http://www.yardbarker.com/rss/player/58898 Recent articles about Mike Mason en-us As i sit here watching that 70's show i got to wondering whats going on with some of todays atheletes. After a few redbulls and a box of poptarts i went on a mission to get some news out of one of yardbarkers very own Bloggers. X games medalist, Dew tour regular and one heck of a freerider mike mason has his very own blog here on yardbarker but i thought i would spend some time this week harrasing mike. heres the results. Questions 1.its been a good while since you had a considerable amount of work done to your knees.lots of shows and contest since then and looking strong.how are they feeling? Knee's are about 80%, my left one that had the ACL done is fine, but my right leg is still a little sore at times. Anything is 100% better than last year though, I rode through so much pain that it made riding not fun, so now I am happy about riding again and walking like a normal human!! 2.speaking of lots of shows and contest,do you prefer to be busy riding week in and week out or would you rather have another type of schedule? I like being busy, but I think that's because it all relates around my dirt bike and my career haha. If I was busy in another type of industry I would probably be hating life. I like doing everything I can though which makes it a lot more busy for sure, wether it be media, or practice, or traveling, I always seem to keep my plate full! 3.what are your goals for the rest of the year(podiums,new songs to learn,any playmates you wanna get to know?) I would love to at least get back into contention for podiums. Right now I feel I am so far behind everyone, so I need to work really hard this summer and at least come to the contests knowing I have a chance to do good instead of excepting the fact that I'm going to be at the end of the pack. On another note, I want to master Stairway to Heaven and Sad but True on Guitar!! 4. its known that you are buddy's with mr carey hart. Is he a riding influence on you at all or just a dude you hang out with? Well I'd say for sure in his prime, he was a guy that influenced me. He always did his own thing, was cool with everyone, and made some awesome tricks up! He has helped me out a ton in my FMX career and we have become pretty good friends now. I'm actually buying a house in Vegas, I will have access to Carey's new FMX course so now I can ride Nov-March instead of sitting here in the snow. 5.who is your favorite rider to watch?anyone with a certain style you aprreciate? I love watching Bilko ride. He always scares us because he doesn't have much fear, so he's always doing gnarly stuff, even ramp to ramp on the Crusty tour, but at the same time he has fun. You can mess with him at a contest and he'll mess with you right back, he's not the guy that's in his RV rehearsing his run and ignoring everyone. I think all around he's just a kick ### kid!! 6.you have a real strong group of guys to ride with in nevada.miller, foster, burlew etc......do you think its important to have alot of people to ride with to get motivated and progress? For sure I think it is real important to have a solid group of guys to ride with. Look at the Mulisha, they have 5 solid contest guys now and they all feed off each other and keep riding better and better. It's the same with us up here. I ride with Adam Jones everyday and he is no slacker. We are out to the course and our bikes by 9 every morning pretty much Monday through Friday. It's fun though because we all have a different view and approach to the sport so I try and feed off everyone I ride with. 7. a trick your very well known for is the holygrab,mostly because you put so much style into it and throw it HUGE. is there any tricks that you dont do at all for any reason? Can flips, because I think they are ugly. There is no way to make a can flip look cool, even if you take a hand off. Also double nac's but that's my own fault. When I do a trick I like it to have some style and for some reason no matter how much I practice that trick I just cannot make it look cool, so I gave up! 8.whats the most played song on your (insert expensive media player here)lately? Fade to Black by Metallica, I'm pretty much a die hard Metallica fan so anything by them gets played over and over, but every morning when I get in my truck to go riding, Fade to Black starts my day! 9.what do you think about riders trying to make a living with filming and riding the hills for sponsor exposure and avoiding the contest all together? I love it!! I love riding contests, I'm not trying to be one of those anti-contest guys, but man with the way the judging and politics are getting it's just making it not fun for me. I love freeriding and filming and shooting photos and riding the Crusty tour, that stuff is what motivates me to get on my bike. I would love to quit contests and ride a tour and still learn all the tricks that come out just to show everyone it's not for lack of heart or skill, but just that I'm simply not having fun riding basic course and getting judged bad. 10.some up all the good things you could say about your carrer as a pro FMXer in one sentence. The best damn time of my life!! thanks mike for being so amusing. everyone be sure to check out mikes yard to see whats new with him and to compliment his writing skills Sat, 05 Jul 2008 19:44:33 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/286093 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/286093