16
Anthony
Set It Off – P.O.D
C learly, Ashlynn and her friends had a good time, judging by the incoherent text I woke up to this morning. She’s probably feeling it this morning; most likely, she had a good amount to drink last night.
Everyone in the van has been quiet since we left Louisville early this morning for our 15-hour drive down to Austin. Feeling drowsy, I send a quick text to Ashlynn.
After being on the road for only an hour, I pass out, and once I finally wake up, we are at the Texas border. I am feeling a little better after getting some more sleep and downing unholy amounts of water. Everyone is starting to be a bit more lively after sleeping more. Clay and Grady keep saying they are going to get me back, not knowing it wasn’t just me who messed with them. I tell them they can try, but it won’t happen again. “You guys can help with Noah and Mateo’s initiation onto the team; we will do something once we get Austin.”
“Oh, Hell Yeah,” they both say at the same time.
Both Noah and Mateo look at each other, saying “AH FUCK,” at the same time.
After another 5-hour drive, we finally made it into Austin. Driving by both parks that we plan on hitting while we are here, they all look fun. I haven’t ridden in these parks. The dirt trails look good, though. Once at the hotel, Mateo pulls me aside and asks if I will help him with riding dirt; he wants to be able to do both park and dirt. “Hell yeah, man, I will help you with that. Have you ever ridden dirt at all?”
Mateo looks down, like he is nervous to tell me, “No, I am kind of intimidated to try it.”
“It is intimidating, but we will get you riding in no time and then, soon enough, you won’t even remember being intimidated by it.”
He nods his head, saying “Thanks Man! I get discouraged asking for help sometimes.”
Giving Mateo a bit of a confused look, I ask, “Why would you get discouraged asking for help? That’s what we are all here for.”
Mateo proceeds to give me a bit more personal information that sounds all too familiar. “My dad never wanted me to be a BMX rider. He is a doctor and thought that I needed to follow in his steps–always saying that my bike is never going to get me anywhere in life.”
“Well, Mateo, I will never discourage you from trying something you want! Hell, if you wanted to change and start skateboarding, I would respect that. However, you are a hell of a rider, so it would be a loss for the team!”
After getting everyone settled and having a talk with Mateo, we head over to the 9th Street Dirt Jumps. Clay, Grady, and I get out of the vans so fast, due to how excited we are to finally hit some dirt. Right off the bat, Grady heads to the jump and does a Superman Seatgrab. He’s a little wobbly on the landing, but the trick is still done flawlessly. Clay gets started next with a no footed can-can. I tell Mateo to go next and try a x-up since it is on the easier side of tricks for dirt jumps. He, of course, executes It with no trouble at all. I go for my first trick, throwing out a tuck no hander. Riding dirt has a different feel than street. Chase and the other camera guy are trying to catch all the tricks, along with Jax volunteering to film as well, since he is only a street rider. Mateo pedals back over to Clay and Grady, and I see one of them tell him to try another trick. He heads toward a jump and, once in the air, pulls off a table. Thinking to myself, this kid has nothing to be intimidated about. He is already looking like a natural at dirt. Harder tricks will all come in time. Flowing through the jumps, I come up and do a backflip, next set a truck driver, and last set a front flip. After a few more hours at the dirt trails, Mateo comes over and says he wants to try a tuck no hander.
Looking over at Clay and Grady, I see that they have a nervous look on their faces as Mateo gets ready to try a bit more of an intermediate trick. Looking at Mateo, I ask, “Are you sure you are ready to try this? I have no doubt you can do it; I just don’t want you to get hurt.”
Blowing out a breath, he says, “Yeah, I want to do it. I can do it.”
As I step away, the whole team comes up behind Mateo to cheer him on. Once he is in the air, the trick is smooth, like he has done this a thousand times. Landing and coming back over to the team, he has the biggest smile on his face. Giving him a high five, I say, “Looks like you’ll have to start riding dirt at contests now!”
“Yeah man, it’s an insane feeling doing that–different from street. It’s awesome.”
After the day at the dirt trail, I am exhausted. The team decides to head out for dinner, and I end up staying behind to relax. I’m still recovering from the hangover. Riding in the heat and sweating it out helped a little, but not all the way. I can’t help but think about what Mateo told me earlier about his dad. It hits close to home, due to the fact my own father works also in the medical field and said pretty much the same thing–BMX won’t take me anywhere and that there is no future in it. Since making it on the circuit, I have rarely talked to my father. Even though I am a top rider, win plenty of contests, and have my own company–that sells out most items when we have a tent at competitions along with a lot of online sales–it still was never good enough. So, it was easier to cut my ties and move on. So, I’m lying in bed now pissed off, knowing that Mateo went through the same shit I did.
Ashlynn always seems to reach out when I need it most. She was the one to believe in me, that I would make it in the BMX world. I just wished she was there with me when I was approached by the first few sponsors. How things could have been so different. I think this is the path though we were meant to be on, to make it back to one another. Now, I’m less pissed, by just seeing her name on the screen. I don’t text her back; I want to hear her voice.
After ringing for what seems like forever, Ashlynn finally answers the phone. “Hey! I miss you, just thought I would let you know that right away!”
I smile because that’s not the greeting I thought I would get, but I will take it. “Yeah, I miss you too. Seems like you had quite a good time at the bar?”
“Oh god, too much fun and too much to drink. Heath may or may not have had to carry me out! I will fill you in on that once you are out here. I’ll just say I ran into someone, and I finally told him off!”
“Well, that’s good, I guess. Though, I am supposed to be the only one to touch you!”
“Anthony, it was harmless. How is the tour going? You are in Austin now, right?”
“Yeah, Austin is hot. The dirt jumps we did today were awesome. Mateo even asked if I would help him learn dirt.”
“That’s great. How did he do? I wonder why he never tried it before.”
Before I can think better of it, I blurt it out. “His dad is a fucking asshole. That’s why!” Ashlynn is quiet and I am sure she doesn’t know what exactly to say to that blunt response.
“So, he has a dad like you–doesn’t support his BMX passion.” This girl is unbelievable and can read me like nothing else.
“That’s exactly it. Sounds familiar, huh? His dad is a doctor and wants him to follow in his footsteps. Mateo says he gets discouraged asking for help because of his dad.”
“That’s unfortunate that he feels like that, but it is your gain and his dad’s loss. I think that’s why you and he had a more instant bond. Like you both just knew, you went through the same thing without even knowing.”
That does make sense, I realize. Getting my train of thought and back on track, I ask, “So, will I be seeing you at Memorial Park?”
There’s silence again from Ashlynn. I am starting to think something is wrong, but don’t really want to ask. Finally, she starts to talk. “Well, I was planning on surprising you and coming down with Neha while she does her article on the team. So, YES! I will be seeing you there.”
“Good! I am ready to see you again, Ashlynn baby. I feel a month is too long, but we both knew it would be like this. Good news is, after the tour and if you are okay with it, I can stay with you for a few weeks before I have to get back to a few indoor contests.”
Sighing, but not dramatically, she says, “It has been long, but we got this. You can always stay at my house. I hate to do this, but I am so tired and need to go to sleep.”
“Yeah, I am tired from riding. I lo–have a good night and sleep well.”
All Ashlynn says is “AH” for a minute. “Have a good night, too! Talk to you soon.”
Once off the phone, I can’t believe I almost said, “I love you” to her. Not that I would be lying, but it’s a bit too soon. Even though my feelings never went away, and I do love that girl more than anything. Rolling over to plug my phone onto the charger and shutting off the light to sleep, I sigh out loud and say, “WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!”
It’s day two in Austin and we are at Heath Ailand and Morgan Moss Park. I have never been to this park, but decided to not ride and just film the guys instead. I still use my bike for some tricks, so I can get good angles while they execute their tricks. While taking a break from filming, I look around the park and I swear I see the same girl from FDR with the familiar face watching the team. I think to myself that it can’t be her. That’s a long way to drive to follow the tour and creepy as shit, if that truly is the case here.
After a few more hours at the park, the team starts lining up to finish with a train throughout. Once all done, we all go eat and figure out the plan for Colorado. Sitting in the restaurant, I ask what they would prefer to do. “So, do you all want to stay here for tonight, get up early to head up to Colorado, or would you be willing to leave tonight? Drive throughout the night and get into Colorado by the morning?”
Everyone is quiet while thinking about it, with Jax finally breaking the silence. “I’ll help drive if we do it through the night!” Everyone nods in agreement to leave tonight.
“We can hit the vert ramp early before the park gets overly crowded,” I tell the team. We get back to the hotel and pack up. Once everyone is in the vans, we head out.