The following day we continued our trip to Katy, TX and ended up arriving at our venue a few hours early so that we would have time to eat and set up.  It was really pleasant to see that the venue was full of really passionate people who had hearts to see their youth be uplifted and changed.  We had plenty of help setting up which is a blessing because it gives us a break from manual labor and also allows us a good amount of time to warm up before the actual event.  The show was awesome and the speaking went really well as Lucas, Tyler and myself shared our testimonies and how the love of Christ changed our lives.  It was also really encouraging to have Dillon on the trip with us as it was his first event with the team on his own and we were psyched to see him ride so well.  We had a great response following the show and majority of our time was spent talking to kids, hanging out and signing autographs.  It was an extremely long day but it was totally worth all of the driving and work that always goes into putting on events like that.  Seeing a group of kids that are so young that are on fire for Christ and being able to encourage them is the reason we exist! Although we were sad to say our goodbyes we were really excited to get back to our hotel to relax.

We all decided that it was a great idea to get up early so that we could spend some time riding in Little Rock during the day and make it to our hotel with enough time to get dinner that night in the city.  We ended up at a skatepark about 5 minutes outside of the city that was built by local skaters.  Everyone had an awesome time riding and seeing the local skateboarders shred!  We ended up heading to our hotel later that night and met up with my brother and his wife Vianka for dinner in downtown Little Rock.  We ended up at an awesome pizza place / music venue for dinner and were able to catch up for a little while before we decided to call it a night and head back to the hotel.  We knew that the next day would be awesome because we were planning on riding at the Stewart residence.

We decided to leave really early from the hotel so we could travel to Memphis to spend some time with Frank at his house and ride his spine ramp.  We had a lot of fun riding there but it was only the beginning because we still had time to go out to his farm and ride his ramp out there, which is a monster!  It was a day full of riding and fun but we still needed to drive about 4 hours back to Nashville that night and nobody was looking forward to the drive.  We did end up making it home in one piece and it was another bittersweet series of goodbyes because we all have so much fun hanging on the road.  God definitely moved and did work on this trip and we are really excited to see where he will guide us next!

-Neal

The first was when the Outcast team (along with Tim Smith our booking agent) was trying to cross the border into Canada. This usually isn’t a big deal, but there was one thing about this situation that was different than all of the rest.  The fact that we were hauling a piece of Brock Gill’s equipment made this extremely difficult, and that piece of equipment was a coffin.  Most of our equipment is self explanatory since we are a BMX team and we just haul our ramps from place to place, but the fact that we were a BMX team hauling a coffin around raised some red flags with customs. We had to spend some extra time at the border explaining what exactly we were doing and why we needed to have a coffin with us…Haha!  After sharing a few stories and many laughs with Canadian Customs we made it across the border, coffin and all.  It was certainly a relief arriving at our hotel and being able to relax for a while before the insanity of the event started the following morning.

For the next two days we would be performing at local schools in teams in order to promote the large events Thursday and Friday evenings and the largest event on Saturday night.  The school assemblies went well and all of the kids really enjoyed our “teasers”.  There was one school that definitely got the most for their time and that was the final school assembly where Neal Heary, Tyler Rickman, Brandon McGregor and Tim Byrne performed.  This school was located in Brantford, ON.  Things started off very smooth while we were putting on the first half of the assembly where we do smaller tricks and get the crowd warmed up.  We usually try and end the first half of the show with a banger trick so that the kids get psyched to see Tim Byrne perform, but what happened next went beyond a banger trick, it was downright explosive!  Brandon McGregor was closing out this portion of the assembly by jumping over two adults that stood about 6’ tall. Not an easy task, but Brandon was up to the challenge, in fact since he had already jumped one person he decided to add another. And this would be a decision that would make this assembly unforgettable! The kids were cheering loudly as Brandon pedaled at the ramp and he took off with a clean jump floating over the heads of Neal Heary and our host Tim just as planned.  Everything was going perfect until he hit the ground a little too heavy on his front tire.  Brandon had been riding his bike with confidence and had little idea of what was going to happen next.  As he landed heavy on his front tire, from nearly 8’ in the air, there was a loud cracking noise and his frame gave way completely snapping into 3 pieces.  This was something completely unexpected and definitely made for an awesome ending trick for the first portion of the assembly. We were definitely fortunate that the fall hurt his bike and not him, and that he was able to get up and walk away unharmed.  Although the assembly had some unexpected twists it was, according to Tim Byrne, the best school assembly he has ever been a part of. Brandon was fortunate to be able to use Neal’s bike for the remainder of the assembly. Here’s a pic of the end result of Brandon’s bike:

You can check out a video from one of the students out. You can find it on our Facebook page. Don’t forget to “like” us while there!

The rest of the trip went smoothly and everyone continued to ride extremely well.  We were all very excited for the final day’s performance that was for nearly 4,000 kids.  Brandon was riding a brand new frame that he was able to pick up from a bike shop called The Fix and he rode it well…a huge thank you to Kyle and The Fix for helping us out so quickly. During that show he threw down some big tailwhips and finished with his signature backflip, and his bike stayed in one piece.  Tyler and Lucas both rode extremely well with Tyler lacing a perfect lookback 360, Lucas landing his dialed backflip and whip to tire tap!  One trick that made the whole show for all of the riders came from Frank Stewart.  He pulled a perfect 540 tire tap with a double barspin in it.  This trick was absolutely unreal and he pulled it out first try with little to no effort!  It is hard to believe but all of this went down in our 8 minute time slot during the event the final night and as quick as it began it was over.

It was an awesome experience being a part of so many school assemblies and seeing the kids at the schools show up to the final event and talk to us.  The most amazing part about the event is that a number of those students dedicated their lives to a life with Christ over the 3 nights.  In the end there were over 200 people that decided a life with Christ was what they needed and we feel blessed to be a part of something so awesome!  It is awesome how God can use something like riding a bike to build a connection with people in order to see them come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ.  It was quite the experience to be a part of something so awesome and we look forward to doing it all again in a new place, only to give glory to God and see his kingdom grow!

We filmed at the beginning of May 2010 on a parking garage in downtown Nashville, just a week after all the flooding and destruction. It was crazy to think that just four blocks down from our beautiful location, entire streets were still underwater.

Still, many of our regular team members were able to make it in to be a part of the day: Brandon Rizzo, Neal Heary (also part of Enemy Opposition out of Buffalo, NY), Scott Ditchfield, Frank Stewart, Brandon McGregor, Tyler Rickman, David “Worm” Borneman, and Lucas Hastay.

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Outcast BMX Sponsorship Video from Gresham Hill on Vimeo.

Check out the new edit from Outcast riders Brandon McGregor & Tyler Rickman. These guys are natives of White House, TN and got to do some filming during some down time from their busy Summer schedule.

When clearing 30′ it just makes sense to wear a helmet…

Check out Tyle (and that sky!)r:

Courtesy of Enemy Opposition

We exist to live out the passion of riding in schools, skateparks and city streets.  By doing so we encourage the next generation to live out of their passion without excuse.