If you haven’t noticed, I’m a big sucker for remembering my past. I blame it on the fact that I’ve had an amazing life…

Two days before my senior year of high school started I bought a stock 1994 Honda Prelude Si for $7200 cash. By the time I graduated I had put a lot of time, work, and money into it.

By the time I sold it just after my second year of college I had won car shows all around Louisiana and a few in other states. I was sponsored by an audio and graphics company at one point and a member of the most prestigious car club in Louisiana. During the three years I had that car I had some incredible times with a ton of great people.

Here’s are some photos of the ol’ Lude.

Just thought the world needed a reminder which pencil and pen are the best ever…Thanks to Bic and Uni?Ball I have enjoyed writing on paper for the past 12 years.

Click this shit.

On the Shadow Flow Trip I was just on Caleb Quanbeck had a really dope shirt that was hand drawn with a permanent marker. The guy who made the shirt is Tyler Short from the Portland area. His work and site are definitely worth checking out…

tshorts.net

From my senior year of high school until my second year of college or so I was really big into graffiti. I could write for hours about it, but I’ll just show the photos instead.

These photos are from ‘00-’02 and include a few illegal pieces from before I got arrested and a bunch of legal pieces on an old movie theater next to my college dorm. All of the photos were scanned years ago before I had a digi cam.

DEF is from one of my all-time favorite bands (Deftones) and Bored is the first song on Deftones’ first album. DefBored is also my screen name…

After my trip to Monaco for the Ninja Spin contest I got re-motivated to pick up my flatland bike. Last week/weekend I had a couple of good solo sessions followed by a few amazing session with Chad Johnston in Long Beach. I learned a few new things that I was psyched on and decided I wanted to film a session to track my progress and show my flatland sensei, Terry Adams. Terry is the reason I even own a flatland bike and he always gets stoked when I tell him I’ve been riding, although we pretty much never ride together.

This video was never intended to be shown to anyone except a few close friends because I have plans to film all of these tricks in a proper video in cool locations after I got a new bike. However, after hearing Terry’s response to the video I decided I’d go ahead and share it with everyone else. I’m in the process of trying to get a new flatland bike and have full intentions of making as good of an edit as I can this year. I guess by dropping this session video it will force me to have to either learn new stuff or really dial in these tricks for the next one…

So the video here is an hour and a half of riding by myself in a parking garage in Long Beach, California after a full day’s work at the Ride office on April 27, 2009.

Part of Terry’s email response to my video:
“I wanted to thank you for sharing that video of you riding flatland. it honestly motivated me in so many ways man. I actually just returned from a session that was fueled by your video…

…After watching your video it reminded me the true meaning of flatland.. Pushing yourself to to learn tricks and do them for the pure sake of accomplishment and self satisfaction. I thought that was a very special session you had out there man. I am stoked for you! It takes a certain type of person to ride flatland and use only your mind& bike with no obstacles.. You proved to me that it is inside you man. You also brought it back inside me. ” - Terry Adams

Nike has outdone themselves once again. They always send out care packages to us in the media world to promote the newest things they have going on and today I had a big box sitting on my desk…

Inside was a dope pair of high-tops, a shirt, a hoodie, and best of all a digital picture frame. Seriously…Nike’s marketing team is on top of it!

However, next time I may ask for the surf package so there are photos of the hot surfer chicks loaded on the photo frame instead of ratty BMX kids.

Still frame from one of the videos that was on the digital frame. Relax, she’s legal…I checked before I posted.

My vacation in Monaco last week was the end of a five week string of travels.

First I went to the Toronto BMX Jam where I pretty much worked my ass off for three days then took an extra day to hang out with Eric Favot and go skiing.

Chair lift at Blue Mountain north of Toronto.

The following weekend I rode with Jeff Z. to Phoenix, Arizona to ride bikes and hang out. I got to ride a bit the first day which was awesome, but the second day my allergies got so bad all I could do was sleep in the car while the others rode. At least before I became incapacitated I got to enjoy Greens (delicious vegan restaurant) and see my brother who was in town visiting his girlfriend.

Piles of pollen like this along with high winds all weekend did me in. I’m 0 for 2 on trips to Phoenix.

Four days at home and I was off to New Orleans for Terry Adams’ wedding. The wedding was amazing, I got to hang out with Andrew Sanford, ride, and film a few flips, see my family and take family portraits (My niece is too cute and knows my name!), got to see my old roommates’ band play their last show, and more…what an amazing weekend!

Me and Madison. She loves me, promise…

Three days at home then I was off to Joplin, Missouri for Jomopro. Aside from riding for forty five minutes, having dinner with some friends one night, and doing an interview for BMX Freestyler, I worked non-stop. One of the trip highlights was having satellite radio in the rental car and getting to listen to Playboy radio for the first time. Who knew they could say that stuff on air?

Then I was home for a day and a half before I went to Paris. And that’s where these photos begin. Enjoy, and leave comments! Oh, and if you want to read my story from the trip, you can see that HERE.

Click the photo to see this overview of Monaco larger.

While in Joplin, Missouri a few weeks ago for Jomopro Mark “Rad Dad” Dandridge from BMXFreestyler.com did a video interview with me.

Mark’s one of those guys who genuinely loves BMX and is always keeping busy making videos of his friends, events, and whatever else he comes across. I was stoked to have the opportunity for this interview and always appreciate people who are psyched on the work I do in BMX.

Without further ado…

I took a quick trip to Louisiana this weekend for Terry Adams’ wedding. While I was born and raised in Louisiana, I have been living in California for almost three years now so going back down South makes me realize things I never really paid attention to before.

Here are, in no particular order, some observations from Terry’s big day and nine ways you know you are at a Louisiana wedding?

People Wearing Saints Hats
Even though the New Orleans Saints have been a notoriously terrible football team for as long as I can remember, people in Louisiana still have a strong loyalty to them?even at weddings.

Strokin’ Gets The Biggest Reaction
If you have ever been to a social function in the South you know exactly who Clarence Carter is. And you know that when you hear Mr. Carter sing that chorus of “I be strokin’ to the East, I be strokin’ to the West?” that the crowd goes absolutely berserk.

The Groom Does Backflips
Get a drink or two into Terry Adams and clothes start coming off and wild dance moves start emitting from his body. I wondered if his wedding would be any different?it wasn’t. Before the end of the night Terry and Scott O’Brien were doing over-under doubles routines on the dance floor and Terry did more than one standing backflip. Maybe one day we’ll see Terry do a “body varial” type backflip on his bike and land into a hitchhiker or something.

Girls Dance With No Shoes
Whether you are at a high school dance or a wedding, if you are in the South, you can bet that half the females in attendance will not have shoes on. Maybe it’s just me, but that’s just gross. When I think about the floor we walk on, everything resorts back to poo. Hear me out on this one? The soles of your shoes touch the ground everywhere you go. You are bound to step in dog crap at some point?directly or indirectly. Then you walk inside the wedding reception hall. Then a girl with no shoes dances on the same floor where you just stepped. So she now has dog poo particles on her feet. Yuck, man. This is the same reason why I never eat anything that has fallen on the floor?five second rule or not.

By The End Of The Night, The Place Is Flooded Like Katrina
“Louisiana” and “rain” are synonymous in my mind so to have an outdoor wedding is verging on insanity. However, people still do it and Terry and Vanessa were willing to take their chances. Mother nature held out just enough for them to kiss and get inside before it started pouring. The outdoor ceremony wasn’t as picturesque as they had originally hoped?at one point Scott O’Brien was holding an umbrella above the couple’s head. During the reception it poured for hours. By the time we left, the entire area we were sitting in during the ceremony resembled a lake. You could see about half of the bench backs peeking out of the water, gasping for air.

Someone Refers To Himself As “Paran”
In Louisiana, a child’s Godfather is often called the “Paran” (with a French accent). When I heard a guy refer to himself as Vanessa’s Paran I knew exactly what state of the Union I was in.

Two Or More Types Of Seafood Are On The Menu
I’m not talking about those cheesy, bland cocktail shrimp you find at other places?things like shrimp pasta, spicy seasoned fish, crab cakes, crawfish étouffée, and so on. If there are more than two of the above dishes on the menu, you may just be at a Louisiana wedding.

The Oldest Guy In Attendance Does A Somersault
One of the oldest guys at Terry’s wedding, Vanessa’s Paran actually, got down and did a few break dancing moves just after Strokin’ was finished. This was wildly entertaining, but not nearly as crazy as an even older guy getting down and doing a full backwards somersault in the middle of the dance floor.

Everyone Says Y’all
I notice this more and more each time I go to the South now. I suppose I used to say it, but now that I’m not around it much, every time I hear someone say “y’all” it sticks out like Spinner riding trails with Aitken. Phrases heard throughout the weekend include:
“Y’all have a good trip.”
“Can I have y’alls attention?”
“Y’all get up here to catch this garter.” (I caught it, by the way.)
“What would y’all like to drink?”
“Does this annoy the ever-living shit out of y’all too?”