Date set for jam.

Heres the official flyer. 

 

 click to see it big.

Welcome to the rule book.

Bmx has become so much more than it really is in almost every ones eyes. It has been happening since the first day someone jumped a 20 inch. The more time goes on the more it takes on its own life. Whats in and whats popular has come full circle at least one full revolution. Nac nacs, tailwhips, and even early grind moves that faded away have come back in to the spotlight. The biggest key factor in whats in, is who is in. Trend setting is unavoidable and not always a negative thing. Its how you personally perceive these trends that defines what they bring about. You hear more talk than ever about whats wrong with bmx. What is in? What are the rules? What is accepted and what is frowned upon? Are web videos/Internet ruining things? I find these questions absurd and only surface deep. The Internet is the greatest tool in the history of man. You can learn anything or communicate with anyone. You can share your thoughts with the world. Turns out that most peoples thoughts are hateful, jealous, misguided, ignorant and rude. The Internet could just as easily be used to spread motivation, respect, admiration and common courtesy. Web videos and the Internet have done nothing to bmx. People and people alone shape what we have. It seems that all of us kids that chose our path in life to be ridden down upon a 20" kids bike have been slowly steered towards the opposite of what drew us this direction in the first place, non conformity. Slowly but surely were losing everything we loved about what we do to newer generations that never knew how it was. Self expression has been replace by imitation. I'm guilty too, a product of my environment. To them its a sport, with rules. The way you spin, the way you roll out, the way you dress, and the tricks you do all matter now. You are constantly being judged and graded by onlookers, as they run down their grade sheet in their head checking off different aspects and adding up your total score to determine your worth. Of course none of this matters if you don't care what anyone thinks about you, but everyone does to a certain extent. We want to mingle with our peers that share our similar interest and share videos and photos. There is nothing more pure and honest in bmx than to see someone grin as they role away from something they like doing or have been working on. That is all that matters. Who are we to turn that into something negative? I hope that anyone that reads this will always continue to do what truly makes them happy in the spirit of freestyle bmx, even if the first half of the name has been dropped. Welcome to the rule book.

JR gave me some very old pictures to scan and this one is what brought out these thoughts. This is me from 2003 in my moms back yard. I was the bees knees for doing whips then. Its a mirror image of the ones I'm doing 9 years later.  Both photos were taken by JR.

 2003

 

2012

I will always do lots of tailwhips because i love them. I love them for the most simple reasons. I love them because if you weren't a member of the bmx community you would think it was the coolest concept ever. It is so much fun and after all these years that hasn't changed for me. After seeing this old picture I love them even more. I feel as if I've gotten some of that old bmx nostalgia back. If I ever see anyone wearing a "stop the tailwhips shirt" i will just lower my head and weep a little inside for what bmx has lost, its freedom.

mountains out of mole hills

Here are 3 pictures from day 1 of the kpt park dirt jump. JR has more I'm sure he'll post once he finds some wifi to steal.

 

Deuteronomy here showed up and 360d it like it was nothing.

didn't catch his name

 



me and my signature frog squat legs.

 

 

Jr, classic and proper no footed can.

 

 This single pile of dirt has Kingsport police, parks and rec, and presumably the mayor in an uproar. Jr and I have single handedly twisted every city employees proverbial panties in a wad. Police officers have informed us that 12 pedestrians call in daily to report our strange behavior and reports have been flooding in of someone "actively digging". Remember the good ole days when everyone minded their own damn business? Has no one anything better to do? Can no one comprehend or appreciate a little hard labor for the sake of bike stunts? Is this not America? I thought this was America! A single pile of dirt has changed the course of everything instantly. A pile of dirt. I'll say it again. A pile of dirt. The silver lining in all this is that everyone that has ridden this jump seems to have had more fun riding it than they ever have riding the park itself. Ive seen so many people smile and light up with joy after going up in the air on this thing. To me nothing embodies bmx more than the random sketchy dirt jump.

 

 

 

 The main result of this dirt pile is that the parks and rec prime minister has confirmed that she does remember that long forgotten dirt mounds at the park were intended for us to build dirt jumps with. She has proposed we meet with her to discuss plans of "officially" building some. Mole hills have been made into the Himalayans my friends. All we wanted was a half assed, loose landing, low maintenance, huck jump. We will now have rules, regulations, paperwork, safety concerns, parental concerns, liability concerns, and so on. I am almost certain they will tear this one down. If for no other reason then just to prove some kind of point. Maybe It will work out. Maybe we will have a bad ass set of trails that are safe from being plowed. Either way, I wish everyone could just leave everyone the hell alone.

 

 

The trouble with the world is that the stupid are so confident while the intelligent are full of doubt

- Bertrand Russell

Better Late Than Never

A few more pics courtesy of Ed from Ed's Bike Shop.

 If you ever rode the dish, you know how impossible this is. Ant Bolash airing out of this tight 'transition'

 I invited Frankie Day so I could witness someone flairing the 8ft

 Chris Pryzwara was like a kid in a candy store when he got to ride the big quarter. Whipper

 Tom P was once heard saying, "I'd rather enter pro and get last place than enter intermediate, and get last place..."

 Pryz firing out the channel the hard way. I've seen him do this a few times, on this particular attempt, he cased sprocket and became close friends with the flat bottom

 Ant tucking the newest edition to the skatepark, 5'2" - 4' hip.

Kev Little with excellent

Austin Jeff Split

Here is a new one. Austin and i have wanted to do a split for a while. This is all older stuff with a little bit of new. Atcually set the 7d to 480p to finish out a few. Saving all the 1080 clips for walk the plank! Hope you enjoy!

Austin Phillips Jeff Grindstaff split from jeff grindstaff on Vimeo.

It's that time of year...

It's almost time to host the 2nd annual FMN Jam! a.k.a garage jam. We're gonna shoot for mid December but we will post up an official date soon. In other news, JR and I have started building a giant dirt jump at the kpt park. If you see kids wrecking it please set them straight! Anyway, I thought this post would be a good excuse to post up last years jam video, not that we need excuses here. We do what we want!

 If you havent seen it yet, things get pretty serious at the end.

Amateur Hour garage jam from jeff grindstaff on Vimeo.

Slaving-away Saturdays

Hanging out with Tom P this evenings. On opposite sides of the bar. Hey fuckass pour me a beer