If you're from Generation X, this theme and intro are still embedded in your brain.
I was a year out of high school, and manager of a tiny little amusement park in Boise, Idaho. The park was called The Fun Spot, and even in Boise, people made fun of it. But then, we made fun of Boise State in those days, too. "Are you going to college?" we'd ask our friends, "No, I'm going to Boise State," they'd reply. Or "Boise State University, where BS comes before U." Anyhow, I didn't have money for college, I almost joined the Marine Reserves that winter of '84-'85, but got booted from the delayed entry program. So in May of 1985, I left my line cook job at Chi-Chi's Mexican restaurant, and became manager of The Fun Spot for the summer. 18-years-old, running a small business, managing 12 or 13 high school kids, all making $2.10 an hour. I, however was raking in the cash, making a whopping, $3.10 an hour. Minimum wage was $3.35 then. We got paid under the immigrant farm worker law. But hey, it wasn't that bad, I got free Pepsi's all day, free popcorn, and cotton candy. If you ever work around cotton candy, you get sick of it about three hours. Pepsi and popcorn were nice perks, for the time. Here's what I looked like then, balancing on my Skyway T/A. Photo by Fun Spot co-worker, Vaughn Kidwell ( he did make it into the Marine Corps, later on).
There was one trick team in Boise then, I'm pretty sure it was the only one in Idaho at the time. Justin "Jay" Bickel and I made up the Critical Condition Stunt Team. That was the second incarnation of the team, the first was Jay and the other Boise freestyler, Wayne Moore. I met them at one of their shows, and rode in one or two shows with them, as I recall. Then Wayne decided to retire from freestyle, at the ripe old age of 17. Jay and I thought up the new name, and decided "stunt team" sounded way cooler than trick team. We rode in every parade in the Boise area, area, and Jay's mom lined up a few free trick shows now and then. I'd given up BMX racing in the spring of 1984, where I never made it out of the 17 novice class. Mostly, I hardly ever raced novices, I was always racing intermediates, and often experts, like local speed demon Clint Davies. I did do 360 tailtaps in motos a few times, on a roller jump, on a track I designed. That was the highlight of my racing career. There were some good racers in Boise, current USA BMX guy, Shannon Gillette, was a 12 or 13 X when I was racing.
But freestyle, and managing The Fun Spot, were my life that summer of 1985. Like freestylers everywhere, I'd wait for the new issue of FREESTYLIN' magazine to show up, and read everything, even the ads, twice, the first day it came in the mail. Then I'd head over to Jay's house, after work the next day, and we'd discuss all the new tricks, and try whatever looked possible. Jay's parents were totally supportive of freestyle, and basically became my "freestyle family," while I lived in Boise. At a time when everyone gave us shit for "doin' tricks on little kid's bikes," Jay's parents, Dwight and Cindy, were full bore behind the sport. They actually bought the first AFA "franchise" from Bob Morales, even before Randy Loop, in Ohio, and Ron Stebbene, on the East Coast, got contests going. After sucking at every sport throughout my childhood except dodgeball, chubby kids are good a dodging), I finally found a sport I could be mediocre at, or even good. That was mostly because no one else did it, but I didn't mind. That was awesome to me.
That summer, the Bickels asked if I wanted to go with them to the AFA Masters contest in Venice Beach, California. The very first flatland and ramps BMX freestyle contests, ever, were the year before. I think Venice Beach 1984, was the first AFA contest. Freestyle was brand new as a sport, and going to California would be my first chance to see the top pros and amateurs ride. My answer was something like, "Hell yeah!" They asked me to pay $100 towards the trip, and they'd handle the rest. I really didn't have any idea how much that trip actually cost, but my share was a lot more that $100, I know that now. But Jay and I got along well, and rode together 2-3 times a week, on his wedge ramp and six foot high quarterpipe. So we packed into their Mercedes station wagon, and Mr. Bickel drove us to Southern California, my first time going there.
I didn't realize it , but, because Jay's dad was a lawyer and made real good money, they liked to travel first class. So we stayed at the luxurious Marina Del Rey hotel, right on the harbor, a short bike ride from Venice Beach. When we pulled up to the hotel, there was a really cool looking sports car, one I couldn't identify, parked to the side of the entrance. While Jay's parents went to check in, Jay and I walked around and scoped out the car. It turned out to be a Maserati Merak, like this one, the first Maserati Jay and I had ever seen. We immediately wondered if it could do 185, like in the Joe Walsh song. That was a cool start to our first night in Southern California.
Jay and I walked our freestyle bikes through the upscale hotel lobby, feeling like movie stars or something, because no one seemed to care. After getting everything taken to our room, we went for a bike ride on the beach bike path, heading north, away from Venice Beach, out of Marina Del Rey. That's when I saw something that amazed me, California girls... in tiny swimsuits. I literally did the Jack Tripper move, staring a a woman and riding right off the bike path... TWICE... in like 100 yards. I totally went over the bars, into the sand, both times. Jay was laughing his ass off. He said it was funnier than the Three's Company into (above). I think we ate in the hotel restaurant that night, since it was already dusk when we got back to the hotel. We had a lot of driving around the L.A. area to do the next day. I'll get into those stories in the next post.
But for our second night in L.A., The Bickels said they always took Jay out for a crab dinner, his favorite food, the night before a contest. For me, epic seafood was the Skipper's all-you-can-eat buffet in Boise. Fried fish of some kind, slathered in tartar sauce, tons of big French fries, and mounds of coleslaw. I'm not much of a gourmand. I was way out of my element when we walked into the Chart House the next night. The waiter got us drinks, as we check out the menus. I'd only eaten crab when the youth group at our church had crab dinner fundraisers. It was good, but I wanted to try something else. Our waiter said the special that night was teriyaki thresher shark, and, like an idiot, I said, "OK, I'll have that." I'd never eaten shark before, so it sounded cool. Jay's parents gave each other a funny look, but didn't say anything, and they ordered their meals, and Jay got his crab legs. The shark tasted amazing, and I found out I really do like seafood, or at least well cooked shark.
Later that night, back in the hotel room, Jay asked me why I got the shark, and I told him I didn't really know what to get. He said, "It's cool, but the specials they offer are crazy expensive, that was a $27 dinner." I FREAKED, and went to Jay's parents' room right away to thoroughly apologize. They laughed it off, and said, they didn't mind paying a bit extra. They were glad I came on the trip to keep Jay company, and were happy to help me get to the contest. They also said that if I wasn't sure what to order at another upscale restaurant, I could ask them for suggestions. Lesson learned.
While Southern California's best BMX freestylers were eating at Carl's Jr. or In-N-Out, or eating bologna sandwiches in the back of a smelly van that night, I was living it up, joyfully dining on teriyaki thresher shark in luxurious Marina Del Rey. OK, that's it for today's freestyle BMX tale. I need to go panhandle money for a cheap burger or something. Heh, heh. Times change...
A thresher shark hunting, using tail slaps to stun fish.
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