Braden Beck came to prominence in the Canadian BMX scene through Saskatchewan which is honestly pretty damn rare and probably pretty difficult. But that tends to happen for a guy riding at the level that he’s gotten to, regardless of location. Most of us would have seen him through Brodie Gwilliam’s videos, including the seminal Saskatchewan full-length Let’s Get Fistical. Braden and Kelly Bragg put together a new Embassy edit and it’s as good as you hope it would be. Below is a quick interview with Braden and a couple of anecdotes from James Perry.
The Nelson contests were our piece of ’90s BMX lore in British Columbia. They exemplified so many things about that time, from people scraping together road trips across Canada and the PNW to get there, to the collective party vibe that resonated throughout the town and its nightlife (which by most accounts could not handle that many BMXers). For those of us who were young, it was a chance to see our heroes in the flesh, riding in the purest way possible with our friends. There were bangers, crashes, and even a flatland contest. Above all else, the vibes were unbeatable and everyone who showed up had a chance to feel like they were a part of something. When a small crew of organizers resurrected the contest as a reunion effort in 2022, a long lost piece of our culture returned and by all accounts brought back its original spirit. The contest is on again for 2023 and I know many riders are feeling the collective pull to be there. Justin Schwanke and I traded some questions with Andrew Lazaruk and Wade Nelson, who are both at the helm again for this year’s gathering.
La Soupe Du Jour is an excellent local video produced by the Stweetcrew from Northern Quebec; it represents an area of the country that gets little exposure. There was a day that local videos were one of the most interesting things going on in BMX, mostly showing up as burned discs in DIY packaging. To see that ethos transferred to a well-produced video in a modern online format is really cool. La Soupe Du Jour is full of riders I’ve never heard of hitting spots I’ve never seen in a place I’ve never thought much about, and now it’s all on the map for me. That’s one of the best things in BMX! We sent some questions to the man behind the filming and editing of the video, Evans Murray. Read on to learn about the Stweetcrew and La Soupe Du Jour featuring William Pilote, Evans Murray, Thibaut Weber, Olivier Croft, Dave Pilote, Keven Minier, Antoine Beaulieu, Sam Thibaut, and Billy Brodeur.
Often when I plan out a No Bikes trip it’s centered around visiting a single park, or a few parks that are clustered in the same area. For our trip in 2018, that skatepark that really captured my imagination was the “Thunderpark” in Montana. The park is one of the (now) many Evergreen Skateparks built in the state, and beyond the unique concepts in the park layout, the backstory behind the park was really intriguing. Throughout Montana, skateparks have been built in small towns and on reservations as part of the Montana Pool Service movement with Jeff Ament from the band Pearl Jam as the leading force. In my travels, I’ve always had the best time riding parks in small towns, and these parks look especially good.
Alaska was a dream trip that was a decade in the making. Since we started doing No Bikes trips in 2009, the general theme has been to go to interesting places, often out of the way, to ride cool stuff. Although Alaska was always bound to meet the first two criteria, the third is an open question to most people. I know that there is a lot to ride in AK, but others have found that idea to be somewhat unbelievable. After ten years of evolving crews and memorable trips to Washington (twice), Oregon (threetimes), Montana (twice), Utah, and BC (twice), six of my favorite people came to visit my favorite place. The above video contains nine minutes of highlights from the summer of 2019. Read on for some photos to preview a ‘zine that will come out later this year (for those who like hard copies, and want to know more about Alaska and this trip).
The Embassies are a periodic roundup of things happening around the web in Canadian BMX. Think of them as awards for all of the dumb time we spend on the Internet. (more…)
Chris Silva put together a 50th birthday edit for “Drifter” Dave Stewart, who passed away last year. Dave was a longtime Toronto and Rexdale local who had sections in the legendary ICC DVDs, built trails, and was well known across Canada for his longevity in bmx.
Drifter Dave’s 50th birthday jam is happening tomorrow (August 8th), 2 pm, starting at the Toronto Music Garden.
“Vagabond Squad” is a full-length BMX video from the Weird & Revered crew. Filmed from 2016 to 2019, the project is community rooted with a strong focus on the Edmonton BMX scene. Although a majority of the clips are from the crew’s home city, the footage spans 9 countries, 8 American states, and 4 Canadian provinces and territories. Full and split sections from: Thomas Henderson, Jesse Baraniuk, Logan Kirzinger, Joe Weidman, Mark Stanway, Duke Thomson-Kurz, Andrew MacLeod, Cary Lorenz, Kyle Lafleur, Sean Tiffin, Ted Bambrick, Tyler Horness, Justin Schwanke, and Derek Bolz.
Richard Gallant Lives in Calgary, AB. He is one of the great Canadian street riders of his generation, and produced some of the wildest video content to come out of Canada in the 2000s. After Richard posted a very old clip of a crazy ledge combo last week, we reached out and he sent over a few more things (either his parts, or things he was in that he was stoked on) to post here and on Instagram.
AdditionalWords by Jack Nicholl
It’s not easy to sum up who Richard is in a few paragraphs. He’s a one of a kind, skinny dipping, roof dropping, hurdy-gurdy playing, psychedelic bike riding, snow covered rail bombing, kind and genuine human being. The word Legend comes to mind, but he’s probably too modest for that title.
My first encounter with Richard was at the Rad 25th Anniversary contest in Cochrane. He rode in the contest in a tiny pair of shorts and a leather vest, looking like Andre the Giant and riding like an absolute maniac. I asked somebody who the hell the the guy in the booty shorts was, they just told me “That’s the King. The King of Streets”.
After moving to Calgary, I got to know Richard. Everything he does, he does with passion. His music room is filled with dozens of eclectic instruments that most people haven’t heard of. He plays them all skillfully and runs them through a suitcase filled with effects pedals. You can find him there messing around with distorted Hammered Dulcimer jams, or playing his massive harp pasted with Boicott BMX stickers.
Richard’s riding is as rad as his music. He can balance of gnarly and tech, and he’s been doing it for decades. Occasionally, he unearths clips of himself as a skinny 15 year old kid. Dropping off buildings, slamming through railings, it’s like he grew into how burly his riding was. I suppose riding an Eastern Hercules will either break you or make you into man of mythical proportions.
The more I think about it, the word Legend suits him just fine.
