Old School Sundays with Chris Day

It feels like a while since I have done a Old School Sundays. Just a couple of days ago, Martti Kuoppa posted a rad clip from 101 Trix Part 2 on the MOC instagram page. Check out Chris Day’s run from the AFA Master Round 5 1987 at the William Patterson College in Wayne, NJ. Chris’ riding was inspirational during the late 80’s, respect!

8 thoughts on “Old School Sundays with Chris Day

  1. While I feel like it’s entering “beating a dead horse” territory, I can’t overstate how much of an impression Chris Day’s riding had on many of us in the vicinity. I don’t think any of the contest footage I’ve seen offers the best representation but it does allow you to see how different his riding was from the pack. If you were lucky enough to see him ride at the spot in redondo, it was other worldly, in my humble and biased opinion. I had just moved to Los Angeles from New Orleans, and had never seen any live riding besides me and some Louisiana locals. As soon as I got my bike together, I rode down to the Santa Monica Peer and followed the bike path to redondo. Chirs and Ryuji were the first two people I saw ride and, to call it indelible would be putting it mildly. I thought I was hooked before that, but seeing that just made it impossible for me to stop. Been riding on and off ever since.

      • And, what was most impressive, was they were two sincerely nice people. I was a pretty introverted and certainly far from hip kid, at the time, and they could have easily dismissed me as a yokel. That said, they were beyond accommodating, quick to help out with parts and rides and never anything but encouraging even though I was clearly leagues below them as a rider. I wound up going to some super memorable hardcore/metal shows with them and riding countless hours. I count myself very lucky to have developed some of my passions in the presence of good people. BMX has the capacity to be great in that way!

      • It’s a shame that there is so little video footage of those guys. Ryuji brought the house down at the 88 masters in Wayne, NJ.

  2. Chris Day owned the jam-circles…that’s where he did his best work, in my opinion. Total badass…
    As for Ryuji, I agree…what he did in Jersey 1988 was out of hand. One of the greatest contest runs of that era, for sure.

    • Ryuji stayed with me in Somerville New Jersey, for this contest, along with Nathan Shamizu (sure I’m spelling that wrong, but another great dude and rider) and it was a blast! I had just moved from West LA to New Jersey and, after the event, my cousin and I were walking the trophy out while Ryuji carried his bike and gear, and kids were stopping my cousin, given he had this huge as trophy in his hand, so he finally started signing autographs. Some poor kid has a Ryan Surdi autograph and was probably still trying to figure out who the hell that is! I had a hand full of stitches from a work accident, so the bandaged hand prevented me from perpetrating like a star, but I wouldn’t have been above it if someone asked!

Leave a Reply to Todd Carter Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*