ISSUE 3
Photos, words, and art are those of Joshua Lucero unless otherwise noted as one of these fine people below.
Contributors
Kirby Crumpler
Devon Denham
KC Iwaniak
Tyler “Kid” Rembold
Preston Levi Solis
Jason Smith
Paul Smith
Ed
This page: Rich neighborhood, tight pool, good crew. George Gustafson, Denver 2020
Welsh
Well it’s finally here; after sitting for months in a musty basement under the guise of “it’s practically done,” issue three just squeezed its way onto the surface and into the presses. A little less than two years ago when I got the itch to begin compiling issue three, I had no inkling of what a shit-fest 2020 was going to be. I don’t know if it was the global recession, the protests, coronavirus, or the further fleecing of the lower classes by the already insanely rich, but BMX had to take a backseat until some modicum of normalcy could be seen again.
Luckily for all of us, it looks like the small, shining pinhole we’ve been anxiously peering at for over a year has finally grown into the bright, end-of-the-
tunnel we always hoped it would be. Now BMX, as silly as it is, doesn’t seem so silly anymore. (Well, it’s still silly as fuck if you think about it, but that’s a thought for another day that, twenty years into riding, I’m still not ready for.)
With the tunnel’s exit growing larger everyday, I ventured out into the arid, cow-grazing land that is Denver and rustled up an interview with one of the city’s downest of dudes, Ben Linschoten; hung out with the Down By crew at their dirt paradise in the foothills; and I met bike-minded people that were gracious enough to contribute their work to this zine.
Add in a few noteworthy occasions and you’ve got issue three.
Illus: Preston Solis
N BEN LINSCHOT E
If you’ve ever had the pleasure of riding with Ben, you know he brings it on two fronts. On the first, he is there to RIDE. He’s not just nibbling around. He’s looking for something to do that will scare himself and leave you asking ,“What the fuck!?” When Ben isn’t throwing himself 100% into some jaw-dropping biking, he’s bringing it on the second front; keeping the session keyed up and probably making you laugh your ass off. In the years he since he made Colorado home, Ben has established himself as one of Denver’s skilled, low-key operators that is just as comfortable blasting around skateparks and dirt jumps as he is sketchy street set-ups and ping-pong tables. If you haven’t heard of Ben it’s probably because he prefers it that way, but it’s hard to keep riding this good under the radar. So here we are: a conversation with Ben Linschoten. (sidenote: Ben is fun
to drink with, I learned this while doing the interview.)
So you’re not 33 yet, right?
I turn 33 in July. July twentieth. Born in 1988. What’s your hometown? Kingman?
Um, yea. I mean that’s where I grew up a majority of the time. That’s where I started riding. I mean, I don’t say I was from there. I usually just say I’m from Arizona because I hate that town.
Yea? It’s that bad?
Yea, it’s basically a truck stop and a meth capitol… It’s a decent sized town, but it’s still a hell hole. It’s because it’s in between Las Vegas and Phoenix. They got a lot of traffic, you know. Whole bunch of lot lizards, man.
Did you guys have a scene there?
Yea, when I first started riding there were a lot of kids that rode. Obviously like when I got into high school, most of them quit because they all got licenses. I think when it started out there was like seven to ten of us. And once everybody got their shit together and figured out if they wanted to drive and party and drink, there was like three or four of us that kept riding throughout it. Yep, I think that’s most small towns. There’s like two to five kids that keep everything alive and once they leave it’s dead. I think there’s like a few kids left that ride in Kingman now, but it ain’t the same.
So, not many visits back?
I go home, just not as much. I mean I talk to the few people that I still connect with and that’s about the extent of it.
Do you still have family there?
Oh yea, my mom and dad live out there so I have to be there. How did you end up getting into BMX out there?
I just started building jumps with a friend. It wasn’t even about BMX or anything; we just rode bikes to get everywhere because we were young. And then I pretty vividly remember, one day he called me and was like, hey man I’m gonna buy this frame from Dan’s Comp, do you wanna start like grinding ledges? We had a conversation over the phone about riding bikes and I made my parents get me a Dan’s Comp and I got a Metal Kizz.
Oh damn, you started off with Metal Bikes?
That was like my first real frame. I had a Diamondback, a Huffy, and then like we got the Dan’s Comps and it was on from there. Did you just have to buy the other bikes local? Yea, we would just go to the bike shops. We just had like a BMX shop and they had like one piece cranks and all that shit. Nobody’s talking about Standard Bykes, or stuff that was actually in catalogues. I don’t know, the dynamic of BMX was weird at the time. It was only mainstream. How old were you when you got into it?
I think eleven, twelve. Ninety-nine, 2000, ninety-eight is that whole era. Then the first video that I think I ever watched was Ride BMX Industry. It was sick man, I was hyped on it. I vaguely remember it now, but I just remember the early Ride videos. That and Nowhere Fast. Dave Young got me so psyched.
It’s kind of a different dynamic growing up then than it is now. Oh yea. When you’re growing up with old heads that are trying to grind brick ledges, that’s a weird fucking thing. I think that a lot of that was east coast influenced, riding heavy street. You know. Once you start to move west, those dudes started to ride trails and parks started to build transitions that lined up. Like they had snake runs and shit but they weren’t building transition-to-transition shit that often. Not around us at least. Like Chandler park? That park’s crazy. I think we got our first skate park in Kingman when I was in seventh grade. So I had been riding a year. So I was fucking hyped. We had only built dirt jumps and we had put pegs on our wrong side, cause spinning out felt right. And then you watch a bike video and you see those guys grinding on their
dominant side with their front foot and it’s like oh, this is the way you’re supposed to do things it seems like. I think when kids start out a lot of the time they start grinding wrong. This kid Warren from Reno was one of the ones that did that. He started on the wrong side and I was like, man you either switch your feet or switch your pegs, and then he switched his feet and became amazing.
Were there any dudes that you looked up to when you were coming up? Local dudes?
There were two kids. This dude Chris Wood moved to town when I was in eighth grade going into ninth grade, I think. He was, like, sponsored by Diamond Back and he was like a northwestern dude. He just rode hard and he got me to do everything that I did that I was scared of at the time. Before him was this dude named Ryan Ackerman and he was like an older head in the scene and this dude Randall that doesn’t ride anymore. Ryan tries to ride and he’s sick. He still claims the scene. He always had other interests so BMX was kind of put on the side-burner. He was like a chain less guy and always doing like really innovative shit. It was cool to have somebody who had a different perspective on BMX that was pretty good. Like doing tree rides and watching the Gonz. He was driven by real weird shit, and then Chris came to town and was this big trails dude who would fuf’ back rails and ice anything. It was crazy; he was a pro. It was alright having that at least.
Did you guys start traveling to other cities to try new shit out?
I would say Chris and Ryan, and actually this dude named James Tarantino that died in Kingman recently from motorcycles. They got us to start traveling to Vegas to ride a bunch. We went to Prescott, which is actually where I was born. That’s where I claim I’m from most of the time because it’s a better area.
As far as like riding and traveling went, we didn’t ever go too crazy. I feel like New Mexico was seven and a half, eight hours away so we never went there. Our max was probably like five hours of driving. Everything that I’m talking about; Flagstaff, Prescott, Vegas, that was all within four hours.
That sounds about right for a smaller scene.
Yep. Yea, when you’re a kid you don’t have gas money, you ain’t got a fuckin’ job.
Did you guys just have the one local?
Yea we had one skate park. It was a shithole skate park for sure. The tallest quarter was five feet and damn near an incline.
You ride it enough that you figure out every single thing that you can do there, or damn near. Mat Olsen, he wasn’t even from the city, but he lived in Havasu. He came to Kingman a bunch, he still goes to Kingman a lot. He lives in Vegas. So he did most of the shit that nobody else could do at Kingman. He unlocked a lot of shit. Riding that park for ten years, riding any park for ten years, you try to scare yourself once a night. Do you ever go back now and do stuff that you thought about doing back then?
No, I haven’t. I ride a little bit different now than I did then. Then I didn’t even have pegs and I think I might have had brakes. I just aired out and tried to toboggan things, and at a certain point I just started bunny hopping everything. So now when I go back I actually do like grind shit, so I mean it’s totally different now.
That explains why you’re so good at euro tables. Haha, it was all I had.
When you’re peg less, man, you gotta do euro tables on everything. Or you do a fucking stale turndown in the streets. Oh god, keep it to yourself. Dak does that fakie one and it’s even questionable and it’s Dak. No disrespect. Questionable turndowns are only that; questionable. I saw Tommy Dugan three turndown out of a bank the other day and almost threw up. How did you go from no pegs to pegs?
That’s actually kind of Derek influenced, man. The no peg to peg influence. We were in San Diego just watching videos. Everybody is riding pegs, everybody is grinding, everybody is doing shit. I was just like, fuck man, I’m missing out. I want to do some grinds. Then like one day I rode Derek’s bike and I did a switch feeble whip. I didn’t land it or anything, but like I almost did and I was like fuck man. This is crazy.
Switch grinds are fun, regular grinds are fun. And then it was just a lot of influence from pro riders man. It opens more windows. Switch grinds, regular grinds, the whole nine. It’s just more shit to do.
I saw some old clips of you and you were riding two pegs, when did you go four?
That was in San Diego too. It was pretty quick. I put two pegs on and I think like maybe a year late I had four pegs on. Or maybe like two years later. Actually, I think in Reno I put pegs on for a little bit. I had always, like, ridden pegs off and on, but I didn’t like them. I thought they were gross, I thought grinding was just destroying my bike. Which I mean it still does, but now I just cope with it. Now I just like break all my spokes. I mean now at least hub guards help a little.
Haha. Nope, they don’t help at all. I’m still breaking ten spokes a session. I just gotta rebuild my wheels every six months I feel like. The ninety game- when you’re doing nineties, thirty times a day cause you can’t one-eighty. It’s fucking everything up man. And you’re running into full-size curbs.
When did you start doing bump-jumps a lot?
That was, like, two years ago. It was mainly Rob and I just running into shit. I think he was influenced from those dudes in Ohio and I think that I just saw Kurtis Elwell do it in the Family video in like 2003 or like 2002. I was like man you can run into shit like full-blast. I had always done it kind of low key because you only had like 1.75 and or 2.25 tires. So the tires were smaller so you got pinch flats more. Now we got 2.4, 2.5 tires that are a little bit thicker so you actually can. I don’t think it would happen with 30 PSI either. I run sixty, my shit’s inflated. That’s crazy cause everybody I ride with is at like 30 psi, haha.
Yea, Rob (DiQuattro) is one of the exceptions that bumps and rides low PSI. Like Kid, he runs a Ringworm in the back that’s a 1.95, if he bumps anything that tire and rim are collapsing. Haha. And, also, bumping made it so bunny hopping wasn’t as much work. If you run into a curb full blast, you can get like four or five more inches out of the hop somehow. It’s about speed and PSI man. Pump your tires up. What’s the biggest curb you’ll do it on?
I would say, you got like a regulation parking block. I don’t even know how many inches they are. It might be like seven inches tall. It might be like a nine inch maximum. The ones that look intimidating and are fat, you can’t two-tire and you might get a flat after like five or six of them. Oh it’s a science for sure. The small two-three inch curbs you can get good bump out of, but it’s not all the pop. If you can, get a nice, medium, good-size curb to get pop out of. Maybe a nice four inch one, five inch; the average size man’s penis in America, hahaha. What do you look for when you look for spots? Or do you even look for spots? I feel like you just kind of tag along and if something strikes your fancy you’re like, I’m fuckin doing this. Yea you might be right. I don’t really look for that many spots.. like.. curbs? If a curb is the right size and leads to something, that’s a spot. Or like fucked up rails. Really weird, kinked, fucked up rails. I like grinding that kind of shit. As far as like looking for spots, I feel like I don’t put as much work in as most people do. And I would like too, but I’m just lazy. And you have a full-time job, makes it hard to look for spots. Yea, but I mean like a lot of our friends have full-time jobs and are still finding spots. Well, they have no lives. Haha. Hahaha. Nah they just care about spots more. Like you said, I’m going to tag along with somebody and I think that even like my affinity for a spot is different. So like, as far as me looking in Google Maps for spots, it might not work when you’re looking for curbs. Curb cut to walls and tree rides. Some of that stuff might be kind of hard to find. I think it’s easier to just got out on a session and be with the boys.
Do you have a specific kind of spot that you’re like always hyped on? I can’t do them, but I feel like it’s such
a rare thing to find in the wild; curved wall rides. They’re just sick man. Out in Denver I think we have like four or five alright ones or decent ones. But I can’t do them, like I said. And any kind of street transition, weird bump to tree, anything that might look like a skatepark transition. Anything. I’m trying to ride it. That’s my favorite. Also DIYs. I like DIYs, if they’re around. I would like to build one, but, I mean I’m racking my brain for areas and I don’t want it to get torn out. I feel that’s such a natural thing here after three to five years.
It seems like you’ve known Derek for a long time before you both made it to Denver. How’d you guys meet?
Yea Derek was the one that integrated me into the Reno scene. I knew these dudes, Matt, Emilio, and Warren really well. Warren was the one that I talked about switching his feet and becoming an incredible rider. But Matt and Emilio were these other two kind of local dudes that I met, but Derek was the one that worked at the bike shop and he was the one that was like always doing missions and like filming shit. It seemed like he rode the most so I was trying to ride with him. And he was just kind of interesting. Everybody said he didn’t ride the skate parks and shit that much.
I was like what the fuck’s he doing; there ain’t nothing to ride in Reno. I mean there’s a few things… There’s really not shit to ride in Reno.
Did you live there for a while?
Yea I lived there for about four years. I worked at a sketchy tire shop with a dude that smoked crystal meth in the bathroom and my boss was getting blowjobs in the tire racks and fuckin’ prostitutes in the bathroom too. Reno’s raw man! Did you get that job legitimately, or how did you fall into that?
Actually that’s a funny story too. So my girlfriend at the time, her mom was dating the dude, quote unquote dating, the dude who owned this tire shop.
Wait, the one getting blowjobs?
Yea the one fuckin’ prostitutes. His name was Sid. It was called Sid’s Alignment and Brake.
Photo: Rembold
Yea, she thought she was dating Sid and I mean I conned my way into getting a job there for three and half years. I saw all kinds of crazy shit in that place, man. I gave you the small extent of it. Crystal meth, blowjobs, prostitutes… And my boss was offering me to bang hookers, and I was just like, man, there’s no way. And the women in Reno, these people are just… Another time I saw, it was frozen solid, iced over completely, and I saw a man, a homeless man, slip and go full ninety degrees and land on his back and have a heart attack on our pavement. It was insane. Yea, Reno was a trip. Everything about Reno was loose. You’ve moved to a few different places. Yea, so I moved from Kingman to Flagstaff where I tried to go to school for a little while. Where I stopped going to school. Then I moved to Reno because the girl that I was dating at the time had to go to school there. Ah man, I fucked up actually. I moved from Flagstaff to Denver. I only lived here for four or five months at the time. I went back home, my girlfriend couldn’t move here, so I moved to Reno. I lived in Reno for three and half, four years. Then I moved to San Diego for about four and half years and then I moved to Denver and I’ve been in Denver since. I moved around a little bit on the west coast. I wasn’t willing to move east at all, it’s too humid.
Yea, fuck the humidity, dude. You can’t deal with that shit either. You’re a fuckin’ desert rat, dude. Yea I worked for thirty days in Texas in Austin and fuckin’ Houston. I was ready to die the whole time. I almost had heatstroke. That’s the first time I’ve almost ever had heatstroke. It was cause I drank probably two pitchers the night before and tried to work the next day, but still.
Out of all the cities, which do you like the most? Denver is still the best. Reno is loose, but like it’s not anywhere that I desire to live as far as a town. Flagstaff is interesting, but it’s not. I think I’d rather live in Prescott once I get older and was trying to retire. San Diego, I really only miss the food. So yea; the scene in Denver, the people in Denver, everything about Denver. Yea, I don’t see myself even leaving.
I was curious because a place like San Diego has a good scene, even if different from ours. Yea, San Diego scene’s pros and kids that aren’t pro. So it’s like the kids that aren’t pro usually are just riding LB park. I dunno it’s a weird fucking scene out there, man. Everybody kills it, everybody’s so good, so they can all ride whatever they want. They can ride year round. Like even that for me was stressful because, like… you have to utilize everyday. So it’s like I’m not doing shit today, it’s beautiful out. You just start to feel awful. So like, fuck, a snow day here might drive you insane, but it’s kind of nice to relax.
I really love snow days here. Winter is my favorite time to ride because you can clear something off to ride one day and say nah to riding the next day because it’s fuckin snowing Yea, haha, you got excuses. I kind of like riding in winter just because I feel like its kind of dead out. There’s not that many people in the street, and it’s not like summer where everybody’s out drinking beers and doing their thing. Winter sessions are unbeatable, because on those days everybody’s itching to ride. It’s been probably three or four days since anybody’s rode and it’s nice to have a squad out. Yea, some of the winter sessions are unbeatable.
I think Denver is the first place I came to where people rode in big squads. Back in my hometown a squad out was like three dudes out and two skateboarders. That was a squad to us.
Yea, that’s sick you guys hung out with
skateboarders, too. Cause, I think that that’s not really a big city thing. When you have enough people to ride bikes with, you ain’t gotta deal with shit else. But like in the small towns in the desert or like on the east coast, there’s not that many people to be associated with. So we start talking to skateboarders. It gives you an appreciation for other shit. You also find out how similar it is to what you do, just the method of doing it is different. I mean like the tool is different, I guess. I agree with that, but ya I think the methods are similar. We all have our shit to deal with. You re gonna fuckin’ fall. And I think that’s why we can appreciate it. But yea, my best friend for, fuck, four years in Kingman was a skateboarder. It was me, him, and another bike rider and that was basically the scene that we had.
I think that if you grow up in, fuck, Denver, New York, San Diego; you get to ride bikes with five, six, ten, fifteen other kids. So it’s like, I don’t need to talk to no skateboarders. But if you never really did it and you view it from an outside perspective, it’s hard to actually appreciate it. Yo if you try a kickflip on a skateboard and you roll your ankle, you’re done. You’re fucking done. Don’t wanna skate anymore, like this is stupid. It’s probably the same for skaters as slipping a pedal on a bike. That pain sensation has got to be unreal; it’ll change your whole life.
I wanted to ask this from the other day. What the fuck is dating like in your thirties as a BMXer in Denver?
It’s interesting. Um, and I can’t say along the same lines of most people that might go on these dating sites cause I’m not hiking, I’m not going to raves, I’m not going to festivals. Yea, so I don’t stand a chance man.
Photo: Rembold
Like, I’m outdoors-y. I camp, I can make a fire; I’ve never killed anything but I’m pretty sure I could kill something. Is this your new Tinder bio?
Haha, yea. I think I’m gonna change it dude. All its gonna say is, I’m pretty sure I can kill something. But, no, I think that I probably put more weight on it than I should, to be completely honest. Dating isn’t that big of a deal. It’s two people mingling at the end of the day, but like I’m just terrible at it. I just watched Love on the Spectrum on Netflix and I feel like a fell on the spectrum. Haha. I was watching it and was like fuck, man, they’re doing better than I would on a date. It’s super formal, they’re taking these girls to like pottery classes and shit like that. I’m just like; I’m going to drinks and dinner and having awkward conversation. I don’t work with no girls, I don’t ride with any girls obviously. So the only way I’m going to meet them is like online dating or going out to bars and there’s a pandemic right now, so.. And you gotta wear a mask so how the fuck am I going to know what anybody looks like anyway. One thing that surprises me is the amount you seem to love dogs, but you don’t have a dog. What’s up with that?
Yea I kind of live vicariously through Freya. I think it’s mainly my weak stomach and my, just, hatred for foul shit, man. If a dog shits downstairs and I gotta clean it up. Or like throw up. I just hate it, man. I have a weak- I’ll throw up. I’ll be throwing up along with my dog, having to clean up double the mess that I dealt with. You know what I mean? That’s always been this mental battle for me. I had a dog before and I worked a lot and I gave it to my ex cause she didn’t work that much. If I have a dog and I can’t spend time with it, or most every waking moment with it, I’m gonna fucking lose my mind. You wouldn’t be around as much as you’d want to be for it. Yea, that’s why like now if I get a dog it’s gonna be like integrated into everything that I do almost. I’ll take it to work; I’ll take it to ride. It’s not going to stay at home. So that’s the other thing, I’m going to have to find the dog for that. I have to realize like, what might be able to live that lifestyle, what might not get stressed out about it. So I’ve been thinking about it, I’ve been looking into it. I’m going to get one soon for sure.
Hahaha.
Just already fucked in the head. Haha yea it’s just got a blood lust for Dustin. Speaking of work, what is it exactly that you do?
So I do solar and electrical. Basically electrical for solar; like troubleshooting batteries, installing solar panels, that kind of shit. How’d you get into that?
I got into it through Kyle; the skateboarder from Arizona that lived out here for a little bit. He was, like, one of my homies from Arizona that I actually lived in San Diego with. Rob, Kid, and Derek; All those dudes know him. He’s real quiet. But, uh, he lived out in Denver for three and a half years. In that time I started doing solar with him through another company and they went out of business, so I transferred and just kept doing it. Got my electrical license, doing the whole nine. Trying to be a professional.
You’re not going to steal one from one of the properties you’re working at?
Haha. There’s been a few I’ve almost stolen. Dogs are incredible, man. They all got their own personality just like humans. It’s real funny to hang out with them. It’s crazy too. Some of the homeowners, they’ll let their dog out and they’ll be chill with it and some of the homeowners are just like nah, my dogs chaotic. Any time, I’m just like, yo, let them out. I don’t care. Yea, I want to see them. Unless ya know, it’s angry. I’m not tying to fight a dog in their backyard. Do you get many of those angry dogs?
Nah, it’s like one out of twenty probably. The statistics for fuckin’ angry dogs I feel like is pretty rare. You gotta neglect that motherfucker wholeheartedly. That’s the only way you’re getting a pissed off dog, man. Or if it’s like Cut’s dog, Buddy, and its half insane and wants to kill Dut.
Photo: Rembold
Traveling is everything. It’s everything.
Any tips for traveling with the BMX?
You guys went to Barcelona a couple years ago, is there anywhere else you’ve been out of the states?
As far as out of the states goes, we’ve been to Canada. It was right before the pandemic. Let me look at dates real quick. September, 25th, 2019. (Ben takes a second to show me photos from the trip.) It was so fucking unreal dude. It’s just mountains and glaciers and fuckin’ the bluest water you’ve ever seen, dude. Yea, Banff is fucked man. How does traveling change your perspective?
Traveling just made me want to see more of the world. Only going to states in America, or only going to a few countries, or only doing a little bit and not doing any more is never enough. So it’s like yo, I saw a small fraction, not even a sixteenth of what we have to offer. So its like, yo what else is out there?
The beauty in Banff and the culture in Spain was enough to be like yo. There’s so much more to deal with, there’s so much more to feel and see.
Try and go with your friends, man. It makes it so much better. Yea, if you go with upwards of ten people, get two places. That’s only other thing I can say. Cause y’all will be stressed if you all stay in one place. Did y’all do one place in Barcelona?
Yea, Barcelona was one place and I think it was thirteen or fourteen of us and most people were pissed off. Haha. People were mad and it was fucking hilarious.
Just because of the small living quarters?
Yea, yea. It’s just thirteen people around each other. You know if you go to sleep and you fuckin’ wake up and you wanna make breakfast? Somebody’s making breakfast man. Unless you’re up at six-thirty in the morning and
then you’re up at six-thirty in the morning making breakfast. You can’t win. So that’s why me, Taylor, Cramer just got hammered drunk every single night. And yea, you just don’t have to deal with shit. Kind of hungover and you make breakfast when everyone else is done making breakfast, or you don’t even make breakfast. You just got get some coffee and eat fuckin’ stale-ass bread from Spain because that’s all they’ve got is stale-ass bread.
Oh really?
Oooh yea. The food out there is the worst. Haha. It’s the fuckin’ worst. You’d think Spain has some good food, but I guess if you’re on a bike trip you’re not going for the ultimate in cuisine. Exactly, we’re not going to five-star restaurants. We had Paul point out a few that he was interested in but I’m not yelping anything that I would care about. So anything that I would bring up was like a fucking gyro. I think I had thirty of them on the trip and I got tired of them man. You can only do it for so long. Like fuckin’ gyros and we would make sandwiches and take them. But yea I was starving the whole time, riding twenty miles uphill in Spain. It was savage. That city’s crazy dude, it’s all uphill.
You don’t see that part in the videos, haha. No, you literally don’t see that. I remember one day we were out there and they were talking about going to another spot and I was like, I don’t know if I can make it. I remember literally, physically thinking, like, yo I don’t think I can make it. We gotta eat, we gotta drink water: the hill is monumental, I’m going to spasm out. There’s no fucking way. We ended up making it to the spot and it sucked and we didn’t even ride it. I did that whole trip for no reason. But yea, anything that gets you out of your comfort zone, it’s all sick.
I mean my first time leaving the country was three years ago. I didn’t have my passport until that. These dudes going on that trip were like, yo I don’t get another chance, you know. I gotta get the passport. I gotta get the fuck out of here.
What’s this I hear from Paul about your dad having to go to the skate park and set some folks straight?
My dad didn’t necessarily come down to the park and set some folks straight. He rode a dirt bike down to the park, hammered drunk and the folks thought that my dad was harassing me. But he wasn’t harassing me. And then a verbal altercation took place between him and the kids at the skate park over whether or not he was harassing me. So then my dad whooped the whole skate park’s ass. You didn’t have to step in at any point and be like; yo that’s my dad? I was trying. Haha. And my dad was punching the fuck out of people. Derek had a question, too. What’s the most dangerous thing you’ve done to make a buck?
The most dangerous thing I’ve done to make a dollar. Haha. I guess, ya, it would be trafficking. It was low-key though. It wasn’t that dangerous. I mean realistically I guess tile would be the more dangerous shit I’ve done because I almost bled to death doing it. Yea, when I worked at that tile factory with Dave in San Diego, I was carrying a piece of tile through the factory and I cut my arm in half, from the tile. I cut through the tendons, the artery, on my right arm and everything. I almost bled to death. I had to get airlifted to a hospital in Escondido and get reconstructive surgery. Yea, laying tile, or manufacturing tile was actually the gnarliest job I ever did.
Trafficking pales in comparison, haha. It really does man. And I had kids- there were people threatening other people’s lives, but it wasn’t mine, so I don’t give a fuck dude. What would nineteen-year-old Ben think of thirty-three year old Ben?
I think about that all the time. I don’t even know. I think that nineteenyear-old Ben would be like yo, you’re a pussy. Like yea, I care about money, I care about a future; I care about different shit now. I mean it’s not in the same regards. Like we’re all going to die so how much can I care about it, but I would like to make it better. When I was younger I didn’t give a fuck about anything. Anything but riding. I don’t know why. Riding is not that tight. Haha. Nah, it’s given me everything man. I love riding. Riding is tight. The shit you have with your boys and winter sessions when you haven’t rode in five days. That shits tight. BMX; like being pro; like having to ride, for me that’s stressful. If I was paid to have to ride, I wouldn’t really wanna do that. It made it a job. You’ve filmed a few parts right?
Dut’s Comp; Call Somebody; I filmed a part with Derek and I filmed a part with Kyle. I’ve never even put that much work into filming parts. Bike riding, it’s weird. You know watching Van Homan or watching people build full parts, it’s like damn that’s incredible. That’s their perspective of riding. But for me it was like, I guess I never saw it that way. It’s always like how I feel at that time. Like this is happening in the moment, I’m vibing right now, and everything feels right, right now. It’s hard to put it all together all the time. It’s hard to force it all the time, for me. I’ve always ridden that way. But it’s always adapted to how or who I rode with. When I was peg less and if I was riding a skate park and really feeling good that night I would do something scary. It was always about trying to scare yourself and whatever time you were in. I feel like that’s why we ride. We fall and we get hurt and shit, so like most of the time you’re trying to scare yourself.
I see a lot of pop punk pop up in your posts, what kind of music are you into these days?
Rap, sad music predominantly I would say above all. I would say that takes the helm of the music that I listen to.
Is the pop punk stuff from when you were younger?
No, I mean like I guess when I was younger. All of my twenties. All of my twenties were pop punk. Before that it was all metal, grindcore, like real abrasive shit. I mean I still really like that shit, but it’s like man, I can’t listen to it all the time. I’d be pissed off, I’ll kill somebody. Haha. Pop punk was like – there was so much shit going on at the time it was like pop punk got me out of a lot of it. That music alone and riding were two of the things that I gravitated towards. Those dudes were talking about heartbreak and all this shit you have to deal with.
Have you been to any pop punk shows since you’ve been out here?
Oh yea. I think the Flatliners nowadays falls into pop punk. Or rockpunk. I don’t know. But like, the Flatliners, Balance and Composure; I’ve seen the Wonder Years a few times, Story So Far, Menzingers. I try to go to shows a lot, the list is fuckin’ huge. Metal bands too. At the same time I’m a little bit of a recluse so that shit can be overwhelming, you know what I mean? But I would go to shows once every couple months. Occasionally I’ll go by myself, but usually I try to plan it to go with people. If they cancel, I’ll go by myself. But sometimes if a band is coming through and I know nobody really wants to see them, I’ll go fuckin’ see them. Kid does the same thing. Kids real good about going to shows too.
What was the last show you went to before all of this pandemic stuff? I think the last show I went to before all this was the Menzingers and it was bad ass. Summit? Or the Gothic. I think it might have been at the Gothic. All the venues here are good, man. The music scene in Denver is almost unparalleled.
What’s kept you riding into your thirties? A lot of people drop off way before this point and I’m always intrigued by those of us who just never stopped, for whatever reason.
Always being involved with people that rode. Always being around people who were psyched on riding. It was fun. Riding for me was always fun and it never stopped being fun. Going to skateparks, finding new spots; when I find a new spot I feel like a fucking kid. I’m fucking hyped. So excited to put my tires on it just to see what it feels like. I don’t know, it’s weird man. Yea, just for that. It just kept me interested in every spot that might exist on the planet.
Cursory Observation
With city maintained jumps planted all over the Denver metro I wouldn’t blame ya for not knowing about Denver’s BMX-built and maintained trails. Hidden in plain sight in the foothills, Down By Trails boasts multiple lines, huge lips, and manly gaps, all run by a handful of dedicated riders that have been building at the spot on and off since 2008. According to trail boss and Colorado native Jason Devous, the trails have seen their fair share of ups and downs before taking on a new life in recent years. After the jumps flooded in 2013 it took more than two years to get all of the lines running while making sure the jumps would not flood again, Devous said. Down By has been on the up and up since 2015 thanks to a growing crew of riders who are helping to make expansions to the trails every season. Though Down By sessions grow larger each year, the crew has a few mainstays like Jason, Cody, Jordan, and Pat who are always dreaming up and building new lines.
Besides the hiking spectators and occasional little gremlins using the lips as playground equipment, Devous says the trails go relatively unnoticed by the public or law enforcement, leaving the guys to toil in relative privacy. This privacy has allowed the trails to flourish, providing a welcome element to the Denver scene.
Travis Zipps mid train
Jason DeBOOST
DOWNBY
Cody Landers
D O W N D O W N
B Y B Y
Jason Devous Josh M
Erik Crane
Chris Andrijiw with precision footwork. November 2020. Greenwood Village, CO
Ryan Barnum by Jason Smith
Kaleb Romero. Thornton, CO. May 2020
Rob DiQuattro. Denver, CO
Alex Duleba by Paul
Ryan Cramer by Tyler Rembold
T HRILLSSTILL
Paul Smith
Tyler Rembold, apartment check. Denver, CO
Micah Lee. Denver, CO
Jeff D by Kirby Crumpler
Derek Cano answering the call.
Ross Albreski. Denver, CO
Chase Bryant by Devon Denham
Danny Camacho, downtown Denver
Paul Smith, the comeback kid. Denver, CO
Alex Duleba by Tyler Rembold
Master Chef Dev Burks. Denver, CO
STILL THRILLS
Devin Burks. Denver, CO. 2019
Photo : Rembold
Photo: Iwaniak
Photo: Iwaniak
Derek Cano, Denver, CO. Summer 2018
Anthony Wilson by KC Iwaniak. Buffalo, NY
THRILLS
Paul Smith. Littleton, CO. March 2019
Illus: Preston Solis
George Gustafson, the Yeti, in Longmont, CO. February 2019
Derek Cano by Paul Smith. Somehere, Canada
Ross Albreski by Ed Welsh. Denver, CO.
Dustin Arp, June 2019. Denver, CO
STILL THRILLS
Kid, deep in his element.
Ryan Cramer
Went way out in the boonies for this spot.. Worth every bit of torched skin. April 2019.
Center: Ben Linschoten
Josh Lucero by Paul Smith
CALL SOMEBODY
February 20th, 2021, North Denver rippers and keen camera operators, Kid, Derek Cano, and Rob DiQuattro released their much anticipated Call Somebody DVD in exemplary fashion at the Lumenati Productions warehouse. Masked up and on the tail-end of a pandemic, the Call Somebody premier brought out a horde of BMXers from all over for a night of riding, catching up, partying, and watching the culmination of multiple years worth of hard work. Thanks to Kid and Derek for a putting together a phenomenal night and a top-notch video that brought a bunch of fools together for a good time. Above are six frames brought to you by alcohol, exuberance, and a trusty point and shoot camera. The Call Somebody premier definitely included the following: 1. Looking ill, T.bonds style. 2. Plenty of riding before said premier. 3. Close-quarters conversations. 4. Dudes, lots of dudes. 5. AAngles Denver promo. 6. Illegal back-house dice games.
Founded January 2018
Occasionally motivated documentarian: Joshua Lucero
Printing: Nicholas Schum
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Thank you to everyone who picked up a copy or helped along the way.
Published May 2021
“What do trail riders and BMX magazines have in common? No DIG, no Ride!” - Dustin Arp
Cab wall, Taylor Bonds, February 2019. Longmont, CO
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C S I O N I Z E N A
