Podcast: Johan Lindstrom and Tom Ritz on GSX

BMX News has been long looking forward to a comprehensive sit-down interview with Johan and Ritz since before the Chula Vista Supercross in September. Johan, is CEO of GSX Events–the independent company that runs the BMX Supercross World Cup Series for UCI. And Tom is CEO of a GSX division called Elite Trax, which is responsible for building all SX tracks on the World Cup circuit, as well as the Olympic track in London.

Any time the riders, spectators, industry or other observers express an opinion or comment about BMX Supercross, threre is nearly a 100% chance it involves a decision one or both of these gents made at some point.

GSX is just about a year old now, and a lot has happened over the past 12 months. We talk about the dark days, when their original partner in the GSX venture–the National Bicycle League, imploded about a month in to the 2011 World Cup series. GSX was relying on the NBL for financial and back office support–and it was suddenly gone. Johan and Tom candidly address how that went down, and also talk about Stratesphere, Inc. a private equity firm, who is their new partner, after buying the NBL’s shares in GSX out of receivership in October of this year.

The guys also address popular hotbutton topics like track design, whether BMX Supercross as a whole helps, hurts or has no effect on “classic” BMX Racing, and whether we will see prize payouts rise dramatically in the 2013 season (after the 2012 games, next August).

It is a fairly long show, but we felt all of the content addressed was of interest to our audience, whether you’re an insider or a fan. Of the topics left on the cutting room floor, we salvaged three clips, which we present to you as “deleted scenes.”

Enjoy the Podcast…and, as always, we’ll be discussing the show over on VintageBMX.com, so come join the fun (and listen to the deleted scenes).

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Podcast: Toby Henderson From the “Box Office”

Pretty much from the moment we learned Toby Henderson would be starting a brand new company (as we were midway to the ABA Land O Lakes Nationals), we were on Toby’s call sheet for an interview. I was pretty much prepared to pull over and do the interview on my laptop at a truckstop, if I had to…it was big news that took the industry, more or less, by surprise.

Well, the truckstop wasn’t necessary, and it ended up being about three months, but today we got the interview. Toby, on the record, speaking candidly and openly about his plans for a new line of “Lamborghini-quality” BMX Racing components, and some later forays into “big wheel” stuff (MTB, Road, CX, etc). He even drop the name of the new brand here publicly, for the first time.

Toby’s trademark timing was helped along today by some news that broke on the Dale Holmes Podcast yesterday. TonyD dropped the big bomba that Marc Willers would be wearing Toby’s jersey in 2012 (012, 013 and 014, as it turns out).

In a 20-minute interview, Toby talks about the vision for his product line, the over-arching goal of bringing a higher degree of sizzle to BMX Racing, and what he sees 2012, with all its changes and big events, netting out to look like.

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—Mike Carruth

VintageBMX.com Discussion on this Topic

Podcast: Arielle Martin on Chula Vista Win

A World Cup win has been a long time coming for Arielle Martin–and, indeed, the USA Women’s BMX effort, as a whole. In fact, one thing you’ll learn in listening to this interview is that the United States has never won a World Cup event on the women’s side. Until this month.

We spend some time chatting with Arielle Martin about her historic win, about her next 10 months leading up to the London Olympics (and qualifying for same), as well as life after August 2012.

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Click here if you missed yesterday’s interview with Chula Vista Mens winner, Connor Fields

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This episode sponsored by BMXEDITS.COM

Podcast: Connor Fields on Chula and Comeback

Connor Fields wowed the crowd in Chula Vista with blistering times in the Time Trial, and then consistent frontrunning on Saturday. By the time the last gate of the day fell, Con-Man was alongside Maris Strombergs and Nic Long for the lead. He made a pass-move at precisely the right time, and came out of the first turn as, essentially the winner of the race.

But the lead-up to that moment was six months (seemed like way longer) of day-to-day uncertainty on whether or not he would ever ride a bike again, much less win a world cup main event. In part two of our three-episode Podcast Wrapup of the Chula Vista Supercross, Connor gives News the behind-the-scenes on his recovery from knee surgery earlier in the year, and where he’s at mentally as the Olympic year gets closer and close on the horizon.

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Tomorrow, we’ll wrap up our series with Elite Women winner, Arielle Martin.

Click here if you missed yesterday’s interview with Supercross rookie, Felicia Stancil

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This episode sponsored by BMXEDITS.COM

Above photo by Cole Proctor for BMXNOW.COM

Felicia Stancil: “I think about BMX 24-Hours a Day”

It’s been a while since we last posted an episode of our wildly-popular “Announcers Tower” Podcast. Well, this week, we’re back in gear with five new episodes to keep your iPod happy.

This week, we’ll bring some final focus on the Chula Vista SX, with interviews of both Elite Winners, Connor Fields (Tuesday) and Arielle Martin (Wednesday). But first, we wanted to bring you some perspective from a newcomer to the Supercross scene, and we found it via Fly’n Felicia Stancil.

Lots of changes between traditional BMX Racing and BMX Supercross, and in a fairly-quick 14 minutes, Felicia give us an inside look on the whole magilla.

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Editor’s Note: We thought it was pure coincidence that the Gatorade bottle ended up facing camera in big-media-interview fashion? Later, it occurred to us that Felicia may be wising-up early to the ways of doing right by her sponsors.

Podcast: Marc Willers on London SX Win

In one of the most riveting SX races in recent memory, lots of eyes were on London this past weekend. A few extra shots of adrenaline because it was A). The Test Event for the 2012 Olympic Games; and B). Because the whole shootin match would be broadcast on NBC the day after the race.

A total of 126 Elite Men from 26 countries turned up to get their first go at the Olympic track. BMX News posted full-coverage of the race.

Marc Willers was one of the standouts, as he always is anytime he buckles his helmet. But Sam Willoughby was also riding very strong, as was Joris Daudet–out with his W1 plate for the first time. And those three standouts took their battle down the final final turn of the final lap, after a three-abreast dash down one of the more technical straightaways we’ve seen.

In the end, it was Marc holding the top-step Magnum of Veuve, with Joris at his right, and Nic Long–who, himself, performed amazingly, going from sixth in the first turn, to third at the stripe–on the left.

Once Marc touched down in So. Cal, and got his laundry done, we sat down with him to talk about the weekend, what’s next as we look toward Chula Vista next month, and his 2012 aspirations. Marc also speaks directly to the question of “mental toughness” and how sometimes you have to “ground yourself” (meaning “no cell phone for you for one whole week”).

We always look forward to chatting with Marc, so give it a listen now:

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Above Photo: UCI BMX / craigdutton.com

Podcast: Johan Lindstrom of GSX Events

Johan Lindstrom has been a man in the background, making the proverbial trains run on time, in the BMX Supercross scene for many years. A few months back, he made the jump from working stiff at UCI to CEO of the newly-created Global SX Events, or GSX.

GSX announced, concurrent with its formation, that they would be acquiring the rights to promote the UCI BMX Supercross World Cup events, beginning with the 2011 season. This was a very important announcement, because the World Cup series is the gateway to the Olympic Games and, if that were not enough, carried a fair amount of prestige on its own.

With the UCI SX deal inked, the group came out of the gate strong, and soon announced GSX was to be the promoter for the NBL’s “NationsTour” — a five-city tour of events (later cut to three cities), which promised unprecedented payouts of $40,000 per event, with $8,000 to the winner of Elite Men.

Unfortunately, the NationsTour started to show cracks early in its trajectory. The first event in Primm, Nevada scheduled for March 12 was abruptly canceled two weeks before the event date (citing problems at the location and/or a disagreement with the landowner).

Then, last month, the NBL announced it was in financial distress, ultimately leading up to the announcement that an agreement had been reached to merge the NBL with the ABA to form USA BMX. With 51% of the shares in GSX owned by the NBL, and the Papendal World Cup event rapidly approaching, you can imagine that there were some serious questions as to whether the NBL’s collapse would also take down GSX, and with UCI SX series down with it.

NBL CEO Gary Aragon was the face of all of the above news. And then, two weeks ago, the Papendal World Cup event grabbed BMX headlines with an innovative-but-extreme track–a near-replica of the track being built in London for the next stop on the UCI BMX Supercross World Cup tour and, of course, the 2012 Summer Olympic Games.

We had been hoping to get Johan to join us on the Announcers Tower Podcast when he moved to Ohio from his UCI gig in Switzerland, in February. The stars never quite lined up, and the interview never happened.

Last week, Johan reached out to us saying that he could take some time for an interview to bring BMX News readers up to date on a variety of issues. From the current GSX situation vis a vis the NBL, BMX Supercross track design, the London Olympics, BMX Racing’s likely future in the Olympic Games, how BMX Racing might be affected by BMX Freestyle’s entry into the games, and much more. We enjoyed doing the interview, and wish to thank Johan for taking the time to join us. We also made him promise to come back on again after the London SX in August, so keep an eye out for that.

Technical Note: Not sure if it was our Skype or Johan’s phone, but there is some pretty severe digital distortion (at times making Johan sound like Max Headroom). Just know that we are aware of it, and tried to fix it twice while recording yesterday.

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Podcast: Tony Hoffman’s Dramatic Ride

Over the past 18 months or so, we have seen Tony Hoffman make a comeback on the track that has taken him from mid-pack in the A Pro class, to the AA semi at the recent ABA Gator Nationals–and the season is just getting started. Many of us are fans of his website, thoffonline.com, where he pens thought-provoking articles, written from the riders’ point of view, as well as whip checks on the top Elite hardware on the track.

But for all the success and moving forward Tony has enjoyed recently, the road that got him back to the track was a tough one. It is a tale of life dreams gone off the rails, getting mixed up with the wrong crowd, making ill-conceived decisions, and ultimately ending up at the crossroads, as an inmate in a Central California prison.

In this episode of Announcers Tower, THoff says “my life is an open book.” Tony makes good his promise by answering some tough, pointed questions, taking us through the lowest lows, and how, through faith, he has rebooted his life.

He tells us about “Project Freewheel–” a Christian outreach program he started this past weekend in Fresno, CA, which uses BMX racing, and the laser-like focus required to succeed, as a means to head-off kids moving down the wrong path.

And, Tony puts his opinion to several questions facing the sport today.

Whether you regularly listen to Announcers Tower, or this is your first time, we know you will find Tony’s story as compelling as we did.

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We will be talking about the interview, and Tony will answer questions from listeners on the Vintage Forum.

Interview: Marc Willers Talks 2011

With four wins out of a possible six in the young 2011 ABA National season, Marc Willers has never been more headline worthy. We sat down with Marc, via Skype on the day after he logged a perfect weekend at the ABA Gator Nationals in Oldsmar, FL, to talk about his plans for 2011, his new Speed Bike, his perpetual “race face” at the track, and how his Kiwi accent helps with the ladies.

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Podcast: Rennen Revolutionizes BMX Gearing

Gearing…Revolution…get it? All puns aside, this is an innovation we have been DYING to tell you about since we heard about it at the Chula Vista SX in September (see…we CAN keep secrets). Over the past few days, we have been practically giddy with excitement at the opportunity to post today’s first episode of Announcers Tower in two months (we took a little break after the NBL Grands, but are back on a schedule now).

On today’s show, George Costa, President of Rennen Design Group gives News an exclusive first look at the “Rennen Decimal Gearing System.” This system is a series of incremental gear sizes literally between the whole-number gears you have been running all your life. Ever want to go down a tad in Nashville to compensate for the famously-shallow starting hill? Well, now you can drop that 44/16 to a 43.8/16 without having to whip out your chain whip and monkey with the back cog.

The Decimal Gearing System allows you to get way more specific in dialing in the perfect gear for your needs at any given time. Simple-sounding enough, but it harkens back to that old commercial that says “so advanced…it’s simple.” All of the math and machine magic to make the gears so precise and the requisite gear charts to compare apples to apples has all been crunched for you.

All of this tremendous tech will be available for purchase right when you need it most–at the ABA Grands. A limited inventory of Decimal Gears will be available at the Rennen tent, and through J&R Bicycles at the race. Watch the Product Spotlight section tomorrow for information on placing a pre-order with J&R for your favorite sizes. No doubt they are going to go fast, so get your pre-order in.

Give the Podcast a listen, then come on over to Vintage, where we’re sure the fires of discussion will be burning bright.

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Also, download the Decimal Gearing Gear Chart for a front-row look at how it all works

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