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 With Mini Moto behind us it was off to find a place to ride the big bike.  Along the way H’Idalgo noticed something new to his tender, ever-so-slightly-aged eyes…snow.   Dalgo demanded that we pull over for him to try this “Snow Skateboard Device,” as he was calling it.  We found a patch of snow and set him up with a run-in to a buried gas can. 

Within minutes the snow was slush, jagged rocks grabbing skyward in search of H’Idalgo’s freshly waxed snowskate.  He fought the conditions and attacked the terrain with the ferocity of a freshly bred race stallion.  

     Turns out Dalgos’ skate skills transfered over to the snow elegantly.  He glided down the slope with a certain grace that can only be matched by a dove.  H’Idalgo easily leapt over the gas can with his feet glued to the Xtreme Grip.  Filled with joy from his first stomped snowskate maneuver, Dalgos confidence was sky high.  He poached the slop relentlessly until his snow had completely melted.  In the midst of the fury, H’Idalgo landed his first kickflip.  

    After a keen snowskate session, Dalgo was feeling extra extreme.  He took to the trees for one of his favorite hobbies, tree bending.  Dalgo had always loved bending taco shells as a young lad.  His obsession took to greater levels during his first camping trip as a boy scout.   Thats when he found out about climbing trees and bending them close to the ground to resemble a taco shell.  

    Dalgo spotted a few lively little guys.  After a video review of his first bend, Dalgo was unsatisfied with the structure of his imaginary taco shell.  He returned again, still unhappy with his results. 

   Tree number three turned out to be a bit too much for the battle weary tree warrior.  Fifteen feet up the third tree Dalgo ejected and landed sideways into 4 feet of slushy snow.  H’Idalgo feared for his ability to…” get out of the snow alived.”  Rex grabbed hold and drug Dalgo, who was now drenched, to safety.   Although he was now in a near pneumonia-like state, Dalgo vowed he would be back to tackle the snowskate next winter.

So just as soon as the goat van left So Cal, we arrived in Vegas for the MMSX.  We roamed the pits in search of a pipe, air filter kit, jets, a hose clamp, or anything else that could make the bike faster, or at least run.  After a few strolls up and down the pit lanes, we came back with a hose clamp to hold our air filter on.  We couldn’t find  the rest so we tightened the filter on, threw some gas in the stocker and took the the track for qualifying.  

    Phil ended up qualifying 3rd fastest in his group for the MM12 Stock/Mod class.  It was clearly a struggle to get enough power out of the corners to get over most of the jumps on the track, and the bike took quite a beating in just a few laps.  The stocker came back to the pits sputtering and smoking, but still moving, so we all agreed that qualifying was a success.  

   Last years “Smagicross” champion, Grant Runkel, was also racing at MMSX this year.  Entering both the 10 and 12 inch Pro classes, Grant happened to have a spare bike on hand.  As soon as word spread on Grants parts bike, we had the pipe off it and installed on the clapped stocker.  The main began with Phil getting squeezed off the track on the start and came through the first corner near last place.  He put his head down and started a charge towards the front while the leaders checked out.  He charged back up to a top five finish, but fell short of making the podium.

 This years edition of Mini Moto had newfound spice added to the mix, Jason Lawrence.  Notorious for both his on and off track antics in the AMA Supercross and AMA MX Nationals, JLaw brings an entertainment value to an event that can only be matched by Travis Pastrana.  

 Lawrence rode the 12″ Pro class.  Being an AMA national champion, JLaw was given a spot directly on the gate for the main.  He started mid pack, but quickly pushed his way towards the top three.  Once he had the top three in his sights is when the action really started.  He ended up turning the race into a smash fest.  The event went from a $15,000 professional race to a backyard brawl a matter of minutes.

All eyes were on the block passing, brake checking antics of JLaw as he stole the show from the leaders.    Meanwhile, Smagical 2 athlete, Willy Browning had his CHP tuned 110 singing as he sliced his way through traffic after a poor start.  He struggled with passing on the tight confines of the Orleans Arena and was only able to make it up to 11th.

A shout out to local ripper Kevin Popaeko for taking home podiums in three classes!   Also to minicycle madman, Brandon Pope, for making the 12″ Youth main and wearing the “Let JLaw Ride” tshirt in the finals.  Thanks to all the MMSX staff for putting on another great event and thanks to Steve Giberson at www.vitalmx.com for the help with the photos.  Now its time to head  back to the midwest and load up the van for round two of the OMA Nationals next weekend in Kentucky.  Hopefully  this round I can manage to not hit any trees and keep all my bones un-cracked.

After a few frustrating days of bike problems, I was fortunate enough to have some of the best advice available for my first go at high falling. When it comes to falling off of really high places and not breaking their necks, The Leavitts and their crew are some of the best.  First we did some falls off of the climbing wall onto the foam stacks.  That felt good so we went to the first level fall.  I chose the “suicide” for my way to reach the airbag properly.  For that you jump/fall off facing forward and rotate half a gainer to your back.  After a few falls i felt ready to move up to the next  height.  My last fall i over rotated  and landed head/neck first  a little bit.  Brian pulled me off and explained the importance of spotting your landing before starting the backward rotation so you dont over rotate like i did, which can be really magnified at larger heights.

  With that I took a seat behind the lens and filmed the people with skills take to the airbag.  Stacked a few shots of them making the biggest fall look like nothing…then took my spot on the second drop point.  I swallowed some of my height issues and listened to what Brian had said. Although i probably threw up 5 times in that one fall, it was a rad experience and i cant wait to do some more.  I’d like to thank Lane, Debbie and Daniel Leavitt, Brian, Sam, Tree and Nat M. for giving me a chance to try some high falling.  With that we packed up the goat van and headed back on the road.  Armed with a stocker that wont run, a trials bike, and the 200, we head to vegas for the Mini Moto SX.

A new Mechanic recently joined up on the Five-5-1 Films/Uncle Circe Racing race team.  Introducing, H’Idalgo.  Residing in Emory, Utah, Dalgo grew up doing a lot of raking and bicycle maintenance.  Although his hometown, population of approximately 47,  had only one paved sidewalk corner to shred, Dalgo took up extreme skateboard riding.  During his years as a pre-teen, Dalgo became fascinated with two strokes.  He learned the engines inside and out, all the while perfecting his own riding techniques.   As fate would have it, H’Idalgo recently lost his job as Emery’s leading swedish fish distributor to Randy’s Service and their unbeatable “2 Cents per fish” prices. Dalgo just couldnt run with the big corporations in town, so he has been looking for work for a few weeks now.  Fast forward to our trip out to Cali and running out of gas on a deserted I70 in the middle of Utah.  The closest gas was 20 miles off the interstate at a Randy’s Service.  It just so happened that this was the same Randy’s Service that H’Idalgo was drowning his sorrows in some discount swedish fish.  As soon as we met, it was meant to be.  He told me stories of his glory days as Emery’s top up and coming skateboard rider.  Once he dropped his 2 stroke engine knowledge on me, we hired him on the spot.  We believe that Dalgo will be  a great addition to the team and will aid in keeping everyone in line and on target.  Welcome to the Team H’Idalgo!

551 Films is out in sunny California getting ready for the Maxxis Mini Moto SX. Armed with a stock KLX 110, a Sherco 290 trials bike, a KTM 200 XC, and a skateboard, myself and my mechanic, Rex “Wikid” Rosner, have been getting ourselves as prepared as possible for the biggest mini race on the planet. The days have been spent turning laps on the flat-track and figure 8 courses designed by the 1974 AMA/NATC Champion Lane Leavitt. Uncle Circe Racing and Leavitt brought a few of the Smagical gang to his stunt-pad in Santa Clarita, CA. After a day of trials riding today it is back to the pitbike to try and rangle a few extra horses “IE:make it run” out of the stocker in order to give it a chance against the crazy Vegas mod bikes. Then its time to jump off a building with some of hollywoods leading stunt men. If there are no more posts following this one, I missed the airbag on the way down.

Day 3: Powder. For the third day of the trip we got off to a late start after out early morning McDonalds trip. We headed out to Mt Royal to find some big handrails hidden in the woods. We ended up finding a massive snowboard handrail, made famous by youtube videos. Alan Gerlach, Max Hilty, and myself decided to give it a go. One after one the rail chomped us up, taking bites out of shins, and throwing Alan to the flat on his back. We decided to come back during better lighting. Team manager Alex and webmaster Quimp had headed back to the team van to get some shovels to fix up the runway. Mt. Royal is a huge place, and they were alone on foot, so we decided to hang out and wait for them at the rail. During our wait, we started hitting some powder lines in the trees. It started off with just a few slashes of some pillows, then we spotted a small 4 or 5 foot rock drop with a log ride coming off it. We moved over and started sessioning the drop just as you would a stair set. After the rock drop, there was about 5 feet of flat to a steep powder landing. At first we thought it was rad to just ollie it. Then we started trying some tricks and the fun really got started. For some reason, it just seemed more fun to kickflip a 5 foot rock drop then a 5 stair.
Right then we decided we needed to film this stuff, unfortunately, we had run out of light, so it was off to the van. On the trip back, Alan, Charlo, Josh, Max, and Alex found some really good powder lines with small catwalks across to pop off. You could do a small ollie and float for 20 feet into powder. The landings felt so rad you could barely tell you hit the snow again, and crashing was funny, instead of painfull.
After hiking a steep a few times, we headed back to the van, which had gotten stuck in the foot of fresh powder we got that day. Alex and Quimp got us shoveled out and we started our journey through downtown Montreal back to the apartments.
After barely making it through the snow-covered downtown roads, we shed our water-logged layers and relaxed for a bit before the night sessions began.
First up, a stretch 7 set with the most awkward handrail ive ever skated…very high, and not long, bad combo. We ended up filming mostly funny credit shots, as the rail was so quick that every trick was pretty much just kissing it. Roby G threw down a switch shov cleaner than many regular ones ive ever seen. Emil B ripped some tweaked out rad grabs. Justin Myjetski threw down a killer back foot flip, i got a few filler shots, and we moved on. We packed up the generator, the lights, and the shovels and heading out. We dropped off half of the team in order to keep a low profile on the next spot. It was a perfect 10 set right in front of a busy workout center. With plow trucks working in full force on the parking lot, we felt quite odd as we set up the lights and started shoveling snow onto the stairways. haha. The plowers didnt bother us, and we were treated with a grand session that lasted to about 3:30 AM. I skated the rail, Justin M., Charlo, and Emil skated the stairset, while Alex B, Nick, and Alan manned the documentation devices. Quimp was the official landing fixer-upper. Justin logged a clean ollie down it, Charlo got robbed on kickflip after kickflip, and Emil blew minds by throwing his signature tweaks down the huge set. I only managed two tricks on the rail, as the narrow runway made it impossible to get the angle on the rail that i usually hit them with. Pretty much, i suck at parralell run in’s to rails. haha.
Still, we managed to skate a set visable from nearly every angle, in the midst of a major snow removal program, without getting kicked out, so we considered it a good night. We dropped Nick, Alan, and Justin off at their dwelling, and headed back to the house to call it a night.
Next up, Day 4: Epicness… Thanks for reading.

I just got back from the first Ambition Team Trip. What a week. It started with an overnight trip up north to get some X treme grip, just making it to the airport on time for my flight. I flew out to Burlington, VT, where i was picked up at the airport by Nick Stefani and Josh Sequin. We headed back to Nicks apartment, they went out to get some footage while i got some sleep. For the next two days we filmed around VT, getting some shots at the Burton Snowboards factory and other Burlington spots. The rest of the U.S. team met at the house and we grabbed the 15 passenger Ambition rental van for the drive up to Montreal. We met up with the rest of the team at Emil Baron’s apartment and headed to the Montreal Skate plaza. We took about an hour or so do get rid of the 6 inches of ice that layered the park and started filming on a 4 flat 4, some ledges and boxes. After that we got some food and got the sleeping arangements set up. Day 2 was the Blainville skate plaza. The park was ideal for snowskating, with every feature you could ask for. Once again, we spent hours ice picking the park in order to ride. The first banger of the day went to Stefani with a nosepress down a down-flat-down ledge, followed by Emil Baron with a tailpress of epic porportions. For the night session we headed to Canadian Tire (for the 10th time) and picked up a new generator, (we fried the first one) We got it fired up and Alan Gerlach threw down a stylish 3 shov over the double set. Next up was the handrail…we set up the lights and Justin Majecksy, Alan Gerlach, and myself started the session. First we got a few stock tricks in the bag, then moved onto some more technical stuff. Although the runway was just crushed up ice on iced over concrete (the worst run up ive ever skated), we still managed to throw down. Justin got a few keeper shots on the rail, and alan nailed one as well. After picking ice and watching others skate most of the day i stacked up some footage on the rail to make up for the early part of the day. I skated the rail until about 1 AM, coming out with about 7 tricks on it…one or 2 of which hasnt been seen on a handrail yet. Alex B put up some incentives for us to step up the tricks that night, and a few of the riders left the park with some extra Canadian Greenbacks in their pockets (or should i say blue/purple/ect.) After that Alex took us out for a team dinner at mcdonalds around 2 AM, and i can honestly say that i never thought it was possible to spend 100$ at McDonalds, but then again, after this trip, i’m pretty sure nothing as far as snowskating goes will ever be seen as impossible again. Team Trip Part Two Coming Soon. Thanks for reading and have a rad winter.