Wow. That`s all I have to say about today. I spent the whole day at the skatepark and had a BLAST! SOO much fun. I actually got my 360`s dialed again and whipped a couple over a sweet little box jump. Nutted up and got an old trick out that garnered some "oohs" and "ahhs" from some of the younger guys...a well delivered, tweaked out tire grabber never fails to impress.  A few more trips out and I`ll have my turndowns clicked, too.



I love bmx.

When I was a kid, the only time you actually "practiced" at the track was a race day, or the occasional gate practice day. Most of our riding was done around the neighborhood streets and dirt jump trails. that`s where you learned to bunnyhop higher, and farther. It`s where you learned to ride a wheelie just a little farther than your friends. It`s where you learned to get more and more air from whatever jump or makeshift lip you could find.



It`s where you grew your nuts.





I just got a new street/park/trails bike. It took a long time to find one because I wanted something fairly long, like my race bike. most dirt jump bikes are barely 20" top tube, maybe the occasional 20.5". My race bike is 21.75, and I wanted something closer to 21". Enter the Eastern Jane. A GREAT complete bike for the money, and the perfect size for me. I hopped on it once I had it built and it felt SO much more comfortable than the bike it is replacing. I spend 5 days a week on my race bike to have it feel so sweet. This bike felt like home from the very first pedal.





I`m going to be spending a great deal of time just riding urban street and trails for a while now that I`m not on a 2600 dollar purebred race bike. I`m on an all chromoly bike I won`t feel guilty about taking some chances on, and pushing my limits again. Growing my nuts again. And I can`t WAIT. I love BMX so much, and I really missed just getting on my bike and riding wherever my feet took me. Racing is demanding, and requires a great deal of energy. Free riding is exactly that; free. You get to go out and just ride.



And that, my friends, is what made me love BMX to begin with.

SO if you take a look at the pic of my new number plate you`ll notice something. It`s black with white numbers. In the ABA that means one of two things. It`s either a national number, or it`s a pro number. Well, I missed a substantial portion of last year so it`s sure not a national number.



That`s right!! JeffB joined the Vet Pro class! For no reason other than to grab a lifelong dream I turned pro. It`s not like the competition in the amateur class wasn`t there. Hell, I`m sure some of the top guys in my am class could easily hang in Vet Pro. I just didn`t want to leave the sport wondering how well I *could* have done. I raced my first pro race this past weekend, and it opened my eyes to several things. Mainly it showed me it was time to shift my training focus back to my weaknesses instead of elevating my strengths even more. I had a good first moto, and went into the second feeling like I had something to prove. Well, I proved something all right. I proved I could flip the starting gate and get dead last. Actually, I was just trying too hard, plain and simple. I got a SMOKING holeshot in moto 1 and actually had the lead for a bit. I was trying to do even better and it bit me.



Not sure when my next pro race will be, hopefully Florida. If not, it will be the ABA grands.