Interviews
BMT By Arker

Wanna do an interview!??
Yeah sure, cause i have to go soon - stupid deck, remember when I said i had to help my dad carry some stuff in
ummmm.... yes??
We ended up spending forever on the deck lol. We're making it bigger and putting a roof on cause were gettin a hot tub!!!
MATE! JUST in time for your 18th!
Yeah man!!! My 18th is in December, sooo…in the hot tub, drunk as fuck!!!
Few of those canadian women...
Haha, hopefully even some of the hot ones!
I want to see some of these famous hot Canadian girl pictures by the way!
Ok…



Anyway! ON WITH THE SHOW!
Name, Age, Location, Approximate depth of the 'FRO??
Mike Smith
17
Canada BC
aand...1 sec
*drum roll*
ok like 3 inches if its straight, but it curls, so 2.

And how long have you been growing the 'Fro?
oh damn. um, like, 3 months maybe…i remember I got it cut, and I was still in school.

Who, if anyone has influenced you in your 'Fro growing!??
hmm, nobody really, just me and 2 of my old riding buddies kept talking about growing our hair out, only me and 1 other did, and when people say stuff about it i get motivated to keep growin it lol

hahaha. So what do you think is more important in ‘Fro growing - Height or Style?
Definitely Style, a fro just isnt a fro without the tangy zip of Curlyness!

What the hell does BMT stand for!??
Black Mountain Trails! NOT BLT, the sandwich - damn waffles.



hahaha!
How long've you been riding?
This is my 3rd year serious riding, i had a bmx for about a year before that but i couldnt even bunnyhop curbs lol

So what/who got you into the more serious riding - curb hopping and such!?
Well i think it was when my neighbour moved. We were really good friends, but he put me down about riding a lot. When he left my self esteem went up and I realized, hey, now I can bunnyhop curbs, and I did!

Who do you ride with and have you left the curbs to the kids now, or do you stray from the trails occasionally for some street and park fun?
Well I ride with my 2 buddies, well, one of them is just visiting right now, but he plans on moving back here and becoming a local. As for the park/street, I have a little ramp in my yard that doesn’t have a dirt landing yet, and i 180 it, and fakie to Half cab thingies, and when I go to the store I bunnyhop to manual everything in sight, and sometimes I try to bunnyhop wallride this one wall.

Sounds good...Now, off to the trails! Give us three things that you love about riding dirt.
Freedom
Rhythm sections
And I can build it myself, to my own specifications.



And 3 not so good things...
Grommets
Mountain Bikers wrecking shit
aand, the Dust that accumulates when it doesnt rain.

How big's the scene at BMT?
Well, usually its me and 1 friend, sometimes 2. Lately alot of Mountain Bikers have been coming up, almost daily..

that must suck
yeah, the only cool thing is watching them try to roll this one roller, then just harsh caseing shit after it

So three diggers and a bunch of fools?
yeah, id say 2 and a half diggers the kid visiting digs a lot with me

Yeah!?
he is really into biking like I am, the other guy would ditch me for a Doobie in no time

Argh, sucker! Who’s this "visitor"?
Brad, He used to live here, then he moved to Coquitlam, and he doesnt like it out there so he is trying to get a job here and move back. He races, and he rides big trails out in Van, So that’s influenced some bigger sections being built here.

How big's big!??
Well were gonna start building 20 footers probably, he wants even bigger, he says "There will be 50 foot doubles in Kelowna by the time im done" but he talks alot.. if u know what I mean.

hahaha, sounds like he'll have to DIG a lot to!

Ok, back to you Mike, may i call you Steve??
Uh, No thanks.

Haha, ok, what tricks have you been nailing of late?
Well lets seee....
Newest one I’ve learned would be.. if this counts, No footed Cancan to no footer, I only tried it once and actually nailed it good.
Then A while back I was doing supermans kinda poopy, and trying 360's. But besides that Im just trying to dial in my tricks, and try to get No footed X ups back to fully clicked again



They seem pretty damn clicked already!
Over here we've had the crappest summer i can remember, how does the canadian weather lend itself to trail riding?
Its really cool, it gives us about an inch of rain, and about 10 meters of dust to crash onto………actually it sucks!
hahaha
its so damn hot half the time, and my trails are in an open field - gets really dusty, summer is exactly when you dont want to dig here. Even if you provide the water.



Had any celebs show up at your place yet?
Yeah, Dave Mirra came once……nah, nobody! This One mountain biker was pretty good though, he did a no hander lander once, i thought that was pretty nutty. But he would do whips off the step-up, and it would wreck the lip pretty good.

Any secret anti-MTB devices you got set up?
Yeah some: Steep lips, Rhythm sections, and we dig everything Into ground, so they hit the walls a lot. ‘Specially on the new hip

What’s your favourite type of jump?
Well, anything with a good lip I guess. Right now the step-up is rad, I can do like all my tricks on that set, and If i want to learn something new, I do it on the step-up

Tricks or Style?
Well I try to have a decent style, but I also like to learn new tricks. But if i had the choice, I’d rather do a stylish trick than lets say, a backflip.
Hell yeah!



What's the biggest tip you wish someone had told you when you first got into riding?
hmm. let me think…
I wish they told me to whip to the left, cause I ride right foot forward and thats how I should whip. I hurt myself pretty bad once trying turndowns the wrong way, cause it was the way i whipped.
But, now I learnt how to get it out to the left so im fine.




Always a good thing knowing how to get it out to the left.
Haha, agreed!

How IS your erection problem coming along?
I got some pills for it, so far nothing has worked.

Damn, with girls like that >> hanging round the place, you could be suffering for a long time!!!
they gave me a viagra once, said to be careful cause im so young. I took it and all the blood flowed out of my brain and I passed out for 2 hours.
hahaha....the perils of having a small brain i guess.
hey

OK, onto kylie (I’ve seen the pictures, and this girl is STUNNING, you’ll have to take my word for it kids!)
So have you tried it on with her yet or what!?
Man, she has a boyfriend, so nope.
....can you run fast!??
Haha, not as fast as this guy, plus he is a cool guy, and I dont know Kylie that well, i know her enough that its like "hi" when I see her in the halls

Gahhhh!! You honourable people make me sick!
Haha, I cant be mean, well i try not to.



OK, seeing as you're a big girl, we'll move onto some more deep and meaningful stuff...
Okay. Time for the feminine side
~...as the 'fro wafts in the wind...~

Tell us a bit about your dance with death as a nipper..
huh?
You almost drowned...didn't you!??
oh yeah, ive almost drowned like two or three times!
hahaha
First time was in the states, California or Oregon i think. I was too young to remember, and I guess a wave just came over and carried me out lol. Then when I was about 8 i was at the local YMCA swimming pool and a kid from school I know snuck up behind me and like held me under for so long.
Then when he stopped he didnt even realize he’d almost killed me lol. He was all “i thought you were fine.”!! Its pretty funny cause the main kid I ride with now was there with him at the time, and we talk about it sometimes, and he said he kept telling the kid i didnt have air, lol.
Aaand, once in grade 7 or so, we went to this local creek near my house, up to the falls, and there was this one rock thing and i got sucked under and i put my hand up and the guy who was baby sitting had to pull me out it was so freaky, it was like an under water vacuum thing, I thought i was done for.
Wow i have bad luck with water!! lol
Are canadians made of rocks or something!??

You missed the whole "dad saving your life" thing after the wave swept you out...
Oh yeah, my brother ran in to save me, then he ended up getting caught too then my dad ran and dived in and saved us. I dont remember it, and the video camera my dad was using didn’t record any of it…it was just, "oh shit!" then it dropped, then like a 40 seconds later 3 shadows, and me going "your all wet too daddy”! haha

Haha? Sounds like it scared your dad more than you!
I was too young to remember it, I think thats one of the main reasons I hate open water, Like when I go boating, and we jump out and swim, I hate not knowing what is below me.
Another time when I was a kid, i tripped on a teddy bear and fell face first into my open drawer, and sliced my cheek pretty bad and supposedly i was so covered in blood my dad thought I had swallowed glass and it cut right through my throat, he said its maybe the most scared hes ever been. I have a nifty scar from it too!

....are you SURE you should be hucking yourself over 20ft doubles!!
Man! Riding bikes is the safest thing lol. I get more hurt doing stupid shit. Like i was jumping off my slide into my pool - long story short, I fell and broke both my wrists

Noooooo! That must have REALLY sucked!! Especially someone with your....ahem...condition…
I hit my head pretty bad, woke up on the ground and the buddy who was basically whos fault it was, his legs were all shaking and shit lol he was so scared!
The moral of these stories....don't hang round with Mike or he'll hurt himself and make you feel queezy!
yeah exactly!
I dont get hurt much anymore though. I have gained a little thing called balance…oh, except like a month ago i fell into my pool by accident lol
Lmao, STAY AWAY FROM WATER!!!!
I should write a book "what not to do"

haha Ok. enough of you drowning, bleeding and generally breaking yourself!
What's the best thing about being Canadian?
oh, um, the best part about being canadian would bee... a tie
the "EH"
the fact that canada is so cool and diverse and multicultural and stuff.
and the chicks!!

What kind of foxy bird:ugly moose ratio would you say Canada has!?
There is definitely more bird than moose where I live.


I lived in vancouver for a few months but can't really remember the girls...i was only 8....
Vancouver is so ghetto now. When I was at the PNE 2 years ago some kid walked up to me and my brother and asked us if we wanted to buy any acid.

....sulfuric?
no, i mean acid the drug lol.
They have DRUGS in canada!?
Damn, and you’re always portrayed as such good, wholesome, friendly people.
Have you never heard the term ‘BC BUD’, I am probably the only kid in my area of town that isnt a pot head. Well except my neighbours, the Pattersons, who mow other peoples lawns for free!!

Sounds like the Flanders’..
Yeah man! They are! And my family is definitely the Simpsons lol. Except my dad doesnt choke me…and i dont have a sister. Okay we are more like Malcom in the Middle!

Ever been arrested by a Mountie!?
I got a warning once, but not a mountie, actually..more than once!
Once for SnowBalling this crazy dudes motorhome, he has such a bad case of anger managment he could beat me to a pulp and not get in trouble for it! And once or twice for public drunkenness.
Ahhhh, now canada's got a far better legal drinking age than the nonesense south of the border right!?
19 But i hear they are turning it to 25 soon, which sucks
NOOOOOO!!!
But my mum buys me beer if I want it.

Been underaging it any pubs yet?
We snuck into this one when we were like 15. It was so cool! My 2 friends won some door prize and got their pictures taken with a stripper! That picture was passed around at school the next day lol.
Wow!
Yeah it was so cool, they had their arms around her neck, and they each had a mug full of beer lol
Hahaha, bonus!
Shes just sitting there naked probably thinking "I need a new job"

haha, probaby felt like santa having her photo taken with two kids sat on her lap..!
haha yeah, we got kicked out though like right after that cause it was a strip club / bar thing. The bouncer was like, okay, i know you guys arent old enough, so get the fuck out

hahaha, and you've had erection problems ever since!
haha yeah! I think i over amped it that night.

Hahaha ENOUGH!
Incase people are reading this thinking i actually do have some sort of problem…

i dont.




Yeahh..right!
So you're out of school now, what're ur plans for the future?
I hate being asked that, cause I have no clue, I might go back to this BCIT course In february, for Electronics, its like really cool. School pays tuition - i just gotta pay for the books.

Whow...sounds like we have a bit of a bright...SPARK on the board!??
haha no, more of "oh shit what am I gonna do with my life" thing. The counselors at school told me it wouldnt be a bad idea - if i dont like it, whatever, if i do, theres my job, either way I have a good paying job. But if I dont like it, Ill definitely quit for a better one.

Heres some advice to younger people:
Kids, make a special bank acoount put a lot of money in it. Once your old enough, spend it all on lotto tickets! You could win like, 10 million bucks!
Supposedly if you put 10% of everything you earn in the bank you’ll be a millionaire when you retire

....doesn't that mean you have to earn like $10million!?...
no
what.
Ooh
well sort of…
Interest my friend!

Any more pearls of wisdom while your on a roll there Mike?
Yeah, Dont do drugs, stay in school, and always wipe from front to back!

Hahaha, Anyone you wish to thank? Friends, family, sponsors...haircare products?
I would like to thank um, everyone from the board. My parents for buying me my bike shit haha, id like to thank Safeway because their POP keeps me alive and whoever owns the land my trails are on for never checking it out. Oh yeah and if i missed anyone, thank you to.



Final random BMT quote:
“… walkin, ridin, it all jiggles it.”