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e exchange formalities and size each other up. I notice he looks older than his years, ‘heavy paper round’ I thought, whilst Eddie wonders if I am even old enough to drink. I think that must’ve been his first concern. From the get go he was smoking, Camel filters jammed in the ashtray in front of the gear stick, that part never changed. We set off into San Francisco, talking about common ground stuff like people we know whilst Free Bird was playing from the stereo, that or Simple Man. It was Lynyrd Skynyrd or West Coast rap. Everything fell together, it all worked. The car, the music, the smoking and most of all Eddie Cleveland himself. This was going to be an interesting couple of weeks… The interview took place during a six hour drive down to L.A. We stopped at a famous surf spot called Mavericks and watched a few guys get pummelled by huge waves. Although I say we, I’m pretty sure Eddie couldn’t see shit. He told me when he rides and he takes his glasses off, he can normally only see what he’s riding up to at the last minute, a few metres away. “What about contacts?” I ask. “I fucking hate those things man, I just deal with it”. We leave Mavericks and load up on beers and snacks to keep us entertained on the journey down Route One. The sun is setting on the right over the Pacific ocean and to the left its just rolling hills over to Big Sur, Salinas and all these Californain places that remind me of books and movies. I know now why most Americans don’t have passports, it’s all here. Eddie doesn’t have a passport, it doesn’t surprise me. When the sun sets and the view disappears, we start the interview. Albion: When did you turn pro? Eddie: I think I got my first paycheck from Rich [Hirsh- Lotek TM] when I was 18. I was pushing shopping carts in the rain for Albertsons and was fucking tired of doing that. So one day I just left… I left all the shopping carts in the parking lot and went home and called up Rich and said “lets go ride, I just quit my job”. Rich said “Oh shit, you quit your job!? You wanna get paid to ride your bike?” Obviously I said fuck yeah, course I want that. So I got $100 a month and at the time it felt like a million bucks. A: So, when did the FIT thing come along? [Phone rings, it’s some chick Eddie’s been talking up who he’s planning on meeting in L.A a week from now.] E: Hey, what’s up? No we’re driving down to L.A, currently 269 miles from there I’ve been talking about 69ing a lot recently. Hey can I call you back when we’re done with this interview? We have a tape recorder set up so this’ll probably be in print…Okay, cool. Bye. [Hangs up.] E: Damn! That southern accent! [Laughs.] A: Future ex wife? E: Maybe! Damn, all the cars have disappeared from behind us… A: So about the FIT stuff? E: Rich flew me to L.A for the first time, well I went to Disneyland before but that was a load of bullshit, so Rich had flown me down to Santa Ana to be exact to film for the Lotek Mixtape and whilst I was there I met Robbie [Morales] and he was pretty stoked on me, so he first got me hooked up with S&M until he made it official on FIT. That guy sorted me out in the beginning man, he’s got a big heart. I couldn’t believe I was on the same team as Mikey Aitken, Van, Edwin and the rest of those guys. 64