etnies

Everything started in a hospital in Carlos De Haya which is in Malaga, Spain, where I was born on September 13, of 1974. If I can think of the best present that I ever received, it was the 16" blue bike I got when I was six-years-old. Since then, my feet have been spinning on the pedals and holding a pair of handlebars. At the age of nine, I got my first 20" bike. I had no idea what BMX was but I would pedal around in my neighborhood all day long doing wheelies, jumping and riding down stairs.

At the age of 13 I started to learn a little bit more about BMX and I could do some basic tricks. I met some riders from Germany who were visiting Malaga. They were really good on a BMX and I enjoyed watching them ride… then I got really into it.

At age 16 I got my first nice BMX bike. I was so stoked. I started to ride a lot, going to little contests around Spain. Then, a few years later I started entering contests around all of Europe.

I started doing demos, I have to say that I was really happy with my life at that point, but I had something inside telling me to go to the EEUU to check all those dream spots and try to meet some of my heroes in BMX. So I saved up my money and bought a ticket.

This is when the best part of my life began. It was 1997 when I went by myself on a little adventure looking to meet riders that I always looked up to and riding some of those amazing places with them. Then, like a magic trick, boom! There I was, I couldn’t believe it. Even better than I thought and somehow I got invited to the X Games.

I was very excited about it, but the event was in a month and a half. I had already spent all my money and if I went back to Spain there was no way I could afford to come back to the X Games. This was when I made the decision to take the risk and stay without money. Thanks to everybody at the skatepark in Wilmington, NC who let me stay there and helped me out.

The thing was, the X Games were on the West Coast, in San Diego, and I was on the East Coast. Somehow, one day, a big box showed up at the Skatepark with my name on it. I was so confused and stoked at the same time. When I opened it up it was a complete new bike, a plane ticket to San Diego and an envelope with $600 in it. At that moment I was the happiest man on earth. A few months later I started to ride for etnies and since that day they’ve been so good to me that I don't know how to thank them for everything they do. Whatever I do for them it never feels like it’s enough.

To this day, with the support of all my sponsors and friends I’ve been living a dream life that I still can’t believe happened. Thanks to everyone in the BMX industry that helped me.