Trevor Swan sent this over to me earlier in the fall. (Yes, it’s still Fall until Dec 21st so….leave me alone! LOL) I didn’t have any photos to accompany it until Jim Dellavalle dropped me a few photos from Brian Pleva’s Summerslam 2010 at which point I realized that all this sorta jells together properly now. So… here is a story by Old School rider Trevor Swan, with a picture taken by Jim Dellavalle (another Old School rider) of Brian Pleva’s (um…yea, Old School) Summer Party. So… anyone considering retiring from BMX this winter….read on.

JUST RIDE

Hello under 20 crowd,

Yes that’s you, with your big hair, your underwear hanging out, your high top sneakers, etc.  Why are you reading this?  Why am I writing this?

Well, the purpose is just to raise a point.  You see several of us here are in the over 40 group – OMG – we are ancient for crying out loud.  Some of us remember the invention of electricity, the light bulb and the rotary phone (hey what’s that?).

Joking aside, we do remember the invention of 48 spoke wheels, Profile Cranks, 14 MM axles, Pivotal Seats and 20” tires that will run 60 psi without exploding.

My point is – never stop riding.  NEVER STOP RIDING.  While a bunch of us are older, and don’t move as fast or are as RAD as we used to be (can I say that ?  RAD ? )  There is something about riding that is not only good for our health – (It can count as vigorous exercise.) Riding is great for our minds.  (It’s cheaper than a Shrink, more fun and even gives you the chance to crash, get up and keep going, and you get to buy lots of sweet bikes).

Just over 20 years ago most of us looked similar to you.  Bill had big Metal hair, Brett and I had big hair, Ant had a FRO with a pick, and all of us rode BMX.  We didn’t have it broken into disciplines like park, dirt/vert, flatland, race.  It was just one thing BMX – we did various things – racing, riding, and frestyle every single day.  We broke frames, rims, bars, forks pedals and had broken bones and stitches too!  (But we never had our underwear hanging out!)

And when you get old and have kids – nothing is cooler than spending a day out riding with your son and his friends.  Teaching them how to hop curbs, what lines to take, where to brake, etc.  You even get to be the neighborhood wrench – fixing all the kids bikes in the neighborhood.

NEVER STOP RIDING.  NEVER!

LMAO – I no long have to worry about POS.  ‘cause I am the parent!

NOW GET OUT THERE AND RIDE!