And that's a wrap! But not before one more run in the morning dodging the homeless along the riverbed. That got squeezed in before we checked out at Solarena and headed for Denny's on Main/Ellis for breakfast. 'All American slam' for me please with coffee. Philip had pancakes and a slam. Couldn't finish it, I couldn't help finish it either. $38 bucks later we hit the 405 North. It looked like we had enough time to go see Pete D over at Chase Bicycles and so we did. The Torrance area has some BMX history with BMX Action based there. We didn't actually go see the building or dive in the dumpster for photos.
Traffic wasn't too bad for a Monday morning. We stopped at a gas station to prepare the car for drop-off. Removed the Twin Air/FATBMX/Flame Trails stickers, cleaned the ironside, double checked all doors for phone cables etc. The return at Dollar rental was easy. No extra $urprise$ after that. Not coming back though, we'll choose a different option next time. We hopped on the bus to the LAX terminal. Got dropped off at the wrong one, but still had time to check in. We were able to check in the hand luggage suitcases too for free so we only had the backpacks to take through security. Easy peasy. Spent some time in the lounge, ate some more even though we weren't hungry but you never know what the airplane food looks like. We both had a window seat each and an empty seat next to us for the 11 hour direct flight home. Could have been (a lot) worse.
All this time we'd been staying just around the corner from Sheep Hills. With no big plans for Sunday, another morning run was decided on, to Sheep Hills. On the way there along the riverbed the cops had arrested a homeless man, I saw a Pelican, and one of the homeless people rode past me at full speed on an electric bike! I wondered how he charges that thing.
I got to Sheep through a back entrance. It was muddy but I knew where I needed to go. Made it there and saw the puddles in between the jumps. It wasn't rideable but it didn't look too bad. A few days later more rain made sure that a quick fix was out of the question. It's a bummer for all the workers and riders that they have to deal with this during the winter months. Free fitness/boot camp/workouts coming soon.
Friday morning and off to Anaheim in the morning for Supercross media day. We had passed by this Shepard Fairey mural all week and decided to stop for a minute to take a few pics. It wasn't as short as a Max Verstappen pitstop but we didn't waste much time adding the images to the camera. Picked up the media passes and left some stroopwafels that we had still left. The ladies at the welcome office were stoked. We strolled around the pits and saw the paddock being put up.
Red plate holder Aaron "the cowboy" Plessinger was seen walking around with a horse at the KTM rig. There's a first for everything. Honda HRC had called all the media for a brunch meeting as Dakar winner Ricky Brabac was on hand to talk about his 2024 Dakar rally experience.
Day 9. The usual morning rituals but this one included getting gas at Arco. Gas is cheaper when you pay cash. Never heard of that one before. 0.89c per gallon in 1990. Now $4bucks. Still half the price of what we pay in Europe so just fill 'er up! We'd been walking in and out companies hoping for the best. Philip had spotted Gunther Werks Porsche in HB so we passed by there. The sign said, no visitors/tours so we drove on.
Then just around the corner we spotted an ASV van. The driver looked like Bob Morales. I asked Philip to see where ASV is and it was just a few minutes away. Bob had his hands in, or was the starter of, many early BMX Freestyle projects. He toured with Bob Haro, started MF (Morales-Fiola), Dyno, the American Freestyle Association (AFA), Kore products and later on Morales flatland bikes. We had never met in person. Bob is running ASV inventions, a big player in the motocross world. Bob made time for us which was cool as it happened unexpectedly. We had just met one of the pioneers of BMX Freestyle by accident.
After their GT days Bob Hadley and Billy Griggs had moved over to Razor where the both of them had been working on cool toys. Billy's latest project is the fun Stage2 e-dirt bike. We were lucky to catch Billy in the office as he had planned to have a test riding session with Barry Nobles that day.
Day 8. Past halfway. But going strong. As mentioned, the YT MTB session with Mapstone, Van Schie, Zeiss, Philip and Maddog was rained out unfortunately. Albert Hammond was so wrong when he wrote this song: 'It Never rains in Southern California'. But it was a nice day out today as we jumped aboard the Ford Escape. On this 'extra day' we had a few things on the agenda starting off with a surprise visit to Keith Mulligan's pet shop in Laguna. You should have seen his face...haha. Foreigners walking in the door on a Wednesday morning. On Keith's advice we stopped by the Troy Lee Designs store in Laguna Beach. Half museum, half shop. TLD is a staple in BMX/MX and everything that has an engine or people who want to stand out from the pack. Many TLD painted helmets, paintings, and race suits were on display. If you're ever in the area, give it a visit.
While at home we connected with some people to see if they would be around when we were in Cali. One of them was the Godfather of BMX Freestyle; Bob Haro. We sent a message in the morning, but sending a message isn't as simple as it used to be. A message on X? email? DM on Instagram? At what account? Through Facebook messenger? Text message? WhatsApp? It's easy to get lost. Simply put, Bob had not received the message and wasn't at the office in Cardiff by the Sea. We checked at his local Mexican lunch place but it looked like we had to make our own lunch plans.
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.