Fat House article

Awhile back Defgrip did an article on The Fathouse. I just stumbled across it and had forgotten all about it. Since a most of these dudes were my friends I thought I'd post it up. Especially since the whole Mike Tag thing. So here goes The Fathouse

My two cents

 Well I hope everyone enjoyed my five part article about the guys that ride for the right reasons. But your probably saying to yourself "why do I care?" You may or may not, but chances are that someday you'll be on the ropes about riding and I hope that you think back to at least one of those dudes and say well they stopped/slowed down but are still riding. To me riding isn't about how much you ride or what tricks your doing, it's about hanging with friends and enjoying the time spent on your bike. If I lost that I'd move onto something else, but it's been 27 years so I think as long as my body can hold out I'm in it for the long haul. BMX isn't just a sport it's a lifestyle, every single one of the guys that I mentioned in the past articles will attest to that 100%. You just choose your level of involvement. I say ride when you have the time or when it feels right. For me as I get older the riding has come more about quality and less about quantity. I'm more pumped to ride something new and not just go out day after day and ride the same thing, but that's me. If you can do that and are pumped on it go for it. Bike riding is almost like having an addiction to something, you get your first taste and are usually hooked, or you run away scared to death. It's usually the first part of that statement. I know a hundred guys that quit riding and have come back to it a time or two, some of them still ride some don't...but ask any one of them if they miss it and I bet their answer will be, yes! There is just nothing in life that can compare to it. It's almost like your cheating death everytime you come home without a mark on you. Maybe it takes a certain type to ride BMX bikes? I'm not even gonna go there because I'm not sure of the answer, but I'm sure that isn't too far off. The point is that I love riding, and alot of guys I know are just as passionate as I am. My hope is that anyone who picks up riding, may your BMX have the same positive impact on your life as mine. I know for a fact that the majority of the people I grew up riding with feel the same and wouldn't change any of it for the world. Enough outta me
Go ride-TL

Right reasons V5

 The last guy on my list is not least by any means. He's a guy that may be one of the nicest dudes on the face of the planet. I don't think you will find a single person that will have anything negative to say about him. He is also one of the most fun people to ride bikes with, I know that every time I go anywhere with him we're gonna make jokes and laugh and just have fun. His name is Moe Lopes. I've known Moe for 15 plus years, and I can tell you that he is without a doubt one of the most passionate people I've ever met when it comes to bikes and riding. Just talking to Moe you'd see that his positive attitude is contagious, and it's not just about bikes. He has that outlook on everyday life. Now over the years he too, like I mentioned with Rick slowed down and started a family. he actually stopped riding BMX for a number of  years based on getting more involved with downhill bikes. So in a way he never stopped just redirected his focus. So naturally I asked him to be the a part of what I was doing with this article. So the following is what Moe came up with:
  I remember watching a documentary on discovery about motorcycles and one of the people they interviewed said "you won't get butterflies in you stomach from anything else like you do riding a motorcycle",to me I thought yeah you do! Every time I go ride my bicycle it get pretty pumped  about being able to go out and do something most people take for granted and never keep doing after they buy a car or graduate from high school. Bikes have been part of my life for as long as I can remember and I'm still going strong at the ripe old age of 41!  Every time I put my bike in my car I get butterflies just thinking about the people or places, it's truly an addiction! Like most people I grew up playing football or baseball and yeah I was on teams but it just didn't have the appeal the my bike gave me. I didn't have to worry about a team mate not performing or have the most yards or goals scored, it was me just cruising around finding spots to ride. 
  My inspiration came from an issue of bmx plus that my father picked up for me at a bookstore(I still have that issue in a plastic bag) it had Toby Henderson on the cover doing a cheesy kinda table. I read it cover to cover and thought man I can do this but at the time I had some cheap freespirit I got from sears. So needless to say I saved all my money from chores and got a torker, my first real bmx bike . I rode that bike everywhere and started trying to do tricks. My friends and I found tires,garbage cans and anything else we could find to jump I was in heaven. How could something so simple be this much fun. There wasn't anything that had the same vibe as riding a bike...it was my new best friend. As time went on I learned more tricks and met new people and formed some great friendships with people I still ride with or talk with today. Everyday wether it was school or work all I thought about was riding, it got to the point where I'd drive down a street and look at a paved embankment or a set of stairs and it looked rideable. Most people just drive down the road and think about work or money and never see all the natural terrain around them. What an amazing thing that is!
Eventually after a lot of years riding what most people would consider a kids bike I focused my attention on mountain bikes, I rode trails a lot and eventually found my new love downhill racing! There wasn't anything like it and it gave me the same butterflies my bmx gave me. Once again a bicycle has brought me that feeling that I had as a kid and it was the best thing ever. Unfortunately my bmx got little use because I was either trail riding or at a mountain racing and just didn't feel the need to ride it anymore it had lost it's passion. I still took it out of the garage from time to time but I just hung it up and grabbed my big bike. It's funny cause a lot of the younger guys asked me when you gonna ride bmx again and I pretty much told them NEVER! just didn't have the passion anymore and that feeling started to happen with the mtb. Eventually I sold all my bikes and just stopped riding and slid into a huge rutt. I feel into the same routine everyone else was doing, work,marriage a family and it's all a great thing but I just felt like I was empty and missing an old friend .
    My life has changed a lot since I started riding and eventually the passion slowly came back. I was fortunate to be a judge at Mauls Brawl and honestly I can say that had I not gone I probably would've never started up again. The thing that blew my mind most was all these kids where at a park doing what they love and enjoying themselves. They weren't thinking about paying bills or work, they were focused on having a good time! Sometimes you have to step back or away from something to realize how much of it is a part of your life and that day I remembered that. I never wanted to be the best or look the coolest I just wanted to ride and that's what I did. Now after almost 3 hrs of not riding I'm  committed to that passion once again . Every set of stairs or a ledge has that same appeal. They say you never forget how to ride and it's true! I feel as comfortable now as I did when I was 15 and I love it and the best thing about it is I have my six year son telling me to go ride! Doesn't get much better than that.

Little Moe

Downhillin'

old rye setup

westport

Startin his son young

Right reasons V4

The next guy on my list of dudes that are involved in bikes for the right reasons, is a guy that I've know the longest riding wise. The first time I met him I remember it well, it was a Sunday afternoon and myself an Joe Daugirda went to meet up with him because Joe had met him a few days earlier. Right from the start I was blown away at how much better than us he was, he was doing things that I had only seen in video. So from that point on I knew I had to start riding with this guy. Over the years we rode together alot, as with any friends as you get older life gets in the way of riding. He slowed down and got married and started a family and we lost touch. But over the last few years we reconnected and he's been riding again and more psyched on bikes than ever before. He even held his own flatland contest last year to get all the older guys back out on their bikes...it was a total success. His name is Rick MacDonald and I asked him to write aliitle something about bikes too, here's what he came up with:
Well, the other entries in this series have hit numerous points that I was in total agreement with. Good job guys, you nailed it. Simply put, it is all about life and fun, and who can argue with that?

Here's my own perspective on "Why BMX?"

THE PAST:
I've been psyched on bikes since around 1987. Even the cheese-laden 80's, something about it was cool...I wasn't into other sports, and the trombone was losing its appeal! A lot of my friends were skaters but it was the bikes that caught my eye. My bike was mainly for transportation in those days...Besides learning the basic tricks, we were RIDING the bikes for miles and miles. One day my friend Jared just HAD to have a new pair of Haro Kneesaver bars, so we rode our bikes on sketchy roads from Sharon to Whitman. That's 23 miles, 1 way! I cannot imagine that today, but that's just the way it was.
As we all got better and better at tricks, it just led to more and more riding sessions all over town. Crappy ditches, handicap ramps, parking lots, you name it. This BMX thing was so different than what everyone else in junior high was doing...and how do you explain to somebody who didn't ride how you could have fun for 12 hours in a parking lot? Or entertain yourself with a jersey barrier? Or pile your buddies in a car to do the same thing, but in New Jersey or Pennsylvania? The sessions and contests and road trips are too numerous to mention and simply unforgettable.
I certainly hope all you teens/20somethings are making the most of your time, because these are the days you should be totally OWNING!!!

THE PRESENT:
When I tell another adult that I still ride BMX bikes I have yet to hear "that's stupid". Most of them say it makes sense because they all think I'm younger than 37. Mission accomplished, I love "living young"! I am riding quite a lot now compared to a few years ago...I really needed the cardio, plus there are hundreds of tricks I still want to learn. I am sort of getting closer to my "peak riding level" of 1993...But now instead of riding from sunup to sundown, I squeeze in a lunch hour here and there and go back to work all sweaty and banged up. The occasional afternoon with the guys in Cambridge is always a blast...and I even hit the skatepark several times recently...
And since FUN is the one and only goal, I'll ride with anybody. We had a park session this winter with 1 legendary old schooler, 1 top X Games pro, his 4 year-old son, myself, and lots of young kids actually practicing skids. And it was all really cool!

Another benefit to riding was learning to be a little "mechanically aggressive". In a way, working on bikes came in real handy later in life, whether restoring an old car or taking care of a house. Lots of people I know are afraid to turn a wrench or drill a hole! What's up with that? Go modify something! Bring an old bike part back to life, get resourceful and stop buying stuff. Little technical lessons from way back still help me today, all because of bikes.

THE FUTURE:
I hope my daughters have the same awesome experiences in whatever they get involved in, and I consider myself lucky since I've had several hobbies and enjoyed success in each of them. But honestly, if my kids showed me a Bone Deth video, I'd have to say "No way in hell are you doing that"! It's sort of a weird conflict being a parent and a rider. And now my oldest daughter is the same age I was when I got interested in bikes...so it's hard not to compare my childhood with theirs, but that's nothing new I guess!

So how long will I be doing this? Who knows? I ride with guys in their early 40's who are still progressing and having fun. Maybe that's a question better left unanswered....

And do I have any regrets? Nope. Well, aside from riding with my elbow wrapped in toilet paper when I should have had it stitched up...or hopping that gate in NYC resulting in an asphalt sandwich. But that's in the past, and as for the future, I can tell you this for sure: 30 years from now, it will still be fun to 360 over a spine, table off a loading dock or link a hang 5 to halfpacker. I guarantee it. So all you young dudes potentially have decades of riding fun ahead of you, go get some!

BIG big thanks to Kathy and my girls, TL and all the Mauls, and you!
Photos taken by Chris Nesti, My Mom, Brian Tunney and Nic Ferreira

Posse Worcestor edit

We did an edit the other day

POSSE at Worcestor Skatepark from Bone Deth Video WasteLand on Vimeo.

Right reasons V3

There's still a few more guys I think are in this for the right reasons. Without getting too far into another introduction, I'm just gonna get right into this. The next guy on my list of dudes that are in the sport, and doesn't care about anything other than having fun is Kevin Botsch. He's recently gotta some notice being the team manager for Bonedeth (aka Party management), but it hasn't gone to his head in the least he's still very down to earth and probably one of the nicest guys I know. He even hosts his own events every Spring dubbed "The Autumn Brand Jams" he's on number six this year and the whole idea of these is to have fun. Which is what this five part article is all about. With all that said I asked Kevin to put some words down about bikes and this is what he came up with:

      I'm not the best bike rider. Not even close. I don't claim to be or want to be the best.  I probably have three or four moves that im alrite at, but to be honest, I'm pretty content with them.

        My first glimpse of bmx was in, I think... 6 grade. I saw it on ESPN on a show called "X2day". It was a show hosted by bmx idiot, Rick Thorne. I was so into it. I made my dad take me to buy a bike at Toys R Us.  It was a shit box Royce Union, chrome and purple, with 6 piece bars I think. I loved that fucking thing. It was awesome. The kids in the neighborhood and I would ride some shitty dirt mound that we built with cinderblocks. It was the best. Me and 5 or 6 dudes, just riding this 2 foot tall mound. Over and over, all day long, no matter how hot it was out. We would be out there running train on this stupid thing. Nothing compared to it.

         I left elementry school and went to junior high. Most kids were thinking about what classes to take or what sports to sign up for. I was thinking about that stupid dirt mound. Junior high is also where I realized I wasn't alone. I met differant kids from the area who rode bmx and did the same shit. But more importantly, felt the same way. They introduced me to a lot of new shit. The biggest being Dick Mauls Bike Shop. Real bmx bikes, differant parts, videos and clothes. All right before my eyes. It was awesome. Videos, like Little Devil's "Seek and Destroy", Standard "Domination" and FBM's "Live Fast Die" and "Albert Street", all showed me there was a whole life style behind bike riding that wasnt showed on ESPN. I loved it.
        Fast forward 12 years... a lot of things have changed.  My pancreas shit the bed and  I got diabetes, I lost the glasses and dyed the doo black, and eventually developt a small binge drinking problem. But what hasn't changed, is that same feeling for bike riding that I had when I was 12.. Replace launching that dirt mound in my back yard, with weaving in and out of traffic on Mass Ave, brakeless, full throttle. To me, its all the same shit. It's love.. The shit hasn't changed or left. Not even a little.

       BMX is not about what parts you ride, what your bike looks like, and what tricks you do. It's not. I dont care what you say. It's not. Not about how much you suck, or how good you are. To me, bmx isn't just having a good time on your bike... it's all about the good times on and off your bike. The feeling you get just riding the stupid thing or the feeling you get just hanging out with a ton of your friend's around a concrete bowl in the projects drinking some cocktails. It's all bmx to me.

        If it wasn't for bike riding, I would not have a single friend that I do now. Whether it being bmxer's, bums, girls, bartenders, pizza guys or anyone else.....they would all be differant.  If it wasnt for bike riding I'd probably be a fat diabetic slob in Pembroke with my feet chopped off sitting inside feeling sorry for myself.  It's changed how i look at things, how I look at people and how I look at life. I wouldn't change any of it for the world.

        Like, I said before. I'm not the best bike rider, and I don't claim or want to be. But I do know that I think about and love bmx more then anyone else.  I know it's a bold statement, but I'm willing to bet a drink on it. I mean, I must... I'm 25, I only got four moves and I'm still doing this shit haha.     

 

-Kevin Botsch

He's the party

Kevin with his lady Drew

Kevin and Bruce Danek

wallride

Beer Shits and Fittle's

Worcide

sweet spot, just needs alot of work

Steve Burroughs Footjamer

JT Ahl jamfoot

Tardiff rock to fakie

Fuf

Green hill

Tardiff table

Today a small group of us went west out to Worcestor. I had been tipped off in the fall about DIY park under a bridge starting to take shape, so I decided it was time and go check it out. Not exactly what I thought it was gonna be, but it has potential for the future.Afterwards we cruised the streets and Green Hill park as well. Here are a few pictures I shot with the old iPhone.