Bob Haro in Albany, NY

A guy who owns a bike shop in my neighborhood is up against some tough odds these days. With Wal-mart selling tricked out Mongooses for 100 bucks, it's hard to imagine the average family shelling out twice as much for a BMX at an independent bike shop. I wish him the best of luck. It's nice to have a real bike shop in the neighborhood and I like being able to ask questions and talk to an expert. I bought a set of tires and grips so I'm doing my part for local business. Anyway, he had some pics there of his parents' bike shop in Albany circa 1985. They had a freestyle demo there with none other than Bob Haro. Here are some pics from that day (poorly scanned into my phone using the camera).

These images remind me of my first long ride with a group of friends. We all took our bikes from my neighborhood on top of the hill to a bike shop about 5 miles away to see Team Mongoose do a demo in a parking lot. This was in the late 80's before x-games, before the internet. An event like this was spread word of mouth from a kid who happened to be at a shop at the right time to see the flyer. It was a privilege to even know of its happening.

There were about 10 of us riding together. I was the youngest at about 12. The oldest was 14 or 15. We made a stop at McDonald's for a shake. I remember enjoying the curious looks on customers' faces when we rolled in 10 deep. The demo was cool, but the ride was what I remember most. We felt like the coolest people in the world. And as far as we were concerned, we were.