This was the first time I met Anthony Napolitan, who I’ve shot an awful lot since then. At the time, Anthony was a flow rider for the distributor System Cycle, and lived right down the road from the skatepark pictured above, Section 8 in Columbus, Ohio. Section 8 was a bad-ass bike oriented skatepark, producing some amazing riders over the years. I had recently moved to Pennsylvania, and took trip out there with Kevin Robinson, Alistair Whitton, and a few other guys. Anthony was killing the mini ramp, and the pink bike was a nice spark of color in a dark indoor park, so we shot for while that night. This photo was used in BMX Plus Magazine a few months later. Seven years later, Anthony’s still killing it. He’s all grown up now, and went on to win X Games medals, and a Dew Cup in Dirt.

I posted a teaser shot from this shoot a week or two ago, but recently I shot a bike check feature with Ryan Barrett for ESPN BMX that went up today. In addition to some photos of his set up and the customization process, we shot a couple photos at Nemo Design where he works, and took a trip down south to Myrtle Creek, OR for some action. Check out the whole thing here. The action shot above is a fastplant over a railing that sits atop a pipe at the Myrtle Creek park. It’s nuts in itself, but it was nearly dark when we got to the park. Neither of us had been there, but as soon as we pulled up he said “you can go over that rail.” Ryan got out of the car, and immediately figured out the speed line so we could shoot it. No warm up, he just got it done.

When it comes to BMX bikes, it doesn’t get any better than the stuff from the early days — the late 70s and early 80s. In many respects, the late 70s Patterson Racing bike shown above (and in some of the other photos, it was definitely my favorite of the show) was ahead of its time. BMX frames have come full circle to a similar design and aesthetic, yet the Patterson was built over 30 years ago and stands the test of time. Amazing.

The NW Vintage BMX show happens annually in Vancouver, WA. This is the first year I’ve been able to make it out and check out some of the bike builds, and the stuff was amazing. Freestyle, racing, cruisers… there was a little of everything. Check out some more photos after the jump, and if you’re in the area, be sure to make it out next year. Photos can be expanded to a larger view by clicking.

It’s possible I posted this years ago on here. But either way I’m bringing it back out because I like it. It’s a turndown flair, over a channel on the B3 BMX Ramp at Woodward Camp in 2003. I was laying on the roll in that runs through the channel, and getting attacked by birds which were nesting in the side of the ramp. It was off-season for camp, so birds had taken up residence in the ramp, and they were dive bombing me between Jamie’s runs.

Last summer, Mark Rainha built the weirdest ramp I’ve ever ridden, hidden on a hillside in Southwest Portland. It’s small and tight, but fun, and hidden in a bizarre jungle environment that overlooks downtown. I posted this shot last summer after the ramp was finished, and now that the weather is clearing up around here, Mark has added to the ramps sketchy nature, and added an extension off the side. The weird jungle ramp is now even weirder, and it’s added to the challenging fun. You just have to be careful not to go over the side, or you’ll end up dropping a few hundred feet into the heart of PSU. The photo above is Mark, transferring from the new transition in the background into the mini. If you look closely, you might also see Ryan Barrett wearing a sweater over a collared shirt in the background. “It’s formal Friday.” At least he looked good, on and off the bike, while making the rest of us feel under-dressed. Heavy session on the ramp tonight, though, Barrett, Mark, Anthony Levenda, Anthony Buglio, Caleb Ruecker and more. I suspect I’ll shoot more on this fun contraption as the summer continues.

I came across these shots of Mat Hoffman from 2002, sort of by accident, while searching for some shots in my files. I’m not sure if they ever got used, but they’re from a “Soul Bowl” contest in Huntington Beach, CA in 2002. HSA (Hoffman Sports Association) was the sport organizer for the event, and while Mat wasn’t riding in the contest, he took some runs during practice. I can’t remember if he was injured or healthy… Injured or not, when Mat drops in it’s full throttle. Judging from the photos, whatever limb was almost detatched from his body at the time wasn’t holding him back. The photo on the left is a no-hander one-footer, which I’ve been know to call the “best trick in freestyle” on several occasions. Subjective, yes, but I stand by that, as it’s one of my favorites to shoot and to watch. Sure there are harder tricks, but that’s one that will never get old, at least to me. The photo on the right is pretty serious. The Soul Bowl was/is a full-size vert ramp, but also featured a 45-degree hip and bowl corners. People would jump the hip, but they’d mostly creep over it, and do feeler airs. Mat on the other hand, blasted the shit out of it with very little practice. In all the years the Soul Bowl events ran, I don’t think anyone else went this large over the hip… and Mat wasn’t even in the contest. Check out both shots larger after the jump.

Check out a previous archive photo of Mat here from 2003.

And a portrait of Mat from earlier this winter.

A little while back, FBM Bikes Team Legend Mike Tagliavento (or Mike Tag as we all know him) was diagnosed with cancer. Aside from being all together shitty, we all know that stuff like that is unbelievably expensive to treat. FBM immediately set up a fund for Tag, and riders all over the globe have been coming together to kick in money. Today’s gathering in Hillsboro, Oregon was organized by some locals including Pro rider Chester Blacksmith, in an effort to raise some money through prize raffles and a BBQ. From a turnout perspective, this was one of the larger Northwest jams I’ve been too, which hopefully resulted in some decent help for Tag. If you’d like to help out Mike, here’s a link to the FBM Bikes page where you can do so.

Above is Portland’s favorite former Huffy rider, Josh “Boyd” Cornell, who took some time off of the Party Planet and shredded some lookbacks. You can check out some more photos after the jump (the horizontal photos, including the one above can be blown up by clicking them). High turndown ration warning.

Evan Abernathy.

Pauly Cvikevich, turndown 180 over a hip.

Jake is a Glenhaven local with toboggans on lockdown.

Snotty regulating/selling raffle tickets.

Ben Hucke, 270 turndown over the hip.

Mike Lund, with a Shad Johnson approved turndown.

The original Chenga World Skatepark in North Ridgeville, Ohio was one of the most important indoor skateparks of all time. If you were a rider, or BMX photographer in the early 2000s, there’s no doubt you made your way there, no matter where you were from. It was that good. Designed with bikes in mind, the flowing style created by Nate Wessel essentially changed the way we thought about indoor ramp set ups. Owned by two flatland riders, Scott Powell and Dave Schaffer, Chenga also boasted a huge area dedicated to flatland. The original Chenga World closed its doors a few years back when they lost their building due to real estate development, but they still have two other parks in the Cleveland area: Chenga 2, and Chenga 57. That’s Adam Banton above (click to enlarge) on a rigged curved wallride setup. Check out a photo of Chenga founder Scott Powell after the jump.

I hit up the Tigard skatepark for the second day in a row, since my friend Anthony Napolitan was in town on a trip with a fancy shoe company you’ve probably never heard of. A bunch of people were down there shredding including Anthony, the shoe crew, and the usual Portland suspects like Ben Hucke (above), Caleb Quanbeck, and Roman Tencza. Check out some more photos after the jump.

Anthony Napolitan, lookback.

Caleb Quanbeck, tailwhip over a hip.

Ben Hucke nac-nac-attack.

Roman Tencza, one-footed X-up.

Caleb Quanbeck, invert.

Roman Tencza, one-footed toboggan.

Caleb Quanbeck, with a Justin Inman approved invert.

Caleb Quanbeck, no-hander.

The sun is back in Portland, hopefully for a while now. I cut out of the office early, admittedly for the second day in a row, to go ride bikes. I met up with Roman Tencza, Mark Rainha, and a few others at the Tigard Skatepark, and fired off a few photos of Roman and some local skate rippers. You can view them bigger after the jump.