02 02 10
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Circus Skatepark Jam and Jeff Kocsis at Rays
The Circus jam was a couple weeks ago and Jeff Harrington put together a little documentary of the weekend. I was watching it yesterday and had no idea that Jeff Dowhen went out there. Pretty stoked on his bunny-hop 540 attempt into the micro mini towards the end. Check it....some really good stuff went down. If you're in or around Chicago, Circus Skatepark is well worth checking out. Good times.
Circus Skatepark Sideshow contest from Jeff Harrington on Vimeo.
Jeff Kocsis' team came in 2nd in the Ray's Odd (bmx and mtb) Couple video contest over the weekend. Sadly, Jeff got worked after filming about 4 clips, so Kris Marcum subbed for him. Luckily, Kris (and Adam Hauck, the mtb guy)both shred. Hope your ankle feels better soon, Jeff. Here's the video:
2nd Place Ray's Odd Couple 2010 - Adam Hauck, Kris Marcum, & Jeff Kocsis from RaysMTB on Vimeo.
02 01 10
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Mike Hinkens!
1.This is your second semester in Nicaragua. Seems like this one is going to be a little smoother than the first. What are the differences? It was a culture shock in the beginning right?
I did not leave the United States to have 'more fun.' I left to figure some things out...'things' includes quite a bit ranging from meaning in life, to relationships, to the future of my life in BMX, to teaching, to a new culture...and wow, did I do some figurin' out! I must say, the last semester here in Nicaragua was one of the hardest and loneliest periods of my life. Each day was different and some were very difficult to make through. I often found myself wanting to give up...but I did not. And I pushed through realizing then and now that I would only learn and become a stronger person after all of this. Honestly, some days it felt like punishment...me atoning for some of the past sins I have made...and coming from a non-religious person, you would say Karma maybe...Either way, it has been an invaluable experience...
Returning home for a month over winter really changed my perspective. As I had never really 'moved' from Milwaukee, only traveled extensively, when I got here, it felt like my past life was gone, dead, over...This winter showed that it was far from dead. Planning a jam, shooting photos and videos, and seeing old friends and family made me realize: this is just a chapter. And it also made me realize that I have much more to write here in Nicaragua but also MUCH more to write in Milwaukee. This summer will see me returning full force to the Milwaukee scene with numerous events and jams that I have been planning in my downtime here.
This next 5 months though are already a different story. I bought a car with a neighbor and my girlfriend who moved back here with me. Those two things have changed my perspective here and are allowing me to LIVE more than just survive like last semester. The spartan life I lived last semester, in comparison to what I am used to, strengthened me, but I am glad to be more free again and have someone to share things with. Where it seemed there was too much time and nothing to do last semester, now, as I like it, I have too much to do, time is flying, and I keep moving as fast as possible to keep up.
2.And the Madera trip down there...give me the details. I know it was becoming kind of stressful to organize?
The trip is not the only thing that is stressful. Life in general since my return here has been WAY more stressful. Its strange to say, but without stress I feel my life is boring...Let me justify that saying that I don't like unneeded stress, but rather, I like to be busy. To be moving. To be doing constructive stuff and last semester I had two stresses. Adjusting to life down here...which was actually me SLOWING down and also, being a first year teacher. This semester, I have less time since I am doing more: being with the girlfriend, having more visitors, exploring more with the car, riding my bike....etc. So, I am back to a more normal level of business, business that I like, but that is piled onto the new culture and 1st year teaching stress...translation: i am sooooooo busy now. Add into that, trying to plan an international trip with bike riders from multiple teams and multiple states and its a huge mess.
Sadly, it has been tougher to recruit people to come here than I expected. Family has come a lot, yet friends have been bailing. I know international travel is not easy nor cheap, but I have pretty much written a detailed instruction manual for my friends on how to get here and though most of the Madera team is coming some other people I expected to come are not. Take money out of the equation and add in the help I have been offering by holding people's hands and I wonder: "what the hell is wrong with people?" All you have to do is come up with liek 500$ in the next 6 months and you can come to a foreign country, see all sorts of crazy stuff, and see close friends...Ah well. I suppose even with travelers, people who "leave their bubble" still have limits...
On the up side, Dave McDermott, Aaron Bostrom, Conall Keenan, Jeff Dowhen, Rob Dolecki, Brian Kachinsky, Jeff Kocsis, and Wade Young all are planned to arrive here in the end of March for 9 days. Some are world travelers and some are embarking for the first time, BUT, after securing a flat bed truck to be our transportation...and that is legal...I am sure that my plans for different beach journeys, bmx excursions, and volcano hike will come together. I figure, hey, with 10 bmx dudes, it will be fun no matter what...as long as we do not go to jail!
3.Lastly, I thought the conversation we had the other day about the rental was pretty sweet. Fill us in with how you're getting it...
Well, even though I just bought a little suzuki sidekick, with 10 dudes and a couple Nica riders, we are gonna need something a bit bigger. I did some research and found that a European looking van which might accommodate 10 and bikes would be over a 1000$ per week so I was a bit worried. Then I realized, here, you can legally ride in the back of pick-up trucks so I figured we could just rent a pick-up, and pile in the back...BUT, THEN, I was picked up the other day by a friend who was driving a mid-size work truck...not a pick-up, but rather an open bed work van/truck. For the same price as a pick-up, we can rent this truck where we can literally all jump in the back and have lounging room with 15 bikes. The weather is great so it will be a comfortable ride as well. The only catches: Its manual on the steering column which I have no idea how to drive and it is about 20 years old so its a bit sketchy...hopefully we can make it!
This is not the actual truck, but its the same thing...minus the political rally inside! And I hope the ice cream guy will be following us as well!
Hey man, in addition to my interview, you can link to this where I just put up a little post of me getting wrecked....hope you like it. Mike
01 27 10
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Odd Couple Contest
Just got an email yesterday from Lil Jeff. Looks like he got invited out to that Odd Couple jam at Ray's MTB park coming up soon. Should be a pretty sweet deal. Have you ever seen Jeff Ride a park? Its pretty amazing. The dude is seriously consistent. Good luck man.
01 26 10
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McDermott in Dig
So the new Issue of Dig shows up in the mail. Considering that its jammed packed with plenty of sweet articles, I ended up taking it home, reading it, and forgetting to bring it back today to scan for the news. Then I remembered that Degroot posted up something on Deco about it last week--low and behold, it held the scan I was looking for:
Dave McDermott. Downtown Orlando, with a hop over smith treading water. Inquire within. This, as usual, is an amazing issue.
