I remember when I first learned to ride a bike. I was 6 or 7 years old before I figured it out (it took me a while). But, when I did finally figure it out all I wanted to do was ride my bike. I would ride around the block for hours on end, my world had expanded, I had a new found freedom, it was amazing!
Then one evening in 1987 my love for bike riding took a leap to whole new level. It happened when my dad brought home a rented VHS movie. In the brown plastic VHS case was the 1986 BMX movie RAD. The opening scene of that movie started me down a road that I didn't even know existed, in the matter of about 90 minutes the direction of my life changed.
Alright, so that's probably more dramatic than what really happened, but I do remember watching that rented VHS tape over an over and then eventually we owned a copy of it (which I still have by the way). What RAD did was open the eyes of an 11 year old boy growing up in the small town of Elmore, MN to a much larger world. Just like learning to ride a bike had expanded my world, watching RAD kicked the door wide open for what eventually became Chaos on Wheels. It wasn't long before I was mowing lawns and looking for odd jobs so that I could buy my first BMX bike. I still have my first BMX bike, it wasn't anything special, but it was what I could get my hands on at the time. It was a red Columbia trick bike, it came complete with white plastic mags (Skyway knockoffs), it had pegs on the front and half moon platforms on the rear chain stays. I still remember the day my dad took me into Breen's hardware in Blue Earth, MN. I walked in with a pocket full of hard earned cash and I walked out with something that would be a huge part of my life for the next few decades.
Over the next few years I would spend hours in the street in front of my house trying to learn all the tricks that were in the opening and closing credits of RAD. That first bike got me started and over the years the name on the frame changed, GT, Mongoose, Schwinn, Haro, Bully, Hoffman, Federal, Colony, etc. but one thing never changed, riding a bike was constantly expanding my world. Within a few short years my love for BMX and my natural entrepreneurial tendencies collided and at age 15 I was trying to open a bike shop in my parents garage. I had limited success with that first business venture, but during my Junior and Senior years at Blue Earth Area High School I took an entrepreneurship class which put me in contact with some great business mentors and by the time I graduated High School I was the sole owner of "The Absurdly Insane Clothing & Bike Shop".
Based in the basement of the Circle-C-Center (my dad's youth center) in Elmore, MN my shop was fully stocked with everything BMX, complete bikes, parts, shoes, t-shirts, safety gear, it was all there. I started running ads in RideBMX magazine and before long I was shipping BMX stuff all over the Untied States, I even had customers in places like Spain and Brazil. It was during this season when the BMX scene in little Elmore, MN was at it's peak. I started building ramps in my parent's backyard and the sessions would often include riders from all over Minnesota and Iowa.
It was in these early years that Frank Stewart and I first met, (I'm going to save that story for it's own blog post). It was also during this time that the first X-Games took place and Action Sports were starting to get some real attention; which gave me an idea. It was difficult to get people to come to rural Minnesota to a little bike shop in a town of a few hundred people, so what if I took BMX to them?
One of my favorite videos in the early years of learning how to ride BMX was the Team Haro (1988) video with BMX legends Bob Haro, Brian Blyther, Dave Nourie, Joe Gruttola, Matt Hoffman, Rick Moliterno, Ron Wilkerson. (I still have that one on VHS too).
The video opens with some scenes of the team doing shows in front of crowds of people. That video stuck with me and was really one of the earliest inspirations for what would become the Chaos on Wheels BMX team.
But, that wasn't the only influence. About the same time I was trying to get my first bike shop off the ground (1991). Mat Hoffman had just left Haro and had started Hoffman Bikes. I sent a letter to Hoffman Bikes to open an account so I could sell their stuff in my shop and in the box with my first order was a letter from Mat wishing me good luck on the shop and he had thrown in a couple of free t-shirts one of which was a Sprocket Jockey's t-shirt. I wore that t-shirt until it fell apart.

There was also a Sprocket Jockey's brochure in the box. That brochure sent me on a mission to learn everything I could about building ramps and doing BMX shows. So, by the time the 1995 X-Games happened I was ready to take BMX to all the small towns in Minnesota and Iowa. The first shows I set up were at the Faribault County Fair in Blue Earth, MN. Unfortunately, my 19 year old self didn't think to document any of the shows in 1995. But, I do remember it took almost two days to move my backyard ramp the 10 miles from Elmore, MN to the Fairgrounds in Blue Earth, MN. Using borrowed hay racks from some farmer friends we moved a 16' wide, 5' tall half pipe. It was super sketchy, we probably broke every DOT regulation out there, but we go it done. I was lucky to have really good friends and parents to support my crazy ideas. The reality is that those shows in 1995 were nothing like the Team Haro shows or the Sprocket Jockey Shows. But. it was the beginning of something that would end up taking BMX to small towns, not just in Minnesota and Iowa but in 47 states, to Canada and even Taiwan.
I guess the story of Chaos on Wheels is really the story of a kid in a small rural town that had a dream and saw that dream become reality with some hard work, some failures and a ton of support from family and friends. At least that would be how 19 year old me would have summed it up. Now decades later I can see that although all the things I have mentioned in this story are real factors, it was actually God directing the path that my life took. Even when I was chasing my dreams and ignoring God, it is obvious that nothing happened with out him seeing it and many times I believe directing it. As I continue to tell the story of Chaos on Wheels through these blog posts I believe it will become obvious that God had a plan from the very first time I rode a bike without my dad holding the seat.
Stay tuned...
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