Articles:

If you have stuff that you wrote and think it deserves to be read then send it in. PhilthyBmx@hotmail.com
THIS GOES FOR EVERYONE

Don't Let The Cloud Get You
Don't Let The Cloud Get You. It's a popular saying. I'm sure everyone by now has seen the Shitluck shirts with that saying.Unfortunately for me I let my guard down just long enough...
As you may or may not know, my backpack containing my video camera, wallet and tools was stolen at Kingpin Skatepark. It still shocks me and I still find it hard to believe that such a thing could happen in a place where everyone is brought together by a common bond.
If you saw me on tuesday night you probably saw me sulking around in my own self pity. Anger, sadness and confusion were just a few of the things going through my head. I was angry at the fact that somebody had jacked my shit, and angry at the fact that I didn't think twice to put my stuff behind the counter. I was sad because I felt like somebody had taken a part of me and killed it. If you've ever had your bike or something you cherished stolen you could probably relate. But most of all I was confused. How could somebody steal from a fellow rider/skater/human being? How could this person have the audacity to take my personal property knowing how much it meant to me? The wallet, id, camera and bag can be replaced, but gone forever are the actions captured on video. This is probably what bothers me the most. The bastard who ends up with my stuff will be holding onto hours of hard work, blood sweat and tears. Any true rider/skater or decent human being couldn't be responsible for this.
Much appreciation and thanks goes out everyone who was there to help. It was inspiring to see that my friends were ready to spring into action, even gathering up an angry mob ready to regulate within a moments notice.
I'm sitting here still hoping that my things will be found, that the culprit will have a conscious. If they return my stuff, or at least confess but I'm not to worried if they don't.
Because I know that one day the cloud will rain down on them too.
-Jon Frye

Toronto Bike Show 2003
Wow! The Toronto Metro Jam was once again a success! Im sure everyone that was there would like to thank all those who organized the event. Well personally the weekend was totally awesome! The dirt jumps were a little rough but that didn't stop the pros or our Jay Enns! The kid cant be stopped, he made it to finals and in his last run he 360 the second jump. Man I couldn't even clear that jump most of the time! The amateur street contest was totally out of hand, when i just sat down in the stands to watch practice I almost couldn't believe that those guys were amateur! Everyone has progressed a ton since last year, there's gonna be allot more pros in Ontario next year. As for the Pro's, that's just unreal. Those guys are doing things that make you think that your watching the Matrix! Two words..... Flip Whip. Ruben had some cool lines that he was riding. My favorite guy to watch ride was defiantly Kevin Salmon, he is so original. he had his very own ideas that he brought to the comp but unfortunately he didn't pull everything off as well as he wanted, resulting in him not qualifying. The older boys and the guys with fake id's got to go check out the new Square One video at a local bar. The movie kicked ass and so did the atmosphere, all these pros swarming around you and talking to you like your there best friend. (I'll bet all the beer had something to do with that too.) Corey Kuhling was van Homen's Beer Bitch all night. The guy would give Corey money to get him and his "Lady" a couple drinks, but he would give Corey money to get something for himself too! Lucky Kid. Derek Adams Bought us four pitchers of beer becasue we were weareing Little Devil clothing and Becasue Lee Denis showed him his Little Devil Tattoo on his wrist! Some guy there had a T-shirt on it with a picture that Pat Henry took... yeah that was strange. We had to get outta there at like 2:30 in the morning because things were getting crazy! Beer bottles were being thrown and snowballs were tossed resulting in broken windows... As for results of the contest i cant remember anything so your gonna wanna check out the Chase site for that. Peace.
-Ken Oliver

Not Just For Skaters?
I poached this little article from expn.com it was written by Mike Vallely himself. I thought that it would be enlightening for people to see what his stance is concerning skatepark society.

Ed. Note:I know I can’t force people to think this way or agree with him but, I think we (bmx’ers) need to take the same stance with skaters, fruitbooters & even scooters. Well, maybe not scooters (joke) It would make
things at parks/street spots a lot easier if we didn’t have an instant hate towards anybody who’s not on a bike.

By Mike V.
It seems to me that our public skateparks are nothing more than microcosms of our greater society. And like in our greater society, there are a few scattered places I¹ve been to where young people, whether they ride skateboards, bikes, in-line skates or razor scooters all get along. The skatepark is their common ground and because of that there is a level of respect amongst all the different participants who can make use of the varied terrain of a skatepark. This is always something great to see and to be a part of whether it's at a skatepark or in some other facet of our society. At the same time and what I've found to be much more common, as it also is in our greater society, is division, hatred and violence at skateparks between these young people who do these different sports. Seeing this anywhere in society is sickening but at a skatepark especially amongst young people really turns my stomach. I grew up in a world that didn't have public skateparks or any kind of publicly designated area for skating and so I guess I've always thought of the possibility of a skatepark as being a sort of utopian landscape. I've always believed that skateboarding's doors should be left wide open because the world had shut so many doors on us skaters growing up. But we didn't let all of those cold shoulders deter us. When we were coming up my friends and I shared terrain with bmxers without question and welcomed anyone even remotely interested in what we were doing into our fold. Skateboarding was
about acceptance. I liked it like that, I believed in it. I still do. To be thirty-one years old now and to live in a world where there are public skateparks and to know that many of these skateparks serve as nothing more than a breeding ground for division (even amongst skaters) is bittersweet. Now that we have what we've always wanted we've gotten greedy and are acting like elitist jocks. By saying that a skatepark is or should be for skateboarders only is leaving so many like-minded and soulful and
creative people out of the picture. That's not skateboarding to me. Believe me, I've heard all of the arguments against bikes, blades and scooters in our skateparks and still none of them hold water. Where are these other young people suppose to go if they can't go to the skatepark? We're shutting them out like we were shut out for so long. Maybe you believe that they have to pay their own dues and get their own parks built. I think that's a bunch of crap. If we can't do better than those who shut us down by opening our arms and doors to others than we've learned nothing and don't deserve these skateparks at all.
Through the years I’ve ridden with bmxers, in-line skaters and even a few razor scooter riders all over the world. I've never once thought of myself or my sport of choice as being better or above theirs. I've always been able to relate to these individuals and what their doing and I've always believed that we're kindred spirits. Additionally, there's something to be said about anyone who's out there doing his or her own thing. They shouldn't have to get grief for it especially not from skateboarders. That they do is sad.
Like I said, the skatepark serves as a microcosm of society and if you break it down to what goes on just between the participants of these different sports you'll see that it's a scary world that we live in. I still believe that the skatepark can and should be a utopian landscape and I'll never forfeit such an ideal. If we can't fight for what's right and make a difference in our own little worlds how can we ever hope to effect the rest of the world? We all need to look inside ourselves and make a change. For some of us this change starts where we ride. -Mike V

Creativity:
It begins on the first day of school, you show up exited, hoping school will live up to all the things your parents have told you about it. You walk in to the class room to see neatly arranged rows of desks, clocks and lockers (hooks if your in a small town like myself). You are shuffled in at 9:00 am, you eat at noon, everyday. School trains you to do things in a neatly organized fashion, a routine. This aids in teaching you conformity. Eventually, you only know how to think at certain times, and in certain ways. School mainly focusses on the left side of the brain. The logical / linear side. Never in school are you taught to "think outside of the box" so to speak. This caries over in to the "sport" we all know and love, bmx. Through our training at school, we are only open to one way of doing things, i.e. feeble in to your front foot, air the "proper" way etc. While this works for many people, the truth is, the truly successful (is that the term I'm looking for?) self satisfied riders have learned to think for themselves, and ride the way they see fit, to ride however, wherever, and when ever they feel like it. These are the innovators, one name clearly comes to mind. Ruben. Ruben is clearly one of the many riders pushing our sport (art form) due to his boundless creativity. Ruben sees things as they are, as manipulates them as to what he wants to do. This is what we all need to accomplish, So what's stopping us? How? How do we find the creativity that made Ruben a superstar? How do we open our winds to the endless possibilities on a bmx bicycle like Jim Cielincki? There is no clear cut answer. Different things work for different people, for some its music, others its friends, but its there in all of us. Go out, experiment, and you shall find the creativity that the social institutions have taught us to disregard and use that to your fullest potential. Unless of course you're happy doing the same tricks, at the same spots, at the same time everyday. -Jay Simon

My Effort:
I would just like to say. I do not feel that it has ever been my fault that this site has not been able to get its feet off the ground and stay off. Its a continuous motion of ups and downs. Reason? Well ya I am busy, allot of people out there say things like: "He doesn't go to school how could he not have time to build a web site."  Let me try to clarify for you guys one more time. I go to work for 9 o'clock everyday but Tuesday and Sunday, some nights I even work till 9 o'clock at night. I get home from work and all I want to do is eat and then ride my bike. I think it is extremely cool that some of the guys have taken it into their own hands to try and get the coverage that Ontario needs. But at the same time we could have all been together and tried to make one site work if everyone just talked it over and figured out the best way for it to go down. Im not trying to harsh anyone by saying this, im just speaking my mind. So here's my final thought. It's set up so that everyone can send me input for the site, if it doesn't get to me then the site won't get updated. We should have an interview up soon. So if ya wanna get this started lets get it started (again) and keep it up. Ill do the work if I get the stuff so lets go.-Ken Oliver