In the past fifteen months, I've written about 350 blog posts about my days in BMX freestyle. But this whole time, I've just been an old, fat guy pecking at a computer, writing about "the good old days." This has been partly because because I think somebody needs to write this stuff. But's been mostly because after years of homelessness and other assorted craziness, I wound up sleeping on the floor of my parents tiny apartment in a town where I don't have a chance in Hell of ever getting a good paying job. I had time and a computer, so I started writing.
You've all heard me bitch about this whole situation way too much, even though I try to keep it to a minimum. During this time, a bunch of you have written to encourage me to keep writing, Sean Murphy from Standard has become my unofficial promotions guy, spreading news about this blog and the FREESTYLIN' one. I thank you all for the comments and encouragement along the way.
But a guy I never met named Nick Ziegler took this encouragement to a whole 'nother level. He got a bunch of people to donate parts and sent me a bike that I couldn't possibly afford. I'll show some pics and details in the next couple posts. The wheels showed up yesterday, and I spent the evening getting the bike running. I got out on it last night, but the chain was a little too long, so this morning I got the bike actually running. Then I went out for a ride.
I started really getting into BMX jumping in 1982, followed shortly by racing and then freestyle. Like many of you, I rode two or three hours a day for the next ten years. Even after fading out of the industry in the mid '90's, I was still riding some kind of bike every day until I became a taxi driver in 1999. Taxi driving is a lifestyle, not a job, so I sat in a cab and got fat for several months. Then I lost my license for not paying a fine and got back to riding nearly every day until I started driving a cab again in late 2003. Then the daily sessions ended, and I spent the next four years sitting in a car up to 23 hours a day. I ballooned up to 374 pounds at one point, nearly died from cellulitis, a gnarly bacterial infection, three times. As most of you know, this led to a year on the streets, and finally to my parents' apartment in a state I'd never lived in. A state where BMX and freestyle barely exist. Yes, I know a handful of top contest riders live in NC, and Eastern Bikes is here, but there is no scene at all in this part of the state. Being a BMXer and being here is like going back in time 30 years. It's frustrating for a lot of reasons. For a couple of decades, my bike was my main way to relieve frustration. And I didn't have one here. Until yesterday.
You've all heard me bitch about this whole situation way too much, even though I try to keep it to a minimum. During this time, a bunch of you have written to encourage me to keep writing, Sean Murphy from Standard has become my unofficial promotions guy, spreading news about this blog and the FREESTYLIN' one. I thank you all for the comments and encouragement along the way.
But a guy I never met named Nick Ziegler took this encouragement to a whole 'nother level. He got a bunch of people to donate parts and sent me a bike that I couldn't possibly afford. I'll show some pics and details in the next couple posts. The wheels showed up yesterday, and I spent the evening getting the bike running. I got out on it last night, but the chain was a little too long, so this morning I got the bike actually running. Then I went out for a ride.
I started really getting into BMX jumping in 1982, followed shortly by racing and then freestyle. Like many of you, I rode two or three hours a day for the next ten years. Even after fading out of the industry in the mid '90's, I was still riding some kind of bike every day until I became a taxi driver in 1999. Taxi driving is a lifestyle, not a job, so I sat in a cab and got fat for several months. Then I lost my license for not paying a fine and got back to riding nearly every day until I started driving a cab again in late 2003. Then the daily sessions ended, and I spent the next four years sitting in a car up to 23 hours a day. I ballooned up to 374 pounds at one point, nearly died from cellulitis, a gnarly bacterial infection, three times. As most of you know, this led to a year on the streets, and finally to my parents' apartment in a state I'd never lived in. A state where BMX and freestyle barely exist. Yes, I know a handful of top contest riders live in NC, and Eastern Bikes is here, but there is no scene at all in this part of the state. Being a BMXer and being here is like going back in time 30 years. It's frustrating for a lot of reasons. For a couple of decades, my bike was my main way to relieve frustration. And I didn't have one here. Until yesterday.
0 comments:
Post a Comment