What’s the first trick that you’ve learned?

I believe I learned a one-footer and a no-footer early on. I was a young racer and loved stepping outside the normal track behavior with a few tricks. 

What’s the most difficult trick that you’ve learned?

A proper turndown that is properly clicked took me longer to learn than any other trick. However, the most difficult as far as risk level and quite confusing to figure out was a flair double tailwhip. 

What is the most memorable moment you have from riding?

I categorize my bmx memories into a few areas of life and two really stand out to me. The BMX competition memory is my first gold medal at X Games. No one expected me to be a podium finisher with guys like Tabron, Robinson, and Bestwick on the ramp. The feeling of of being the underdog that’s hungry to prove yourself and winning the biggest comp of the year is overwhelming. It felt like a long shot to add my name to the short list of X Games vert gold medalists behind Hoffman, Mirra, and Bestwick.

My BMX memory that fulfills me so much more than any comp win was riding a demonstration at the Target House at Saint Jude’s Children’s Hospital. My tricks didn’t bring a medal or a paycheck. It brought excitement to the kids and put smiles on their faces. Our crowd was a group of children with cancer and after we rode I was sitting next to Mat Hoffman with Santa hats on passing out gifts to the kids. I learned a valuable lesson while visiting St. Jude’s, my passion and talent has the ability to make other people happy. BMX is fun and can be a doorway for me to travel around the world sharing the fun with people that can’t do what I do. 

Referring to the accident in X Games 17, what could you have done differently to avoid the accident from occurring? or to minimize the outcome?  

My crash in 2001 at X Games 17, I broke my femur from a 25 foot belly flop. The belly flop was actually planned as a way to spread the impact across my whole body as I hit the transition. Unfortunately, I was still moving my leg to twist my body into position and my right knee touched the ramp first breaking my leg. I should have tapped my brakes after landing my 70 foot double flip. I got a little too excited to win and hit the quarter faster than I had all week. Oops, lesson learned. 

My crash in 2015 an hour before the comp started with very few people on the ramp with me or even watching us practice is the bad one. I didn’t trust my gut, my muscle memory as I was heading up the quarter pipe. At the last second my mind flashed to the previous year when I almost hung front wheel on the deck in the middle of a front flair. So I pulled out extra hard into the trick and when I spotted my landing… it was almost flat ground and still 30 feet away from me. I had to jump off my bike and reposition myself to land on my feet rather than my face and wait for the impact. I have my POV GoPro footage of that crash but that’s the only evidence of that fall that shattered my heels, broke my back, and tore my ACL. It’s nice not having that on YouTube to watch me break myself off. 

What advice would you give to current BMX athletes in terms of safe BMX riding that could contribute to a long-lasting career?

A few things come to mind when I think of my 20 year career and what I could give as advice. 

First would be to have fun with your riding and your style. If you chase other riders style and tricks it will become more of a job than a passion you love doing every day. 

Second, protect yourself. Wear the right pads and a good helmet. The riders that made fun of me for wearing pads were pro 1-5 years and could not take the injuries so they quit. 

Third, is more for the rider that starts competing. Try to think through your tricks once you learn them to also learn how to safely get out of those tricks if they go wrong. I learned to crash tricks in the beginning, middle, and end to reduce the chances of a serious injury. This obviously works better in a foam pit and since I lived near Woodward I had access to a pit regularly. 

What advice would you give to someone who wants to start biking?

Build a foundation of basic freestyle techniques and skills. You will not only be better off than most other riders but you’ll also have more fun because you can ride any spot you show up to ride. Learn to truly pump all size transitions, learn to find unorthodox lines, figure out the tricks that are timeless (table top, lookback, turndown, tuck no-hander, etc). Take a look at Brian Foster and see how much fun he’s still having on his bike after quite a few years of shredding. Last but not least, go out and ride with your friends a lot.