REMINISCE: EDWIN & TOM DIG 53 COVER

Jan, 14 2013

How did the Barcelona trip that the cover photo was shot on come about?

Edwin: It was 2006; we had to film for Fit Life. Jared (Washington) said he was going out there to meet a few Federal riders. He told me, and I asked Tom to go too. The Federal trip fell apart. We already had our tickets. I normally wouldn’t just go anywhere without knowing where to stay.

Tom: Jared told us that we could stay with the Federal dudes; it’s Jared’s fault. (Laughter)

Ed: We got on the plane and flew out there. We had our bikes built up, so we got on the train and rode around the city right away. We had nowhere to go. We stayed at a hostel. I had been in there in 2002. We stayed there for three nights. We went to a bar one night, and I saw this chick who used to hang out at Union Square back in the day. I went up to her and talked to her, and said we were staying at a hostel. She said we could stay at her crib, since she was going away for a month. She left and we had the whole apartment to ourselves. It was a prostitute block, in the middle of everything. Every day we would come out and the hookers would make fun of us and call us gay since we didn’t want to get with them. We rode every single day; I felt like I was 15 again. Take the train to a random stop, and get out and pedal.

How long were you there for?

Edwin: A month. It was sick.

Tom: The video camera broke; it was glitching like crazy. My mom ended up sending another camera. Ricky Adam came out there for a little bit  too.

What did you think when you saw the cover?

Edwin: I thought it was fake. I saw it on Myspace, when it was popping. It was sick. I had a good time on the trip; it was a good way to end it.

Tom: I thought it was awesome.

That was the trip where you tried to do the infamous 360 at the MACBA four block.

Tom: Yeah, I’ll talk about it; I don’t give a shit. That day, I think I did like three things. I jumped the car, did the gap to smith. I was in a real good mood. Anyone who’s been to that spot, knows it’s almost impossible to case that. It’s technically just a drop-off. But on the way there, I couldn’t even do a bunnyhop-three. It was horrible. I had a good day anyway, so I was like, “Fuck it.”  I don’t know how I didn’t do it, but I was just getting killed. I’ve done shit bigger than that, but I don’t know; it didn’t make sense. Now everyone trains it, of course.

Edwin: I think it was the first time anyone did anything down it on a bike. In a Ride UK, they made it into a bigger deal than it was. But everyone has an off day for 360’s.

Tom: They ain’t got five covers. (Laughter)

Do you plan on going back anytime?

Tom: Yeah. When we were there I thought we saw everything. But every week there is a new web edit with new shit.

Edwin: I was watching the video the other day, and Tom does a feeble to hop up manual; that’s the longest manual he’s ever done. (Laughter)

Tom: It was the longest manual I ever did. (Laughter)

Tom’s longest manual ever at 2:43