Lifers... A short documentary on the Old School BMXers from Belfast that are still riding
today.
I first saw Will Smyth at the very first King of Dirt Jam, in Palmdale, California, in 1987. I can't remember if I actually talked to him that day or not. A few years later, in the early 1990's, after BMX "died," he stayed at our apartment while on holiday, on trips to the States. I got to know him then. When he started Dig BMX magazine, I was one of many who wrote some articles for those early issues. Design-wise, Dig was the coolest BMX magazine since FREESTYLIN'. Content wise, those early issues had the feel of a zine, but in a really cool, full color magazine, with killer layout and design.
I got contacted a couple months ago to contribute a little bit to one of the articles in a new magazine, aimed at the Old School BMX crowd... the lifers. I was told the name, Greystoke. It sounded like a cool idea. I was more than happy to send in a bit of text on the subject. Later on, I found it was Will Smyth, the crew from Dig BMX, along with lifelong rider and industry guy, Scott Towne, doing this project. I knew this was going to be something special, and have been waiting for it to come out.
Dennis McCoy, blowing minds at age 20 (he should have beat Woody), and more than three decades later at age 52, and at age 56. He's got to be part alien, or part Yoda, or something. Legend. Lifer.
When I sat down to write this blog post, I looked for some old video of Will, or some of the other U.K. riders, from the early 90's. Much to my surprise, I found the short documentary above. Even better. Far from sunny Southern California, across a continent and an ocean, in Belfast, lived a crew of BMX riders as hardcore as any guys, anywhere. From the crew that brought us Dig BMX in the 1990's, now comes Greystoke, as the original Generation X BMXers ride through middle age, now in their 40's 50's, and even early 60's. Once BMX gets ahold of you, it doesn't let go. As we all learned decades ago, action sports are lifestyle sports. Into today's 21st century world comes Greystoke BMX magazine. Check it out, and pre-order here: Greystoke BMX.* They have some merch, too.
Blogger's note- 8/2/2023: I live a weirder life than most these days. I had a few rough days before when I first sat down and wrote this blog post. I wrote this post while in a really frustrated mood. Last night, I kept thinking about it. What I wrote just didn't sit well with me. So I re-wrote the post this morning. I wasn't trying to piss anyone off yesterday, I just wrote when I was in a bad place, when I was far more sarcastic than normal. I haven't checked any comments yet, I just rewrote the post for my own reasons.
* Not a paid link.
I'm doing a lot of my writing on Substack these days, check it out:
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