The Ride of My Life (45 page)

Essentially a one-handed Indian air classic. This one has come and gone in my trick repertoire over the years. I redid it in the latest Hoffman Bikes video, Testimony.

The Indian air classic gets technical. I throw a no-footed air into an Indian, then back to a no-footer. My legs swing around from one side of the bike to back out again.

For years I did toadstool airs before I realized I didn’t need my feet on the back pegs. Sometime in 1999, I took my feet off, grabbed the seat with one hand, and crossed up the bars with the other. I did it first try. I was sick that day, hence, the name.

One of the last tricks I learned on my original backyard halfpipe, circa 1987. A no-footed topside can-can to a no-footed bottomside can-can. Whenever I had piano lessons I had to watch the pendulum on the metronome go back and forth.

Steve and I were riding the Ninja Ramp in 1989.1 threw a lookback while standing with one foot on the seatpost. “Cool. What are you gonna call it?” asked Steve. I looked down at the deck and there was a Guns ’N Roses CD sitting there. “Rocket Queen” was the last song on the track listing and caught my eye.

A no-handed rocket air, one of the scarier variations I do. This is hard because with your feet on the back pegs, you have to lean forward to stabilize your bars when you take your hands off. I was shooting a photo session with Mark Losey in 1993 and was bored with the tricks in my library, so I thought this one up. When I asked Mark if I should try it, he wouldn’t say yes or no, because he didn’t want to be responsible if I crashed. I was also going for triple bar spins that day but could only pull two and a half.

Once I got into the idea of combination airs, I would try every trick I knew and see what else I could throw in. This was the first rocket air variation I invented. I turn to the right and switch my right hand with my left.

This is a variation that feels sketchy. It’s a rocket air with a one-handed X-up. When I cross the bars up, the gyroscopic effect makes my bike wobble, and since I’m only holding on with one hand it’s hard to control.

Nobody but a vert rider will know this, but this trick is probably the hardest variation I know. It’s a superman seat grab X-up. I get locked way behind the bike with my bars twisted and am reentering the ramp that way, making corrections the whole time because the front wheel crossed up gives the bike a nice wobble. Very intimidating. On the crowd-appeal factor, this trick doesn’t hold a candle to a big 540 or a tailwhip.

B2B is short for bumper-to-bumper. The trick is a superman to no-footed candybar—bringing me from the very back to the very front of the bike. This air feels awesome and uses the same rhythm as a superhop. The “B-to-B” in this one could also stand for Bob-to-Brian, since Bob Kohl invented the superman, and his riding partner Brian Dahl invented the candybar.

Takes the B2B to the next level by throwing a no-footed can-can in for extra credit. It breaks the air into three parts—the superman on the way up, the no-footed candybar at the peak, and the no-footed can-can on the way down. If you play
Mat Hoffman’s Pro BMX2
, you can do these using the trick modifier.

Lookdown to no-footer. Many times I accidentally tweaked lookdowns too far and had my feet come off. Then I thought I’d try untwisting the lookdown and throwing a no-footer on the way down. It worked, but it’s a small window of opportunity to get my feet back on. I can also do these one-handed, which is harder because I can’t snap in and out.

Kevin “The Gute” Gutierrez does switch-handed lookdowns on jumps. In 2000, we were riding vert at Patty’s ramp in Austin, and I asked the Gute to do his switch lookdown as an air. He said he’d never done it on vert. I dropped in and tried it, and a couple of days after that session I did it at the first CFB. Losey took a photo of it, and I wound up on the cover of
Ride
.

Same as above, but throwing the no-footer on the way. Supertech trick. I constantly have people calling out flairs, tailwhips, 5s, and 9s. Maybe five times in my life have I heard requests from the crowd for tricks that are this technical.

Nostalgia time. This is the first trick I ever made up, back in 1986. I went to pick up my bike off the ground and grabbed the opposite grip, then wondered if I could grab with my opposite hand in the air. I called it a can-hand. A vert rider from Texas named Jack Smith started doing it and called it a switch-hander. I changed the name because Jack’s title sounded better.

The first combo trick I ever learned, circa 1987. It involves finding the total rhythm of an air—I throw a no-footer on the way up, slip in no-footed can-can at the peak, and bring the legs back across the top tube for a no-footer on the way down.

Throwing a hand and my feet off ups the difficulty of a regular swing leg. Once you’ve mastered the balance of an aerial, anything is possible. A lot of riders aren’t interested in technical tricks on vert—and focus doing tech stuff on park courses or flatland I think I overanalyze vert.

It was the spring of 1998, and I had a vert ramp set up outside. I was having a mellow session by myself and was getting bored with my variations, so I forced myself to come up with a new trick. I was tired, and kept chickening out, and the sun started to set. I told myself I could end the session by taking myself out, or learning this trick. I decided I didn’t want to crash, and switched my hand, threw the bars, and caught them with my opposite hand. The same session I learned this doing a rocket air.

A no-footed switch-hander. The variation dates back to 1987, and you don’t see this move very often anymore. It was tough to learn because the balance is very tough, like a mustached Viking.

Another invention from the fertile Mountain Dew Trick Team era. I switch both hands [double switch-hander) and throw a foot off.

Same thing as the above. Learned this one doing a demo at a sports car show.

In 1999, thirteen years after I learned the root air (the switch-hander), I came up with this one. I did it during a photo shoot and the trick wound up on a poster for my first game release in Holland. Stoked.

In 1991, I made this up on Dennis McCoy’s backyard ramp just before he held a little jam there. It’s a one-footed rocket air grabbing the seat. No other pro does these, but they should. They’re fun.

Learned these the same day as the toadstool by crossing up the bars. The jam was good, and one of the last times Joe Johnson rode in an event.

This is an old one, invented about 1987. It’s sort of a backside, reversed Indian air. You do a superman, drop your leg around the back of the bike into a no-footed can-can. A lot of my tricks reflect the fact that Oklahoma is rich with Indian lore.

My body swings the opposite direction as the bike is rotating and ends with a no-footed cancan topside. Freaky.

I just learned this baby a year ago, working on lines for the
Testimony
video. I needed one more trick that would work as a superman so I could do an alley-oop on the big wall. The second time I ever pulled this trick—a tomahawk seat grab—is in the video.

The bar spin debuted as a how-to in Freestylin’ magazine, featuring RL Osborn doing it as a kickturn on a bank behind Larry’s Donuts shop in Torrance, California. Then Chris Moeller brought it to dirt jumping (at the time it was known as a bus driver). The first guy I saw do bar spins on ramps was Jeremy Alder, an East Coast local who rode with us at one of the Skyway shows in 1987.

On vert, you don’t really see your bars because you’re looking at the coping, so you have to use “The Force” and feel where to put your hands based on the gyration in your bike. Camera flashes make it dangerous, and chrome-plated bars add even more danger in that situation. After my slam in Japan doing a bar spin, I stopped running chrome bars for good.

Variations of the bar spin I’ve invented include the following:

Also done to late no-footer.

Bar spin to bar spin back.

Rocketed bar spin to bar spin back, also done to late no-footer.

Switch-handed bar spin, also done to late no-footer.

Switch-handed bar spin to bar spin back, also done to late no-footer.

Switch-handed rocketed bar spin, also to late no-footer.

Switch-handed rocketed bar spin to bar spin back, also to late no-footer.

Rocketed double bar spin, also to late no-footer.

Brian Blyther invented the tailwhip as a ground trick in 1984. His friend Mike Dominguez took tail whips to the sky as a fly out trick. By 1988, Joe Johnson had done the first tailwhip air. I really only have two decent tailwhip variations I’ve invented.

A tailwhip with a no-footer thrown in at the peak. I guess technically your feet are already off during a tailwhip.

The burliest tailwhip variation, besides a triple. I started doing these at the Shreveport fair in Louisiana, 1990. There were two people in the crowd during the first show of the day, so for personal amusement, we ran our demo backward. I did this as an example of an easy trick. Later I tried to shoot this trick with Spike Jonze and hung my heels up on the bars jumping back over and landed with my seat in my back. That was the last time I ever tried it.

A candybar into a can-can. If you want to extend your legs, you can’t rush this trick or you clip your shoe pulling your leg back over the handlebars.

A candybar can-canned over the front tire. I learned this during a King of Vert contest in Flint, Michigan.

The man could do everything—play any instrument, sing, tell jokes, and dance. His biggest song was “Candyman” The trick I named after Sammy is a no-footed candybar to a no-footed cancan. I can also do them to late no-footers.

A no-footed one-handed candybar, one of the more technical tricks I’ve invented. I had to fight like hell to get this trick as the cover shot of my new video game. It’s not an in-your-face variation, but I’ve been doing it for fourteen years and it’s stood the test of time. Somebody else has got to start doing Sam-I-Ams.

A candybar Indian. This is a no-footed candybar with the bottom foot twisted around backside and pointing up, like an Indian air. Spike is the only person who ever shot this trick and made it look good. He used a fisheye lens.

Taking it up a notch in difficulty by taking a hand off.

I was lying on my back on the flatbottom holding the bike above me. My bike started falling over and I caught it with my leg as it fell into a candybar lookback position. Inspiration struck, and I learned it. Since about 1988 this trick has been one of my trademarks. I can also do this to late can-can on the way in.

No-handers are the first trick everybody learns on a bike, as in “Look ma, no hands!” Doing them in the air is a little more advanced. In 1985, Jeff Carrol debuted the no-handed air in a skatepark contest. Within a year it had become a defining trick for vert riders. If you were good, you knew how to do these. If you see me ride, you might notice I throw no-handers as one of my opening tricks during a run. Because my bike stays in the same balance point through the trick, what I’m really concentrating on is the feel of the ramp. Straight no-handers are a way for me to warm up, throw some style, and still feel safe while I get used to a new ramp. I hold my hands off as long as I can.

I’ve also added a few of my own twists to the no-handed air over the years.

Slap the back tire on the deck on reentry on accident, and you have a bad hang-up. Do it on purpose and it’s called a body jar.

Probably the second combo I learned, after swing leg airs.

I was fifteen years old and doing a photo session with John Kerr- for
BMX Plus!
on Mike Dominguez’s backyard ramp. Mike came out and was casually riding with no gear and watching the session. I threw this trick, and he gave me some props. I blushed.