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i recently was looking at the NBL Bicycles Today newspaper from the late 80's and saw they had a Freestyle Series..showed all the standings and riders ,i think it was 88 or 89..i got out of racing in 86,,,seeing this was cool,i guess it didn;t really catch on though..

Yes i competed in 88. Ranked 2nd.

I'm glad to hear that there is some interest. My first clip of Rob was actually 16-17 expert, not 18... You would think I would have remembered how old I was in 1990... As Rob was in my class.

The video I am rendering now is Mike Sarris, aka "Mr. Balance". He did entire runs consisting of balance tricks, many of which he invented. Including his most famous trick the Miami Stopper. (think of a miami hopper and then standing up on the back pegs!!! Yeah, it was crazy!) In this contest, the 18 and over novice class only had two riders, Keith King and Mike Sarris. Mike edged out Keith in the scoring, but those two were always going back and forth in contests, it was a good time! A few months after this contest, I ended up moving to Myrtle Beach for the summer and riding with these guys everyday. Those were the days!

Great vid'!

I have footage from the 88 or 89 Raleigh contest too... I need to dig that out of the trunk, I saw it a year ago, but haven't come across it yet...


Mike Sarris!

Brett, I have a little ramp stuff, but I don't remember seeing you in it, so you probably did a contest I wasn't at...

Rendering Keith King now, he even busted out a balance trick! Since he was up against Mike. What is cool was how close many of the riders were. The guys cheering on the others were often the same guys in their class, cheering on their friends to do the best they could in the contest, even though they were competing in the same class. Very cool.

What about Dothan Masters or the year end finals in Dothan? Biloxi, Rome Ga, or The Six Flags contest?

My contest was at Woodward.  Got second behind Saber Schnitzer.  He and I were the only ones who rode the Vert half of the ramp.  He was a vert rider.  I started on Vert and then transfered to the mini where everyone else rode.

Harodave4130 wrote:

forty_three wrote:

Awesome video, marking for when the rest come. That guy is crazy smooth.

I only ever went to one NBL Contest, got into a bit of a scuffle with a "pro" with more attitude than ability and spent all my energy on throwing down on him in the circle. Totally blew my run because I was so mad and never went to another. It was 88, I think.

Please elaborate on this story more. I want the pros name, contest and exact verbal exchanges please.
I'm gonna throw out some names and you tell me if I'm close..Park Carter, Gary Pollock, Pete Brandt, Eddie Fiola?
This gives me a great idea for a new thread.

Sorry, but nope. Out of "respect" (a word he has since learned, I hope) to him who I have seen post here, I will not elaborate. All I will say is he was obligated to be there by a sponsor, and didn't think much of us locals. Not an east coast guy.

And none of the names were right. Actually, I liked Pinky. He was a pretty funny guy when he got started. Only met him a few times, though.

Harodave4130 wrote:

What about Dothan Masters or the year end finals in Dothan? Biloxi, Rome Ga, or The Six Flags contest?

I didn't have a video camera at any of those, (didn't go to six flags...)  Rome GA was a great venue, and fun town. All the GA guys were a ton of fun, and the jam circles were better than the contest!

Anyone know the whereabouts of Mike Yeager? His dad filmed EVERYTHING over the years... I know he has footage from just about every contest he attended. If he still has it...



Here is Bobby Harwell, in the 16 & 17 Novice class, the skill level of all the riders in this series was very impressive!

East Coast baby!



Rendering Gregg Overstreet from Virginia Beach, great guy, and he made his own Zine back then which was really cool!

Hmm. That sounds familiar... Maybe I did go to that one? I remember the Rome GA contest ended with a major slam on the flimsy quarter, that ended the contest, as the kid missed the ramp and came down on the flat, and was out cold... Scary. Broke his full face helmet, if I remember right.

Course, that happened in Myrtle Beach too... Actually that happened a LOT back then, as the ramps were really tiny and sketchy. And guys would crank at them going all out.


Here is Gregg Overstreet's run, I just looked him up on facebook, and he has moved north like I did, and lives in PA now.  He placed first for this run!

Here is the first place run from Ohio native Danny Sirkin, for the Expert flatland class. Incredible run, check it out!