Blog Post: Watching the GT-V video for the first time
East coast legend, and GT/Mountain Dew sponsored pro, Chris Lashua, hanging the back wheel out with a wedge ramp flipper in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. Summer 1986. I stayed with the Bickels in that hotel in the background that week. My photo.
After the first night in Whistler, we got to kind of know the other riders, and then next morning we were back out on our bikes wandering around, exploring the area, when much to everyone's surprise, the GT Brittania tour motorhome pulled up. Somebody saw it coming up the road, and we all rode over to see it. It came to a stop, and out popped GT pro riders, Eddie Fiola and Chris Lashua.
It turned out Eddie and Chris were doing demos at Expo 86, a sort of World's Fair, being held in Vancouver at at the time. They had a few days off, heard about the freestyle contest in Whistler, and drove up to hang out for a few days. So we had 30 or so freestylers from Canada, Jay and I from Idaho (OK, I lived in San Jose at the time), a handful more from Washington and Oregon, and vert legend Eddie Fiola and east coast pro rider/promoter Chris Lashua hanging out, and riding for about 4 days. It was an epic time for freestyle that week in Whistler.
It turned out Eddie and Chris were doing demos at Expo 86, a sort of World's Fair, being held in Vancouver at at the time. They had a few days off, heard about the freestyle contest in Whistler, and drove up to hang out for a few days. So we had 30 or so freestylers from Canada, Jay and I from Idaho (OK, I lived in San Jose at the time), a handful more from Washington and Oregon, and vert legend Eddie Fiola and east coast pro rider/promoter Chris Lashua hanging out, and riding for about 4 days. It was an epic time for freestyle that week in Whistler.
On their second day there, Eddie and Chris got a small package from GT Bikes headquarters in Huntington Beach, California. It was late morning, and a few of us were hanging out in the town square area. Eddie and Chris came up, said they just got the first copy of the first GT Bikes freestyle video, GT-V, and asked if anyone had a VCR in their room. It was on VHS, but their huge RV didn't have a VCR in it. Hey, it was the 80's, no YouTube or smart phones back then. A lot of people didn't even have VCR's yet in 1986.
Obviously, all of us unknown riders were psyched to see a new video, before its official release date, and riders took off (no cell phones then) to find anyone who might have a VCR. No one did. We went into the mountain bike shop, one of the few things open in Whistler during the summer months, and they didn't have a VCR. I think it was the guy in the bike shop who suggested the bar next door. We were all kind of frustrated, freestyle videos were few and far between then, and we were all amped to watch it. Eddie and Chris were both excited to see it, to since they were GT riders, and Eddie was a star of the video.
Finally, Eddie went into the bar, and which was pretty dark and dingy, and had about five morning drinkers in it. This wasn't some hip, ski area sports bar. It was a dive bar in a tiny mountain ski town, in the off season. Eddie got the OK from the bartender to play the video... if those of us watching it bought something to drink, at like 11:00 am. There was one other rule, only guys of legal age, which I think was 19 years old in B.C. then, could come in the bar and watch it. About 10 or 15 riders were sitting on their bikes, outside the bike shop next door, still thinking someone might have a VCR we could borrow, so we could all watch it in the bike shop. Then Eddie Fiola and Chris Lashua came over, and told us the bar would show it. But only three or four of us were legal age and able to go in and see it.
So we went into the bar, I was legal , but Jay, my old teammate, had to stay outside. We wound up with Eddie, Chris, and 3 or 4 of us riders sitting at the corner of the bar, buying Cokes, so we could watch GT-V for the first time. Even the Canadians didn't want a beer that early in the morning. We got the bartender to turn the TV, so the ten or so riders who were under age, could peer through the glass window, and sort of, kind of, see the video, 15 feet away, but not hear the sound. And that's how I watched the first GT Bikes video, GT-V, for the first time. You can watch the final version of GT-V (with lame audio) on YouTube by searching " (1986) GT-V Absolutely Unreel," as of the time I'm writing this. Premiere parties didn't become a thing for at least 10 or 12 more years. When a video came out, you plugged into whatever VCR was around, with a few friends, and that was your "premiere."
I was sitting at a bar, drinking a Coke, with Eddie Fiola, Chris Lashua, and about three Canadian riders I'd just met over the previous couple of days. The GT/Brittania RV that's in the opening shots of the video, was parked half a block away. Seriously, for a dorky kid from Idaho (and San Jose), it was just surreal. Every few minutes, we'd kind of look over our shoulders, and see this group of faces pressed up against the window behind us, trying to catch every bit of action in the video they could. They would pull their faces back every little while to keep from fogging up the glass with their breath. In those days, we got all of our news and visuals about BMX freestyle from BMX and freestyle magazines, and the two or three videos that had come out over the previous couple of years. The main ones were two videos by BMX Plus, and Rippin' by the BMX Action Trick Team. There was also a Curb Dogs video, but not many people had seen it at the time. We were all so desperate to see video footage of freestyle back then, we'd do about anything to see new footage of the pros riding.
Obviously, all of us unknown riders were psyched to see a new video, before its official release date, and riders took off (no cell phones then) to find anyone who might have a VCR. No one did. We went into the mountain bike shop, one of the few things open in Whistler during the summer months, and they didn't have a VCR. I think it was the guy in the bike shop who suggested the bar next door. We were all kind of frustrated, freestyle videos were few and far between then, and we were all amped to watch it. Eddie and Chris were both excited to see it, to since they were GT riders, and Eddie was a star of the video.
Finally, Eddie went into the bar, and which was pretty dark and dingy, and had about five morning drinkers in it. This wasn't some hip, ski area sports bar. It was a dive bar in a tiny mountain ski town, in the off season. Eddie got the OK from the bartender to play the video... if those of us watching it bought something to drink, at like 11:00 am. There was one other rule, only guys of legal age, which I think was 19 years old in B.C. then, could come in the bar and watch it. About 10 or 15 riders were sitting on their bikes, outside the bike shop next door, still thinking someone might have a VCR we could borrow, so we could all watch it in the bike shop. Then Eddie Fiola and Chris Lashua came over, and told us the bar would show it. But only three or four of us were legal age and able to go in and see it.
So we went into the bar, I was legal , but Jay, my old teammate, had to stay outside. We wound up with Eddie, Chris, and 3 or 4 of us riders sitting at the corner of the bar, buying Cokes, so we could watch GT-V for the first time. Even the Canadians didn't want a beer that early in the morning. We got the bartender to turn the TV, so the ten or so riders who were under age, could peer through the glass window, and sort of, kind of, see the video, 15 feet away, but not hear the sound. And that's how I watched the first GT Bikes video, GT-V, for the first time. You can watch the final version of GT-V (with lame audio) on YouTube by searching " (1986) GT-V Absolutely Unreel," as of the time I'm writing this. Premiere parties didn't become a thing for at least 10 or 12 more years. When a video came out, you plugged into whatever VCR was around, with a few friends, and that was your "premiere."
I was sitting at a bar, drinking a Coke, with Eddie Fiola, Chris Lashua, and about three Canadian riders I'd just met over the previous couple of days. The GT/Brittania RV that's in the opening shots of the video, was parked half a block away. Seriously, for a dorky kid from Idaho (and San Jose), it was just surreal. Every few minutes, we'd kind of look over our shoulders, and see this group of faces pressed up against the window behind us, trying to catch every bit of action in the video they could. They would pull their faces back every little while to keep from fogging up the glass with their breath. In those days, we got all of our news and visuals about BMX freestyle from BMX and freestyle magazines, and the two or three videos that had come out over the previous couple of years. The main ones were two videos by BMX Plus, and Rippin' by the BMX Action Trick Team. There was also a Curb Dogs video, but not many people had seen it at the time. We were all so desperate to see video footage of freestyle back then, we'd do about anything to see new footage of the pros riding.
The GT-V video started with Eddie, Fiola, Martin Aparijo, and Brian Scura teaching some dorky kid (played by Josh White) to be a good freestyler. The video shows those four, plus Dino Deluca and Brett Hernandez, doing flatland in Huntington Beach, Hollywood, and at a school show. There's also ramp riding at the BMX Action T.O.L. halfpipe, and on the GT Brittania quarterpipe. Eddie does his best airs, and shows off the "over and out," his can-can to one footer, which I'm pretty sure is the first multiple variation air, something Mat Hoffman got known for a year or two later. Martin showed off a ton of flatland, including the quickspin and bar rides, new tricks at the time. Josh White showed off all his crazy variations and his insane flexibility. And... Chris Lashua wasn't even in the video, because The Man was still keepin' the East Coast riders down then.
That version of GT-V, and the copy I ended up with a year later, had the original music, which started with Motley Crue's "Home Sweet Home," as they turned the ignition key in the motorhome at the beginning. It was actually a pretty cool sound track for the day. Then, after the video was completely finished being edited, some lawyer told the producers that the music could get GT sued. So they put in this crap canned music. Back in those days, producers could pay $100 or something for a whole cassette tape of mediocre electronic music that came with the rights to use it in any video. "Canned music," as it was called, was also used in porn videos in those days. So it wasn't unusual to watch an 80's BMX video, and then hear the exact same electronic instrumental song in a porno video later on. I know at least two songs from the first BMX Plus video (1985) were in popular porno videos at the same time.
After we watched GT-V in the bar, which Eddie and Chris themselves were seeing for the first time, we all went out, and talked about it to the younger riders, and described all the new tricks we could remember from it. Later that day, someone paid like $50 to rent a VCR from somewhere, and I think they showed it in the mountain bike shop, and in someone's hotel room once or twice. The video wasn't released for another month or so, so it was this awesome sneak preview for those of us in Whistler. I wasn't really a part of the industry yet, though I had hung out with most of the pros in Tulsa, a couple months earlier. I was doing my zine, covering the NorCal freestyle scene then, and I took some photos of Eddie and Chris Lashua while we were all riding together for those few days. The photo of Chris Lashua, above, is one of those photos.
For the next two or three days, I hung out and rode with Jay Bickel, Eddie Fiola, Chris Lashua, and the Canadian and Northwest U.S. guys. The two Canadians I remember the names of are Rob Dodds, a really good vert and all around rider from B.C., and Rob Thring, a top rider and freestyle organizer in eastern Canada. Monte Hill, a good, but unknown, vert rider from Washington, was also in the mix that week. Basically, that week was this crew of totally unknown, but hardcore and solid riders from Canada, Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, plus pros Eddie and Chris.
We sessioned flatland in the town square, and the quarterpipe and wedge ramp when they got set up that Friday, as I recall. We also pushed our bikes up the mountain, and did a little riding on the hiking and mountain bike trails. They weren't crazy MTB trails with big jumps and drops, like today's MTB trails, they were hiking trails, basically, used by cross country MTBers. But there were some fun downhill sections to haul ass down.
We also rode the BMX track before the racers showed up. Two pro racers, I think it was Greg Hill and Stu Thomsen, showed up that weekend, but I never talked to them. They were up at the BMX track most of the time. There was a story that Greg was chasing Stu through the little town one night, just screwing around. They carved around the corner of a building, and a local woman pushing a baby stroller was right there. Stu bunnyhopped the kid in stroller, and Greg carved around it, freaking out the woman pushing the stroller. A couple of the Canadian guys said they saw the incident happen.
The BMX track had this huge, insane gap between the second and third berms. It made like a ten foot high, 25 foot plus gap, that dropped downhill. Today it would be a big jump on a BMX bike, and a solid MTB jump. In 1986, that gap was Evel Knievel level shit. Two or three of the Canadians challenged each other to jump it one night, and after a couple of huge, bails, one guy made the gap. At that time, that was the craziest thing I'd ever anybody seen do on a BMX bike. I don't even remember the guy's name who jumped it, and I didn't have my camera when he did it. It was a hint of things to come a decade later, when dirt jumping really took off and jumping got insane.
Eddie Fiola also had a brand new trick he just invented that week, called the "Expo." He learned it right before coming up to Whistler, while he and Chris were doing demos at the Expo '86. It was a quarterpipe trick where he would ride up the ramp, and do a 90 degree flyout, landing sideways on the deck. Then he'd hop once or twice, then hop back in spinning 90 degrees, going in fakie, and rolling backwards off the ramp. At the time, Ron Wilkerson had not yet invented the abubaca, and hopping in backwards was a really gnarly trick. Eddie showed us that one, and it blew our minds. We usually don't think of Eddie as someone who did lip tricks, but if you ever see him riding a skatepark, yell, "Hey, Eddie, get a foot out," and see what he does.
Then, on Saturday morning, we had the flatland contest, as the "World Championships" BMX race (with only two top pro racers), was going on up the hill. Like most BMX freestyle contests I've competed in, I remember nothing of the contest itself. Yeah, Jay and I competed against all the other guys. I think Jay placed well, and I was in the middle of the pack, as usual. Let's face it, the contest itself has really always been a way to justify going to ride with friends from other regions for a couple of days, and we usually forget the contest itself, and remember the riding from the rest of the weekend.
Since I,rode up to Whistler with the Bickels, and we had a long drive back to Boise, we left right after the flatland comp, and missed the ramp riding. We didn't see a sasquatch or a bear on the drive back either, which is probably a good thing. The Bickels gave me a ride to the Boise airport, and I flew back to San Jose, and my "normal life" of making pizzas and riding around San Jose every afternoon. At Pizza Hut in San Jose, we did have Canadian bacon to put on pizzas.
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