Opportunity knocks.

Couldn't miss this opportunity - Fiend is up and running with this edit to kick things off.

My my.

All I'm saying is...

...click here, add to basket, hit up GoogleCheckout, wait for it to arrive (usually pretty rapid, cheers dudes!), put it in your DVD player, get blown away. The new WTP DVD is that good. Andrew Jackson's opening section is awesome then it just continues to escalate from there. I'd sort of forgotten how good a lot of WTP's more under the radar team is (e.g. Max Gaertig, Mike Brennan and Chester Blacksmith - all of whom you don't really see much new footage of a lot of the time), so it was a treat to see a load of bangers from them. Go buy it! Here's the trailer to whet your appetite:



Moving on to free stuff from people you do see a lot of, here's a mix of Garrett Reynolds, JJ Palmiere, Hoang Tran, Dennis Enarson, Ty Morrow and a couple of others. Some pretty rad moves in this. Ty Morrow = next level? Also features one of the nicest pulled toothy hangers I've ever seen courtesy of the freshly-brakeless Dennis Enarson.

Cool video Friday?

Seems to be.

Kink are operating a strict 'one in one out' team member policy it seems, so out with the old (Lil Jon) and in with the new (Chad Osbourn). Style for miles.



Also, 4Down have released their "Substance #3" video, filmed in Iceland. Cool riding, cool editing, cool filming, cool temperatures.



Staff took all their ridiculously good riders on a bit of a trip. Unsurprising, the riding is really, really good.



Lastly, if you go to China, watch out for those cross-roads, yeah?

Sour.

Well, looks like Ian Schwartz is upping sticks and leaving the 'pro' BMX world according to this post on the Sunday site. "Retirement" makes it sound a bit dramatic, but it is a shame that there's going to be less chance of seeing more riding from him. His part in the Sunday DVD was pretty awesome - a little long, but jam-packed with original riding at original spots. Always a good combo, and not one that many people seem capable of achieving or working towards. Anyway, click that previous link to see what's up and why he's 'leaving', then click here to read his TCU interview. It's a pity there's no online version of his Ride US interview as it was fully awesome, with some surprisingly good photos and editorial from Ride US. It was pretty rare in that his Ride US interview was almost better than his Ride UK interview, which is a combo that doesn't happen often... 'cos this is awesome, watch it - from Defgrip.



Speaking of Defgrip, I mentioned the new Dig yesterday - Defgrip now have some more info on it here.

Lastly - J.J. Palmiere has been a bit off the radar recently 'cos of a blown knee. He's starting to get back on it now, and here's a webvid for Premium, that is effectively a warning shot to show how good his Deadline section's going to be.

The last few days...

Well, as a result of the Tim Lewis Live Text Update service I was getting I had a rough idea about the whole Ride to Glory gig, but a H-Man (Namedrop!) call on the way back from Leeds confirmed that WTP won this year. Good stuff. Go here for the legit coverage. Heard some interesting Jim C./Ben Hennon stuff, haha.

Anyways, as I mentioned, I was in Leeds for the Charles Prow "King For A Day" jam. Good times were had, and I think it was a great tribute to Charles. I put up some 'proper' words on the subject (and some photos) up here.

The day before, I ate a piece of fish that was as long as my forearm. All fish, right the way up the batter. Bangin'! I know, I know, I put it on my blog too, but it's a remarkable piece of food!



On the same weekend, P5 re-assessed whether Brighton Was Ready and held another jam. Ollie from Streetphire put this little edit together of the day.



In other news...

J.J. Palmere is back on Premium and back on your screens:



And finally, another video, courtesy of Madera, who took a trip to Memphis.

EDIT: Forgot to mention as well - I said a few days ago about Fly having proto plastic pedals - well, they do, as well as a new type of stem with a different way of clamping your forks, and some other little trinkets too, including a weird new rear hub that everyone kinda knows about anyway. Super precise info there, revel in it...

So yeah... Pt. 2

But in other news...

Lightsinthewoods have a new video out that I saw over on Deluxe:





DansComp have a new site up, Dans360 - on it, they have bios for their (loose term) 'Team', including Nathan Williams, who has a photo of his bike. He calls his frame the "United Mothership" - signature frame ahoy!



Nice to see a taller frame, especially from a "new school" rider. Just as a reminder of how and indeed why Nathan's awesome:



While we're talking American shops, Staff have a little video out featuring Garrett Reynolds, J.J. Palmiere and Ty "So hot right now" Morrow:

Anyone seen the point?

You can clearly see that the guys who run the Dew Tour obviously realised that street was pretty popular. As people who are constantly after increased ratings and more exposure for sponsors and logos and all that jazz, so they appeared to think that trying to appeal to street riders would be beneficial. No doubt they also noticed that street web-edits were pretty popular and received a hell of a lot of views - especially if they contain the 'big names' - so, what better way to attract street riders than have the biggest names ride street, and make a street web-edit? Well, that kinda makes sense (Apart from missing the non-competitive point of street riding, and the no pressure, do-what-you-want point of it too), but when that 'street' is actually a pretty linear park format, and the riding is limited to just doing back and forth runs on that particular setup, it's not really the same thing. At all. Although the riding's pretty insane in these videos, there's no real connection to street whatsoever. Must be pretty stressful for the filmers too, having to try and make uniformly painted ramps with sponsors logos all over the place actually look good, and try and get different angles in. No fun at all. Ah well, I'm sure they'll get some £££'s from it, but it does seem to be a return of the 'big' competitions just trying to milk BMX for all it's worth. After some of the people running those biggers comps had turned it around and actually seemed to be more concerned with the way that they interacted with and represented BMX, it's pretty disappointing to see organisers doing stuff like this...

Anyway, the videos are pretty cool I guess (Although nowhere near as cool as it would be with the different backgrounds and cool environment that street brings with it, as well as unique setups that allow riders to be more creative (The point!)), it still seems like they could've done so much more, and so much better.