More Taiwan Videos.
Here’s some more videos of Taiwan madness, I’m not a very skilled film guy. Just got a little HD Go Pro, but it does the trick. It’s Friday morning, another day and a half until we’re homeward bound. . . yesssss.
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Taiwan Death Cart.
Over here in Taiwan right now with Allan. This place trips me out every time I visit. I’ve been shooting a bunch of photos to post a gallery this weekend, but for now peep game on the mobile slaughter house video.
Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite
Hangtown 2010.
Just got back from the motocross season opener at Hangtown, outside Sacramento. Allan and I drove up on Thursday afternoon with Darren Rahlves, shredder Olympian Skier. We left San Diego at 2pm and didn’t arrive until 10pm so it was a solid 8 hour burn. I rode shot gun and had road sodas to pass the time but we were pretty tired upon arrival so we made our beds on the roof of Allan’s bus and headed to sleep. I stayed up there for about 45 minutes not gonna lie, it was cold and I kept thinking I was going to fall off the roof in my sleep. Needless to say, I climbed down and found the couch as a much more comfortable place to lay. Not a big camper, I must say. Friday morning bright and early was practice for the cross over race. The Cross Over Challenge is a race that Aaron Cooke put on, athletes from all different sports were competing against each other on the outdoor motocross track. Allan was racing along with other industry peeps and rippers like Shaun Palmer, Ronnie Renner, and The Piston Phil Tinstman. Allan got a horrible start first moto but made his way up to 3rd by the finish. Second moto he had a better start mid pack and fell in the first turn only to get ran over pretty brutally (photo of the crash in the gallery below). Allan got a little road rash but thankfully was alright and ready to drink PBR who was a proud sponsor of The Crossover. We donated a Haro F Series bike and a Premium Duo won by Ronnie Renner, so that was cool. The coolest thing about the event though, was that GoPro cameras sponsored it so everyone who entered got a free HD video camera. The Gopro is what captured AC getting used as a speed bump. Friday night I drank too much with some of my favorites; Allan, Jaime and The Piston Tinstman. I can’t get over Phil’s nickname that I gave to him after he allegedly ‘pist-on’ some chick in Vegas. Anyway, woke up to the sun beating through the window on Saturday morning around 6:00am and was ready to start my day surprisingly hangover free. In the lites class, moto 1 was a good battle between Christophe Pourcel, Tommy Searle and rookie Eli Tomac. Eventually after some lead changes, Christophe took the moto win. Moto two was all Tomac who after holeshotting, took the moto win and the overall in his first ever pro race. 450 moto one was holeshotted by Chad Reed wire to wire followed by Milsaps, Grant and Alessi. Moto two was holeshotted by Alessi and he checked out and won the moto with ease. Reed started mid pack but made his way up to 3rd taking the overall for the day followed by Alessi who made an ass out of himself doing a big victory lap and acting like he was gods gift to motocross during his press conference.. What a treat that kid is. We headed for home after second moto of the lites class around 7pm and were home by 2am. Super fun weekend, thanks to Allan for bringing me along. Good times were had and now the count down begins to our Taiwan trip. Allan and I are flying out this coming Saturday and aren’t returning until the following Saturday night. I will definitely get some interesting photos for the site during this trip. Stay classy.
Vegas a success.
So my trip to Vegas for Supercross is over and I’m still alive, just wanted to express my appreciation for that. But first, I wanted to say a few words about my trip to Bakersfield the week before for the ABA race. I drove up to LA on Friday night and had dinner with Mike Day and his girlfriend while we watched the Lakers move on in the playoffs. Lakers kill it. Got into Bakersfield late night and met up with Troglia, Shanahan and Larralde who are some washed up BMX friends of mine. We went out for drinks and Bakersfields finest wearing SRH hats and bro outfits wanted to fight us cause their chicks were hanging with us. Surprise. At the race there was Mike Mcgonigle and Shannon Troglia racing, those are my boys even though you guys have probably never heard of them. Anyway on a serious note, Mcgonigle won one day and the other day he got smoked by Shannon who was on platform pedals. No seriously though, Troglia, McGonigle and Larralde went out Saturday night and got into some hotel mischief and had the hotel complaining to the ABA and the ABA contacting us because of our 3 amigos who can’t act right. Running a BMX program is painful some times when you’ve gotta babysit 28 year olds. What I’m trying to say though is, let’s talk about somethin’ cool.
So Vegas was rad. My friends Jaime and Phil drove out there with me. Jaime is the raddest chick ever invented for many reasons but one of the most notable reasons was being able to put up with us for 4 days. Thursday when we rolled in we proceeded at the alcohol beverages and made it to sleep by a blurry, 4:30am. Woke up bright and early to meet my buddies Nick, Lacey and Ben at Mr. Lucky for breakfast. Mr Lucky is the most legit late night or early morning stop in the Hard Rock. Some random girls stopped and had breakfast with us, Ben poured Tabasco sauce in this chicks drink and she was pissed and didn’t wanna hang out after. Fail. Afterwards we headed out to the Hard Rock pool for the day where I got a sunburn while catching up with all my friends from other cities. Vegas is rad being a tourist. Friday night I was out until 8am but the most amazing thing that went down is when my buddy “urinated” on this chick at Circle Bar. Someone bumped into him and he spilled some of his drink on this girl, who happens to be a Monster promo chick. She freaked out and acted like my friend peed on her and was having a huge cry-about-it. It get’s better. So, Saturday I was up and at it and down at the pool having bloody mary’s til about noon. Headed over to the race with Evenouu and McCassy around 1 and spent the entire day/night in the Party in the Pits where we watched the race from the big screen in there because after a bunch of free beer, I was flogged and lazy.. Watched Hanny100 ride an amazing main event and finish 2nd on the podium which was good. 450 main event started off and we headed straight for the cab line. After an interesting [to say the least] cab ride to the Hard Rock we were ready to shred. We went to walk into a party inside Body English and who do we see? The promo model from the night before and she runs over to us and says “If you try and pee on me tonight I’m having you thrown out of this party so fast.” Giggling like dorks we headed into the party like, “what just happened?” After one amazing night where we saw NOFX, we headed off to our hotel room where we woke up at 8am with drink tickets still left in our pockets – Epic Hangover. With about three hours of sleep we were all awake and ready to hit the pool for Rehab the pool party. It was drama getting into the pool but my friend [Thanks Kylie] runs the door and comped me and Jaime thankfully because it’s $100 a person now. The thing I still don’t get is there is Guidos in the pool with Ed Farty hats, jesus necklaces, Assliction shirts and tribal tattoos. How do these dudes afford $100 pool admission while still being able to support their steroid habits? Anyway, we got in and a lot of our friends didn’t so we left by 2pm and grabbed a cab over to MGM to go meet my DEFT FAMILY at Wet Republic. While walking from the cab line to the pool, Phil and Ben stopped to pee in a bush and got roped by security. Ben came with us but Phil took off else where and ended up running back to the Hard Rock wearing size 5 womens swim trunks and Vans high tops with no shirt. I’m sure he looked amazing to cars passing by. The rest of us went into the party and it was going off. A lot of good friends and great times at a rad pool party.. Our shorty shorts ruled both pool parties – we apologize for being so fresh. Fairly early night on Sunday as I was smokkkeddd. Woke up 3 times in the middle of the night with the alcohol sweats and almost wanted to sleep in the bath tub but it was all in the name of great times. Woke up bright and early [sweating] on Monday morning and headed back to San Diego where my liver wanted to become friends again. I’m not too sure why people drink due to the price paid the morning after, but it was so much fun out there. Drive home was a solo mission, thanks to Jaime and Phil for flying home. Real cool, guys. Phil paid the cost with a 2 day hang over. Now it’s Wednesday and word on the street is the Monster model is wanting to press charges on my buddy for the pee AKA Jack n’ Coke he spilled on her. No Joke. What is wrong with people? I wish he really would have peed on her now.
I was supposed to be in Albuquerque at the end of this month for an ABA race but it’s looking like AC Fabz and myself will end up having to go to Taiwan after all. I mean, it’s Memorial Day weekend and I didn’t want to go to any parties or anything. Instead, I will be on a plane to Taiwan. This whole being grown up and having a job thing is for the birds!
Alright, enjoy the photos below which are mainly from Vegas [and shot with a blackberry] but there is a couple mixed in from Bakersfield and a pretty cool picture of Tony D looking like Mr. Clean. Don’t mind the random guy sleeping on a bench in the hotel hallway. It’s a Hard Rock life after you’ve been at the pool all day. I guess I’m out of things to talk about for now but I just saw my big brother TJ hosting an MTV show with a Skin Industires hoodie on. TJ if you’re reading; please don’t ever wear that again for any amount of money. That is gayer than my hairdo, my flat iron, and my tight ass jeans combined.
Follow me on TWITTER, ages 13 and over – Parental advisory explicit lyrics.
Twitch Cribz
Check out the cribs episode that Transworld Motocross did with Twitch. I been riding with him at the BMX track every Monday and he’s a shredder on the BMX as well as [obviously] anything to do with a motocross bike. Wait til you see the freshest bike he has in his arsenal…
May begins.
Time is flying, I can’t believe May is here. The winter went pretty fast it seems like and I’m pumped summer is almost here. Last weekend I decided to stay in town and do nothing. I got an 86 in a 65 speeding ticket on Friday night on the way home which was rad. Saturday I went to brunch and the beach with Allan and Chris, the other Haro BMX office junkies. Around 3:30pm on Saturday I decided it would be a great idea to drive to Vegas for the night. It was my friends birthday party and Atreyu was playing at Wasted Space at Hard Rock LV. Rolled into Vegas just before 9pm and the night was great times, I was out too late and consumed too many adult beverages but it was good. Sunday was the second Rehab (pool party at Hard Rock pool) of the year and I decided to go to that and skip work on Monday. After the pool I went to Pink Taco for dinner and lost my car key. I realized this at like 8pm and had to call a lock smith. I didn’t get done with dealing with him for a couple hours and $190 later I have a new car key. My key rocked up Monday morning at Hard Rock lost and found so epic fail on my spot and $190.00 well wasted. Back to Vegas next weekend for AMA Supercross Finals. Looking forward to seeing Josh Hansen get on the podium at the lites shootout. Pool party will be ridiculous on Sunday, too. Supercross weekend is my favorite Vegas weekend of the year cause all of my out of town friends are all in town. Good times ahead.
I’m heading to Bakersfield this weekend to scope out some amateur racing action and watch dumb and dumber (Grille and Shannon) race. My next race is at the end of May in Albuquerque, NM. I’m not 100% sure I’m going because Allan and I may have to fly to Taiwan for a week for our product development duties. We’re going to launch our new race parts line at Interbike so we’ve got to head over to square some things away! We’ve got some good shit brewing over here so be ready. I’ll update again after next weekend with some photos from Supercross weekend in Vegas, and for sure at the end of the month with the normal Taiwan photos. Taiwan always has some random shit going on, or death hanging from hooks on a random street corner like this:
Mid April Update
So I’m thinking I can manage two updates a month. That’s chill right? I don’t want to update every week with some random shit. Since the last update not much has changed, or gone on. Just working away here at my desk waiting on 5pm so I can head down to the coast to take my Masi 3vc for a spin. I started running last weekend, it’s brutal but a good way to stay in shape. Yesterday I ran at lunch and then went to the OTC after work to burn some laps. There was some euros there that I was lighting up. I almost feel bad, they came all the way here to train with Olympic aspirations and the 8-5 office guy is setting their sprint on fire after a 3 mile run earlier that day. Just livin’ the dream I guess.
After practice yesterday I went and had dinner with Mike Day who is staying out at the Olympic Training Center doing rehab on his shoulder. We got to talking about BMX, and how it just isn’t as fun as it used to be. A few years back we would go to Southpark, PA or the Florida spring break races and we’d have great times. If we were in PA, there was like 8 of us staying at Bittners house with never a dull moment. We would eat at the best pizza place next door to Dave’s house and have ATV offroad fury battles. The first time I ever got drunk was in Southpark and what a wild ride it was. Dave is a treat though, he had this crazy ex girlfriend that threw his big screen TV out the front window with the sprinklers on and then he dumped motoroil all over her car. It was good times though. In Florida, I would always stay with Jeff Sack who was quite the train wreck at that point in his life. He would drive me, Mikey and Mike Gonz across Florida in the NBL van driving off or over every curb possible. Every night he was wasted drunk and every morning he was back at the track at 7am smelling like booze. I would sleep on hotel room floors as an A-Pro, win $1000 for a weekend and head back to Vegas to go to Hard Rock pool smashed, without a care in the world. These days though, everyone is in Olympic mode. I’m not even sure if BMX is that fun for anyone anymore. Recovery rides, protein bars, lactate training, long sprints, short sprints, uphill sprints, grass sprints, squats, egos, steroids… I’m thinking everyone needs to loosen up a little bit but who am I to talk, BMX is serious business.
It’s 5pm and time for me to go enjoy bike riding, all you guys should try the same but not before you check out the photo I shot of my boss yesterday. He shreds.
Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite introducing db44.net
In 2000, I had a website called derekbetcher.com and it lasted til 2005 or so. I let it expire, someone bought it hoping I’d buy it back from them and db44.com was born instead. Just the other day the same thing happened so here’s db44.net. I registered this for the next 10 years, and if I still have a blog in 10 years; kill me.
As you can tell, new website design. Thanks to Ian @ Vanity Design Studios for whipping it up and extra thanks to my boy Logan at DEFT for making the header image for me. I realize I slack on updating websites, most of my blog updates are on the HARO and PREMIUM sites, with this new one though I will try and keep it updated at least a couple times a month. I don’t have time to blog on the daily like I used to.
What’s new? Building a BMX Race line of parts that is going to blow your mind. So far we’ve got bars, forks, seat, seatpost, working on a crank and stem, and the part that I’m looking most forward to is the wheel. Our hub is pretty close to a King, and has been tested by Khalen for the last few weeks and he loves it. The fork we have on our bikes now, it weighs the exact same as the Sinz Carbon fork (1lb 15oz) except ours is a tapered cromoly fork with a built in top compression cap, CNC cromo steer tube and integrated bearing race. I am adding a 3 piece hollow drop out to the fork so by the time it hits the streets it will be even lighter than that gimmicky Sinz fork. We might even do a carbon fork but I want to make a push with this cromo fork, it’s too ill.
I’m trying to think of what else is good but I’m drawing blanks. I know I am happy to be sitting on my couch in peace and quiet right now, watching the Kings game. I don’t get many weekends where I just get to chill and do nothing. Last week I spent 3 nights at the Hard Rock in Las Vegas and it took a toll on my life. I think I was recovered by Thursday. It’s rough out there in Vegas, happy I don’t reside there anymore. Can I just say, though, that I am SO pumped that Summer is nearing again? It’s so depressing when I get off work and it’s dark. I’m pretty over the cold weather too, ready for some fun in the sun with an ice cold adult beverage at Hard Rock pool, orrrr at the beach here in San Diego.
Oh yeah, some rad Haro news is that we’ve got some moto shredders riding the bikes. First I got Josh Hansen on the bike, he’s riding around town in San Clemente and hasn’t made it to the track yet. Jeremy “Twitch” Stenberg is riding a Haro as well, he’s been hitting Lake Perris BMX on Monday nights so come out and ride. Both of them are riding white Haro PRO XL completes. Hansen shown below riding the streets of San Clemente posing next to a bum he gave his jersey to, what a nice guy aha.
Check out the gallery section, I added some of my favorite photos to it which is something I’ve never really kept updated in the past. I’ve also got a bio up on DEFT FAMILY, get some gloves while you’re there and then follow me on Twitter. Check back soon as I will be updating with some sneak peaks of new race parts and I’ll reveal the name of the brand real soon. Shout out to Malc and Nick at Ethika for the new undies too!
Photo from today is me goon facin’ it at the ol’ San Marcos trails, RIP!
Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite February update.
What’s good in the hood? I’m not too sure anyone ever reads this site anymore due to the lack of updates but here’s to talking to myself. My internet is down here at the office so I’ve got nothing to do at the moment, time for a quick update. I just got back from Tampa, Florida for the ABA Gator Nationals A pretty fun event on a good track. I raced but I’ve got nothing to write home about other than a couple decent laps. To be honest, I’m just happy to get out there and compete and have fun. I try and get in the gym once a week, do some stumpy gates out behind Haro during my lunch hour [if I’m not dying for Chipotle] and hit up the track once a week. I get back what I put in for sure, racing AA pro is a full time job and it’s stacked right now! Florida had 43 elites and only about 3 of them were slow. You know it’s gnarly when the guy who wins the main on Saturday doesn’t make the main on Sunday and the guy who won Sunday didn’t make it on Saturday. Congrats to Josh Meyers on his first AA Pro win, too. On the way home I found a pretty funny scenario. Nearly the entire first class cabin of our United flight was full of BMXers. The funny part to me was, the only guy on the flight who hit the podium in AA this weekend was ABA’s National #1 Pro, who was sitting in the coach cabin. Maybe I’m trippin, but I think some dudes out there are putting their eggs in the wrong basket. Oh well. I know I’ve said it before, but it’s still funny to beat guys who are still racing for their full time job. When I finally make my way into an Elite final this year I’m going to feel like I’m the reason that some ones rent didn’t get paid. I complain about having a job, because I hate waking up at 7am and looking out the window at sunny skies all day wishing I was riding, but boy am I thankful for it! Moving on.
The winter has been a bit gnarly to say the least. For over a year I lived here wishing it would rain sometimes but I quickly got over it once it did. No riding for a couple weeks at a time was lame, but even more so is getting off work at 5pm when it’s dark. At the end of 2009 our local trail spot got plowed, so we have had nothing to do after work. I would say the major downfall for me to having an 8-5 is the winter time change. Driving to work with the sun in my eyes just as it’s coming up, and getting off work when it’s setting over the ocean. I’m longing to get off work and ride my road bike along the coast for a couple hours and get back in time before sunset. Allan [Cooke] is building a big ramp setup behind Haro right now. Two 9ft quarters, a 7ft quarter, and a 10 foot box. Going to be fun times! Being able to go out back and shred during my lunch hour is a major job perk! I might just do a stumpy gate and bunny hop onto the ramp and send a big motowhip over the box, Boom. The local trail riders have a new spot going up too, so we just might have a decent little scene going on in North County!
Alright, my rant is finished for now. Make sure and follow us on twitter @Harobmx – it’s mostly updated by Colin Mackay, our freestyle team manager. But I will throw in a few updates here and there. If you haven’t, check out our new website www.harobikes.com/bmx – I post quite often on there which is partially why db44.net gets neglected. For real though, our internet is still down so I’m making a trip to Albertacos, the best Mexican food spot in San Diego (Sorry Leo). Late!
[photo I shot of Josh Meyers on his way to a win on Sunday]
Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite 44 photos of 2009 in review..
It’s been a crazy year to say the least, and it’s even more crazy how fast it’s gone by. Working at this desk is a burn out on a lot of days, especially this time of year when it’s getting dark before I’m off work. It’s been a great year for Haro and Premium though. Garrett Reynolds won the X-Games in Street, as well as the Dew Tour overall in park. Ryan Nyquist won the Dew Tour overall in dirt, and Dennis Enarson just won a motorcycle and a car at Dave Mirras contest last week. On the race side, Khalen wrapped up in the top 5 which is still a pretty good accomplishment in the AA class. I’ve taken the most of the year off from riding other than trails. Rode a little bit at the NBL Grands, ABA Grands, and Southpark; mostly just shot photos at all the events I went to. It’s rough when you’re working full time trying to compete in the AA class for sure. Onward to 2010, I think I might give Reno a shot for fun, if I’m feeling it. Allan Cooke and Chris Raceles are both going to race as well. Haro BMX product development and marketing is entirely done by the 3 of us, what other brand out there has 3 riders runnin’ shit? Stoked to have Allan on board with us for 2010 and beyond.
Where 2009 was a successful year for many, it was also a huge burn out with the casualties of DJ AM, Brittany Murphy, and Michael Jackson which proved that prescription drugs are equally dangerous to anything on the street. Too many times have I seen someone get injured, prescribed prescription drugs for pain, and turn into a straight up drug addict because of them. All of the injuries I’ve had in BMX from broken wrists, to broken fibula and tibia, lassurated liver, dislocated shoulders, etc; I’ve always declined when the doctor has offered pain meds. I suggest the same to everyone.
I’ll leave you guys with 44 (which happens to be a coincidence) various photos from 2009. I shot all of them, other than the ones of me obviously. Photos from races at the beginning and more from Dew Tours and X-Games toward the end. Enjoy.
Have a Merry Christmas and a safe New Years!
