Scotty Cranmer's video: The FBM/Powers Bikes D.I.Y. World Championships

I got busy last week, and didn't think to look this clip up til this morning, while writing another blog post.  Here's the D.I.Y. World Championships from last weekend, through the eyes of Scotty Cranmer and posse.  Great stuff.  This contest was, seriously, the most fun I've had in over a decade.  Steve Crandall puts together the coolest shit.  Chad at Powers Bike Shop offered up the awesome location.  Bikes and fun ensued.  Just watch.

Here's the band Cruelsifix performing at the comp.  Old guys:  they cover Agent Orange.  Hell yeah!

I was in the booth trying to sell art most of the time, but here's my best pics of the day...

 High air on the RAMPLIFLIER.

 Flip to flat off the giant cinder block jump.

 Crank arm slide.

 The Corgi.

 Crandall.

Dog checking out the Buck Wild trophy.

D.I.Y. World Championships- Post 3

 The D.I.Y. jam idea comes out of the head of Steve Crandall, master of the FBM empire.  He wants to promote the concept that you don't need huge corporate sponsors or a huge bankroll, or a major skatepark or venue to have a great jam, all you need is a bunch of interested people, a community, to come together, grab some old pallets and scrap wood, buy a box of screws, and build some cool shit to ride.  In BMX, the roots of this whole idea is the kids on the block grabbing a cinder block and a random piece of wood, building a little, sketchy ass jump, and having a blast. 

In my life, that's exactly how bike jumping first happened.  I was 8, and lived in Coshocton, Ohio.  My friends and I found three bricks, a 2 X 8, and built a sidewalk jump.  We hadn't even heard of BMX then, we were jumping our banana seat bikes with tall handlebars, three speed stick shifts on the top tube, and slicks for back tires.  Roots.  Taking that basic idea to a ridiculous level, Crandall and friend Crescent (I don't know how he spells his name, sorry) actually built a 3,000 pound, concrete cinder block, and a slightly custom concave board to form this roots looking launch ramp.  Epic.  If Richmond, VA gets hit by a nuke someday, there will be cockroaches and this cinderblock left standing.

 There were trophies for each event, and $100 gift certificates for FBM/Powers Bike Shop for several events.  The gold painted guitar was for the RAMPLIFLIER best trick, the gold cinder block was for the giant cinder block launch best trick.

 Here we have one of the larger dogs at the jam checking out the Buck Wild trophy, an actual, mounted, 8 point (Eastern count) buck, with rifle holding hoof mounts.  This was for the best trick all day long.  The Buck Wild Jam turned into a session on the smaller quarterpipe, where handplants, flairs, 540's, and some crazy ass footplants went down.  Who won?  Shit, I don't remember, it was a jam.

 Steve Crandall's art was for sale under the awning.  His classic coffee mug paintings, along with prints of the board and cinder block.  Coffee and BMX, wake up and go ride America.

 Steve let me set up my art to sell, and I sold a bunch.  Huge thanks for that Steve.  I'm sitting in the cheap motel room right now, paid for by the art sold.  Thanks for that all of you who bought art, or helped me out just for the hell of it.  Seriously, Thank you BMX world. 

I couldn't get rid of my big Gwen Stefani drawing from last year's art show at Earshot Music, though.  But I had small prints of Bob Marley, Johnny Cash, a poem I wrote, and a WWII guy riding a motorcycle while shooting a machine gun. 

I bought these clippers for 41 cents at Goodwill, while doing some bargain shopping.  We painted the handle gold, and I was going to give them out for a prize in the World Record Bummy Hop contest, but I lagged on that, and it never happened.  So I held an impromptu best trick contest on the curved wall ride at the end of the day, and my new friend Adam won with a peg stand curved wall ride. 

What's a Bummy Hop?  When I moved to San Jose in 1985, I started a zine, met the Golden Gate Park freestyle scene guys, which included the Curb Dogs, the Skyway factory team, and some great amateurs, and started riding with them.  I learned that the San Francisco skaters had a trick called a "Vollie."  When they were skating down the sidewalk, and a sleeping homeless person was in the way, they'd ollie over the bum.  So it was a vagrant ollie, which became known as a vollie.  I asked the BMX guys what the BMX version of a vollie was, and there wasn't a good answer.  So, as the zine guy of the scene, I took a poll.  We had an official vote.  There were several ideas at first.  But eventually, the official name for bunnyhopping over a homeless person became the Bummyhop.  I told Crandall about this, and since I'm currently homeless, I volunteered to be the bum to bunnyhop in the first ever Bummyhop World Record contest.

But since it rained all morning, I waited until late in the day, when the pavement dried out, to tell Steve I was ready to do it.  By then, there were too many other events lined up, and not enough time before dusk.  We didn't have time to do it.  So... maybe one of these days, we'll have a Bummhop contest.  Or maybe some of you will do it.  If you do, buy the homeless person/people some pizza and beer or something.  Their life is hard enough, don't go making it harder.  I'm telling you, I know.  Oh, and don't land on them.  That wouldn't be cool.  

D.I.Y World Championships - Post 2

 BMXers have always jumped curbs and bunnyhopped street obstacles, since the early 1970's.  Then, in the mid-1980's, skateboarders like Mark Gonzales and Tommy Guerrero started skating the streets themselves as a big skatepark.  Tommy was part of the San Francisco area, Curb Dogs bike and skate team, led by BMX pro/good skater Dave Vanerspek, and the idea of looking for street stuff to ride bled over big time into the BMX freestyle world.  Since then, BMXers have been wandering into weird urban places looking for stuff to ride.  This past weekend, at a bike shop tucked away in the back of a sketchy looking industrial park, bikers gathered to session, goof around, and just plain have a good time.  That's exactly what happened.

 The upside down bike, the helmet and backpack.  I think I took this shot by accident.  But this is the BMXers life.  Chill for a bit, watch your friends, and grab the bike and ride a while.  When you see these things, there's a session nearby.  Below is the back part of the contest area.  Every obstacle was built by a different group of people, part of Steve Crandall's idea of bringing the BMX community together, everybody adding something, and then riding it.  It's like BMX Stone Soup.  Remember that book when you were a kid?  If not, go read it.  If you look close below, there's a guy on top of the gray banked wall, doing a manual, I think.  That obstacle was a grind box to banked wall to grind box, and made for some interesting combos.  With open jams in between, the day's focus went from one obstacle to another, with prizes for best tricks in each.

 This little low rider collie, "The Corgi", was wandering around all day, and getting in the way and ruining lines all fucking day.  It was a theme, and at one point there was a bounty to bunnyhop the Corgi, though no one did.  The Corgi even puked on the course and then ate its own vomit at one point, which nearly won it a best trick prize.  No one seemed to know who The Corgi belonged to.  There was talk of Corgi burgers and that it would fit well on a rotisserie, but all in good fun .  Somehow, The Corgi managed to get in the way for hours, but never get hit or landed on. 

While the Corgi got the most attention of the dogs there on Saturday, Powers Bikes shop dog, Pedals, didn't seem to mind the lack of attention.  She knew it was a big event, and when all was over, she rules that parking lot.  Pedals was the perfect hostess to the ten or so canine Americans at the jam, and I didn't see her give any attitude to any of them all day.  Well done Pedals! 

For some reason, mostly because she's the guard dog, she always growls at me when I go to Powers.  It usually takes a good hour before she warms up to me.  But Saturday, I walked up, and pulled out a granola bar for a little snack, and she was my best friend.  So I guess the way to Pedals' heart is through her stomach.  I'll keep that in mind next trip to the shop.