Bruce sent a photo if his son James spreading the word about RSABOUT at their local skatepark. James races his GT and shreds at the park on his DK. Thanks mate and look forwarding to posting some riding shots soon.

Forgotten is co-owned by John, a good mate of mine here in Melbourne. They have put together a great range of completes at price points that everyone can afford. They are currently available Australia wide and set to take the rest of the world by storm later. The team is only small at the moment but that doesn’t mean the talent is small. Have a look at the photos I took at the Stephen Murray benefit jam and you will see a couple of them in action.

The website is up and running with more details so head over to Forgotten BMX for more information.

All the best John.

Mark, Nic and I went down to the new Knox skate park late last week. I have mixed views on it as I slammed to the ground in the small bowl about five minutes after I arrived and that put an end to my riding other than rolling around. Half a black eye was the result plus a swollen knee that is still causing a bit of grief days later. Anyway, onto more positive things. First photo is an overall and to try and give some perspective on the size Nic, who is six, rolled around while I grabbed some photos.

The local council has planned to demolish and fill in the Knox bowl that has been around since the late 1980s. A lot of history for BMXers and skaters has occured at this location and it would be a shame to see it go. Just because a new one has been built a few kilometres away (more about that later) it doesn’t mean this one would be utilised. They are completely different. Sure it might need a bit of money spent on it, however, it’s not like nearby residents are complaining of noise etc because it’s next to businesses and a sports ground.

An online petition has been established to be presented to the local council. Please head over to the Save Know Bowl Petition and show your support.

I went back home for the holidays and thought it would be good to revisit spots where I learnt some things that would shape some of the choices I made later in life. When I was fairly young the famly used to holiday at our grandparent’s holiday house in Low Head which is at the mouth of the Tamar River in Tasmania. The first photo is East Beach and is probably where I had my first surf. It’s not in the river, rather, to the right, just around the head of the river and as such had larger waves because it is directly on Bass Strait. I remember my first surf board and it was a polystyrene job with a green top and two feet stickers marking where to stand. This was in the days before rashies so it was either a heavy wet t-shirt or just put up with a sore red stomach.

The next shot is where I had my first decent run on a skateboard. Can’t remember how old I was but under ten I guess. It was a plastic yellow one with red wheels. So long ago that it was one of the really narrow ones with wide wheels. I remember putting on the rainbow coloured elbow pads, knee pads and yellow helmet ready for my run. The helmet used to give me a headache and was the most uncomfortable thing I have ever worn. I’d head down the slight incline then make the right turn and down the next incline, hoping like hell that I didn’t get the speed wobbles.

If you continue down the same path you’ll now get to a skatepark at Royal Park. Here’s a quick and nasty put together photo.

I couldn’t visit where I learned to ride a bike as that’s a private house and it was in the back yard. The first BMX track is also gone and now covered with houses and a school. Most of the riding spots have also been built over.

I’ve never enjoyed a white Christmas and it’s on the list of things to do one year. Not that I will ever complain about warm sunny Christmas days, as playing outside with all the new toys was fun as a kid. Brian sent through a recent photo of his old school 1896 GT Pro Performer sittin’ in the snow. It’s only taken 20 years for these colours to be making a comeback. Wasn’t too sure about them back then and still a bit undecided. Regardless, it’s cool to see old stuff like this still being ridden regularly.

It was all getting a bit too serious with the photos so we decided to have a bit of fun and do our version of the typical sports team photo where all the guys fold their arms in a poor attempt to make their biceps look bigger. Anyway, it involved Shaun standing on the hand rail and me setting the camera self timer and moving into position. As you can see from the photos below, it took a few takes and in the end was a pretty ordinary photo.

Getting better but still falling off

Finally, third time lucky. Thank goodness for digital.

Went for a run last week along the Brisbane river and in addition to the usual stencil outlines of pedestrians and bikes, some-one had modified one to include skaters. And to the lycra-clad crowd that insisted on riding two abreast in groups of about ten and twice the speed of everyone else, get off the bike path and onto the road where the speeds don’t cause a problem to everyone else.

Spent last week up in Brisbane on a sales trip and also to compete in the RSABOUT Jurassic Classic on the weekend at the Ashmore BMX Club. This race meeting was combined with the 3rd Annual Vintage BMX Gathering. I was wandering around Surfers Paradise and they were starting to set up for the Indy car race this weekend. Well imagine my surprise when I was walking along the back straight and saw the sign on the pedestrian bridge. More photos and news to come once I’ve had a chance to catch up.

Finally put together a catalogue of all our products and you can download it from the rsabout catalogue page. Beware though, it’s 6.3MB. Of course it will be out of date in a couple of weeks as the new range of caps arrive. Look out for them in the product pages soon.