I hate to dedicate a whole post to one picture, but Mike Aitken is one of my favorite riders and his story is so amazing and I'm so glad to see him there with his little boy. Admit it's cool to see Mikey on his twenty inch signature bike and little Owen on the sixteen inch version of it!



spotted on FITBIKECO

What a year dude...

Here's a local Utah news feature with Mike Aitken where he talks about his tremendous story throughout the last year of winning the local Dew Tour contest, to the injury, to the recovery, to winning the NORA CUP award for dirt, and being where he is now...

He is one of the most influential riders to me. Always putting riding with style and skill and control before doing whips and flips and sh!t...

Also you can laugh at the reporter sounding like an idiot. Can't the news channel hire someone who knows what they're talking about? ...

Well. Let's start off with Jamie Bestwick. As much as we all sort of KNOW he is going to win, everybody was riding really well this event. I do not know who Vince Byron is or where he is from... but he probably should have scored higher for what he was doing. What I love about vert riding is, due to its lack of documentation that street and park and dirt have, riders seem to pop up out of nowhere and they are good!

Jamie Bestwick really dominated this event like any other, however. His run was just continuous skill, wall after wall, no hesitation, way too high. If only the other riders could trick as many walls in a row as Jamie there would be a competition. I see the other riders do a lot of great tricks, but often they have one or two blank hits in between creating a less fluid, or less impressive, run. Either way, I think Vince did better than sixth. Also, Tim Wood almost over rotated a 900... 'nuff said.

Dirt. This is going to get a bit controversial. A bit rude. But it's clear as day and everybody was saying it, even myself. I don't know what this obsession with having Ryan Nyquist win is, but he did not deserve this one. BY FAR. I feel like I should pull a Kanye West at this moment... "Ryan, I am happy for you and I'm going to let you finish, but TJ Ellis had the best dirt run of ALL TIME!"

It's so crazy how triple whips are being thrown on the first set and sh!t. Diogo's first run looked a bit better than ninth. Dennis Enarson needs that shirt "please stop the tailwhips." Rob Darden needs a new shirt called stop the 720s... and 360s... Chris Gerber's off-axis backflips and double whip flip were nuts. Cam White is such a pure dirt rider. Brandon Dosch as well. So many different tricks.

TJ ELLIS. Back and front flip variations, 360 variations, opposite 3 variations, higher than anyone, smoother than anyone... a frontflip whip? And he got second to a guy who does 360s with barspins and one-handed x-ups all night. I won't go any further... just watch and see...




There we go Dhers... we were wondering where you were on the Dew Tour. Dave Mirra and Mark Webb definitely killed it, but took 6th and 5th respectively. It was cool, however, to see little Brett get third place. He's so young and he so kills it and he so deserved it. How do you have that much style at his age? So, Garrett Reynolds got second in this event. Again, I should mention that his riding is more suitable to street courses but he has changed it up a bit to adhere to park judges better. It's insane how talented this kid is. No brakes, no problem. Don't forget to check him out in Five Months to Freedom on MTV2, graduating high school...

Daniel Dhers went so insane with whips and flairs and those crazy 360 flips or whatever it is he does. Like inverted 720s. Only thing I would take from Daniel is that has uses about 4 ramps the entire run. Give him the win though he went ape-sh!t on that course. And don't forget that wicked inverted 720 tailwhip he did at the end... watch the video...




Check Mike Aitken and his abnormally cute son in the photo gallery... and here are some tour standings updates...

VERT
Jamie Bestwick with 300 points
Steven McCann with 246 points
Chad Kagy with 236 points
Simon Tabron with 214 points
it is just a battle for second here...

PARK
Garrett Reynolds with 280 points
Dave Mirra with 258 points
Daniel Dhers with 238 points
Mark Webb with 216 points
can Garrett hold on to this year's tour win???

DIRT
Ryan Nyquist with 282 points...
Brandon Dosch with 248 points
Dennis Enarson with 226 points
Josh Hult with 200 points
TJ Ellis with 187 points
I give Mike Aitken the win... by default... :D

Last time they did one of these I spent a fair amount of time dissing it and hating on every product shown. But this is the complete flipbook for 2010 with all the bikes and parts and...

Let's get down to it. Their complete line is insane. You know it is insane when a person who already has a really expensive custom built bicycle wants one. The Aitken and Cleveland pro bikes look dialed. And there is a really well-rounded line up this year for riders all sizes, all ages, all styles, etc.

They have introduced their cranks to their line up. They have their other parts as always, sprockets, seats, posts, pedals, forks, bars, etc. Some new Dehart grips are out that look quite nice. All these parts are nice but the emphasis is on those bicycles. Aitken's signature complete is basically his bike with lower quality frame fork bars cranks. I suppose that's all, almost exactly the same.

The black TRL3 is a great lower-priced option for trails riders. Van Homan's complete is dialed as always. I think the only signature with a gyro. The street completes, Delarosa and White, come with that caliper brake that you are going to yank off immediately. I would get Tom's 2-piece bar, murdered out bike before Edwin's dank purple 4-piece bar machine. And Eddie's signature bike is supposed to be the ultimate. Thing looks fresh out the box. Chase's looks... less good. And if you can't afford that check out the TECH2.5 and TECH1 in black. Both so fresh.

Little bikes for little people. Big bikes for big people. All the new frames and apparel all frehs as well. So good. Look through this.

http://www.fitbikeco.com/fit2010.html

This story is just too much for me. I'll try to let the videos do the talking. Mike Aitken is a professional BMX rider who took a really bad crash a few months ago. Apparently, he was riding some jumps without a helmet, doing the tricks he always does and the sets he always hits. But one thing went wrong, and he was in the hospital for many weeks. He was in a coma for a while, came out of it, got on rehab, and now (about 3.5 months after the crash) he has the ability to ride his bike again.

He suffered a laundry list of injuries from blurred vision to being paralyzed on his entire right side pretty much. Mikey fought hard and well, however, and is back on his feet, on his bike, with the help of his loving family, trusted sponsors, friends, and fans all over the world.

Plaese watch these videos of Mike Aitken from his website, sort of outlining the last few months he has gone through...