etnies

When I was asked to write a bio for the website about myself with the parameters that there are no parameters and I can say whatever I want, I really wanted to write something awesome! But then I realized that I’m not too poetic, so I decided to share a few stories about myself—how I got into BMX, and why I am the way I am. If I hadn’t had a lot of the experiences that I did growing up, I think I’d be a much different person, and in a totally different place than I am today. Enjoy!

At the age of five I got my first bike. That was an awesome birthday! My two older brothers and I always had a big yard to play in when we were growing up, so I made use of it and quickly learned how to ride without training wheels. One of my earliest memories of riding was around that same time when my whole family went on a bike ride through old back roads a few miles from our house. At one point on our little ride, there was a huge hill… well… it was huge to me at the time. I started down it and quickly got up to speed when my handlebars started shaking. This is known as the speed wobbles. I believe that was my first ever superman, the only problem was that it was the OTB kind. I did a lawn dart strait into the asphalt and proceeded to do a sweet palm slide for another ten or fifteen feet. Meaty palms and road rash at the age of five is no fun, I remember riding home in pain from all the scrapes and bruises. This must have been early training for the future.

At age seven I received the nickname “Crash & Burn” from a Sheriff in Canton, Texas. My Dad has been a construction superintendent for the past thirty years and at that point he was building jails, including one in Waco Texas that has held good old Willie Nelson a few times, but that’s another story. Dad was building the Canton jail and in doing so he was working closely with the Sheriff there. In the early stages of the project they had to level off the building site to pore the slab on. This made for some fun times on bikes when we got to go to work with Pops. There were a few spots on the job site where the dirt was raised up about six to eight feet to make a level surface, and at one edge there was a little lip. My brothers and I would hit the lip on our bikes and launch down to the bottom of the hill. One day, my Dad and the Sheriff were out on the pre-slab, talking about whatever it is superintendents and Sheriffs talk about, when they noticed me riding my bike as fast as I could across the top of the slab area. I hit the edge of the dirt and flew up in the air, then disappeared over the edge. My Dad said that they just stood there not saying anything for a minute, looking at the edge of the dirt where I disappeared. I popped up with my bike, hopped back on it, and proceeded to do it all over again. The Sheriff looked at my Dad and said, “Now I understand,” then said, “I was beginning to think that was an abused child”. Every time he saw me I had different cuts and bruises. Apparently he thought my Dad was doing this to me. He then dubbed me “Crash & Burn” because, evidently, I didn’t land rubber side down as much as I would have liked to. I think I still have that problem to this day. I could go on and on about all the crash stories I have over those years because there are tons, but that was all before I even knew what “BMX” was.
In 1990 or 1991 my Mom took my brothers and me to the Texas State Fair in Dallas. We were lucky enough to get there in time to see the first of three BMX stunt shows by the Sprocket Jockeys. The riders were Mat Hoffman, Dave Mirra, DMC and, I believe Steve Swope was on the mic, but it might have been Thorn. It was the best thing I’d ever seen! We definitely made it back for all three shows that day and witnessed Mat do an array of ridiculous (to this day) vert tricks with the grand finale of a no-handed 540. On the third show that day, Mat hung his front wheel on the deck of the vert ramp while doing the no-handed five. He went down really hard. I remember thinking, “How can someone get up from a crash that bad?” I can still see it clearly in my head; he came around out of the 540 and clipped his front wheel sending him strait to the bottom on his face. Mat is such a good showman that he didn’t even hesitate; he just got right up, waved, bowed and limped off the ramp. I know he had to have been in so much pain when he made his way back over to his trailer. I’ve always admired that about him; he was more concerned with letting everyone know he was alright rather than sitting there hamming it up for the crowd. I really couldn’t have had a better introduction to BMX. Years later I feel so honored to actually know and be friends with all the guys that gave me a preview of where my life was taking me.
I got my first “real” freestyle bike when I was fourteen years old in 1997. My older brother, Ben, and I built a quarter pipe in the yard right around the same time, and rode the crap out of it every day. When I wasn’t riding our super sweet eight-foot wide, seven-foot quarter with a foot of vert on it, I was out on the street in front on my house riding flatland. The city of Tyler built the first free public skate park in Texas about a year and a half later. This is when I figured out that ramps were what I had the most fun on—given, that has changed a bit over the years. I met a whole crew that turned out to be some of the best roll models a kid could ask for. Clean cut, completely drug-free guys that were always looking out for me and the other younger kids in the group. We had a few racer/trail dogs, about four or five old school “freestylers” and seven or eight new school kids myself included. The guys I spent the most time with were the older, all around freestylers: Chip, Nathan, Sport, Luke Duke, Nacho and Bass. Most of my favorite memories of riding while growing up were with those guys. I learned a lot from them over the years. They were the ones that would keep me in check if I started acting stupid or got out of line. I love those guys like brothers and wouldn’t trade those few developmental years for anything.

When I was sixteen and seventeen, I started to go on riding trips with the Tyler Posse all over the state of Texas. We would make trips to all the local contests and go down to Austin and Dallas to ride the parks, street and trails. The first contest I ever entered was a local comp at Eisenburgs Skate Park in Plano, TX. I never imagined that I would end up riding in contests like the X-Games, Metro Jams, Backyard Jams and the Worlds. When I think about it, it really baffles me that I went from short trips all around Texas to crazy ones all over the World! It’s the biggest blessing that anyone could ask for to get to travel like I do for the simple reason of doing something I love.

Companies like etnies and amazing team managers like John Povah are the reason that people like me can do what we do. I’m thankful to God for giving me this talent on a bicycle and all the perfect circumstances to mold me into what I am today! Thank you, John Povah and etnies, for all that you’ve done for me over the past three years, I couldn’t ask for a better sponsor and team to be apart of. So many doors have been opened for me through etnies! That being said, I think I’ll go ride my BMX!