Recently i had the pleasure to chat it up with THE top contributer to freestyle motocross news on the worldwideweb. Ryan Leyba is the big dog over at Expn.com, in charge of all moto related bussiness that goes through the site. But heres a lil secret some of you may not know. Ryan also knows how to get down on a chopped up two stroke. Back in the day the moto blogger extrordonaire was one of the founding fathers of the sport. Throwin down huge on the ramps and even cultivating some of his own tricks,wich weve all seen and crashed trying. Ryan is gonna give us a lil look into his past,his present and his future, along with the futre of E-NOT-X pn.com. And away we go...

ME:So alot of people dont even know that you used to be a top freestyle rider,how did you get into fmx,and how long ago was that like the 80's?

Leyba: Haha, ass. Ya, believe it or not, I used to one of those crazy fmx riders before I became a cubical crashing zombie. I've been riding motocross since I was 14 and I used to race very seriously. When I graduated from high school, which was in Reno, I moved to Temecula to follow my dreams of becoming the next Jeremy McGrath. I became a pretty fast So.Cal intermediate racer, and turned pro and about three races into it, I broke my wrist really bad. After that, I was just over it and so I headed to college. About two weeks into community college, I met Manny Jubala at Temecula Motorsports when I overheard him saying that he had fmx ramps at his house. When I heard that, I tripped and I was like "dude, let me hit those!" It was rad, I cruised up there on my CR125 and just started going for it. We just did it for fun, but we ended up riding so damn much and it was pretty much on from there. It was kind of one of those "right place at the right time" type of deals. Next thing you know, we were good and Bluetorch TV was up there filming 24/7. It was some old school stuff. Our main riding crew was Me, Manny, Tyler King, Kris Rourke, Mike Harris and Mike Metzger. I remember meeting Ox for the first time. He was some fat little nerd, it was rad! Hahaha

Me: nice.ive seen some vids of mannys place before.seth took a pretty hard fall there.is that place still around?

Leyba: Ya, he had ramps and he had a bunch of fun natural terrain style dirt hits. He had the huge ass famous hill landing where a lot of the OG long distance stuff went down. I think the place is still around, but it's definitely seen better days. I was actually out there about 8 months and I hit the kicker ramp on Tyler Kings bike. Good times. I still got it son! i was getting ill with it!

Me: so your all set if they have a contest for retired freestylers then

Leyba: oh, for sure. I really want to hit ramps again for fun, but I live in Brooklyn and don't own a car...so it doesn't really make too much sense to own a bike. Although, I'm going to get a Yamaha Zuma scooter, start a gang and terrorize the streets of the big apple. It's on!

Me: i heard p.diddy was rollin one of those,maybe you can be a badboy for life,just make sure if your gonna hit a kicker that its PINNED.

leyba: haha, screw P Diddy. I'll take that fool out and then jack all his jewels

Me: good luck with that,i got your back,but im on the other side of the country. Alright back to freestyle.You invented the box hanger didnt you?

leyba: ya, but that's one of the tricks I'd rather not claim. I mean, it's cool and all, but I definitely invented way more dope stuff. As some may know, I invented the Kiss of Death, Tweek Air, and believe it or not, I was the first to do a super can. Besides that, ya, I invented the Box Hanger, the Nac in the Box and the early retirement. Hahaha Me: Good to know, But i think the reason box hanger stands out is cus hardly anyone does it,wich gives you even more O.G credit.but that is alot of tricks to invent. What is the biggest trick you ever pulled before you hung up the boots? leyba: Man, at this one show in Philly - I think it was an IFMA - I pulled a damn big double grab super can. That was gnarsky yo. As far as the box hanger goes, I never got it how I wanted or thought it should be done and I haven't seen anyone do it like I think it should be thrown. I want to see someone huck it and be stretched the hell out toward the back of the bike like one of Jimmy McGuires cliff hangers. That would be the shizz. Then i wanna see it done with one foot in the box and one foot in the air. yeah

Me: ya ill put that on my list of tricks to try

leyba: sounds good, I'll wait to see the photo...without photoshop work

Me: ya right,its not a no footer then i dont do it. leyba: puss Me: says the guy who retired early leyba: i'm not a puss, I'm smart. I was young. what are some of these fools gonna do when they're 30 with no school or work experience? done! look at clifford

Me: very true.thats why i ride for fun not a check. but anyways.did you ever do any flips

leyba: no, i quit riding before flips were even done. Me: sounds like good timing. you still wanna try it though dont you?

leyba: It's crazy cause I was talking about that and I quit before there was any type of foampit for a dirtbike. Glad I did. I talk now and then (usually after a few drinks) about how I want to do it and I know I can, but you know what? I'll never try it because if I got paralyzed over something stupid like that, I'd never forgive myself. The reason I got out of FMX is because I want to walk when I'm older, if I went back and tried a flip just for the hell of it and broke myself off, it would ruin my life and I'm not about that. I'll stick to flipping beats yo

Me: thats good thinking right there, ive yet to try but i expect that if i see a foam pit around ima give it a go. Anyhow lets fast forward a bit. How did you go from freestyler to Being the number one moto juornalist at expn

leyba: Dude, it was a long road of trying different things, finding myself and paying dues. After I quit riding, I had a really hard time realizing that I was just an average joe that had to work a 9-5. It's a crazy thing that a lot of people don't think about, but when you go from making money by traveling the world and riding a dirtbike to being another nameless, faceless person in society, it's a HUGE challenge. It's crazy too, because I wasn't even big or anything. But, man, I just realized that I still wanted to do Moto stuff and so I picked up a camera and Garth Milan of Transworld taught me how to shoot photos and so I did that for a while, but it wasn't paying the bills. Garth also let me write some stories for the mag, despite the fact that I've never written anything before, let alone never even read a book! Ha. So I did that off and on, but like I said, it wasn't paying the bills. I also wasn't riding anymore so I needed to get the hell out of Temecula so I moved to Newport Beach. After that, it was just an up and down road of working parts at local dealerships and trying to stay shooting photos, hoping that would eventually pay off. I did that for years, as well as a bunch of other random industry stuff. I worked off and on for Fuel TV helping film M80 and even helped design Transworld motocross. At one point, I was so burnt out on motocross that I never wanted to be around it again, but it kept finding a way to make it back into my life. Luckily, I saw the ESPN job posting on Malakye and it was just another situation of being in the right place at the right time, you know?

Me: wow.you seem to always be in the right place at the right time. So i was wondering,what is it you do exactly for expn. Surely they dont pay you just to right a blog everynow and then do they?

leyba: Every now and then? Come on man, I know you see me updating that baby on the daily! Well, I started off as the moto blogger. I did that for about 6 months before being promoted to associate editor. Basically, I maintain the moto blog, attend all the X Games (winter and summer) producing content, and maintain the day to day elements of the site like The Wire, as well as build out pages, create top story pages and photos and all types of technical mumbo jumbo. But, now that EXPN will be no longer as of January (we're turning into ESPN Action Sports), I'll be the Moto Editor. So, basically I'll be the equivalent of a magazine editor, but for everything moto on ESPN. Each sport will basically have it's own mini site and so I'll be managing that, blogging, handling contributors, creating video and generating content - all out of my plush New York office!

Me: wow big office and a fancy title,sounds cool,i write from my couch while i watch family guy, but i do check your blog every morning.its my newspaper. So after the drastic changes to EXPN.com your gonna be even busier, doesnt leave you much time to prepare for that comeback into FMX does it?

leyba: Dude, if I could work from my couch and watch Family Guy, you best believe that's what I'd be doing! But ya, it doesn't really leave too much time for anything to tell you the truth, but it's cool. I like it that way. This is my life and so when something is such a big part of your life, you have a lot of pride in it, like I do for ESPN. I love what I do and I've worked plenty of shady jobs in my life to realize that. I couldn't be happier. Plus, I'm in New York City and every day is like a vacation. There is so much to discover in this city. My life is ESPN Moto and hip hop. That's it and I'm 100% satisfied. Let's just hope this economy gets better so I don't freaking lose my job!!! Hahaha! Me:

I heard EXPN is the most visited sports site on the net,i think your job is safe. I cant wait to see how the new sites will look

leyba: Oh man, I've seen the new site and it's soooo dope. I can't wait. It's so rad to be able to ditch the "X" and become ESPN Action Sports. We'll literally be ESPN. So when you go to ESPN, there will be an action sports tab. Everyone's going to love it and I just plan on covering FMX like I think it should be covered. It's such a rad sport and nobody has shown it the love it deserves besides maybe Freeerider MX mag out of Australia. Not Racer X, not Transworld. They've always put racing first and that's not what we're about. FMX is so much more than a sport and that's what we portray.

Lets face it. There are certain things in this world that just go together. Black and white,hot and cold,

Men and women, women and women, peanut butter and ladies......you mean jelly? Are you gonna put jelly on a lady?

Alright so ya things come in pairs,or triples on a good day. No matter what happens in this world there are two things that will forever fit together hand and hand. Moto and Music. Every single motocross video has a kickass soundtrack. Freestyle Riders do there runs to music. Most of them even listen to music while there riding. I know i do. So in honor of this i decided to ask some people what there favorite song to shred to is. Peep the list and add your own favorites if you like

Mike Mason - Metallica, Fade to black

Nikky Danielson - Eminem, Im a soldier

Taylor Woods - Bullet for my Valentine, Heart Burst into fire

Adam Jones - Metallica, Until it sleeps

Robert Distler - IMA ROBOT, Std Dance

And my personal favorite. Good Charlotte, The anthem.

There are alot of guys doing alot of different things in fmx.Adam jones pushes the over the bars flip variations. Kyle Loza has alot goin on with body varials. Scott murray has crashed on double flips in more countrys then any other human, and then there is Bilko. Blake "Bilko"williams is one of a very small few that actually do 360's,and he does them more then everyone else. He also pioneered the cliffhanger flip as well as one one only a handfull of profesional freestylers riding a 4 stroke. I got the chance to ask Bilko a few questions about a few things, and theres some surprising info in there so you might wanna check it out.

1.you just had a pretty bad fall in mexico at the X ..games.

Do.. you want to tell us a little about that,what went wrong?

yeah i hit the ground pretty hard in mexico in the best trick comp. i didnt want to go home in 4th like i do every best trick contest so i decided to do my no handed 360. all was going good i landed 4 in the warm up right before finals, but all went bad in my first run of the comp. as i left the ramp i let the bars go a little early, and unlike a backflip were the bike is heading straight, the force always wants to turn the bars back when ur spinning. so when i let go the bars turned back which pretty much stops the rotation of the 360. it went flat and came around real slow and stayed flat and i had to bail off before i landed.

2.needing surgery and not being able to ride must be really boring,what do you plan on doing with yourself in the meantime?

well i plan on staying ing america for just under 8 weeks, then move all my stuff into my new place in murrieta, pack up all my belongings and head home, leaving all my stuff here i'll need when i come back to ride so its all ready for me when i come back to compete.

3.you recently started living in california,with sincs, hows that going for you?

well i was renting a place now im buying my own, its going o.k, no place like home though. it just gets exspensive as i have to own two of everything, one in australia, one in america, if i want to travel to and from and ride.

4.your good buddy sincs has been working on double flips,do you plan on trying any in the future?

i wanted to do it a long time ago, until i got hurt at baltimore 07, i still havent fully recovered from that crash. the double flip is something i want to do, i am comfortable doing them on a mini in the pit, but for now i was working on stuff to build a more solid freestyle run, rather than a double flip that wont win best trick anymore.

5.Your one of the few riders still doing 360's,and you dont seemed to be getting scored on there difficulty as much as some think you ought to,what do you think about that?

yeah theres not much to say about the 360's credit other than the judges who score us have probably never flipped a dirt bike let alone ever tried a 360 in a pit, so they have no appreciation of how hard it is, the high risk, and how much more difficult it is to do a combo than a flip. if they thought about the numbers they might score it better, how many people have ever landed it? around 5, and its been around for about 5 years, and how many people who have landed it like doing it? none, cause its knarly..... but the judges dont get it, maybe they should ask pastrana wat he thinks of 360s

6.You used to be a racer,and now your a dominate force in freestyle,are there any other motorsports that your interested in and would like to try?

um i would like to race some sort of cars, not sure what but it would be easier on my body than fmx haha

7. So do you go to any of the natural terrain riding spots in your area or do you prefer the ramps and private courses?

well in australia there isnt too many natural terrain place i know of, but i do enjoy riding with schuie as he has a bunch of jumps at his house as well as a 120ft ramp, and down the road he has a 10 pack with doubles starting at 50ft then getting bigger till the last one which measures 115ft. iwould like to ride the hills of california in the winter but im always at home in aussie by then.

8. After all the healing and time off,when do you expect to be back to full time riding?

by end of january i expect to be back to full speed by the crusty tour in new zealand. i will be back on the bike after xmas but i have no reason to rush straight into all the knarly tricks, just ease into it and play it safe.

9. Alright theres something alot of people have been wondering about. There was talk that you were going to star in a feature movie about motocross.whats all that about?

well as far as i know its meant to be happening, i dont know too much about the whole movie and how big of a scale its going to be but i know its jon freeman from crusty and adam barker of M80 writing some crazy script, i guess its going to be like frenso smooth maybe haha but either way it should be fun to make and get a laugh out of, thats what im all about

10.Alright bilko,thanks for your time,is there anything you want to say to your fans now?

thanks for everyones support, especially my parents. all my sponsors thanks for your help this season and look forward to another great year in 09, with a happier ending..

thanks to all my fans! thats the biggest satisfaction of riding, knowing you have people cheering you, supporting you and appreciating what you do!

check out my myspace www. myspace. com/22bilko and my website www. bilko22. com for updates and pics

As im sitting on my couch browsing the web and watching Tv while im supposed to be at work today i realized something. Tv sucks. There are way to many shows with mouthy Law School Flunkies who couldnt make it as real judges that got there own court tv show. If i got watch one more middle age dropout with a bad weave tell the defendant there not as good as them because there a judge,im gonna kick a hole inmy tv. Television has a severe lack of motocross broadcast. Partly due to the fact that network bigwigs only dish out the bucks to show off the top name stars, people flipping the camera the bird might have a lil something to do with it also(todd)!!

But when Tv fails where else do you go.the internet of course. The web is a great source of entertainment,no matter what your pleasure theres always a www.adress to fulfill your needs. If your like me and crave fmx 247 then youve spent countless hours searching for good moto vids of your favorite riders.

There is one man who understands your demand and supplies the goods. Ayoutuber by the name of MulishaKid has a large selection of wonderfully edited features on several riders as well as events. Check him out,watch some vids and leave some insightful commets. Its the least you can do for this guy who spends hours slaving over his keyboard for your entertainment free of charge.

to view mulishakids youtube page click here http://www.youtube.com/user/MulishaKid?ob=1

and be sure to boycot cheesey Court tv shows in the future,FMX may depend on it

so heres the deal,mike mason has been cool enough to take time of shredding his bike and guitar to help enlighten the rest of the world on how to do one of the sweetes tricks in freesyle motocross.The Holy Grab. check out what mike has to say along with the video,take it away mike.

K here goes my best shot at explaining a holy grab haha.

Step 1: Have your double grabs and rocksolids dialed!! If you are comfortable on both these tricks Holygrabs will be a piece of cake.

Step 2: I like to get really good pop or pre load off the ramp, this helps get my feet up and into the hart attack position faster so when my hands come off there's not much more to do besides pray I find my grabs!

Step 3: Keep your hands off as long as possible. This is the only way to make this trick lots of fun!! I always wait until the last possible second to go back to my grabs. This will take time to figure out. At first you are going to want to get back to the grabs ASAP, but with confidence you will understand you have plenty of time!!

Step 4: Find the grab holes!! This is a key step in the trick, if you like your health!!

Step 5: Find the handlebars!! Yet another key step. Make sure when you pull back you go to the bars with both hands. Try not to do the ladder or walk back effect, where you go back one hand at a time. This takes more time which takes away from hanging the trick out!

Step 6: Land the motorcycle and go find a chick to makeout with!!

Love,

Mike Mason

Mike mason ladies and gentleman. personally i think noone has as much style with this trick as mason,but you all can try....look below for a kick ass vid of mason rocking this trick(20 seconds in) along with many others.

video credit is to mulishakid,check him out on youtube

Ya me too,but mine involves less taxes and more nude beaches.....ANYWAY. so Heres the thing about why i didnt do a whole big story about x games.There are a million other sites and im sure a whole lot of tv events that were covering it. So instead of numbing your mind with predictions and thoughts about up coming events i thought i would just let you all in on some of the after details. To start with i thought this years X was gonna go way different then it actually did. I was sure jim dechamp was gonna take big air gold, followed by kyle loza and todd potter battleing for second. Never one to dissapoint Jim sure did give it the good ole college try,im not sure if he went to college or not but who cares,this guy had the testicular fortitude to try a friggin front flip on a motorcycle, and unlike other nitro crew members, he did it on purpose. Kyle Loza. This kat is off his meds or something. Seriously i play more mxvsatv then anyone i know and i never thought a trick like that was gonna happen. Serious props to him. TODD POTTER!!!!GRRRRRRR. several months ago i saw a youtube vid of todd doing what i thought was a perfect 360 into a foam pit. todd has major backround in bmx and i heard he wanted to replicate a bmx style 360.which he did perfectly.Although with several months to perfect this trick into the pit, he still didnt do it .I cant blamce the guy i cant do a 360 on a razor scooter,i was just sad i didnt get to see it. so Big air didnt go anything like i thought it would,but thats what kinda cool about it. You never know whats gonna happen. Freestyle. Well what can be said about this event other then once again the biggest action sports event of the year,had the crappiest course ever. I know your thinking i dont know what im talking about. but im also a rider and could have ridden the whole course with the exception of those crazy quarter pipes. Every year ESPN dishes out more money for the event. Adds new venues and crams them into a smaller stadium. now i love racing as much as the next guy,ok so i dont but thats besides the point. supercross has several series all through the year,there is no need whatsoever for it to be at x games.NONE, with that said. Give the riders back the old courses like in 03 and before. Riders never fail to put on a show in this event. Some of the best ones had a bad run of luck. Nikki danielson and Adam jones unfortunately were injured and that just pretty much sucks.those guys are a blast to watch ride. Jeremy lusk came out on top this year followed by mat rebeaud,matt im truly sorry if i spelled that wrong.Our very own Mike Mason ladies and gentlemen came out this year with not one but 2 shiny X games medals. im really stoked about that cus i love watching this dude ride. he puts so much style into his runs its ridiculous. Twitch had a lil bike trouble wich kept him out of medal contention, it sucks but it happens. Well thats what i think about this years X games. Truth be told im more then less then satisfied,but thats mostly the promoters fault and has nothing at all to do with the riders who, lets face it, ar e the only reason te sport exist. Stay tuned for my thoughts on the dew tour. I cant wait for this one.

One of the foremost pioneers of freestyle motocross, who has slipped out of the scene due to politics and all the crap that accompanies them, is breaking back into the main stream. Larry Linkogle is One of the first, and maybe the one of the last TRUE freeriders. His life story has been captured on film and will be released soon. I for one am very exited and cannot wait. for mor info on this check out www.Larrylinkogle.com

This time we were lucky enough to have the man Taylor Walk thorugh one of his tricks with us. Taylor is gonna give us the goods on Strippers(No not those strippers, the moto trick). Hes one of the best in the world at this trick so youd better listen to him. Class prepare to strip.

1.First thing first, I would recomend learning cordovas before the stripper. That way you get the general idea and feeling of it.

2.When your first learning strippers what you want to do is hook one foot under than handlebars and have one through the handlebars, candy bar style.(Everyone has there own comfort with a certain foot going through the handlebars. I like to use my left foot. So figure out which one you feel better with.) Its awkward at first but like any trick it comes with practice.

3.When you've mastered just hooking your foot under the handlebars and one leg through the bars start looking up to get the feeling of a stipper. Try to get them a little bigger each time.

4.Now I will explain what I do when I pull a stripper. I bring my feet up going towards my chest. My left leg is higer than my right because its gotta go through the bars. My right foot hooks under the handlebars and my left goes through the bars. As soon as the left foot is through I start looking up. I make my left leg go up as straight as I can(some people just push there leg out forward. Depends on flexibility and preference)As my left leg is going straight up I point my crotch to the sky and continue to look back. When your coming back from the trick keep your one leg thats hook under the bars, hooked until the other leg is back in through the bars. Its easier to get back in.

Note:When learning strippers take it slow. Dont just try to huck it first try. Also when doing them it feels like you going out through the bars with your one leg. Thats normal. Just stay calm.

So.. To sum this long thing up (sorry by they way its long)

1.Hook one foot under the bars while the other goes through the bars

2.Start looking up as soon as your leg of choice is through the bars.

3.Point your crotch to the sky and arch your back to get a good extension.

4.When coming back in from a stripper you dont want to hang up. So keep your foot thats under the bars hooked until the other leg is back in from the bars. Its easier to get back in that way. Once its back in land it safely and listen to the ladies scream. haha

5. Be safe. Take it slow. You dont want to go to the hospital and expain you got hurt trying to strip

You may learn this trick, You may get very good at it, but you have to give it up to 17 year old taylor woods for mastering it. For more info on taylor and his bag of tricks check out www.outcastfmx.com or visit his myspace www.myspace.com/fmxtaylor

today were gonna do something different. Were gonna let some top riders walk you through some of there very technical-mind blowing tricks. First up is Dustin miller. Dustin is gonna give you a rundown of a nofooted NAC NAC one hander. If you think it sounds hard wait till you see it. Take it away dustin.

Ok, well I've crashed a few times on this trick, and it scares me, but...

Step 1...approach the ramp at an angle like you would for a whip or a nac nac. You want to use the motion of the bike swinging out lightly to get your feet into double nac position. Since your hand will be coming off you cant push off the pegs like you would normally, for a double nac.

Step 2...as you leave the top of the ramp swing into the double nac. Start to take your right hand off while keeping your left elbow bent and a firm grip on the bars. If you straighten your left arm your going to be hurting. Work to get the right arm off farther with practice. I generally try to put it parallel with my body, rather than up, because its easier to stay in control and do it bigger. Be careful because that also causes your legs to swing around the front of the bike.

Step 3...grab onto the bars with your right hand. Careful not to snag your front brake with a wild swinging arm. I always try to catch my bars with my hand before doing anything with my feet. To stay more in control. Then swing you leg back over the seat.

STep 4. Hopefully your not skidding on your side at this point. Land. Take your right hand off again, grab a beer and be glad you just pulled one of the hardest tricks in FMX.

Well there you have it. If you wanna be an fmx bad boy you better learn this trick, and if you do your cooler then me because i dont have any intentions of trying it anytime soon....You can witness this trick about 45 seconds into the video below

you know him, i know him. hes that tough guy from oregon who rides hard,falls herder but gets back up,shakes it off and gets back to work. all without a jug of sugar infused energy drink to give hime artifical adrenaline. One of my personal favorite riders beau bamburg was cool enough to give us an indepth no holds barred look into that lil sikey of his, and man is it amusing. reading this makes me wanna load up my vespa, drive to oregon and shake this guys hand for keeping it real....... and away we go

1. So Beau,hows your season going so far? busy! i figured it out the other day and from year to date I've been home 30 days.

2. Whats your schedule like for the rest of the year? Busy. I have the dew tour and a bunch of shows in Europe and in between I do all the freestylemx.com shows that I can.

3. With you being pretty much the only prominent freestyle star in oregon, what do you do for riding? who do you get to ride with and where? I have a track that I incoporated a ramp and landing into but I have to ride by myself. I have a couple buddies that ride the track while I practice freestyle but it's hard to stay inspired when I'm the only one hitting the ramp.

4. What do you think about alot of action sports stars like pastrana, mirra and lasek crossing over to rally car racing? Well I think pastrana has it dialed. I mean all the moto he's raced has to help with line choice and ability to read upcoming terrain. As far as the other two I think they're just bored and too rich. I don't think they have anything for TP.

5. Do you have any other motorsports you would like to get into? Of course I would like to continue doing something fun that doesn't involve getting a real job but I'm too poor to buy a rally car or monster truck. Besides I could never drive a monstertruck anyway cause I couldn't grow a mullet even if I had too.

6. I didnt get to watch your last dew tour run, any body you want to kick in the nuts for that? Not really. I was actually pleased with my first run but that's how it goes at a judged contest. I saw allot of things differently than the judges but whats new? I think that contests hurt the sport in a way. I honestly don't know how someone could sit and watch 20 guys do the exact same run over and over. When I did the UK crusty tour I was blown away by how entertaining those shows were. Demos are always better to watch. They make contests look like watching paint dry.

7. What would you think about your kids becoming pro freestylers? Lets just say I went out a bought em some golf clubs. I mean they can do whatever they want but I would hate to see them get hurt or go through what I've been through. It's kind of weird cause when I was a kid I diddn't get to ride that much so thats all I wanted to do but they have dirtbikes and are around em so much that they think it's just part of everyday life and always want to do other things (which is fine with me).

8. i remember you saying you were pretty stoked on the last gravity course that had a gapped drop in and some technical jumps and whatnot. what do you think about ESPN filling an arena with 7 different events. I wouldn't know. I'm not on the cool kid invite only list. I think that being invite only also hurts the sport. I remember when I started this sport my goal was to get good enough to QUALIFY for the x games. If it stays invite only I think some kids who could be really good will loose interest because there is no goal to reach. New kids used to come out of the woodwork to try to qualify. Thats how I got in. If I wouldn't of had a chance to earn my way in I would probably still be a construction worker. (whoa! I derailed there for a second). But anyway, remember the 03 X course? That was the real deal. I remember when I walked into the place looking down on that course I was probably more nervous than I've ever been. Back on topic I thought X was an outlet for sports that didn't have a place to show their goods. Last time I checked supercross, rally and supermoto had their own deal. Not only that but I bet there's a ton of bungee jumpers and street lugers out of work right now.

9. Do you prefer huge dirt jumps or regular ramp jumps.I can only hit a ramp so many times in one day. I would much rather ride some fun dirt jumps. When I go down to fitzpatric's house I probably hit the ramp a total of 1% that I'm on my bike.

10. describe your perfect day? I can tell you it involves Jessica Alba, a bottle of astroglide, some Crown Royal and a seedy motel room. But in real life it would be waking up at the crack of noon and getting to ride my dirtbike somewhere really fun followed up by playing with my kids.

11. what are your thoughts on the newly rediscovered distance jumping reaching ridiculously huge lengths?? I think you better have some faith in your bike. I think that any of the top freestylers could pull a ramp back in increments and do it but not everybody has a mile long field and 40000 extra yards of dirt laying around. Don't get me wrong it's pretty gnarly cause if your bike took a poop on the run up your done.

12. any chance of you pulling a 300 ft KOD flip? Not to sound like a materialistic weasel or anything but not unless there's a big fat check involved.

13. Do you having any closing words for the fans, or the haters? To my fans, thanks for the love! and to the haters, you probably suck shit anyway so no one cares what you think. Besides what the hell did I do to you anyway?

there you have it ladies and gentlemen.....Mullets, NO jessica alba,YES

who can argue with a guy like that?

These days it seems like freestyle riders are popping out of the wood work. Some of them head out to the hills and learn as they go, some of them have there own compound before there drivers license. either way you have to respect a kid who can pull A's in algebra by day and seatgrabs and shaolins by night. One of the great up and comers is my buddy Taylor Woods. Ive had the chance to ride with Taylor, see him perform in shows and get buried in his foam pit. He is a very skilled riders,one of the nicest guys I know and an all around good guy. Watch out for this kid in the future, theres no limits to his ability. taylor was nice enough to shed some light on himself and give the fans taste of what its like to be a teenage freestyle moto rider.

alright taylor first tell us a little bit about yourself,favorite color, life ambition, you know all the good stuff like that....

Well...My name is Taylor Woods. I will be 17 years old in 3 days. I am from Prescott, AZ. My favorite color is blue forsho! My life ambition is to be happy and living life to the fullest. I've been doing fmx off and on for 2 years and am starting to get a lil more serious bout it. I jump probably 2 times a week unfortunately:( but as i said I'm getting more motivated to get better so I'm trying to ride more.

ok now onto the questions.

Did you start out racing at all or did you jump strait to freestyle?

Before I ever got a dirtbike I raced bmx and it was fun and i did it alot.

I started racing motocross as soon as I got a bike at age 6 and stopped after I was on 60's. I was over the all the sandbaggers, competitive kids and dads, all the political stuff. I'm not very competitive. I just like to have fun riding my bike and chilling with my loved ones. FMX was coming out when I was a little kid and I knew thats what I wanted to do. Watching riders jump there bikes and do little tricks fascinated me. I'd go to monster truck shows and I wouldnt be like most kids and say "I want to do that" I told everyone I was going to do FMX one day. So ever since was little I knew what I wanted to do.. and that was to do shows and do tricks on my bike and show off. I got my first ramp at 13 and finally found a place to hit it when i turned 14 and the rest is history.

Whats your favorite trick?

My favorite trick to do is a stripper :)

Is freestyle something you wanna do for a career or is it just something your doing for the time being?

I would love to make it out of a career! Thats been my dream forever, but I dont like to plan things and put pressure on myself. I just take it one day at a time and have fun. The main reason I ride is because I love what I do and I've been blessed to ride and have my own ramps and all the support in the world from my family. I have goals for it, but all in all I just want to have fun and try to become the best I can be and be a role model for kids. I was once a little kid asking riders for there autographs and I remember how much I looked up to everyone, so I want to be a good role model

What riders do you look up to most for inspiration and motivation?

My dad. He used to bust out and do tricks on his quad when I was little. This was before FMX was even a "sport". I also look up to all my riding friends. Jim Mcneil, Thomas Alves, Nate Adams, Robert Distler, Bud Myrugg, Paris Rosen, Vince Morgan, Destin Cantrell and Lance Coury. Basically I have a lot of riders I look up to! My inspiration is the lord jesus christ and my motivation is having fun!

alright taylor,your a young good looking guy,so be honest....how much do the bikes help out with the ladies?

hahaha... Well I dont know about that. I havent pulled any chicks at all. Girls are silly :D They are complicated.

Ive seen you do large shows with large crowds along with well seasoned riders. how do you feel just getting into the demos yet riding with some seasoned pros?does it make you nervous or uncomfortable?

It is a bit intimidating. Riding with the people you were asking for the autographs as a kid. I like riding in front of people. I still get a little nervous but I like to put on a show. But more than anything its an honor to ride with people you watched in movies or looked up to. I will never forget my first big show and it was with Dan Pastor and all my other favorite riders and Dan came up and patted me on the back and told me good job.

what kind of sprinkles do you want on your donut?

I like rainbow

out of the wonderful freeride spots in the world,is there any certain one that you hope to visit someday?

I want to go to ocotillo and cainville. Also theres a place in AZ that I want to go to, I just got to get ahold of my good friend Vince Morgan!

give me a quick sentence about your thoughts on double backflips

I have mad respect for anyone who is doing it or wants to but its probably something I'd never do!!!!

and finaly is there anyone you want to thank?

I want to thank the lord jesus christ for all he's blessed me with. I got it so good and will never take what I have for granted. My Parents and brother Trenton for all there support and sacrifices. They've done so much for me and I love them so much. My Grandma Pat Woods, all my friends and riding buddies. You know who you are. Outcast Fmx, Animosity FMX and the Boogeyman Brigade. And you Robert for interviewing me! It was quite an honor! Thanks

there it is ladies and gents, straight from the phenoms mouth,er fingertips. Thanks alot Taylor. To check out more on taylor Be sure to visit WWW.OUTCASTFMX.COM and show him some support.

If your a fan of FMX then you no doubt have heard the name Dustin Miller. Dustin has been in the show for quite some time now and shows no sings of letting up anytime soon. You can witness some of his madness in the On the pipe series of videos. If you pay close attentions you will see some of the longest technical combos on the market. Mr miller himself is one of the nicest guys ive ever had the opportunity to chat with, he was also kind enough to let me pick is brain for a lil while,for a lil insight on Dustin keep on reading.

1.hows the shoulder since the crash,are you back to full on riding again?

Its doing pretty good. Still have some soreness on certain things with my arm over my head. At the same time I hurt that I found out I dont have an ACL in one knee too, but I'm pretty sure that happened like 2 years ago in the foam pit. The thing that sucked for me the most was 3 days after I started riding fmx again, I was doing some flips and brain faded and looped out. So my ass was hurting for 3 weeks and I couldnt ride. I'm actually just starting to feel confident on my bike again.

2. you have one of the best freestyle compounds in the world. Lots of ramps and dirt jumps,fun box and foam pit. how long has it taken you to get your course the way it is now,and are there any forseeable changes coming soon?

Well it got a complete make over last year thanks to Ogio and Jason Fischer. I've lived here for 5 years and theres always work being done. Fixing runs, making berms better, fixing landings. 1 ramp and 1 landing would be way easier. Thats all you need for success in FMX anyway, but I get bored.

3.with all the super technical tricks that are coming out these days,do you still find time to head out to the hills and just playride?

Oh ya. Thats what I like doing more than anything. Nobody really likes going with me, so I go by myself a lot out by my house. Theres some big hills out here that I play around on. I find little quarter pipe rythm sections in the washes. I found one that has 4 hip jumps back to back. But people would laugh at how small they are. But thats what I've done since I was 12. Some days I'll just go to some sage brush tracks I have and do laps on my 450. I like that a lot too.

4.

some riders have trouble handeling some off the bigger natural stuff,you dont seem to have that problem. do you think theres anything that helps make someone a better terrain rider?

Mainly just a desire to do it. I get scared all the time. Everyone from Nevada knows that we dont have like the Beaumonts and places like that with all these crazy jumps. Its like small little things you find. I think I just had a nac for finding jumps and hitting them. It surprises me that people think its as hard as it is. Thats how I feel about consistently backflipping a 75 footer. Its hard to get it right every time.

5.your well known for doing some killer combos. do you have any favorites that you like?

Thanks. I like most of them. I try to do things appropriate for the times. Like for example, I did a lot of the seat grab combos, when no one did them. Some people caught on so I tried to incorporate other things like No footed cans or something to break that up. That was something that came natural to me so I tried to keep it interesting. During that time though I also had to spend a lot of time learning backflips, which are tough for me. But I'm still working on things. Sometimes it takes finding a bigger better jump so I have more time in the air. Id like to start doing some crazy stuff like Loza is doing. Its pretty awesome. But I'm getting old and things get scary.

6.what do you think is more important for people to learn at the beggining stages of there fmx carrer.Strong bike hanndleing skills or a lot of big tricks?

I dont think it matters. When I first saw Nate he could barely ride and he does pretty good these days. The courses are easy anyway. I could probably teach my dad to ride them. So its more about the tricks.

7. As of late the Tv broadcasters have been cutting programing short.How do you feel about riders in events not all getting equal coverage on tv and in the press?

Ya, because if you show one guys run, the next guy will probably do almost the same run. Especially if the guy is winning. So the TV peeps probably see it the same way. But I mean it's the same in all TV programming. Show a bit of what sells the show the easiest so you can show commercials. Could most people even focus long enough to watch every bit of us anyway? Attention Spans are running on empty these days.

8.with the fading of the two stroke machines comeing up faster and some people riding fourstrokes,what are you futre plans as far as bikes go?

Well Suzuki makes a rad 450, so Ill ride that thing for sure. If I'm still riding FMX then.

9. Do you have a certain rider you like to watch,or a trick you love to see?

I like to watch guys try things that are out of their norm.

10.give one sentence on what your carrer in freestyle means to you?

I guess Careers are for money right? So I made some money, and bought some things, and I'm happy about it. Riding will always be my thing, long after the dollars are gone.

well there you have it from the man himself. Inovative,laid back and stylish rider. Does you really need anything else?

With more and more events being held every year,the sport of freestyle motocross is gain more popularity every day. X games used to be the staple in american fmx.challenged a few years ago the mountain dew action sports tour popped into action, being a seasonal series as opposed to a single event. This year the infamous redbull x fighters finnaly brought there antics stateside holding thier first american event in texas jsut a few weeks ago. Then you have the lesser known contest like the LG action tour,IFMA series as well as many others. This year is proving to be a great start for the freestyle season with top podium position changing owners at every event. If you are as anxious as i am to soak in as much moto maddness as you can this year be sure to stay tuned to see when and where you can see these events.

For X games details be sure to head on over to EXPN.com, on a side note you can find mr Ryan leyba's blog The Brap Haps.

For more on the redbull events this year check out RedbullXfighters.com

and for the dewtour surf to AST.com

And everyone be sure to check out fellow yard barker and pro Freestyler Mike Mason's blog. Mike will be attending Most of these events and will be throwing down all year long providing the fans with his own personallized lunacy

thats the plan for mr ryan capes tomorow. Ryan will attemp to pilot his monster energy kawasaki 450 off a really big ramp really really fast in hopes of crushing yet another world record. Ryan is in constant contention for the world distance record on a motorcycle with many others including Austrails Robbie maddison(current official record holder) and the Byrd. Byrd has recently come only a few feet of smashing the 400 mark. and when i say a few feet i mean that litterly. there is a lot of speculation of wether or not byrds jumps are legit because he uses more natural terrain for his feats whereas other use man made landings. Personally i dont care what these guys land on,they are all in need of a catscan and a medal because the stuff they do is insane. Capes is scheduled to take on the 400 foot mark tomorow at a media only event at his home track in Oregan. Be sure to check out www.monsterenergy.com for more details and broadcast.

Thats it for now.stay tuned as i have more interviews lined up,more rants to type and maybe get some profesional predictions for the upcoming X Games

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