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 Morgan Wade |
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|  Morgan Wade, flair at the 2007 Championships in Dallas. |
Texas's Own: Morgan Wade
By Brooke Geery
The BMX park competition was the tightest field at just about any action sports event this year, and the LG Action Sports World Championships were no exception. In Friday's qualifiers twenty riders vied for ten spots, and all of them had what it took to make it. Only one rider, though, calls Texas home, and perhaps it was the extra loud roar from the hometown crowd that fueled Morgan Wade to throw down a run good enough to qualify comfortably in third. While that might not sound like much to write home about, he did it with a run that included a bobble on a huge gap to rail transfer. Wade was one of the few riders who used the entire course in an original fashion, stringing together technical tricks on obstacles other riders didn't even consider using. But despite his explosive riding, Morgan is a sweet and polite Southern Boy, who is just out there having fun.
How old are you, where you from?
Morgan Wade: I'm 24 years old and I'm from Tyler, TX.
How long have you been riding BMX?
MW: About ten years.
What's it like to be able to compete in your home state?
MW: It's actually kind of nice because I don't have to fly anywhere. I just get in the car and drive up here. It's only an hour and a half away. It's good. You get a little louder cheer too. People always love it when there's a person from their home state.
Have you always lived here?
MW: I have always lived in Texas, although I travel so much just for bike riding stuff. I spent probably a good 3 months in California. I don't think it's considered living somewhere else, but I've definitely been other places a lot.
No desire to move anywhere else though?
MW: Not necessarily, it just depends. My wife Natalie is in college right now for physical therapy, it just depends where she goes to school. We're trying to find somewhere that's good for riding and good for school.
How did you manage to find a girl who's into BMX?
MW: Um, her brother rides BMX and she used to drive him to all the parks to ride, and finally she was like, I want to try that! We met at a contest in Vancouver.
How did you convince her to marry you?
MW: Uh, you know I just threw the ice at here and was like, look, it's me and she was like "Ok!"
When did you guys tie the knot?
MW: July 25th this year.
Ooh, newlyweds! Did you guys go on a honeymoon?
MW: X Games! The week after was X Games, so not yet. We're going to try and go somewhere in January.
What happened to your awesome mustache?
MW: Sometimes if you don't say the right thing you get slapped, and it got slapped off my face. No, seriously, I just got tired of it. I cut it off. It was sweet and grimy and gross, but I got tired of it. Now my lip gets cold.
What type of stuff do you ride the most?
MW: Normally I ride ramps, that's what I enjoy the most. And then street and dirt and vert occasionally.
Where do you usually ride?
MW: We have a skatepark in Tyler, but it is as the British say, rubbish, so I usually come up here to Dallas to the Allen Skatepark. It's amazing. I ride there when I am in town.
How much do you compete? Do you like competing?
MW: This year I had a contest almost every weekend, if not every weekend, from about June until right now. It's been a really packed year. This year is by far my busiest year. Depending on the contest, I enjoy it. Mostly I have a good time no matter what. Sometimes things get a little too serious and I don't really care for that, but I still manage to have a good time most of the time. Practice is fun. I enjoy riding with all the guys. Half the time we're just goofing off out there. That's the best part to me, my favorite part of contests, just getting to ride with everybody and hang out and stuff.
Have you been to many of the ASA events? What do you think of them? MW: I have not been to a whole lot. I did the whole series in '03 and '04, but this is my first year back. It's pretty fun, I like it.
What do you consider your greatest accomplishment so far?
MW: Oh man, if we're talking about contests, I won the Gravity Games and the Worlds over in Prague, which are two real big contests, and Metro Jam I won this year. That's a big deal, to me anyways. Riding wise, in '05 I filmed a video part for Ride BMX called "Drop the Hammer." Probably that video part is the biggest accomplishment. I did a lot of things that I didn't think I could do. It just kind of happened. Key things, I looped the full pipe at Mt. Baldy, which is kind of a big deal. Everyone had been talking about that for 20-plus years and no one had ever done it. Then there's a rail in Boulder, CO that is kind of the rail that haunts everyone. It turns 90 degrees to the left and 90 degrees to the right with about eight feet of flat in the middle of it. It's the equivalent of a 50-stair rail lengthwise and it's really slow. Somehow, miraculously, I balanced on the whole thing. That was kind of a big deal.
Do you have any other goals?
MW: I'd say my goal is just to do this as long as I can, until I can't do it anymore. It's a blast and I've got tons and tons of friends through BMX and I get to travel. It's awesome. My goal is to keep on keeping on. Maybe I'll be as old as Dennis McCoy still doing this.
Besides you of course, whom should we watch out for on the street course at this event?
MW: I don't know if Gary Young is going to make the finals, but I thought his run was amazing. He uses the entire course, just tricks and tricks and tricks. I really like how he rides. Maybe he'll squeak in there, I hope he does. Definitely Daniel Dhers. He's a really, really smooth rider who does really big tricks that are crazy. Josh Harrington I really enjoy watching him too. Mark Webb has a lot of potential, Scotty Cranmer; basically everybody out there. If it's a good day, everyone is the one to watch.
