Relived day 7. '24 USA Trip. Garski, Kawi, Van Schie, Oakley, Wilde and Brad.

Feb 07, 2024

Written by Bart de Jong

Read 1306 times

8am breakfast meeting at Eat Chow with BMX Sales guru Pete Garski. We always try to get together for a coffee, lunch, dinner or a breakfast. Pete used to do International sales for GT Bicycles and then moved on to Haro Bikes where he recently lost his position and is now in the hunt for something new. Whoever scoops him up is lucky. The plan was for our posse to go ride YT mountain bikes in San Clemente on Wednesday but because of the recent rain these kinds of activities are put on hold for a week or so. One of the crew members would be Dutchman Fred van Schie who runs the etnies BMX program. Fred was in the office on Tuesday morning and showed the new BMX/MTB shoes that are about to hit the market including some DIG magazine shoes, T's and hats. Stay tuned for that drop.

Next up: Kawasaki USA. Literally around the corner in Foothill Ranch. Last year we failed to find the front entrance. We had picked up that they had some sort of museum there. This time we made it to the front door only to be denied access to the museum because all personnel were at a big dealer meeting in Phoenix. No big deal, we'll be back next year for attempt 3. It was about lunch time when we decided to drive up to see Robert de Wilde, one of the very few Dutch BMX-ers who has won it all. And guess what, he's back on the BMX bike! LFG!

Next to Regency trails (we were told they've been destroyed), there is also the Oakley pump track and dirt jump spot nearby. A bit wet while we were there, but they'll be back up in no time with a little sweeping and shaping. The Oakley shop is always worth a visit. That building remains impressive. The Oakley history lane hasn't changed much but is still cool to see. At least we took plenty of photos of all the stuff they had on display. What's next?

Coffee at 4pm with Brad McDonald in Aliso Viejo. New area for Vital's Brad. Coffee shop closed as soon as we got there (come on!!!!!??) so we talked for hours on end at Brad's new pad. From Moto to BMX to MTB. Vital BMX is no more, but MTB and Moto are going strong. It was too late by now to go see Keith Mulligan on the way home but we had plans for the next day.