I was fortunate enough to head over to the Levi's/Tilly's Demo at the Etnies Skatepark in Lake Forest on Sunday.

The Levi's team riders were being great sports, coming out in the Southern California heat to ride and mingle with kids after spending a week in the same heat an hour north at the X Games. The riders came out doing their thing, even though several of them were down from the X Games. Dakota throwing street 540s, Nathan and Corey Luc-E grinding the whole ledge on the long pyramid, and Morgan Wade and Zack Warden fooled around on some quarters. X Games 15 vert winner Jamie Bestwick came and had a laugh and put some money in kid's pockets for doing tricks and things with famous BMX MC, Catfish.

In-N-Out came and catered the event and the line was long enough to need one of those disneyland setups with the back and forth railing, you know?

The Etnies skatepark is SUPER fun and I might even go back to ride it since I couldn't really ride Sunday (broke my cranks). It was a great time meeting the team, the kids that went, and some other BMX heads that showed up. Also, look out for young and upcoming rider DEVON SMILLIE. Apparently, he is from Atlanta, Georgia and ended up in town due to some more unfortunate circumstances. Regardless, he came to the event and put everything down. Catfish was losing his mind all day telling SOMEBODY to sponsor that kid.

It was a fun day. Wish I could have had my bike for the event. It's all good. I only got a few photos so look at those but WAIT for the video I got with some clips of the pros. Coming soon...

BMX Vert. Jamie Bestwick. I think you got the idea. A 98. I think you got the idea. Simon Tabron said they "were all competing for second place." Funny because it was a) true and b) he got second. Chad Kagy took the bronze in vert and honorable mention is BMX legend Dennis McCoy taking fifth.

Scotty Cranmer takes this year's (super) park event. The return of Cranmer. We saw it coming in the Nike event, which was Scotty's first major competition back where he was whippin' and flippin' everything. Regardless, he takes first with a variety of tricks that made my head spin, confusing me, makes me tired.

Diogo Canina takes silver and Gary Young takes bronze. Ryan Guettler takes fourth. And Corey Bohan takes fifth. Lots of amazing riding from amazing riders. Nothing short of what you expect at these X Games. Daniel Dhers lands in a rather disappointing sixth place. It seems he wasn't feeling the course. It was a unique set-up but nobody expected Daniel to let go of a podium spot because of it.

X Games 15 is in the books. I am sure the riders are partying and celebrating the festivities or, as I would suggest, sitting in a jacuzzi resting their bones. Once more, Jamie Bestwick does his thing again to win vert. Scotty Cranmer comes back on the contest scene and takes (super) park. The street discipline goes to Garrett Reynolds again after an all around stunning performance. And Kevin Robinson takes the big air event even with guys like Anthony Napolitan doing double frontflips (never done before) and a host of other impossibly difficult tricks.

Check the BMX page for videos, photos, and any more updates from X Games 15...

BMX Street is shaping up to be a lot more than expected. Some sort of just gave Garrett the gold already as far as predictions, but remember the last course is a big stairset with a rail. Van Homan is ONE POINT behind Garrett Reynolds with one session left to go. This last session may favor Van with the big rail and we could see quite an upset. But admittedly, who would be upset with Van in first place?

Ty Morrow and Nathan Williams are following closely behind and I wouldn't forget about them. Ty Morrow goes big big HUGE. And Nathan is strictly tech with smooth, smooth butter style. These guys seem to be owning the street comp collectively.

Big air happens later this evening (it's 4:30 now). So I'll hit you up then but let me go against my own rules and give you a 1-2-3 prediction, for sh!ts and giggles, eh?

1 | Chad Kagy
2 | Dave Mirra
3 | Kevin Robinson
(*keep in mind K-Rob was going for quantity over quality last year. If he sticks the double flair thing he couldn't stick last year, he's taking first, not third.)

Are you sh!tting me? Anthony Napolitan lands the double frontflip on the mega ramp and her gets... fifth? Kevin Robinson takes mega ramp gold this year Chad Kagy takes second and Dave Mirra takes third. So flip my predictions inside and out and you get what really happened. Allan Cooke took fourth to beat Napolitan as well. What were these guys doing!?

Garrett Reynolds takes the Street discipline with TY MORROW, who I have only recently heard of, taking second to beat out street legend Van Homan. The rest of the dudes go like Williams, Kachisnky, and Martinez. So stoked on these results. Garrett earning ANOTHER gold medal to place on top of many and Van doing the same with a bronze while Ty I believe takes a silver medal in the first major competition he has ever done. This is crazy...

As press conferences go, the promotional Q & A session with the world's top action sports athletes for the ESPN X-Games was pretty standard. All the typical media outlets asked their typical questions about risks, reward, and why these crazy guys do what they do. To their credit, the athletes were all very polite in their responses, and surprisingly well spoken. But here at GrindTV, we're huge fans of the really tough questions that reveal who these athletes really are at their core, so we lightened the mood at this PR event bit by asking them a really tough question...


By the way, if you have a good "would you rather" question you'd like us to ask your favorite athlete, just send it to us and we'll get them to respond if we like it.

Mutiny Bikes is working on their latest team video, LET'S GET MYSTICAL. I love their company image and they like to do things differently, change it up, rock the boat, instead of doing the same damn thing like (insert company name and get me in trouble here).

this video is no exception. Joe Simon is sort of directing the whole thing, if BMX movies call that direction. Basically he's putting it all together with his ideas, which is amazing. Every shot feels like there was over a minute planned into it. This isn't a 'you stand here, im gonna ride this, press the red button twice, and were done' type of film. I warn you folks... you might thoroughly ENJOY watching this. Like movie status. Like when it's done you'll have to get up and stretch and reflect for a minute.

Please pay attention...

Watch the trailer... http://mutinybikes.com/web-lgm-trailer1-2009.html

Read the interview (defgrip)... http://blog.defgrip.net/2009/07/mutiny-bikes-lets-get-mystical/

ESPN

STREET:
Garrett Reynolds took street prelims. Pretty much no surprise... however, Nathan Williams took second (I am stoked), Van Homan follows up, and the rest of the finals qualifiers are Ty Morrow (holy ***** watch this dude), Corey Martinez, and Brian Kachisnky.

I didn't hear of Ty's entry this year but now that he is in he is a huge factor in the street comp. He does things nobody else does and impresses the hell out of people (meaning the judges). This is a hot list of finalists and should make for a wild competition with some bangers being thrown... no doubt. Stay tuned.

PARK:
Bummed the prelims took so long. I hope the judges and riders aren't worn out on the X Games already. Regardless, the park results finally came in. Here's the scoop...

Gary Young took first in the prelims, which blindsided me. We all know Gary is good, has amazing style, and can take a fall, but let's look at the guys following Gary (Rob Darden, Scotty Cranmer, Jerry Smith, Chase Hawk, and Ryan Guettler). My lord do I have things to say...

First off, WHO is JERRY SMITH? Jeremiah? That would make sense. Who calls him Jerry? Also, Chase hawk?! FINALLY! I was just talking about him yesterday, saying how bummed his riding isn't recognized in competition because of his lack of tailwhips and barspins. Good. Cranmer is back on it too. This could be bad for people enjoying the contest life while he was out with an injury.

Daniel Dhers is said to have taken some hits in practice, breaking a frame in the process. But he's back and qualified for the finals. Wouldn't be a contest without him. other close qualifiers are Diogo Canina, Dennis Enarson, and Corey Bohan.

ESPN

Nike 6.0 HB BMX Pro (WRAP-UP)

Ryan Guettler won the HB BMX Pro with really solid runs and a wild double backflip that no one saw coming. This is a win definitely earned for Ryan.


photo: Pete Demos

Daniel Dhers, pretty much favored to win the event, came in second but that doesn't say anything about his riding. He was doing things never seen before out there.


photo: Pete Demos

Andy Buckworth killed it all week with crazy decade variations and a huge, smooth style that judges fell in love with.


photo: Pete Demos

Wow. I initially thought this was to be a big event with the guest list exploding with top names, from Guettler to Dhers to Cranmer to newcomer Andy Buckworth. I didn't think it would go as far as it did, however.

I'm not going to beat around the bush... Ryan Guettler won the damn thing. I'm being so forward because I feel a Guettler comeback was sort of in the makings and it has all been leading up to this day. It was easy to see him progressing more and more and with a double backflip and a huge bag of bangers for this event, he was hands down FOR THE WIN.

Daniel Dhers no doubt took second place. He deserves as much credit as possible for also unveiling new tricks (the CASH ROLL) in the midst of an already insane bag of bangers in this event. Following him closely behind is young gun Andy Buckworth. Andy has apparently been spending too much time with fellow rider Harry Main because he is KILLING IT and pretty much sitting where everybody expected Main to be before he broke his leg.

And behind the above mentioned dudes are riders such as Mike Spinner with his 1080s and too many whips, Scotty Cranmer on his comeback path of whips and flips, Garrett Reynolds holding it down for the more street-oriented riders with barspins and unique lines, and Allan Cooke, Craig Mast, Marcus Tooker, and Diogo Canina.

Props to Nike for putting on a very memorable event and all the riders for making it so...

We have videos on the site so check them out for highlights and of course the brand new, Daniel Dhers' trick, CASH ROLL...