but you couldn’t make out a face. Bummed.

Harley helped us out with some new 08 bikes and the one that took the most damage was the Screaming Eagle with a custom paint job. I had the hotel call the police and Alexi from Fuse and I waited for about 30 minutes before we decided to go back to our rooms and wait for the cops. It only took the sheriff 4 and a half hours to get there to take a report. And he did not seem very concerned about it at all. We were all up around by that time anyway and started to get ready to head up to Monterey for the night. I have someone pull me aside and tell me that someone in the group punched the motor home driver in the eye the night before, so that started me out in a bad mood for the day.

We all ate some food at the hotel and took off for the 1. When we got out of Pismo Beach there was a bunch of fog and it got fairly cold for a while and none of the guys had gloves or anything very warm on them...it was all left in the truck. Loza had a problem with his clutch at this time, also, so we met up with the truck to fix his bike and get the guys some warm clothes and gloves. After a quick meal at Carl's Jr. we were back on our way up the coast. We got through the fog after about 30 miles and had a great ride up the coast to Monterey. The sunset was amazing and if you haven’t gone up North on the 1 before, a good portion of it is on a huge cliff overlooking the ocean.

When we got into Monterey it was dark and we were all super hungry so we got 4 cabs and headed downtown. We found a good restaurant called Lollapalooza in downtown Monterey and we were ready to eat. We got some drinks at the bar and had to get two tables because we had so many people. Damion had about 5 guys at his table and I had about 14 at our table. Before we even ordered Damion's table was paying the bill so OX and Potter started throwing lemons and ice at each other across the two tables. We were so hungry we had too try to keep them calm before we got kicked out with no dinner. The people there were so slow it took an hour and a half just to get our orders in. After a $1,400 dinner we went to a bar down the street for a couple drinks and we ended up back at the hotel around 12.

Check back soon for Part 2 of the etnies Two Wheel Tour coverage!

Congrats to the Regular footers! We killed it!

etnies Girl had a ton of great representation at the GvR Dawn of the Shred Jam. Elissa Steamer, Lauren Perkins, Evelien Bouilliart, Rachel Reinhard, Lorena Lima, Louisa Menke, Stefanie Thomas and Alize Montes (bowl). Four of the top eight finalists were etnies riders! Go, girls! Also congrats to our second place winner and the newest etnies Girl flow rider, Rachel Reinhard out of Colorado! This was Rachel's first world cup skateboarding contest and competed like a pro! Great job Rachel! Thanks to all the girls that came out to represent.

On the surf front, Congrats to AUS rider Sally Fitzgibbons for giving it her all in the NAB Beachley Classic last week. She won the trials to compete in the contest and definitely gave Beachley a run for her money. Also big ups to Leilani Gryde for getting invited to compete and ending up quite well among the top WCT women's surfers!

Ruben Alcantara took off to the North of Spain for a week with his family for a vacation and after that he will be going on a three-week tour with his friend to shoot pictures and film. Ruben is going to try to shoot for a possible interview, he’s hoping to find some good stuff and some nice material to work with.

Ruben’s back is doing a little better but he still has a pinched nerve in his leg that has been bugging him, he’s going to visit a very good doctor by David Quesada’s place in the North of Spain.

For the trip Ruben and his friend will be living in an RV the whole time and are finding really good spots to ride in many different towns that they’re visiting. The trips been fun because having the RV they have been able to bring all kinds of toys like surfboards, bikes, skateboards etc instead of being limited to a backpack, makes things a lot more fun. With no final destination or date who knows where they will end up?

Mike Escamilla was on the Jay Leno show last month promoting X Games and also on LA Ink getting tatted up by Kat Von D. Last week Mike also moved to Encinitas to be nearer to good riding spots and out of LA traffic. Moving sucks. Mike did some Sirius radio stuff too, which can heard on Myspace. Mike’s still working with Tony Hawk on the Huck Jam bike line that will be revealed shortly. Expect good things.

Jamie Bestwick is home in State College enjoying time with his family after a few weeks of domination. First it was X Games in LA where he pulled one of the best runs of all time, then it was the Dew Tour in Portland. Jamie also hosts all the other BMX events at the Dew Tours for NBC so keep your eye out for his pretty face. Stop #4 of the AST Dew Tour is coming up in Salt Lake City, keep an eye out for Jamie and cheer him on.

Morgan Wade is “finally” home for a while to spend time with his new wife Natalie and enjoy his new apartment with a surround sound and plasma TV set up dubbed “Casa-La-Wade”. After qualifying first in Dirt at the Dew Tour in Portland, Morgan fell a little too much and ended up tenth but is looking forward to redeem himself in Salt Lake City in September.

Taj Mihelich’s band played at the SandM party in LA. After the SandM party Taj flew home for a few hours and then went to Berlin for the Rebel Jam, cut his leg and got bloody and sick. Pretty much the usual. Flew home for a few hours then went out to LA for the Daily Habit show on Fuel. After that, Taj flew home and was exhausted as he still hadn't recovered from Berlin’s jet lag. But on the plus side: Taj’s roommate was waiting at the airport with five girls in his van and they took me a to a gay bar where he laughed my ass off and almost fell asleep.

It’s rained a shitload in Austin lately but it did clear up long enough to get a session in on the ramp with Joe which was cool. Stew Johnson and Taj went to a Roller Girl underwear party, though neither of them got down to their underwear. Taj’s band, Snaketrap played a show on the 28th (with little to no practice as the band’s drummer is on Warped Tour) and been getting healed up and riding a bit. One thing Taj is worried about is that if he rides or jogs or does anything too strenuous his leg might start bleeding out of the stitches, he might have to go and get it re-cauterized or something, we’ll keep you posted.

Sergio Layos was in Berlin for the Rebel Jam and killed everything he rode. He didn’t place too well, but definitely put on a “style” demo for everyone. Right now he’s back home riding with friends and hanging with family. He’s off to Northern Spain for a trip this week and will be back in the States mid-to-late September to attend Interbike and visit Austin where he may or may not be living for a while seeing as how the riding and scene is so good there.

Check out Sergio’s Ad in Ride and keep an eye out for the Sergio colorway of the etnies shoe the “Variant.”

Joe Rich has been riding, skating, swimming and working! Really though, after being back home all is going well. Been riding the backyard a bunch as well as playing clean-up out by the ramp, he’s been trying to get it all straightened up so that the fall sessions will be even better trimming weeds and tree branches as well as sorting out the lights a bit.

While doing the clean up Joe discovered that there were 14 bees’ nests under the ramp as of last week! He’s been riding his early morning cruiser a ton. His legs and knees are feeling strong, and that’s always is a good feeling for someone that has had five knee surgeries. He’s also been going to the cement parks a lot, Round Rock and Mable Davis, while riding these parks he’s been brushing up on his skate skills so he can utilize his time better when he get’s kicked out of the park for riding his bike there. T1 is cruising along and Joe’s heading up to Colorado next week with some friends to go camping and take in some cement parks. Other than that, Joe’s been working on a secret weapon for Vegas that will make everyone love the T1 booth.

Josh Stricker has been putting his life back together after returning from Germany, moving into his apartment and shit like that and is real glad to finally sleep in his own bed. Stricker’s also been getting serious and working on Happy Hour stuff a lot. Besides that Josh has been riding around Austin, shredding some street and doing some swimming. Check the new Stricker ad coming out soon as well as the Stricker “Faction” colorway from etnies.

Stay tuned for part two of this report: Ruben Alcantara! Ruben had so many photos to share that we had to give him his own update!

Here’s the latest on the etnies BMX squad… some even from the riders themselves!

Jamie Bestwick, in his own words:

Well as you can gather I was not on the Props Rock and Road Fools, nothing is wrong with me, but I went down to Baltimore to see Stephen Murray in hospital. I was lucky enough to see him twice the day that I was there, He was very sedated and sleepy but seemed to be in good spirits. His family and friends are amazingly strong. They came over from England to see him and they were all very calm and on top of the situation. It was Stephen's Mums birthday so we took her out for a nighttime meal while Stephen was sleeping.

It was very hard for me to see Stephen like this. He was such a strong and active person, but I think that the same attributes that made him great will be the ones that bring him back to good health. Please donate to his charity if you can.

CharityFolks

eBay

Dew Tour in Baltimore went well for me a big win on Vert and a trophy that I did not have was something that I was proud of. I got to do my first announcing job up in the booth for NBC, which was pretty cool. I had a good laugh and it was great to talk about some of the most amazing riding. Cleveland is this weekend, looking forward to that, and then off the X Games. Wow great stuff!

Been riding a lot at camp… new kids every week, so its been a really fun time out here. Did some stuff for Levi’s, Vital BMX and also Sports Illustrated for Kids on the web… nice!

Ruben Alcantara has been in California driving around, surfing and riding his bike a bunch. He was up in Santa Barbara visiting friends last week and flew home to Malaga this past weekend to see family hit the chiropractor to get his back checked out as he’s been having issues with it.

Taj Mihelich, in his own words:

Not a whole lot goin’ on with me. Organizing a visit to California for the S&M party and for my band to play. Pretty excited about that. Got my ticket to Rebel Jam as well. My toe is just about healed and so I've been riding some. Mostly big bikes though, as BMX still makes me a bit sore. It’s getting better everyday though. Mat Hoffman and family came down to Austin for a friend’s wedding. We all went out to Chuys for some dinner and that was real fun. I love catching up with Mat and Jaci and the kids. Bought another moped on my last trip up to Michigan. It’s a 1979 Vespa Grande Super Deluxe. Only has 500 original miles on it, and I got it for $600. This thing is awesome! Been riding it around and laughing my head off.

Mike Escamilla, in his own words:

For the last month or so I’ve been up at Woodward West on and off. I headed up to Calgary to do some demos with Dave Osato, John Heaton, Dustin Guenther and Brett Walker. came home a bit early and headed up to Nor Cal and repelled in a cave for a day or so. Probably heading back to Woodward this week.

Morgan Wade had a whirlwind trip to California this past week. The first thing he had to do was a demo on a Mini Mega Ramp for the ESPY awards last Tuesday at Universal Studios. Wednesday he headed down to SD to practice on Bob Burnquist’s backyard Mega Ramp. Thursday Morgan flew home to continue preparation for his upcoming wedding on the 25th and also get ready for the 2nd Dew Tour in Cleveland.

Joe Rich, in his own words:

I won't bore you with any work bullshit. Been riding loads and just getting shit taken care of. Feeling' on top of the world! Killing mosquitoes too! I watched a kid get taken away from the ramp today with a dislocated foot! I think that's the first time I've been here when an ambulance had to come. It was a strange feeling. The summer heat in Austin is back in full effect. 102 yesterday! But Thursday I'll get some relief from my trip out to Woodward West. Gonna be there for five days, then head to Morgan's wedding, then up to the Soul Bowl for four days in Huntington Beach. After that I head back up to Woodward. I think Garrett might be coming on the first Woodward trip and to the Soul Bowl. Then I think Taj is going to be at Woodward the second time I'm there. So I'm stoked! Oh yeah, Chris Hallman will be at Woodward till the 26th so my riding partner will be blasting… you can bet on it. Well, that's all I can think of right now. CHEEEERS!

Sergio Layos is home in Spain following some demos and getting ready to come back to Austin. Check out Sergio’s new etnies ad in Ride BMX.

Josh Stricker has been in Germany for the last four months. He flew back to Pittsburgh this last week for a few days and will be heading to Austin this coming week.

That’s all for now, folks…

Oh yes. Winter is definitely gone now and it’s time for the summer—if the rain will ever stop!

We got some new faces rocking ThirtyTwo/etnies in Europe, and I want to take the chance and welcome them to the family, and present them to everybody with this little update as well.

Danny Larsen, our Norwegian rock star of the year, is back home enjoying the summer. He had to study for some marketing exams after the late season film session up in Folgefonna with the pirates. But now he has time to enjoy skating and the Norwegian summer. He will go up to Fogefonna and Stryn again soon, though, and then to Italy to film his intro for the new Pirates movie. After that, his plans are not made yet: maybe some surfing, maybe NZ—we’ll see and be back with more news!

Little Young Gun Ståle Sandbech from Norway just celebrated his 14th Birthday on June 3rd. Happy Birthday! He also just got from a trip to Stryn where he went with his brother to shoot some photos and enjoy the slushy snow. Next stop for Ståle will be Folgefonna in two weeks!

Thomas Harstad had a busy end of the season. After a photo shoot with Spy in Italy, he went to Zurich for the MMP intro shoot. Check out his part in the new movie “Green,” coming out this fall. After that he went to Croatia for an Elan product meeting and finally back home to Oslo. In a few days he will pack his bags again and head to Amsterdam for an O’Neill meeting and then back to Norway—Stryn exactly, to get some summer riding done. After that it’s time for a vacation. Thomas already rented a house in Bali and will stay there for a month- to work on his tan and his surf skills!

Jakob Wilhelmson just got back from a two week vacation in the US with his girlfriend. After a busy season, filming with Mack Dawg in the states and doing some competitions in Europe and China, he is looking forward to enjoy the Swedish summer now, enjoy the time with his girlfriend, play golf, go biking and just relax. But he is already planning a trip to Stryn, Norway and to NZ for some summer riding.

Our Swede Martin Sandberg just got back from a vacation in the US with some of his friends. The old poker face went to Las Vegas to do some gambling and enjoy the casinos. Now Martin is back home, enjoying midsummer, and will soon be heading to Italy for the Pirate Movie Intro Shoot. Check out their new masterpiece “Walk the Plank”, which will be coming out in September.

Jaakko Seppälä is finally back home in Finland as well after a long season in Canada where he has been filming for the new alterna-movie “Apples and Oranges”. He’s now skating a lot and planning some gigs with his band for the summer. In July Jaakko will head to Folgefonna for some summer riding.

Finland’s Miikka Hast just got back from a trip to Bali, where he enjoyed surfing and diving, cheap seafood and Bintang. He did a diving course at the Gili Islands and enjoyed the change from frozen water to tropical sea life. Now he is back in Rovaniemi, Finland where the sun doesn’t set at all anymore and summer parties and festival are going off. But it won’t be long before Miikka will be back on snow. His next trip is taking him to Les Deux Alpes for a week of summer snowboarding and then it’s time for NZ beginning of August.

Remi Lamazouere just got back from a two week trip to Hossegor for both- business and pleasure. He visited his other sponsors and caught some waves. Now he’s back home in Grenoble getting ready to head to Les Deux Alpes at the end of the month. Remi is also planning to head to Chile this summer to shoot some stuff with Eric Bergeri.

German shredder Simon Schweiger is back. After breaking his collarbone and a couple of weeks off the board he is finally ready to ride again. Simon has been filming with the Gypsies this winter, so wait for the movie and check out his part. You can also download a movie project called “Brettspiel” that he was filming now!

Enjoy the summer!

Benji Ritchie hanging with legendary Gerry Lopez and friend Keoni at Baldface.

What happened to the winter? It’s officially spring and everyone seems to be scrambling to get in as much shredding as they can before the snow melts. Well, here’s a quick update on the etnies/32 team.

Fredrik Austbo was lurking somewhere in Tahoe with the Standard Films crew trying to bag as many days filming as possible until he had to go back to Europe for a demo (booo-hooo). Freddy was on the never-ending contest circuit for majority of the winter. He flew out to Tahoe mid-March purchased a snowmobile so he can continue to go into the backcountry (or what’s left of the backcountry) with the Hatchets and then had to make his way back to Europe for some demo for his Bank sponsor. Freddy plans on heading back to the states to wrap up the rest of the season with the Hatchets so be on the look out for Freddy in Standard's new film due out sometime in September.

TM Eddie Lee laying out a method at Baldface, BC. Thanks for the inspiration CK! R.I.P. Photo: R. Boyse

Dustin Craven recently won the Shakedown taking home a whopping $15,000 Canadian! (that’s almost $14,950 USD) Dustin pulled off a front side 1080 to tailslide front 270 out of the box. He said it was a blast and he pretty much stayed intoxicated the entire time. Way to go Craven! Dustin’s been filming with the Capita crew all season long so be sure to check out more information on the Capita Team video due to be out sometime this fall.

John Jackson has been on a mission this season. Back and forth from Canada to Idaho and back to Canada in search of clear skies and powder! He’s been filming with Standard all season long and from the looks of it, Jackson should have another banging part this season. Be sure to check out more info and the latest news and premiere dates.

Benji Ritchie is having a great season, he’s been busy filming all season with the White Out crew. He even got to hang out with legendary Gerry Lopez at Baldface this winter.

Markku Koski kicking one out.

Markku Koski and Stian Solberg have been traveling together for the last few months in search of the next slaughter fest. They’ve been up and down the West Coast filming with the Defective crew. They’re in South Lake Tahoe right now on a Stepchild photo shoot. They’ll be there all week bagging in as many park shots for the new video as possible.

Tyler Lepore recently celebrated his birthday on April 11th with some of his good friends in Vancouver, BC. Happy birthday Rabbit! Ty’s been filming with the Capita crew all season long. He reported the local resorts in Vancouver have been the best it’s ever been this season. He’s a little sad that the season is coming to an end but stoked to check out how the Capita video will turn out.

Janna Meyen has been keeping up with her physical therapy and working towards getting back on her shred stick. She’ll be coaching this summer at High Cascade summer camp along with Wille Yli-Luoma and Leanne Pelosi so if you haven’t signed up... You should go secure your spot.

Party Pelosi at her finest, just moments before drunk dialing her TM at 2:30am.

Hampus Mosesson was last seen in Are, Sweden at the Burton Halfpipe invitational where he placed fourth. Good work Hampus! Hampus has been traveling back and forth from Europe to the states filming with Mack Dawg all season long. Be sure to check back here soon for more info on premiere dates.

Leanne Pelosi... A.k.a. Party Pelosi has been busy filming for her part in the new Runway film all season long. She was last seen in San Francisco on an etniesGirl photo shoot. She along with a few other girls were invited to the men's superpark in Keystone this last weekend. Her next destination? Who knows, maybe your neck of the woods...

Wille Yli-Luoma spent the last few weeks in Alaska trying to take advantage of the record breaking snow they’ve been getting this season. He was up there with the Mack Dawg crew trying to milk the last bit of pow. He’s back in Portland sipping on some java and getting situated with his newly purchased home. Be sure to check out Wille’s signature session at High Cascade snowboard camp this summer.

In other news...

Marie-France Roy celebrated her Birthday April 17th! Happy Birthday Marie-France!

Upcoming events...

If your not going to the Grenade games in Washington this weekend and if you’re in Laguna Beach. Come check it out.

WCI – Mammoth Mountain: May 4–6

Happy trails...

More surfing videos on SurfingMagazine.com

I flew out to the Lake Forest etnies HQ recently to work on the BOOK that etnies is producing, to accompany the Grounded DVD.

Yep, you heard right, a book! A legit stand alone Coffee table book! It's gonna be 48 PAGES, perfect bound and comes with the Grounded DVD inside, featuring all the etnies team rider's artwork.

This is going to be one you can look at on your bookshelf for years to come. 18 etnies team and flow rider's artwork. You already know the riders can ride, but did you know they all did some kind of artwork in their spare time off their bikes? Well, I guess you do....now! So, this is their chance to show their artsy fartsy side.

I've been collecting and editing all the team's artwork for over a year and went out to Sole Tech's art department .

We got down to business editing all the stuff from the variety of content that was submitted and stowed in a huge Hard Drive!

It wasn't easy! The content ranges from all types of media--photography, drawing, painting, stenciling and a bonus documentation of photo stills from the DVD filming trips.

I went there for a week and pretty much had a work experience from 9-5 at Sole Technology, then hung out with Povah, his wife Jaqui and their wee son Garrett Gray at nights. He's a wee star in the making!

The DVD is in the final completion stages and we stopped by editing wizard Mike Manzoori's house to check out some footy. Mike looked a bit nuts from all the editing!

Right before I left, we went to see Austin band The Applicators who rocked out.

I got to briefly walk around downtown LA to shoot some of my favouirite tweakers and then I came back to Austin right in time for a snow storm.

Shit, this just in, the DVD world premiere date!

-Sandy