A forgotten Woody Itson trick

If you started riding in the first wide wave of BMX freestyle in the mid 1980's, you remember Woody Itson as a pioneer of flatland.  If you were in the Southern California scene in the early 80's, you might remember Woody riding skateparks or getting an occasional magazine photo jumping.

But here's one even Woody might not remember.  In 1990 Woody's Diamond Back deal was over, and he was riding just for himself, according to a interview bit I just found on 23mag.com .  During that year, I was riding the amazing flyout jump at Oceanview High School in Huntingtin Beach often.  I was also shooting video for my first self-produced bike video, The Ultimate Weekend.

I just came across this still I made from the video a while back.  Woody Itson, unsponsored, throwing a switch handed jump.  In 1986, a 14-year-old Mat Hoffman debuted that trick to the freestyle world.  Four years later, Woody was pulling it off.  Heck, I made the video and I forgot this shot was in there.  You can find it at 23:52 in the video.