Monday, October 4, 2010

BMX Freestyler Mail Bag- Message from Rob

Hey everyone,

   Today was a great day for email as I found an AWESOME email from Rob who just so happens to live in Texas and right up the street from me.  I had to put this email in the BMX Freestyler Mail Bag because if this is not total motivation. I don't know what is. Thanks for the email Rob. Looking forward to riding with you soon.

Keep on Riding.

Here is the Email from Rob
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Hey, this is kinda weird. I just found your video for "My First Decade" on youtube and sent it to my wife. She'd been wondering if anybody 'my age' even rides. She's very supportive of everything I do, but I had stopped riding by the time we met 10 years ago. So this whole 'freestyling' thing is completely foreign to her. Well, she loved the video and especially loved your enthusiasm and huge smile after you landed that decade!


    You see, I'm 37 and just started riding flatland again. Like most people, I stopped riding around 1990 and recently got the bug to start up again for no particular reason. I went to the garage and found the remnants of my '87 GT Pro Freestyle Tour. It was missing both wheels, the seat post, seat, and strange things like the left pedal and the upper gyro plate. What the hell happened to my upper gyro plate and left pedal? I'll never know... but in any case, I found bmxmuseum.com and have been buying parts to restore it. Well, that shit was taking too long. So I broke down and bought a used 2010 DK Opsis off of Austin Craigslist in the meantime (I'm still putting together my 87 PFT, but damn those old parts are pricey!)

     I got on the Opsis about a month ago, and holy shit it felt weird. I thought I'd just jump on and be pulling boomerangs and decades by the end of the week... hoping it'd all 'just come back to me', but nope. I found I could barely pop a wheelie! After a few sessions, I got to the point where I could kinda do a stupid tailwhip. I'm riding maybe 30-45 minutes a few times a week right now. Well, after a 5-6 more sessions, I finally pulled off a damn tailwhip, and I'm thinking... wow, this would be so much better if I had someone to ride with... not one of those crazy 18 year olds that can spin forever on one wheel (not that there's anything wrong with that!), but someone that's sorta starting out. That's when I came across your video. And wow, was that ever inspiring! Then I found out that you ride in Austin! I'm in Round Rock. I know, it's all the way across town, but I think I can get down to the OG on Saturday afternoons. Disclaimer: I'm super terrible right now. ;)
     At my high point (20 years ago) I could do decades, whiplashes, elephant glides, side glides, hang fives, fire hydrants, backyards, frontyards... a lot of crap. And like I said, now I can barely pull off tailwhips! But watching videos like yours (and axlepeg's: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNS7mfu2Hpo) really keep me motivated.


     Just wondering... how many old guys (30+) are out there riding at the OG? I don't wanna embarrass myself... haha.


-Rob

My Blog: http://mrkatsu.blogspot.com/

What am I up to right now?: twitter.com/robnava

10 comments:

  1. Nice!Way to go Rob!
    Axlepeg needs some real wheels for flat,those Skyways are killing him,he would be much smoother and consistent once he switches out.

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  2. this is awesome, and I'm 39 and started back up late last year at 38, after close to a year I can do things I was never able to do back in the day and I get a little tiny bit better after each session. When I was riding back in the 80's it was all about finding jumps, trails, doing endoes and pogos then I found the OG and modern flatland and it went from there, there's all levels of riding at the OG and all ages, come on out and bust out, there's nothing to be afraid of whatsoever.

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  3. Rob, where about do you live in round rock? I live right behind the randalls off aw grimes and gattis school rd. Im always down to ride...I am a beginner so maybe you could teach me a thing or two haha. If yo wanan ride sometime shoot me an email at jcc011@shsu.edu My names Joseph!!

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  4. Haha Sounds like a Round Rock Jam is brewing. I was going to try and ride with Rob tomorrow. Can you ride tommorrow too Josheph? This is to funny because we live only a couple of miles from each other.

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  5. haha thats is funny...but awesome at the same time...i just recently moved to round rock in august...what time are you guys going to ride? i get off around 4 or 4:30 depending on how busy i am at work. Im supposed to go to dinner with my g/f but thats not until later around 8 or so. SO if its before then im down for a round rock jam....it can be my first day of training as i would like to call it hahah..i hope one of my dyno's can hold up

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  6. I get off from work around around the same time as you. The days I do ride I can ride for about 1 hour maybe 2 if I am lucky between 5-7. After that its time to make dinner and stuff like that. I still need to get in contact with Rob too.

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  7. ok sounds good....if you hear from him tomorrow before 4 time the best way to get ahold of me would be to email me at work which is joseph_cantu@dell.com im so stoked..even if we don't get to ride tomorow atleast i know your close by and i wouldnt mind coming to your spot to ride anytime..im definitely determined to learn how to flatland and i'm looking forward to getting the basics down.

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  8. Yeah, I'm up for riding today! I live just behind the HEB off of Louis Henna. Pretty much across the street from Dell. I mostly ride in my neighborhood right now, but it's not at all flat. Sometimes I ride behind that HEB. They have a whole bunch of "NO SKATEBOARDING! NO BIKING! NO FUN AROUND HERE!" signs, but I'm a rebel. ;)

    I don't get home until probably 6:00pm, and if I have to drive anywhere, it'd be 6:15pm before I got there. Is that cool?

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  9. Holy crap Texas is amazing. Some synergy just went down in these comments.

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