From 2005-2007 I helped publish seven issues of a magazine called Sophisticated Rider with Pro BMX rider John Parker and Pro Skateboarder/Writer/Commentator Paul Zitzer. The magazine focused on Skate, BMX and FMX (the winter issues had a bit of snow as well)… an Extreme round-up as Zitzer would call it. All seven issues were distributed for free at skateparks around the US (and beyond).

About two years ago we decided the amount of work vs. the costs involved were getting to be too much. We didn’t have anyone focused on selling advertising, and none of us wanted to deal with that end, so we put the project on indefinite hiatus.

I’ve intended to put the issues online for a while and this week decided to put some effort into it. Unfortunately issues 1-4 were created in Quark Xpress, and since most of the design world has moved on from Quark and into the InDesign realm, it’s a bit of a clusterfuck to to get those issues into PDF form. I can’t believe I was still working in Quark in 2006. I’m not sure what I was thinking. So those 4 Issues remain a bit of a ball-up. Issues 5, 6, and 7 however were created in InDesign, which made them much easier to translate to PDF form.

So the last three issues at least are online for download (5, 6, and 7). I hope to at least get 3 and 4 sorted out and online in the future, as those are two of my favorites, at least design wise. If it comes down to it I will have to just scan a hard copy. Feel free to download the last three issues anyway, and maybe there will be more to come. They are in PDF format, so just click the link below and you’ll be able to flip through each issue, ads and all. At some point I’ll do another personal print project. When and exactly what remains to be seen.

Download the issues here>>>

Issue 5: Spring 2006
Issue 6: Fall 2006
Issue 7: Winter 2007