5-6-08
So every year I get I phone call from Carson middle school asking me to come join the legendary “Career Day.” The careers range from all types; music producers, ranchers, firefighters, to even athletes! We are there to show the kids different job opportunities and show each child to set and follow their dreams. We talk about all sorts of aspects of the job, from income, education, and the positives of the career. The reason I love being a part of career day is because its awesome getting kids stoked on mountain biking. We live in an area where there is so much potential in this type of sport. It’s neat seeing the kids being so interested and supportive on my career! Every year it seems like there is a kid that wants to challenge me in a bunny hopping contest, so this year I hosted my very own bunny-hopping contest in the middle of the classroom (I wish my teachers would of let me bunny hop in class!) We all had a blast!
What I wanted each person to know when he or she left my station was, to choose a career that makes you happy and to stick with what you love doing.
Once again I want to thank Carson Middle School for inviting me to be apart of such a cool event! Keep practicing those bunny hops guys!
Some Pics To Enjoy:
Teaching how to be a pro mountain biker
Talking about the difference between hardtail and full suspension
One of the kids giving me a run for my money at the bunny hop contest
Showing them how it's done
Signing some posters
The next generation of pros!
PB
4-22-08
First off I can't believe it's already that time of year to start filming and getting ready for the contest season. The last couple of weeks have been super busy for me, from filming for NWD 9, to going all the way to Germany for the T-Mobile slopestyle event. I'm stoked that it's already going good for me. I've got a pretty good start un NWD 9, and I won my first contest for 2008!!! Hopefully I can have another great year!!! Thanks for checking out the site and don't forget to check out my run at Freecaster.com
Some pics for ya:
Hylands showing me the shot of the day
Brad getting the job done
T-Mobile rented a house boat for the riders
The podium
PB
3-6-08
Hey everyone,
Last week was awesome. The whole Kona clump team got together and toured from southern California all the way to my hometown, Minden Nevada! We stopped at eight bike shops and did tons of riding. It was cool to meet and ride with some of our biggest fans. One of the highlights of our trip was going to Velo Pro bikes in Santa Barbara and being able to ride with some local rippers! I want to thank all of the bike shops for supporting and promoting Kona and my signature bike, and most of all the fans for riding and meeting up with us. Next stop… Germany, for the T-mobile slopestyle…I’ll keep you all posted.
Check out these pics:
Velo Pro Bike Shop showin some love
Some locals ready to shred
Beyond Bikes in San Diego
New bikes for 08, my Suff and my Stab
-P.B.
1-25-08
Hey everyone Happy New Years!! Thanks for checking out the site. Its been a while since I've done an update, 07 was the busiest time of my life and hopefully '08 wont be as bad.
I have a lot of new goals for '08 and one of them is to update this thing weekly, so all of you that are checking the site out won't get to bored. One of the things I'm going to do is give stuff away. If you can answer the questions that I post on the web site correctly with out missing one, you could win some cool stuff, so keep on checking back!
I added a few new pics to my pics page, so be sure to check those out. While you're at it check out my signature frame from Kona that I've got coming out as well as my signature helmet from Giro!
PB
4-19-07
So I get a call from the principle at Carson Middle School asking if I could come in for Career day and do a speech on my career as a professional Mountain Biker. I was pretty shocked when I got the call from her, but was super excited as well.
I loaded up my Kona Stinky and headed off to the Middle School. When I was pulling up to the school there were a bunch of kids waiting for me outside, and were super excited to see me. It was really cool, because I was kind of scared that they were going to be a little bit on the teenage punk side, like I was when I was in Middle School, but thank god they were really into mountain biking.
After talking to the kids, and letting them ride my bike outside, the bell finally rang to go back inside where I had to talk to the kids about what I do exactly. I talked about what it takes to be a professional MTB, what’s the down fall about our sport, how much the average income is, and all the different places that we get to travel to. After talking about all the great things about my job I popped in NWD 7 and showed them my segment. The kids were super shocked when they saw it, a bunch of them didn’t even know that Mountain Biking was even like that, so I was stoked to show them that, and to talk to them about biking in general. A good portion of the kids were really into snowboarding, skateboarding, and dirt biking and hopefully I inspired some of them that you can make it in a small town like Minden, and Carson, and you don’t need to live in a huge City to get known.
Thanks to every one at Carson Middle School for having me, and to all the kids for not throwing spit wads at me!
Paul
More Pics:
My desk
Future Rippers
One Kid Gettin' Rad
4-1-07
Hey guys thanks for checking out the new site. Sorry it took so long to get it going again. Im going to try to do a better job this year on updating it.
Well, I just got back from Argentina for a Kona photo shoot/ film trip with the boys at Freeride Entertainment. The trip went really well. We got some really epic Pics for the Kona Catalog, and a good part of my NWD 8 segment is finish. Which I was kind of stressing on, because of all the contests that are happening this year, so I’m pumped that I got a good portion of it finished.
Here are some photos from the trip:
Gibson showing off his new style for the lady's.
Axle getting rad on the guitar at some local restaurant.
Top of the hill where we built the dirt jumps.
Some random goat that was hanging out by the dirt jumps.
The new team bikes.
The crew.
-Paul
9-13-06
The year is finally over and I’m back home to good old Minden enjoying my time off. I've been thinking of all my accomplishments this season before I take off to Vegas for Interbike. Its been one crazy year for me, traveling to over 10 different countries in 6 months! I never thought I would travel so much in such a short time. I learned a lot this year, not just in riding, but life in General. I learned not to take anything for granted. If its going to different countries, or even running into an old friend of yours from back in high school. I really came to realize how lucky I am for what im doing. I've always dreamed about becoming a professional athlete, and now that I have reached that point it’s the best feeling ever! I just want thank all my fans, my friends, and all of my sponsors for helping me have such a great year, and for accomplishing my goals this season.
-Paul
7-21-06
Sorry guys for the lack of updates, Ive been super busy with the whole contest scene thats happening, as well as filming for NWD 7.
Last weekend was huge for me! I ended up winning the first stop at the Redbull District Ride in down town Catania Italy! I was really surpised that I won, because the course wasnt really my style of riding. The course was really differnt than anything that im really use to, they had every type of ramp you can think of, from stair gaps to having dirt jumps in the middle of the city, pretty crazy!!
I finished 9th in the qualifying, so I wasnt really feeling to excited about the finals. I didn't think I could really improve on my run that much to give me a shot at winning the overall. After qualifying we had 4hrs before the finals started, so i went back to the hotel took a nap, and thought about what I can do to improve my run. I got a good idea but it seemed pretty highly risky, and I only felt about 5% comfortable doing it.
Finally the finals started and every body was stepping it up!! I wasn't really excited to do my run, so after going to the restroom 100 times they were calling my name to go. I was up at the start gate and I requested 50 cent for my run. Right when 50 cent came on I was in my own zone and didn't care about anything in the world besides my run! So i started it off with a huge backflip off the drop in, the next zone which was a wall ride with two spines, I no-foot canned off the first spine into a dumped 3 off the secound spine. The next zone had wall rides, quarter pipes, and this stair gap which I wanted to tailwhip off but I was super scared of it since I havent taliwhip off a drop over a year! And if you crashed off that drop you were for sure going to the hospital. So after hitting all the wall rides, it was time to tailwhip off the stair gap, right when I pulled up I kicked the bike as hard as I could and the it came around to my feet perfectly! I was not expecting to land it that clean. So after landing the tailwhip I was pretty relaxed threw the whole coures, the only thing I was scared of was the last jump! My goal was to 3-whip it. If you remember the Redbull Distric Ride last year I ended up losing the comp because of that trick and I didnt want it to happen again. Pedeling up to the last jump I just thought about last year and how pissed off I was when I didnt land it, as soon as I went off the lip I kicked the bike perfectly and saw it coming around right to my feet, pedals and all! Before I knew it I landed it perfectly to pedal, a perfect ending to a run I was only 5% confident in doing!! It was by far one of tne best days of my life, and has definitely gotten me psyched for Crankworx!!
Cam Zink has my camera so I don't have any pics to post up yet, but if you want to see my final run you can go to freecaster.com and check it out!
-Paul
5-4-06
Hey everyone, thanks for coming and checking out my site! Sorry for the lack of updates lately, this last month has been really busy for me!! I recently was in Scotland regulating on some locals, and judging this Slopestyle contest for Kona, which went really well! The contest was basically for all the kids in the UK, that wanted to get a free trip to Whistler. There were 30 kids and only one got the invitation to go..pretty harsh!! Everybody that rode did really well, they were pushing themselves to their limits in the coldest weather that I have ever been in! Which made me pretty pumped that they really wanted to win!!
Since there were 30 kids we had to break it down to 6 kids who would go on to the finals. They had to do one final run from top to bottom, just like a regular slopestyle contest. The kids were getting crazy, and crashing all over the place! Grant Brashers brother had the worst spill of the weekend. The kid that won did a great job, he was the only one that put a solid run from top to bottom. It was that could of placed him top 10 at any major contest!!
So after being in the cold for a coulple of days, it was my turn to go rip some of the local trails with Grant Feilder aka Chopper. He took me to all the hot spots in UK, and even to the local tea market.
Check out the pics from the weekend:
Native American Air
Fully Xed with my new Giro Flak helmet on
Whippin' It Out!
F-L-A-T!
4-11-06
The last month has been pretty crazy!! First off, I went to Puerto Rico for a dirt jump demo that a beer company called Medalla Light was putting on. I was pretty pumped about going on this trip, which was really more of a Vacation than anything! We were there for a week and only rode one day. Aside from not riding all that much, I think it might have been the best spring break ever!! I couldn't have asked for a better trip, and the crew that was there with me was great!
After a week in Puerto Rico I was on a plane heading straight to Panama. I went to Panama last year as well and it was the craziest place that I have ever been to! Last year there was over ten thousand people at the event going absolutely insane! I was stoked to see how this year was going to turn out and I couldn't wait to be in Panama again. After a short flight from Puerto Rico to Panama I was finally there and ready to get loose!! The first thing we did was rent some scooters. It might have been the most insane thing I have ever done! We were passing cars left and right, and even killin' the sidewalks. We all had our fair share of brushes with death, but T-Sage almost died when he got side swiped by a bus! Luckily he didn't get hurt and we all lived to ride again. After our brush with death we decided to go back to the motel and get some rest before the demo that night.
The demo went really well, everybody was shredding it, and over twenty-thousand people were there. The course was super good too, so big props to the bird man and Cam Mccaul for building it!! I hope it goes off again next year and is even sicker!!
Some more pics:
Chugging contest
Nate Adams..kind of..
Porter thinking he's a monkey!
No vacation's complete without a poker game.
3-15-06
Soo this last month has been super crazy!! First off I went to Brazil for 3 weeks to start filming for my segment for the next New World Disorder film. The whole Kona Clump team was there and ready to just kill it!! The first week I was in Brazil I got really sick!! I got heat stroke, and my ankle was super messed up from the Gathering still. Not a good way to start off the trip!! I was really bummed at what was going on, and was pretty much already over the trip
After a couple days of laying in bed I finally got a little better. The only thing I was really looking forward to on this trip was Carnival. Carnival is a huge festival that happens once a year in Brazil, every body takes a week off work and parties non-stop. Even though I was still feeling kinda sick, I was not going to miss out on the craziness! We drove to Sao Paulo and met up with Big D and the Freeride Entertainment boys and the whole parade thing was pretty crazy!! The floats were the craziest things that I have ever seen, they had to spend al least couple of months decorating them.
After Carnival we decided to drive to this island called Elabella, where we were going to spend most of our time. Elabella is a pretty big island, that's about a 25 minute fairy ride off the coast of Brazil, and has a lot of cool riding spots. We went to this crazy part of the island that had all these road gaps overlooking the ocean. There was soooo many different options you could do on that road gap, it was really amazing! I was really bummed that I was still injured, or else I would have killed that road gap!! Anyways you will see all of it in NWD 7, time for me to go to the Skid Row concert! Peace.
Here's a couple other shots of our trophy catches!
2-13-06
These last couple of days have been super busy for me!! First off, I got a call from Men's Journal asking me if I wanted to do an interview with their mag on Tuesday. The first thing I thought was, "Wow ... that's pretty big time! Why in the hell do they want a Mountain Bike dork?" So without even thinking twice I said yes.
They flew me out early morning on Tuesday for like 5hrs. I arrived in LA around 7:00AM and went straight to work. The first thing I had to do was check in with the other athletes. I had no clue who to expect, so I went to the first location where everyone was. The athletes were, Nate Adams, who is a super nasty freestyle motocross guy. Morlow Long, one of the craziest kayakers around. Tom Daneilson the next Lance Armstrong, and two crazy rock climbers named Dave Graham and Kelly Cordes.
After meeting all them we had to go and meet the Fashion Director. He brought all of us into his fashion room and started to dress us like we were some sort of models. I didn't really like the outfit that he made me wear, but I had no say in it. At least I got to wear my Smith hat though. Thinking that we were all done getting prettied up, we had to meet up with the Groomer. That's right, I said Groomer! And yes, they made us wear make up!! I never thought I would ever wear make up in my life for something like that. The girl's name that did my touch up is Mira Hyde. She's worked with a lot of celebrities, and was telling me some crazy stories about all the celebrities she works with. Definitely one of the coolest girls that I have ever met. After all of that, it was FINALLY time to meet up with the Photographer. I thought it was going to be one single shot and call it a day, but of course I was wrong. The photographer made me sit on my tire for at least 20 minutes. He kept on telling me to smile, but it was kinda hard while I had a tire up my ass. After all of that it was finally a wrap and time to leave. I had a great time doing it and I want to thank all the people from Men's Journal for having me.
2-2-06
This update goes out to Aaron Chase. Aaron was recently doing some snowboarding in Aspen Colorado and had a really bad crash. He ended up breaking his femur. I talked to Chase last night and he sounds like hes doing pretty good. Anyways dont worry before you know it ,you will see Chase back up in the Podium. Get well soon Chase, or else im going to have to get another job... I need you at the poker table!
1-30-06
Sorry guys, for the lack of updates, its been snowing like crazy down where I live so I haven't been riding at all. But this weekend was the Gathering AKA "gohuckyourself", so I decided to go up there to huck my self.
After the 13hr drive to Washington I was ready to go huck my self. We went straight to the course to check things out. The first thing that caught my attention was the starting ramp, it was a ramp off an 8ft drop. IT WAS THE BEST THING AT THE CONTEST!! Everybody was doing tricks off it when they were dropping in for their run, which made things even more exciting to watch!
Pro qualifying started and some nasty stuff was happening! Mr. John Cowan was riding really good trying a three over this transfer line, Aaron Chase was half cabing the box, and Cameron Zink was doing huge 360 x ups over the fist set. Cameron McCaul was riding really good in practice, and then when qualifying started he failed in both of his runs! After his second run he went back up for a third try and nailed the sickest run of the weekend. If I was a judge I would have done the same and counted him in the finals, maybe its not fair for the others that didn't make it but it was a nasty run!
Once qualifying was over we had ten minutes of practice before the finals. That ten minutes didn't feel like practice though, it felt like the finals but in jump jam format. I was behind Cameron Mccaul and I witnessed him flip off the drop in. It looked way too fun,so I had to do it as well, and the crowd was going nuts over what they were seeing.
When all was said and done, Berrecloth won with a unique run. I got 2nd with flips and whips, and Goldman got 3rd with flips and whips as well. Decline has a bunch of videos up on their site, so be sure to go check those out. But first, the video clip of this week is Jamie Goldman having fun in the rental car!.
Some pics:
Berrecloth and I after the finals.
The trophy shot.
A little game of poker.
Spomer can't believe he lost his funyun allowance for the day to Chase.
Gotta love Jordie Lunn!
Cam found this sign on the side of the road!
The best restaurant in Oregon!
1-10-06
So I get a call from John Cowan on Friday around noon asking me if I wanted to go to the first supercross race of the year, which was in Anaheim. The first thing that popped into my head was that Stewart, Carmichael, and Reed were all 100% healthy, so I knew it was going to be one hell of a race. The only thing I was scared of was not making it on time for the start. The race started at 7:00 PM, and I was still at my house. It takes about eight hours to get to Anaheim from Minden. I knew I wasn't going to make it on time if I drove, so I decided to call Cameron Zink. Anyone that knows Cameron knows that he is a crazy driver. Before I even was done packing Cam was already at my house. So we started to red line around 12:30. The whole way there we were not going slower then 85. We got to Anaheim around 6:45 just in time for the 125s. If you guys didn't see the race, well, that sucks because I'm not going to tell you what happened. Lets just put it this way, it was the best race that I have ever been too. Check out the video clip of this week and you will see a little preview.
Here's some pics of the trip:
Carmichael getting interviewed
Stewart getting nasty for the crowd
The view of the track
Sold out stadium
Carmichael, Preston, Stewart
Scott Hart having some fun at Hooters
1-1-06
Hey guys thanks for checking out my new site! A big thanks to Scott at Bullithead Design, for hooking me up with the site. Aaron Lutze of Matchvideozine, and Ride-This, for his contribution to the lay out of the site and some of the graphics work. And finally: Kathy Sessler, John Gibson, and Matt Collins, for all the pics they hooked us up with. Thanks guys!
I hope everybody had a Great Christmas and a Great New Years. I haven't really been riding lately because its been raining like crazy, so I'm kinda bummed out on that. I think its good to take a little break after a crazy season though.
The only exciting thing that I can
think of that happened to me is that I went to Hawaii for my
birthday. It was for sure one of my best birthdays that I've ever had!
Still didn't stop me from going in the water.
This rope swing was in Indiana Jones, super fun!
Deep in the jungle
Redbull Rampage is happening here in '06!!!
Some evening light.
Keep on checking back. I should have some crazy clips of the week.
