Less than a year after exploding onto the national scene in 1986, here's GT factory sponsored Krys Dauchy, showing some serious tricks at the Wayne, New Jersey AFA Masters contest. There was no female division then, she competed against the amateur guys, and held her own. If you know China (Krys' name today) you know why I'm listening to the Tank Girl movie soundtrack while writing this blog post.
With a single letter to FREESTYLIN' magazine, and a single photo of her doing the most contorted Nourie stomach stand anyone had ever seen, a teenage girl from Ohio let the freestyle industry know she existed. The letter was printed in the October 1986 issue of FREESTYLIN' magazine, and Krys Dauchy exploded onto the national BMX freestyle scene.
As fate would have it, I got hired at Wizard Publications, publishers of BMX Action and FREESTYLIN' magazines, at the beginning of August that year. In those old days of magazines, there was a 3 month lag time between when a magazine's photos were taken and stories were written, until it appeared in mailboxes and on newsstands. When I started at Wizard in August, they were pretty much done with the October issue, and working on the November issue of FREESTYLIN'. Editor Andy Jenkins and assistant editor Lew showed me the photo of the amazing girl from Ohio doing the contortionist level stomach stand. It blew my mind. The October issue of FREESTYLIN' hit subscribers' mailboxes and newsstands at the end of September. The onslaught of fan mail for Krys hit us immediately.
As the new guy on the editorial staff, I got to read all the reader mail first and sort through it. As I recall, we got something like 600 letters that month, more than three times normal. Two thirds of all that mail was from guys who wanted to meet... and date... Krys Dauchy. Just from that one photo in the readers mail in the magazine. Some of the letters got pretty graphic, after all, it was a sport full of teenage guys. But most letter writers were stoked and blown away by this cute blond who obviously had some real freestyle skills.
GT Bikes soon picked up Krys, and, as you can see above, she way rocking a full factory GT sponsorship by the middle of 1987, at the New Jersey AFA Masters contest. She also rode for General and Vision Street Wear in her years in freestyle. You can also see Krys doing some SERIOUS tricks. Only a handful of riders at the time, most notably pioneer pro R.L. Osborn, did backwards infinity rolls, and backwards grip rides. Krys wasn't just some rider's girlfriend that had learned a couple of tricks. She had SKILLS. Add that to her ridiculous level of flexibility, and she added a few tricks no guy could match to the freestyle mix. Here she is a year later, riding for General, from the Vision Street Wear video Freestylin' Fanatics.
Krys showed up in the magazines, went to Camp Woodward in Pennsylvania, and did her share of shows in the late 1980's, along with competing in the AFA Masters contests around the U.S.. All along the way she hung out with the guys, in our completely male dominated sport. That's no easy task, since, let's face it, guys can be assholes sometimes. The only other woman riding seriously then was Alma Jo Barrera down in the Austin, Texas area. Krys was a pioneer, not only inventing some entirely new tricks, but being a female at a time when there were only a handful of girls even trying freestyle tricks, and very few in the entire action sports world.
BMX freestyle's first wave of popularity crashed in 1989, and Krys went on to other things in life. She went through some incredibly tough times in the 1990's, long after she'd left the radar of us other riders. With some help, and her own tough spirit, she made an incredible comeback, and along the way changed her name to China Krys Darrington. She's now a very successful single mom and homeowner in northern Ohio. She works with groups of specialists, managing and coordinating teams that help other women in tough situations rebound from addiction, abuse, and other really serious issues.
When my life hit bottom, after moving to North Carolina in 2008, China was one of the first people to find my Freestylin Mag Tales blog, and email me. I'd only met her once, briefly, back in the freestyle days. As I struggled, right after losing all my BMX video masters, magazines, and video footage collection, she kept in contact, and was a huge help to me through a really tough time. She's done the same for others in the riding community as well. Thank you for that, China.
BMX racing and BMX freestyle has come a long way in the 30+ years (gulp!) since Krys was out there, outriding most of us guys. Women compete in their own class, and shred, BMX racing is in the Olympics, BMX park will be soon, and there are women blasting nothings and backflips and lofting over big doubles. But before them all was Krys Dauchy, the girl from Ohio who showed other girls that BMX freestyle wasn't just a guys' thing.
A few weeks ago, she gave me the OK to draw a picture of her to sell, and here's my drawing of Krys/China, one of her classic photos, which I drew in my Sharpie scribble style. This is the 5th drawing in my series of Old School BMX freestyler drawings.
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