the front bmx

belmar story, part one

2008-08-12T16:19:00.004-04:00

the scene by the lip during pro practice. photo: stick
i hate to recylce words, especially my own, but bmx is a funny thing.

there are reasons, extensive ones, why i support the companies i do with kind words and buying and running their parts; this weekend's belmar jam in binghamton is the epitome of why bmx exists, and why i outwardly and uncompromisingly support FBM and love bike riding and the community that exists in its orbit.

there were hundreds of people there, all for the same reasons, and likely there are hundreds of personal perspectives on the event. this is how it went down through my steps.

i have no idea what time i picked frank up. i had just about the worst week possible and was looking forward to getting loose and seeing some shit go down, so needless to say i picked frank up as soon as i could. he had just blown most of his paycheck on a high-end digital SLR that he charmed his way to getting for about 200 bucks less than the fellow wanted, so he was a little kid in a candy store, hard on and all. chuckie davis was grinning as always as they rolled up to his house. time was wasted til about 8 or so, and after getting frank a new memory card for the camera, selling some tires to get some extra money, and not really packing much at all, we three were on the way to get mario. kaz had work sifting out seaweed at the fish store til about 9; john lee was already sleeping, so it sounded, and obvious nick-not-driving delays ensued. the ride there was fuzzy, no coffee surprisingly, and taking way longer than i remember. we rolled up to binghamton at a whopping 230am, awoke john lee from dreamland and hit up the floor of his studio apartment. snoring, all of us forgetting pillows and blankets, most likely spooning goin on between frank and chuck, and corner cramping from my lanky ass finding the smallest space to crash in were all that embodied the 4 or 5 hours of sleep i got. john woke up to some ghostbusters-esque fire alarm clock thing and i was ready to go- crew got ready, i packed a 50 pound bag of tools and camera, psyched to ride some street, not really knowing what to expect out of the belmar. breakfast at a cracked out diner that apparently has been having its grand opening for the better part of a year, black and tan with eggs and we were off.

the belmar resembles that house we all know; for sale for 10 years, never occupied, run down and creepy, the one that you think is haunted and/or a squatter pad. this time, it was renovated into a bar, and dave king could be found in the back yard doing donuts in a bobcat getting the mud out of the way for spectators. at the end of the yard-turned-runway via clay and quickcrete, a 24 foot jump by-stockade high lip and a monster vert-dirt creation with coping at the top of it and "ride-n-dirty" spraypainted switch handed and half cocked. the bar opened at 10am and thats when it got really hazy. all i know is by the time it was set to start, storms were on the forecast and the first dozen and a half runs were full speed and bailing, sometimes casing and awful "was that a rock or a crack" sounds eminating and bouncing off the ratty fences, littered with banners from red bull and company sponsors, crandall nonchalantly commenting with a random obscenity, and everyone i went with basically looking like their dreams had just fallen apart. i didn't even think the jump could work, nutter and dave king kept dialing in the lip after a few runs and noon comes and the party starts. people start rolling up in packs, sometimes resembling the pages of a bmx magazine, other times looking like a homely pack of hunters and gatherers, all with bikes. it was a catastrophe that i wouldn't trade for the world, drinking dollar 50 PBR's and taking it all in as people were hucking themselves over the jump and dying. crandall called the AM practice to start, and mario somehow got hyped up enough to not even look at the lip, just crank full speed and overclear first run. i couldn't believe it. frank followed with a nice moto-whip first run, chuckie not too far behind.

the contest started, best of 4 runs, footage to come. the ameteur contest was so nuts that as it worked out if you cleared it every run you placed top 15 out of a good 35 kids. if you tried a trick you placed top 10. darryl nau is possibly the craziest motherfucker to ever announce a conest..."up next is everyone's favorite burn out mario mirabella, mario hails from long island and will most likely be burning some bowls behind the porter john after this run, so if you're down to party meet mario by the shitter..." frank cleared every run, chuckie bailed i think every run, mario couldn't figure out the ever-changing lip after 5 runs in all to crank a turndown. frank actually pulled a fakie 360 on the vert wall and didn't place higher than mario. money dwindling from cheap beer on ice as souva didn't take a feeler run to be predecessor to his downside whip attempts, somehow getting the fuck its with the downsides and trying to 180 the monster. souva fucking rules, might have taken offense to me offering him a beer being straight edge and all, but time heals all wounds. some dude won, frank chuck and mario all got garbage bags full of prizes, and here come the pros.

by now i dont know what the fuck was going on, all i know is dan p'simer and clint reynolds have the "style cat of the year" awards and beat out bmx legends by blasting out weird enough trail variations that A: i didn't think were humanly possible and B: i couldn't remember because of afformentioned beer prices. you know what, just understand that doyle can do whatever he wants, the place was swarming with balls out riding as soon as they put the plywood on the lip, and some seriously insane shit went down that pictures, words, or video footage couldn't possibly do justice to. the thick feeling of comradery in the air and the tops of peoples lungs being put to the test after every run says it all.

long live bmx, and long live the belmar.

part deux to come, a shitload of pictures and more words.

-nick

budman rules

2008-06-01T21:13:00.004-04:00

so yesterday started as many of the days on this site started; finagling free parts to keep frank's bike in one piece, getting held up all over the place with delays from the kids coming, and finally, after hours of traffic, getting to ride. this time was a bit different, i had to deal with naked still-drunk rob mumbling like a toothless bum in his sleep while i was incessantly tapping my cellphone on his glass door.

got his ass up in time to catch all the traffic long island had to offer, ride brooklyn park for about an hour, then head to some trails. here's the thing; the area where the trails are sucks, so traffic did not cease one bit. we finally get to the spot and its dialed, despite the rain. 30mph pits, steep everything, and some dialed out locals. budman and mario had similar "nibbler" pre-dispositions about eachother, but punch-for-punch hip session went down and budman left with skids on his shoulder and mario a baldspot on his shin. franks chrome bike in a can was in full effect at both spots. shit was way fun, and expect budzo to have some dialed ass clips in the video.

also, enjoy some shots from the greenport jam of mike jonas and my friend jesse dewlow from new jersey that i dont think i ever posted.-stick

mario's updated bio

2008-03-22T22:28:00.014-04:00

mario wanted to change his bio up a bit, im guessing the old one had some bad memories associated with it, so i came up with this. it will most likely offend each and every one of you, and although i agree with some things he says, it may or may not be my style of saying them. the front site is not a shit talking forum, although sometimes it comes off that way, and for the greater audiences across some state lines where some things we say may not hold as much weight or show as much anger towards the loss of integrity most of the people we speak about have caused our lifestyle, we appologize; we are not ignorant, or lowly educated, or simpletons. we're just really pissed off about some things that haven't been addressed by people in more reachable areas that may feel the same way (older editors and photographers and contributors of magazines that may be as pissed as us but need to stay semi-neutral to grab that demographic by the short hairs when it comes time to get the stock shots of smith grinds out to the printing presses for quick bucks at the news stands.) myself and everyone associated with the front is in a unique position; we've been riding long enough to realize that the shit going on these days is complete and utter horse shit. we can still support whatever companies we want because we dont have any sponsorship affiliations, no matter how piss poor or amazing we are at riding. and we dont have any shirts, bike parts, magazines, shirts, camo belts, fitted hats, or anything else to sell so we dont have to hold back with what we say. sorry to put it this way but the first step to recreating a positive bmx community is to call out the bandwagoneers and the pseudo-rap stars and make them aware that they ain't shit. that might be what this entire interview is all about, im not even sure since i haven't read it all yet. consider this a disclaimer. with that said.....

mario's come a long way since we used to torment him when he was younger. maybe it was all of the pent up anger for how bad he used to get it that made him into the amazing rider he is today. he's salty, hates mostly everyone, squanders money just as bad as i do, is cynnical when it comes to bike setups, he's super opinionated about EVERYTHING, thinks his way is the only way, can't really dial in brakes unless they're 80 dollar fly brakes which happen to be that expensive because they're easy to dial in, and to top it off he has the most ridiculous red hair anyone's ever seen; but the kid can fuckin' ride. his upcoming video part will show that for sure. if you see a kid flying around on an fbm joint with some 200 dollars worth of baby blue brakes and pedals and some insanely bright red hair clicking turndowns, grilling out the trend hounds with grand slam bars uncut with no brakes and most likely talking shit to them about those details, say whats up to red. (words photos and questions by stick, additional riding photos by frank)

--im going to get right down to it, and take as many lines as you want to say what you need to say. what the fuck is wrong with everyone popping up outta nowhere thats riding a bike these days, talking about back in the day, having it be our starting point of riding at like 15-17 and having them be 18 or 19 this year?? is it possible they were all 9 years old shredding, talking to and hanging out with dudes we knew, at spots we rode on a daily basis, and doing tricks we wouldn't dream of doing? or are they all just talkin' "s?" dont be afraid to break into the s3/brakeless/pegless movement either, or the lack of respect or even acknowledgement of people like taj, joe rich, chris stauffer, ruben, dave freimuth, jason enns, or any of our era of free thinking creative riders. - "Person X with tight pants is everything u just said except the fact that he sucks and likes to blow dudes and apparently call people to tell them about his new dildo i mean hat, but when it comes to that kid hats n dildo's are pretty much interchangable." this next statement also came out of his sperm breath mouth " Ruben aint shit, dont waste your money buying grounded his part sucks, he doesnt do anythign but gay wallrides and is over rated" and further more if u ride no pegs and no brakes u mind as well ride a seatpost with no seat...

--whats up with the hair coming back? is it your mojo (n/h) or are you just getting lazy? My hair is basically like spinach for popeye the sailor man, the redder and longer it gets the more psyched and better i get at riding. In other words Austin Powers and I both have THE MOJO yizzzeard.

--top 3 favorite riders, and why. Taj Mihelich because he has an always will be my favorite rider, hes got a style like none other. Garrett Byrnes "is a mac daddy"(seek and destroy) because anyone who would even dare to do the wall ride he did at the first ghetto street contest should have his face put on mount Rushmore. Last but certainly not least it would have to be a tie between Chris Stauffer aka the best trail ride on either side of the Mississippi and Ruben Alcantara which i dont think i need an explanation for.

--how did you manage progressing at riding by not riding for years and getting a brand new bike one day, putting it together, and just picking up where you left off? I'm gonna have to go out on a limb and say that its the only real way to progress. You don't need to ride to get better you just have to pretend you ride and then you get better, actually i think its the hair mixed with the fresh new bike with a side order of dr pizzy hold the mayonizzy.

--whats your infatuation with the anti-establishment/government conspiracy stuff lately? where to even begin, basically our country is FUCKED like whoa (black rob status). It is just insane that so many people could be so oblivious too all the shit that has happened in the past 7 years or so, fuck that in the past 100 years. Our government and all the extremely wealthy people that run the show i mean world are completley fucked. watch this movie and you'll have a completely new outlook on the way our country and the whole world for that matter is ran and how they want to put chips in everyone while making a one world government. COMPLETELY FUCKIN FUCKED

--if you could get a session going wherever you wanted and with 5 people, who would it be? Christopher Reily Kaznocha, Triple J formerly known as the artist once called Jim Johnsen, Nick the Stick, Brian Maccormack and Jim Brady on if he had the 1/4 mullet.

--why do you think i use gay stock bio questions? It could be because that black yamica you've been wearing around lately is too tight on your head and its cutting off the circulation to your brain which in turn would be the reason for such homosexual, i mean GAY, bio questions.

--anything planned for this year? Trails, schemeing on some 17 year old girl, trails, and Ewock Village in the tree's at the Trails, perhaps even a mini ramp in Kaz's backyard a sweet road trip rays, flow, chenga, n some pa trails, beer, maybe a videosky, getting rid of this headache / toothache that i have right now, and last but not least not getting a hair cut until i can't see anymore. i got big things planned as u can see.

--anything else you wanna say? John Lee is the man for always hookin' it up with the freshest of fresh FBM stuff. Nick is still a Stick, This bio is taking out some serious call of duty time and (insert name gay trendy kid here) and the 1,629,452,194,837.2223 look alike clones who all wear tighter then tight boarder line spandex nut hugger pants , that have super wide super tall bars, no pegs and no brakes all should go play in on coming traffic in rush hour on the LIE.

mario mirabella bio

2007-10-03T18:07:00.001-04:00

name and age:mario mirabella 21

years riding: too many

bike check: ruben t1

who really cares about a bike check?: not me

what motivates you to ride?:

favorite video of all time: seek and destroy

what can you tell me about jim johnsen?: hes an old man what else can i say?

tell one person reading this whats really good: cheese doodles

any sponsors?: you wish

top five favorite riders: taj garrett ruben (edit)

top five bands: shai hulud slayer mouth full of dead babies (theoriginal) old poison the well and grade

whats the deal with S3's and long island kids?: audi s3's r cool

worst story you can possibly think of off the top of your head: the one where i got us out of trouble on the side of the road on the wayto greenport... nick feel free to ad on

free coasters are: cool if you like buttplugs and bondage caugh caugh iron mike

one place you want to travel to in the next year: im going to europe for 2 months next summer

halle berry?: out of all the hot movie stars you pick her????? why?

one thing you would change about bmx: that very homosexual kid at LIB who said rubens part in the new etnies video sucks

favorite spot: xdreams in rochester fav place ever

anyone you'd like to thank: jean claude van dam