Any of you Ride mid School?

[FIL EBZ]

I was an old school dreamer to young and poor to have a top end bike at 11 and too small to ride the cheap one i got at the time.......

I started messing about and racing in 88 and sicovered street ridng in1990 and rode until 95 when parent hood reared its head.

Any 1 else actually ride those darker years when BMX was as popular as a fart in a space suit? and when you would be chased or threatened with violence for jus riding a bike instead of making friends with Charlie, Billy and Mr Eboneezer Good  and going off or a joyride??

Fil

[TwoBobRob]

I returned to BMX in 94 after a 10 year layoff.  Actually, It was the end of 93 but i didnt have a bike until Jan. Had a vert ramp, but no bike   

Rode fairly seriously until 2000 then gave up again   

The mid years were an excellent time. So much progression, so many good times. I met some cracking people, the vast majority of whom have remained friends and riding buddies to this day   

Pre x games, no one outside the scene had a fooking clue what was going on with these little bikes with great big 'stunt nuts', which just made the people inside the scene so much more close knit.  Taught me a little lesson in life, that did. Keeping an open mind, believing anything is possible, not judging a book by its cover - that kind of crap. All good. 

I really don't know if i came across bmx again this year instead of 93, if i'd get into it. The priorities are shifting again and i dont like it.... I'm very glad to have been a part of it before the money came back along.

Happy days indeed 

[stuntmaster]

yep i rode through the dark ages when bmx was dead , i was the only bmxer in town and a few year before everyone rode . i rode also through the bashguard period and hoffman starting his company and riding smithfields . they were good times tho as every rider gave you respect not like the kids today .

[harris]

i rode i the early 90s then gave up for motor racing ,then in 1998 got back into it a little then 1999 back to it again and loved it ,spent loads rode hard travelled skateparks radlands, lea on sea, rom ,stevenage and a few little ramps and then gave up agin 2000 but it never went far.then returned again 8 months back still lovin it.

[theRuler]

i saw a documentary about hoffman called "hi-5" in the mid nineties sometime then i eventually bought a bike in 96. those years: 96-99 were great. a few of my mates got back into it. but all stopped with kids/marriage etc. i didnt stop.

[generallee]

I raced a bit and rode in the mid to late 80's as a nipper but it  wasnt til 1990 that i really got into riding.... I was living in Devon  and rode the south west spots in Devon and cornwall, mostly street and dirt with the occasional ramp if we were lucky enough to find one! Green Machine was the place to get parts as nowhere else did it, mail order wasnt much of an option, and it seemed NOBODY rode... but it was bloody brilliant. I loved the 90's - a few people gave up but the majority of the riders I rode with back then still ride today, like I do, and we never gave it up - I still marvel at how big BMX has become again - and if it ever shrinks and goes underground again I'll still be riding. I now organise a twice yearly reunion of all of us from the south west who rode together in the 90's - everyone brings there old school memories but ride their new school bikes...
I remember in the quiet years that if you saw another person on a bmx youd chase them down and get their phone number as it was SO rare to find another bmxer! Thats how I met up with Tim Ruck and the Exeter crew. Happy days!

[TwoBobRob]

i saw a documentary about hoffman called "hi-5" in the mid nineties sometime then i eventually bought a bike in 96. those years: 96-99 were great. a few of my mates got back into it. but all stopped with kids/marriage etc. i didnt stop.

Dude!!    It was that exact programme that got me back riding. It aired in about august/september 93, by Jan 1994 I had my own indoor vert ramp, one of only two in the country at the time.  And the rest you know.   

But that show... jesus..... I'd never seen 540 airs on vert before. Flips? do me a favour...  and handrails of course, it all blew my mind. From being no more than a kickturn specialist in 82-84, in 94 aged 28 I decide I want to be a vert rider 

I had that show taped and watched it over and over for months until I discovered Headfirst and Ride On   

[theRuler]

But that show... jesus..... I'd never seen 540 airs on vert before. Flips? do me a favour...  and handrails of course, it all blew my mind. From being no more than a kickturn specialist in 82-84, in 94 aged 28 I decide I want to be a vert rider 

I had that show taped and watched it over and over for months until I discovered Headfirst and Ride On  

i know exactly what you mean
my brother watched it, on sky. then told me about it, and said it was being repeated later in the week (it was on quite a lot, really). he said this guy is doing framewhips, but IN AN AERIAL!!! so i stayed up one night and watched it. holy shit.
i still have that programme on a video tape. and it plays ok.

what dennis mccoy says while the end credits are playing really got to me, and instead of just remembering the old bmx days, i went and bought a bike. shit that seems like "bitd" now. it was just over 10 years ago. when i bought my bike i had absolutely no idea that there was any uk scene left, except for the odd lone bmx rider here and there.

[TwoBobRob]

My old riding buddy tells a story (which i dont remember, incidentally)  of me jumping out in front of his van, climbing in and saying 'come with me, you're not going to believe this' and then showing him that programme.  Of course he bought a bike too.... 

[Lazarou]

Rode from 81 until early 2005 most days and from 89 until 93 mostly rode alone (the flatland years!) except for when i travelled to ride at Radlands, Nottingham wheels etc. then started to travel further afield (stateside) to atend some of the early BS comps. and experience different scenes. Rode with some amazing riders over the years and had some great times. I started a bike shop in 95 but as no-one rode and i only sold BMX parts it didn't last long! got burnt out in the end by the state of things (fashion riders, attitudes, BMX media etc.) Found solace with the old/mid school crowd away from skinny girl/boys with tight jeans and big hair! But as i spent two thirds of my life riding BMX i dont think i'll ever truly quit.

[FIL EBZ]

As i said b4 it was a small community in the early nineties i also rodeNottingham wheels often staying in a car or van about 4 of us and our bikes absolutely brickin it not wuch sleep but would spend hours on the midi ramp while Jamie Bestwick tore up the half pipe.

What about the rider cup in 92 any of you guys make it there now that was a fookin weekend.
Loads of mad street riding round London on the saturday night Loads of fresh marbel tore up with anti smith grinds , bash guard and chain ring grinds you don`t get more mid school than that ha ha

Fil

[Bren Gunn]

Oh yes, The Rider Cup, what a good weekend that was Fil, my bash guard got a right workout...   got any pics mate?

Bren

[Lazarou]

The Rider cup was class, flair attempts by Hoffman! '92 was a land mark year in a lot of ways, the first issues of Ride UK and US, the first Backyard Jam with DMC, the first BS comps etc. I yearn for those days!

[steverobinson]

I ride a Haro Air Master from 90 or 91 I think I love it. Still have my Rider Cup video too which I have recently put on DVD.

[FIL EBZ]

I have a load of very blurred pics of Chase Matt DMCand Mirra brenn.
now a vid of the rider cup you know what the next question is ...............?

I gotta say these years are my real years of BMX for me up to 90 wishing i could ride then again 95 onwards wishing i could ride LOL