I injured my shoulder while working on this video. My physiotherapist says I have supraspinatus tendinopathy and possibly a small labral tear. The precursor to this injury is two-fold: 1) Muscle loss and 2) Self-filming. In September 2020, I unexpectedly began losing muscle mass throughout my body. At my worst, I was down 10 pounds and significantly slimmer. I navigated the medical system with various specialist doctors, tests, and scans. No answer was found for the cause of my issues. In late spring of 2021, I started to see gradual improvement in my condition. Throughout the rest of the summer and fall, I rode hard to finish filming this video.
I’ve always thought of self-filming as a marathon, not a sprint. Capturing one trick can sometimes require multiple hours of attempts. Historically, I’ve prided myself on my ability to focus for long periods of time, manage my emotions, and push through pain to capture those 10 seconds of success on camera. I’ve since had a slight change in perspective. Now 3 months into this injury and another month or two of recovery ahead of me, I can admit that these marathon self-filming sessions were not healthy, especially because I hadn’t fully gained back the muscle I lost.
Contained in this video is 2 and a half years of footage which I’m excited to share with the world. More importantly though, this video contains a personal lesson: Pacing myself goes well beyond a single session. I want this one man show to continue for years to come.” -Justin Schwanke
Riding, filming, editing: Justin Schwanke
Locations: British Columbia, Alberta, and New Brunswick
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.