Christmas 1976
Now Playing: Johnny Cash God's Gonna Cut You Down
It dawned on me Thursday morning that I was coming up on an anniversary. On Christmas morning, 1976, I received my very first BMX bike. It looked like this:

This photo isn't of my actual bike, but it was nearly identical, except for the grips, I believe. It was called the "Silver Fox". I believe this same bike had more than one name that it was sold with, depending upon where you bought it. It's hard to see, but the handlebar clamps are actually U-bolts. They didn't hold very well and they dug big grooves into the bars. I found out a few years ago that these bikes (mine was purchased at Montgomery Ward) were made by a company that made mini-bikes and go-carts. I entered my first race in May of 1977 on this bike and got my ass kicked by all the kids on "rigid" bikes, which were already the norm by then. Bikes with shocks had been popular on the downhill tracks of Southern California in the mid-70s and my only point of reference for BMX were some motorcycle magazines that had occasional articles on BMX and a book I had from 1974 called "How to Win Bicycle Motocross" which had all kinds of crazy, experimental bikes with shocks and various gizmos. Everything was new then. This bike weighed almost 60 pounds (I weighed about a hundred, maybe). Bikes were all different then and if nothing else, they were interesting. Bikes are so much better now but they are pretty boring to look at. A crazy thing about that book is that I now know the guy that was on the cover! Obviously, if I got my first BMX bike in 1976, then I'm an old man in the world of BMX. I've never really freaked out about it too much, but thirty years is a long time to do anything. I'm proud that I still can and plan to continue for a long as humanly possible...
If you haven't see this, you need to. Happy Holidays to all of you, the FOD.

im up too damn late.
Ha, its like 6am and i havent slept yet. its been an on going thing as of late. Never sleeping. Ohh well, im only 19. While i was laying in my bed, i was making a couple of predictions on 2007, so here we go with a few.

Scott will make and break a "team" for Deliverance about as many times as his kid shits in a day.

I'll actually settle down and get a job.

Chris Hatfield's beard will grow long enough to where it becomes an amusment park.

Dan Closser will be still be on Lavar.

Mat Sparks will whip to double whip back.

Those are a few small predictions i have for the year to come. I've been lacking on my duty to post stuff on here, but i just forget to. So i guess to end this year off with me, ill show some pictures of me from various happenings.

This is probably the last time i rode street, or in the street actually. They were fixing a pothole right in front of my house, so i took advantage.

I went to baco this year, and bravely got over my fear of flying. This picture right here i actually put my foot down, and broke my big toe.(Which is still messed up to this day.)

In July i got to go on a trip to Boston and Pittsburgh with Tony Hamlin, Aaron Ross and Stew Johnson. This is the result of riding Primo pedals for about 5 and a half years....

And last but not least, myself and the Captain have been making it happen for a while.

I hope everyone has a save and wonderful Holiday. Thanks to everyone who has made this year awesome, and im hoping for another good year ahead. Thanks!

danewild.

Slide Show Mel
Now Playing: Wolfmother Lovetrain
Here's a LinK to a bunch of photos from the TRP mini-ramp champs event. Thanks to Joe Gall, Matt Newman and Hanan Saab for sending them over....

also...
I've decided (again) to do away with the term "team". There is no more "Team Deliverance". It's just a corny concept for what is really just an on-going art project. All the same dudes are still involved, along with all the FODs. I really like the "Friends Of Deliverance" program and I'm going to run with it. One big, un-organized, dysfunctional, family. Perfect. Look for the new icon for '07!

there is a new post below if you didn't see it already.

the idea factory
Now Playing: Transplants Killifornia
The ideas just keep coming. First it was man-bags and knives, now this, the simulated belt shirt. Much thanks to Turbo Todd for the idea...

I'm not an overtly political person, but I am aware and disgusted by a lot of what is going on in this world. I saw the new issue of Time Magazine at the dentists office the other day--"The Year In Pictures". Always amazing, but this year the photos are especially poignant. When Froseph Aredelean sent me a link to the very same photos today, I took it as a notion to lead people to them. Thanks Fro.
And speaking of photos, Joe Gall sent me a heap of them from the TRP event...

This is one of my favorites. It's Craig H from the high air event. Keep in mind he had to roll-in from the deck we are all standing on to get speed--that's a fuckin' boost right there, and he didn't even win! Brandon Dosch topped it by a couple inches. I'll post a flick R album when I get some more. There is full coverage on Team Young and Veteran BMX.

Invincible
Here is a link to a super rad video interview with Matt Sparks that Joe Gall put together. It is great.

This is Flair. Sparks does some flairs in that video but none as sweet as this one...
FOD Kelly Baker has a blog that is simply awesome. It's only been up for a week or so and he already has some insane stories written. Believe that he has a shitload more and they just get wilder! Still no pix from anyone of the TRP jam (I guess I'd better take my own at the Kzoo comp!), besides the awesome Kris K. video. Here's a shot I took today of my Honda, before Davey HK and I nearly killed ourselves trying to load it, along with the broken remains of my backyard mini-ramp, into a U Haul truck.

TRP Video
3ntropy Images Video by Kris Kunihiro. Kris K., as he is more commonly known, put together this awesome video from the TRP event. I think every person who rode that night has clips in there, including my fat ass. One funny thing, there's a part in the middle where you hear "Look out, look out!" and people yelling, then Craig H. comes flying out off the street spine and almost lands on a fat dude in a Freddy Krueger sweater. Yeah, that's me. Kris K. also rode in the jam and his last run, specifically, was the most unique, creative, insane run of the night. Kris K. rules. Thanks! Here's a shot of him from a couple months back, enhanced in the rising sun motif that he adopted as his own (note helmet).

Locals Only
Now Playing: Jawbreaker Accident Prone

The TRP Ramp Champs event was last night and it was awesome. 14 dudes signed up for the actual jam and shit was nuts. I didn't take photos since their were four other credible photogs in place (all of whom promised to send me pix--uh, guys?). Solan SF Foster brought the PA, Wane Dyld held it down on the mic, I stabbed myself in the genitalia trying something I shouldn't have and everyone seemed to be having a real good time, all without the roller-rink parking lot party plan in place. Much thanks to Solan, Dane (he also donated his own personal $25 gift certificate from Albe's), Team Young, Veteran BMX, Albe's and of course, TRP. Look for more soon, I hope. PS. As fun as the contest was, the highlight for me was riding with Solan, Dane, Joe Gall (on a tear after being pent up at a wedding all afternoon), Davey HK Coop and the Veterans for the last half hour or so after most everyone else had left. Good times on the BMXes.

church of Lungfish
Now Playing: Lungfish Idiot Vehicle

The Lungfish album Pass and Stow is one of my favorite records of all time. I actually only owned it on vinyl until a couple weeks ago, so vinyl is appropriate. I sometimes call CDs "records", which they are in a way, they are "recordings". Anyway, this album is amazing. I listened to it over and over on my trip last week. Lungfish is a very spirtual band for me. I don't pray to them or anything, I'm just very emotionally driven by their music. You can learn more about them at Dischord.
There is a great photo and an amazing video of Dane Wild on Team Young.
I received the bandanas today.

I'm pretty siked on them. I know the art is all over the board, but there aren't any rules for art. The irony of the random art is that I was really into designing patterns for a while there and that inkling was the inspiration to even do bandanas again (we did them in 2003), then I didn't even use much of a pattern. They are printed with water-based inks so they will be really soft when washed. Black on white and white on black. Sweet.

Here is a photo of my beloved helmet, once thought missing, now securely back home.

Lost
Now Playing: Howard on Sirius
I made it back from Cali, from Cali, from Cali... When I was a teen-aged BMX nerd California seemed like the Promised Land. I dreamed of someday living there, wearing slip-on Vans to the beach, hitting the BMX tracks that were on every corner and collecting parts from all of the factory pros that would be my friends, also on each corner. When you live in a town of 6,000, it's hard to imagine the density and square mileage of abosolutely solid popluated mass that is Los Angeles. I found out for myself in 1986 and held on for almost three years. I couldn't hang. I still can't hang, but for a few days at a time, California is tolerable. The weather is almost always awesome, dude. Just before I got on the plane in Detroit, that one girl who use to be on the TV show Lost walked right past me.

My wife and I love that show, but if you've ever seen it, you know it's about the survivors of a commercial plane crash and the mysterious circumstances that surround the incident and the island they crash to earth upon. I was kind of stoked for a minute, but then got kind of freaked out at the idea of her being on the same plane as me... She wasn't, and a little research from my favorite reference source. reveals that she is actually from Lake Orion, Michigan. Go figure.
Even weirder was hanging out with this dude,

Chester Bennington from the band Linkin Park. I was kind of dreading this, not being into Linkin Park in the least. I felt guilty for hating his band after a while, because the dude was super cool, his wife was really nice and they were super mellow and enjoyable.
That was a weird night in that it was so far from my normal routine, cruising around Newport Beach on the company owner's yacht with a legitimate rockstar and only a few other people (don't ask how I ended up on the list) but it was really normal at the same time.
Last year I won an award for Etnies Girl for having the most business growth in my territory. This year I finished runner-up, but I still got a sweet trophy. I'd post a picture of it, but I left it in my hotel room in California. Nice one.
The last night of the trip, FOD Dave Davenport,

(seen here hard at work at Greasy Comb Distribution, wearing a Del. Bird tee) picked me up, along with a completely dialed spare bike, and drove us in luxury over to UC Irvine. This college campus is amazing. Seriously. There is so much to ride there it would never get boring. Dave has taken me there a couple times before and we've ridden different stuff each time. It was an awesome way to end the trip and shake off the long ass days of sales meetings, new-product and bro-brahing. Thanks again, Dave, you rule.
This month marks the fourth year of the Deliverance Clothing Company. This was the very first shirt:

It's not horrible, and I like the "Live off the Land" line, but the font is pretty weak. I don't know if I actually sold one of those shirts--I think I gave them all away. This one came early on as well

and was the first stolen graphic for Deliverance. It was heavily altered--the girl was originally a dude. I've thought of re-working this one and bringing it back. I like the slogan. There are a couple new designs in the works as well.
I went up to Modern tonight and was really excited to ride. I got my bike out but couldn't find my helmet. I was freaking out, thinking I left it at Ray's in Ohio, which was the last place I wore it. If it seems unreasonable to freak out about a helmet (especially if you've seen how beat up mine is), you have to understand that I have a gigantic head and it's very difficult to get a helmet to fit me. I had a head ache when I got to Modern tonight and was looking forward to it going away after I rode for a bit (riding bikes almost always cures my ailments), but squeezing into an XL rental just gave me a new kind of headache. Let's not even talk about how disgusting it is to wear a rental helmet. If I have acne on my forehead next time you see me, you'll know why--a contagious breakout from some greasy kid's dirty wig. It sucked. I was still freaking out about my missing helmet when I got home and then remembered that I took it to California with me in case I actually got to skate the Etnies skatepark (didn't happen). Phew.
The sponsors are lining up for the mini-ramp comps (see post below). Team Young, Veteran BMX, Albes and Breakaway Bicycles in Kalamazoo have all signed on as sponsors. Both of these events should be really fun. The concept for the TRP contest is "Outside the Box", utilizing the spine-mini and the ramps directly connected to it.

The plan is to rope off the perimiter with police tape. I guess if you look at my shitty diagram, it's actually "inside the box", but my thinking was "outside the box jumps". It should be fun. Plus, you'll be able to ride the rest of the park. The TRP joint is this Saturday night, starting at 11 pm. Ten dollars. Prizes. Fun. Also, I got wind that the Police came by during the last late-night TRP event and were quite upset about some adult beverage consumption by non-adults going on in the parking lot, so don't come looking for a party. Bring your bike and your jam box. Or confetti. Maybe silly string.