Archive for the ‘Action’ Category

Posted on October 1, 2009 - by ChrisDub

StupidBMX – Circa 2001

StupidBMX was started pretty early in my college days, around 2001. I was taking DIT (Digital Imaging Technology) at TSTC with my buddy Andrew, learning how to use Photoshop and build websites. We were meeting a bunch of kids those days that either rode bikes, or were interested in riding bikes.

I had wanted to make a website for awhile. I found Geocitie’s WYSIWYG editor, gathered a bunch of photos together, and got it all online with the idea it would be the spot to go for all the BMX kids in the South Texas region.

StupidBMX was pretty much where the seed was planted for RGVJuice.

Those were some good days, lots of road trips, riding with the McAllen kids, running from the police, and general fun-ery. Back when we had no jobs,  no girlfriends, and no responsibilities. Everything we saw was worth trying to ride.

Click image for full view.

Yahoo is closing the Geocities service down on October 26, and I wanted to put together a little memorial post here on ‘Juice.

Below you’ll find a bunch of photos from the StupidBMX site. Enjoy the time warp, and be sure to check out the original geocities.com/stupidbmx before it’s gone forever.

Thanks to Tanner for grabbing all these photos off the site.

Posted on July 4, 2009 - by ChrisDub

Big Brother BMX/Skate/Blade Comp Tomorrow!

I know I’m pretty late on this one, but I just found out today. The rad dudes over at the Big Brother shop in Brownsville will be throwing a BMX/Skate/Blade contest at the Brownsville skatepark tomorrow, July 4th.

Registration and practice begin at 3:30pm, and the contest starts at 5:00pm.

I’ll be there shooting photos and taking notes to cover the event, maybe I’ll jump on the ‘ol BMX as well. I’m going to try and do some live coverage as the event happens, and make use of my ’smart phone’, to benefit the people that can’t make it out. If I manage to pull it off, you guys will see the post on the front page tomorrow.

See you kids tomorrow!

Posted on July 3, 2009 - by ChrisDub

I Love My Bicycle: The Story of FBM Bikes – Trailer

Just stumbled upon this video while cruising the intertubes. From what I can tell, it’s already out and running at film festivals with limited showings. Probably won’t be showing here in the Valley, but hopefully a dvd will be coming out soon.

There’s a quote in the trailer that reminds me of a time at a Ramp Ranch comp years ago when Crandal chucked an FBM beanie at me from across the room and said “your beanie sucks, buy this one now!” Crandal is a sales-beast. And yes, of course I bought the beanie.

Here’s the description from IMDB, and the video below.

“In reaction to the big business run companies of BMX in the early 90’s, 17-year-old Steve Crandall started a company of his own called Fat Bald Men (FBM). What began as selling t-shirts out of a backpack has turned into one of the most well respected DIY bicycle companies around. Through fortune and misfortune follow FBM through their 15 years of mayhem as told by Steve Crandall and the rest of the BMX bicycle community from close friends to influential Icons like Dave Mirra and Mat Hoffman.”

I Love My Bicycle: The Story of FBM Bikes Trailer from BAD BREAKS on Vimeo.

Posted on May 7, 2009 - by ChrisDub

Brownsville Session – May 2, 2009

Saturday was a good day. It was hot as fuck, but we still had a good time riding bikes, skating, shooting photos, and eating a billion tacos.

I woke up at around 11am, checked the emails and social networks, took a shower and waited for Dominic to meet me at my place. Dom showed up around 1pm with his camera lighting gear in tow. We packed up the Civic and headed to Brownsville to meet up with Walker at the skatepark.

I rode the park for about 10 minutes before eating balls in the flat bottom while carving around the bowl (I need new tires, bad). Shitty. Ended up sitting out for about an hour in the shade. Finally got up, shot some photos, and cruised around some more.

Walker was showing us and the park his stylish ways, and Dom was impressing me how quickly he could get around the bowl in his rollerboots.

We were all getting pretty hot at the park, with the cement park bouncing the sun’s rays around like a mirrored room. So we decided to go check out the Big Brother shop.

I had never been there, and I’ve gotta say, they have a really nice shop. Complete with ramps, rails, decks, parts, shoes, clothes, computers for checking the ‘Space, and on top of it all, they sell bikes!

We rode the ramps in the back of Big Brother with Dylan and Matt for a while and had a really fun session. The ramps need a few more nails, but it was still really fun.

Finally ended the day, at a top secret, all you can eat taco joint. I think Walker put away around 16, and I had 15 or so. Rumor is Damien Garcia killed 19 tacos the next day, with ease.

Let the Taco Wars begin!

Enjoy the photos.

Posted on April 27, 2009 - by ChrisDub

Quick 10 with Cat

NAME: Cat.
AGE: About 23-27, but my liver is probably screaming 30.
HOMETOWN: MacTown. born n raised in this hood!
SPONSORS: I get a lot of free drinks and free advice.
YEARS SHREDDING: I’m probably better at shredding paper. But I’ve been skateboarding for over 6 years.

1. INSPIRATIONS: Activism, people with OCD like me, and people who try 2 use their talent.
2. FAVOURITE SPOT: Secret ditches and backyard minis!
3. FAVOURITE VIDEO PART: Tranny gone wild
4. BEST THING ABOUT SKATEBOARDING: Everything bout it is rad.
5. WORST THING ABOUT SKATEBOARDING: Skate stoppers
6. BIGGEST FEAR: Showin up to a sick spot and forgetting my board. AHHH!
7. WORST INJURY: Either my concussion in ‘06 or all 4 of my knee injuries.
8. OTHER INTERESTS: Baca. Cardiel. Anderson. Bourne. Guzman.Tattoos. My rad little skateboard/skateart shop “ROOTS“. (look us up or stop by)
9. THE LAST SONG YOU HEARD: AL GREENS GREATEST HITS ON MY PORCH IN the HAMMOCK.
10. THANKS: To all the core companies out there that keep skateboarding raw, rude, real, righteous, fun, original. Thanks to anyone who has hooked it up. Thanks to my team for being rad. Thanks to our fans, the RGVJuice crew, the city of Olmito for building that new park, the cops for being cool at my b-day party and to Sammy Baca for having long hair and skating with his shirt off! Keep skateboarding fun.

Posted on April 26, 2009 - by ChrisDub

New Switchfoot Montage

Kevin over at Switchfoot Skateshop just sent me over the link to his new video. It is quite gangster if I can say so myself. It features the Switchfoot team shredding all over the Valley, and beyond. Slangin’ decks out the trunk like the DC sniper!

SWITCHFOOT VALLEY SKATEBOARDING from switchfoot skateshop on Vimeo.

Posted on April 26, 2009 - by ChrisDub

STC Ditch BMX Session – Photos

I Finally got out and rode bikes with the McAllen BMX heads. These kids are getting good. I remember them just a couple years back showing up at the park with thier Diamondbacks, fully equipped with gyros, pegs, and 4 piece bars, ready to rock. They are the next generation of the McAllen BMX scene.

We went out to find some street to ride, ended up at the STC ditch. Things just started to heat up and the sprinklers turned on. Got me and the camera gear pretty good. We ended the session pretty early but still came away with a few keepers.

Click for full size images.

Posted on April 22, 2009 - by ChrisDub

Equipment: Freddy Iorio’s FBM Howler

Name: Freddy Iorio
Age: 15
Location: McAllen TX

Frame: FBM Howler No brake mnts.
Fork: Colony MVP2
Bars: Sputnik Skyline
Stem: Shadow Attack
Grips: Animal Edwins
Barends: Fly Nylon
Headset: Colony Integrated
Clamp: Shadow Alfred Lite
Seatpost: Colony
Seat: Colony Slimmer
Cranks: Profile Racing
Sprocket: Tree Spline drive
Chain: KMC 510 HX
Front Tire: Odyssey Aitken Plyte
Front Wheel: Fly laced to a G-sport Marmoset
Rear Tire: Odyssey path
Rear Wheel: Fly laced to a G-sport Ratchet
Pedals: Animal Hamilton Sealed
Modifications / Extras: Slammed fork, slammed wheel.
On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being most dialed, how dialed is your bike? 11!

Posted on April 16, 2009 - by ChrisDub

Ralphy’s Roots Run Deep

What’s hoppin’ guys?
Cat: lots of rad stuff, were do we begin?
Ralphy: Sup dude?

New name, new shop, new board company. What HAS NOT changed with Roots compared to the old Ralphy’s shop?
Cat: (I still have dreads.) j/k Umm our attitude! Were still proud to be 100% Skater Owned and Operated. We still live it and love it everyday.
Ralphy: What she said, except the dreads part.

Anything yall are doing different?
Cat: (Ralphy cut his hair) Well, the sk8 art is a different thing. We are incorporating a lot of local and non-local skater made art and music. We want to show people the culture of skateboarding not just the product. I also focus a lot on chick skaters (of course, myself being one). The shop offers more for chick skaters than any other shop down here.
Ralphy: I started a board company that i think is a first for the Valley.

You guys have been throwing some pretty cool events, the latest being the “Juma Art Walk”. You’re focusing on the skateboard culture as a whole, and not just skating. How are those going?
Cat: They are awesome. Artwalk with our shop is an awesome get together where skaters (and nonskaters) can come hang out with us at the shop and enjoy the skateboard culture. It the first Friday of every month and you can enjoy live music, art, food, and other cool stuff. You should stop by sometime. (Quick shout out to “They Mean Us” and “Da Immune” and all the artists who have had booths.)
Ralphy: As far as events go, we always try to bring new things to the table to keep the skate scene fresh.

Talk to us about Lifer Skateboards.
Ralphy: Well, I was up in Austin skatin with some old buddys of mine and got some inspiration from just skatin with them. Then I told myself “looks like were goin to be doin this for life”. Then the word lifer just popped to mind; Its something I’ve been wanting to do for a while. So, finally just did it. Its going pretty good and got 2 riders on the team. We’ll see how it goes. Big Brother Skateshop in Brownsville now carries them and I’m trying to get them in other shops…..but yeah well see how it goes.

Why the shop name change?
Cat: It’s difficult to explain really. But the new name is a tribute to the old shop. We wanted to go back our roots and we wanted the skaters we had seen grow up at the shop to go back to their sk8 roots. It gets deeper…but not like the grand canyon deep or anything.
Ralphy: Its like Part two man.

When did you guys close Ralphy’s, and do you care to share why?
Cat: This one is for you Ralphy.
Ralphy: December ‘07. Ironically it was 7 years to the date. As for the reason, we’ll let that remain a mystery.

When did Roots open?
Cat: September 08. We had our grand opening in October. It was wild. We had it during Artwalk and lots of old skoolers and new schoolers came out to support us. Thanks to everyone who made it out.
Ralphy: It was like everyone wanted it to open or something.

What products are flying off the shelves these days?
Cat: Anything hardcore.
Ralphy: Anything with a lot of color.

Who is your typical customer?
Cat: People who already skate. However, we do get those who want to get back into it, or who want to start getting into it and that is always super cool. The other day a little girl came in with her dad and they both bought completes so they could skate together. That Rocks!
Ralphy: basically anyone who enjoys skateboarding.

Got any events coming up?
Cat: A couple more cool artwalks left and a video in progress.
Ralphy: Hope we can get another video together and stoke the scene again buts its gonna take some time. Hopefully not that long.

Who designs them?
Ralphy; Yeah I do the art on them. Spray paint and stencils. I use to do them for the Ralphy’s shop boards back in 2000 but these are taken more serious. Gettin a lot of good feedback from the kids.

Who are your shop team riders?
Cat: First and foremost our team captain hold’in it together: Germ. Then we got Dj, Diego,and Boss representin McAllen, Martin and Krystal rep’n Mission, then Manny and Edman rep’n Weslaco. Our team is cool cuz everyone brings their own style to the table.Check out our myspace to peep some pics and footy of our riders.
Ralphy: Yeah and we got out of town riders who ride LIFER decks every now and then and that’s danny, Mike and Justin. They’re down for there skate roots and they’ll be in the video.

Any up and coming local shredders you guys are pumped on?
Cat: At the moment I’m especially stoked on Germ and Krystal. I saw Germ grew up skateboarding at the shop and he just keeps on progressing. He’s always down to skate and his attitude makes him fun to sk8 with. If he keeps shredding hard and fast I feel it will take him into the industry for sure. Now Krystal, that chick is awesome. She is sooo stoked on skating im glad she’s on the team. Its cool to be able to throw down a real skate session with another chick. She is a true 100% skateboard chick that skates super good with cool style. She too has what it takes to get somewhere.
Ralphy: Well a lot of kids are ripping all over the valley its really come a long way I mean I remember when these kids were learning how to ollie like 90 % of these kids got there first board at Ralphys and did there first tricks there and now there ripping all over the place so theres a lot of local shreding goin on from all sides of the spectrum.

Any shop ramps in the works or being planned?
Cat: Yeah. Thanks to Nick(box), Manny(bank), and Ralphy (rail) and my landlady for being cool, we can session outside the shop any time we want.

Care to talk about the Switchfoot beef, or is that even still going on?
Cat: Who is Switchfoot?
Ralphy: That band sucks.

Name the most popular skate videos currently playing in the shop.
Cat: oh my god I will never get sick of Ride the Sky!!
Ralphy: the Independent 30th anniversary video.

What’s the best part of running a skate shop?
Cat: Living It.
Ralphy: everything!

Thanks for your time guys.

Posted on April 11, 2009 - by ChrisDub

McAllen Blading Session – Photos

Well, I am oficially living back in the McAllen area. All moved into the new pad, with my own office! It feels really good to be back in this area.

Anyway, went out to the McAllen park last night with the blader buddies, rode my bike around a bit and took a few photos of the dudes rockin’ the box.

Click images for full size.