BMX Weekly

Alan Foster Podcast up next. Alan talks about moving to California, working at a bike shop, living at the POW house, riding Twin Palms, riding for Elf, TNT, Airwalk, Schwinn and Free Agent. We talk about Alan winning his first AA race at the ABA Del Mar Nationals in San Diego, being in the mid 90s when sponsorships and the industry caught a good wave, with magazines, company cars and plenty of opportunities as a pro rider. We also talk about training in the 90s, being race-smart and reading the race. Alan talks about transitioning into the business side of the industry with Airwalk while still racing, buying houses and schools and really setting himself up for his post-racing career and being wise with his money. We talk about current times, riding bikes, traveling, Dirty Fest and much more.

Good to sit down with Clive Gosling over the weekend while he is in California for the week and catch up on everything GT since he took the new role 6 months ago as the global head of marketing for the brand. Clive talks about his history with GT that goes back to 1984 through the 90s and onto today and plans moving forward. I'm also happy to announce and stoked that I will be working once again with Clive, Steve Spencer and GT with my Grass Roots and Team programs with some really cool things in the works on the race front in North America over the next few years which we talk about on the Podcast. We talk about GT's Kye Whyte after his World Cup win going into this summer's Paris Olympics, GT's presence in the UK and France, some of the riders, programs and teams GT supports in racing. Clive also gives us his thoughts on marketing, branding, sponsorship, social media, MTB, Wyn Masters, Tyler McCaul and more. PC: BMX.Photos

Kiyomi has been on the short list for a few years now to do a podcast and last week we finally sat down and recorded one which was Kiyomi's first ever podcast. Kiyomi tells us about growing up at Camp Pendleton (San Diego) with his mom and brother, discovering BMX in 77 and first racing in 79 in El Cajon. Racing in the SD area at Rancho, Lakeside, and Kearny - meeting Johnny Johnson, progressing through the local ranks to expert, racing every day of the week including trips to the Orange Y and seeing all the factory riders that were winning Nationals at the time. We talk about sponsorship, riding for local teams like Hidden Valley Bicycles with Shawn Texas, moving onto the Torker Support team, looking up to guys like Eddy King (Factory Torker at the time.) Kiyomi talks about his first National win, still struggling to get support and the frustrations that came with it and quitting for awhile, going to school, working and coming back to riding and racing in the late 80s in the 17 and over x class and getting on Peddle Power, Tech and later Redline and Haro. We talk about Kiyomi being up for Am titles, turning Pro, riding for Parkpre, racing mountain bikes, winning the ABA Pro Cruiser title before catching the mid 90s wave of BMX on the up, getting on Trek and being one of the highest paid AAs at the time. We talk about Kiyomi's other Pro Cruiser titles, World Championships Mains and his first AA Win alongside being the rider/team support for Oakley. We talk about being let go mid-season on Trek, going back to Haro, racing the Vans Triple Crown, retiring, coming back to race Vet/Masters in 05 and winning the NBL Masters title, riding MX these days and working at Magnaflow in San Diego for over 25 years now and counting. We also talk about some of the magazine covers Kiyomi has had, riders he looked up to, his riding style, training and so much more. Photo: @usabmx

Great to catch up with my friend Joey Albright while he was out in California with his son TJ for the 250 West Coast Supercross Series. I became friends with Joey in the 2000s and we raced together in Vet Pro; since then I've always followed what he’s up to through social media. Joey talks about getting into BMX racing at the Jockey Hill and Kingston tracks (just outside New York) and racing both ABA and NBL. Joey talks about meeting the Henderson family, progressing to racing Nationals in the 90s while riding for Dans, battling with Colin Proctor, Timmy Sonner and Mike McGonigle in Am, getting suspended and eventually turning Pro. We chat about him moving onto Felt, GT, Madera Profile, Haro, Fly Racing A Pro and later Vet Pro and some drama with John Purse - once in Rockford and an incident at the NBL Grands. We hit on some of Joey's highlights in racing including winning the NBL Vet Pro title the final year of NBL in Kentucky. We move into talking about Joey's son TJ's BMX career, winning at a young age, getting into dirt bikes and climbing the ranks, the cost and sacrifices of it all and how much some families plow into racing and training on the MX circuit; TJ making his way to Pro and signing this year with West Coast Supercross for the Rock River Yamaha team. Great to catch up with Joey, to talk BMX and moto, what BMX racing could maybe learn from moto in media, the depth of US Pro racing and so much more. Photo: @rockriveryamaharacing

New Year Podcast with Dr. J and Jorg de Louw in the back of the van. Just a quick one this time: Are we kooks for watching old races on YouTube? We talk about team changes and why some riders are let go as late as last week with not much time to put a new deal together. Jorg gives us a little history on the inception of the UCI World Cup in 1995 and some of the behind the scenes stuff he and Gerrit Does did to get the series up and running, working with the UCI. We discuss how the series evolved and changed over the years, including Downhill BMX events and some of the World Cup winners in the pre-Olympic era. Jorg talks about some of the stuff he's been up to while in California for the holidays and a little about which Dutch men and women are looking good for qualifying as we go into the Olympic Year. Cheers!

Next up on the Podcast, Eddy King and I sat down with the 3rd ever ABA National number 1 Amature, Jason Wharton. This was recorded last week while Eddy and Jason were in town for a mountainbike race. Jason talked about starting racing in Arizona, the local scene, progressing, riding for JMC and tripling at the 81 Grands, and in the process becoming the ABA Am number 1. Jason talked about getting on Diamond Back with the likes of Eddy, Harry Leary, Doug Davis, Pistol Pete, and Jason's dad becoming the Team Manager as well during the 80s. We also chatted about some of the riders Jason battled with from Monty Gray, Jeff Moten, Jason Jenson, Eddie Sigmund, Robert Swick just to name a few. We talked Jason about being on Diamond Back, traveling the country, winding down racing, life after BMX, becoming a barber, and family man and mountain biking. Check it out. Photo: USA BMX

End of Season Catch Up Podcast with Dr. J. We talk about Summer Camps, Dr. J's new job, Pro racing at the Grands, Alec Bob winning the UCI Pump Track World Championships, Sam Willoughby parting ways with the Australian National Team, Barry Nobles' Social Media, and has Harry Leary been canceled? A little scoop for 2024, and more. Photo Credit: Fifteen BMX

This podcast has been in the works for a few years now with Crit Plate's Mike Rodrigues. Mike literally flew into town to do this, and not only did we record a podcast but he also hung out for the day and started to put some ideas together to work together for our teams and grassroots programs for 2024. Mike also donated custom plates for our upcoming 2nd Annual British BMX Hall of Fame with 01 plates for next weekend's event over in the UK. We talk all things Crit plates on this Pod from starting in 1980, growing Crit and sponsoring some of the biggest Pros and Teams of the 80s and 90s including Murray, Blue Max, Charles Townsend, Todd Slavik, Eric Rupe, Shelby James and Todd Lyons just to name a few. Mike talks about Crit's rivalry with Zeronine, paying riders $2500 for getting a Magazine cover and UGP coming into the plate game. We talk about Crit plate sponsoring the 1992 NBL Grands until Mike got to the track and saw GT banners everywhere and chasing down Bob Tedesco to find out what was going on. We talked about his hiatus from BMX to coming back in 2009 and so much more. Check it out.

A couple of weeks ago Kenny Hunter and I headed up to Temecula to meet up with Maris Strombergs to shoot some photos at the pump track then headed over to his house to film an interview. We talk about Maris getting back into BMX a little more lately, coaching and potentially working with China on their BMX program alongside thoughts on today's racing, some of the guys on top at the moment in the Elite class going into Paris in 2024. We turn back the clock a bit and talk about Maris moving to the US after winning the 08 Olympic Games, battling with Kyle Bennett and Randy Stumpfhauser for the ABA Title, the London Games, not worried about having guys like Sam Willoughby and Mike Day behind him on a 3rd straight on any Supercross track, playing golf, having kids and much more. Photos, filmed and edited by: Kenny Hunter

On this Podcast we catch up with Clive Gosling, who was out in California last week visiting from the UK. Clive has just taken on a full time position at GT working with the brand directly in California and gives us a little insight on the job and his own history with GT that goes back to the 80s and 90s, in BMX and MTB, right up to current times, working with the likes of GT's Olympic Silver medalist Kye Whyte in the UK. Clive also joined photographer Kenny Hunter and I last weekend as we road tripped to Frogtown. We touched on the weekend and perhaps ideas for a Frogtown UK in the future. Paul Roberts joins us during the Podcast and talks about his own history with Clive that goes back to racing in London together in the 80s, the rivalry and both Paul and Clive being two of the guys that were part of the UK King of Dirt early days series during the Nationals, and some of the names that emerged from that series, including X-Games Gold Medalist Stephen Murray. It's always comedy having Clive and Paul together. Check it out.

Photo: Kenny Hunter New Podcast posted and this time with a good friend of mine and lead singer of the Guana Batz, Pip Hancox. Pip talks about getting into BMX in the UK and racing at Eastway, Earls Court when the sport was in its infancy and riding with guys like Marcus Rich and Tim O’Shea. Pip tells us about leaving school in the early 80s, the start of the Guana Batz, touring, making records and traveling the World with the band. We talk about Pip meeting Guana Batz fan Neal Wood and his brother, moving to the US, his love for riding bikes alongside witnessing the Harry Leary and Chris Moeller fight in Reno. We touch on living in Temecula, training Motocross/SX riders, Coffee Club, touring Europe with the band this year, Van life and so much more.

The UCI Worlds from Glasgow, Scotland are done and dusted. Lots to talk about and while everything is fresh, I met up with Tyler Brown bright and early Monday morning to record a Podcast and get straight into it. Check it out.

Just completed a Podcast and catch up with Tyler Brown over at San Diego BMX. We talk all the latest with our summer camps, State Championships at San Diego BMX coming up in October and what Tyler has planned with the Holeshot Challenge. As the UCI World Championships are about to get underway in Glasgow, Scotland - we talk about who's looking good going in, how the Elite and Masters classes are stacking up and a little throwback to when both Tyler and I were racing the Masters World Championships ourselves in the past. Check it out.

Continuing Podcasts with former teammates - this time I dive into the career of In-Hee Lee. In-Hee chats about getting into BMX riding for Canyon Bikes before getting picked up on CW with teammates Jason Donnell, Justin Green, George Seevers, Robert MacPherson, Eric Carter, Charles Townsend and Todd Lyons. We talk titles and In-Hee tells us about some of the National Age Group and Cruiser titles he's won. Racing the World Championships and winning 7 of them and some of the battles he had overseas from Holland's Robert de Wilde, Chile's Jaquin Ramolfo, and France's Florent Poussin. Worlds battles, alongside In-Hee being one of the youngest riders to jump the huge doubles at the 90 World Championships in France. In-Hee shares about getting picked up by GT, his relationship with Rich Long, going shopping at the GT Factory and traveling the World with the likes of Gary Ellis, Danny Nelson, Anthony Reyes, and Alexis Vergara just to name a few. In-Hee talks about taking his education seriously, injuries, family, rivals racing for Free Agent towards the end of his career and more.

New Podcast and this episode is with Mr. Barry Nilson. Barry discovered BMX in Southern California in the Summer of 76 and talks about the early days racing all over SoCal in the late 70s right up to still riding today and his BMX journey along the way. We talk about what it was like living and racing in the Hot Bed of BMX, being an Orange Y local, right up to being on the gate for the last ever race on the track and its closing in 2016. Barry talks about some of the teams he rode for from RP Racing, S&M, 3-D Racing, Shimano/GT, GT, Haro, Answer, Fullerton Bike alongside some other teams right up to these days with his own company, EKG Bikes. We talk about Barry not only being an Orange Y Local but also a Sheep Hills regular and all of the riding spots that were around at the time. Barry talks about some of the ABA Cups he has won, riding and being tech service at the races for Shimano with his good friend Chad Roberts, clips coming into BMX, photos he's had in BMX Action, Racing Vet Pro and just missing out on the title at the Grands. We talk about what Barry is up to these days, riding at Dirty Fest, the new 56 and over class and much more. Thanks, Barry. I thoroughly enjoyed hanging out and talking.

Catch-up with BMX pioneer and Hall of Famer, Byron Friday. Byron was truly at the start of BMX in the early 70s, rode and worked for iconic brands over the decades and even went to school with motocross legend Johnny O’Mara. Byron talks aboutbtraveling to Holland in the 80s to stay with Gerrit Does (the Godfather of European BMX), going to England to ride and conduct training schools at Iswich, hanging out with Craig Schofield, partying at the Hippodrome, drinking pints of Lager and Lime in London’s King Road. I share about my time staying with Byron in LA when I first moved to the US full time in the 90s, doing gates with Byron, Greg Hill and Harry Leary at Greg’s house and riding in Greg’s backyard and the local LA trails. Byron touches on the early days in mountain bikes, riding with John Tomac, racing Norba’s and working for Mountain Bike Action as mountain biking was blowing up. Byron also chats about a lot of the early day photographers and behind-the-scenes in both BMX and mountain bikes, Cherie Currie lead vocalist of The Runaways, Dirty Fest and more.

Next up on the Pod, we've got George Costa from Rennen Design Group. George gives a little background on Rennen from its inception right up to current times with products, sponsorships, and winning team titles. We also talk about the current landscape on the team's front on the National circuit and that of the race industry, the R/T Podcast George hosts with Tangent's Rich Pelton, the future for Rennen and even a little F1 talk. Check it out on BMX Weekly Apple and Spotify. Links below. Cheers

Dr. Jason Richardson and I sat down this week and recorded a Podcast with Erik Simmons (The AQUAMAN) out here in San Diego. We talk to Erik, now 54, about his BMX career from New Jersey in 1979 as a kid, moving out West and eventually making his home in San Diego and getting to ride with the likes of Eddy and Mike King, Shaun Texas, Doug Davis, Kiyomi Waller just to name a few during those early SD years. Erik talks about turning Pro in the 90s and making his way to AA and turning quite a few heads during his time in Pro alongside some of the ups and downs of AA. We talk about Erik coming back to BMX with his children during the Covid times hitting the Nationals, some of the riders he races with in a very competitive 50-54 x class and Cruiser these days. Of course we hit that well-known and documented 1993 Reno A Pro Main with Chis Moeller with crashes, moonwalks, a heated team manager jumping on Moeller at the finish line and so much more. Cheers to Erik and Jason. I really enjoyed this one. Check it out.

This week we are catching-up with Toby Henderson at Box who gives us a little insight on everything Box, from its history to what's new and why he decided to introduce Oversized Technology to BMX Race and what Box has in the pipeline. Toby also talks about the state of the BMX industry due to the pandemic, the after effects, how the industry is looking now with everyone sitting on stock and the outlook from his perspective moving forward. Toby also talks about some of his own history from Raleigh, Hutch, SE, moving into mountain bikes and everything he's learned from his experiences as a racer and how he uses it today in business. We also talk about Frogtown, Dirty Fest, Race Inc, BMX Action, Racing at Slagharen 83 Worlds, Bercy France, Pro Elite Racing these days and more.

Next up, we're catching up with Robert de Wilde (Afro Bob), starting when Robert came onto the international scene - winning 16x at the 1993 UCI World Championships in Holland, beating top Americans In-Hee Lee and Alexis Vergara in the process. Robert talks about getting on GT Europe, racing Junior, then Elite in Europe, and easing into some racing in the US; winning the European, World Cup and UCI Worlds in a dominating 1999 in Vallet, France, memorably passing Christophe Leveque in the last turn We talk about Robert's full move to the US traveling with the GT US team, racing the Vans Triple Crown winning the Mt. High round, racing UCI downhill races at Woodward and also X-Games and feeling comfortable on the new downhill format at the time. We talk about the mid 2000s, Robert moving into the Olympic era winning World Cups, injuries, racing the Beijing Games, making a run for London, retiring and what he's up to these days coaching and training riders and everything he does at the Bellflower track. Of course we touch on the 02 ABA Grands main and the 2nd turn drama with Warwick Stevenson, his thoughts on it and so much more. Check it out.