R.I.P Dave Mirra

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Last night the BMX World lost the greatest to ever grace our sport. I have shared many great memories together with Dave on the Haro team during the late 90’s, a personal hero of mine, my thoughts go out to his family and friends.

Truly a heartbreaking day!

R.I.P Dave Mirra.

36 thoughts on “R.I.P Dave Mirra

  1. just saw the news on Tv , I’m close to tears hoping the news is wrong. R.I.P DAVE, my thoughts and prayers to his family and friends. BMX will never forget you or be the same

  2. A Fucking sickness, steal a great bmx star, father and a nice guy out of our middle.

    Thank You a lot, for showing much of guys included me the right way in BMX riding >>> Forward.

    My thoughts are with his Family.

    After a time of sadness we must Ride ON!

  3. The bmx community and the world lost a good one last night. Was so saddened to hear the news. Thoughts are with his wife, daughters, and friends.

    His spirit will hopefully live on through the thousands that he touched during his short 41 years.

  4. When I heard about this from a cousin’s text message, I was positive it was gonna be some kind of rallye car accident or something that took him. Knowing the actual cause, I can’t stop thinking that the guy we all admired for being able to do anything and make it look dialed as shit must’ve finally come across the one thing he felt he couldn’t do. Peace to all my fellow riders during this loss. If any of you ever feel down or depressed enough to have thoughts of taking yourself out, remember that the bmx community is here for you.

  5. this is the worst news today,can,t help think of his family or him actually .what a legacy and we,ve all grown with him since dorking 2.r i p mirra

  6. I look at things a little differently than most people. If you like what I say great, if you don’t that’s still great. I wonder if I’m the only person that has considered what a completely selfish thing it is that he has done on consideration that he has a family??? By doing this he has completely failed in his duties in being a responsible father and this is going to impact those little girls tremendously for many year to come. To me I look at this a being the ultimate douche move that anyone would do if they cared about their family and children. Look at the mess he’s left behind for his family to deal with.

    • I think that’s part of the sting for everyone really… general mix of anger at him for doing it, but sadness that it even got to the point where he felt his issues couldn’t be overcome by everyone and everything he had in his life.

    • “Look how selfish that guy is, to get cancer and pass away to avoid fulfilling his duties as a father and husband. Shame on him!”

      That’s basically what you’re saying. No one chooses to be depressed. His death might be described as “by suicide”, but that was only as a result of his illness.

    • CTE go educate yourself Fred.who the hell are you to judge someone with debilitating depression.On the surface it’s selfish but unless you’ve experienced it personally you have no right to judge anyone who is.

  7. I also feel the exact way Fred does. Selfish. Self centered. All about one person- himself. A wife. Two kids. Family. Friends. Did he not have a SINGLE person to reach out to? Did he try and no one heard him asking for help? I don’t do social media, but according to reports, his final facebook and other social media postings i saw sure had “help me” written in all capital letters.

    • Maybe folks tried? If a guy who is basically superhero status tells you he’s fine, how hard is anyone likely to doubt that? As far as being selfish goes, it could’ve easily been the opposite… maybe he was thinking about everyone else before himself and didn’t want to burden them with something terrible. It could’ve been anything, and we’ll likely never find out.

  8. I think it’s incredibly narrow-minded for people to be criticizing him or calling him selfish for this. You likely have NO idea what was going on in his head; perhaps you’ve never struggled with depression. We don’t know if this is a result of concussions and their effects on the brain, we don’t know if it was sudden moment of weakness that spiraled out of control, we don’t know much of anything.

    I can’t judge him based on how I think he should have felt. I don’t know how he felt. Neither do you. Be glad you don’t.

    R.I.P., Dave.

  9. The freestyle community moarns along side his family. Mental health issues are often disregarded or deemed a personal choice. Suicide is the austere manifestation of this intangible. Those who feel they see things differently and thereby deem it as a selfish act are, arguably statistically, the vast majority of people. Seeing it differently may be those who see it as resulting from a mental health disorder as Prasheel analogy illuminated.

    Judge not lest ye be judged. Peace riders.

  10. Let’s not forget about CTE. Concussions are a big part of extreme sports. Football players have committed suicide. Head trama can make people do irrational things.

  11. I’ve spent the last 24 hours on the phone with friends. We’re all feeling the loss but we are also letting each other know we care. That being said, I respect the hell out of you, E. You’ve given so much more than you’ve ever taken. You’ve made BMX a better place. Pop some wheelies for Dave.

  12. Such a shock to hear of his passing yesterday. only a week or so ago he thanked me for some old footage i posted of him on instagram. he even teased with pics of a new halfpipe. was he gonna make a comeback? i guess we’ll never know. one thing is for sure though no matter what people think of his exit in life you can’t take away what he crammed into it. a true icon and legend. and you can’t disagree with that.
    he never made that many uk comps but of those he did i was lucky enough to witness him ride. and with his untimely passing i had to show my thanks for the inspiration with a 5 minute video of footage i filmed in Effraim’s hometown of Southsea back in 1993.
    https://youtu.be/W2OqDxY_ir0 .
    you did it all dave and ruled at it all. ride in peace.

    • Good share with that footage! Always cool to see new stuff from his pre-Haro days. Was he riding a Big Daddy back then? Couldn’t tell on my phone… to this day, flip fakies pulled clean still impress the hell out of me. Backward landing from that height after the rotation always seemed like a mindf*cker… Lol

  13. Highly complex issue this one raises. Especially when it seems he had it all, and to then still end it after a a full 40+ years spent achieving those very goals. But again that’s not the point..
    ….and that’s mental health for you though. I hate to think that after all he’s expressed through the very pursuits we adored in him for, that at the end of the day, DM found it hard to basically express what ever darkness he had going on at this time outside his usual physical expression. Maybe that’s all he knew….? trapped verbally, with the pressure boiling over, that no one could see…
    …Was it due to our stiff upper lip culture… because if that were to be partly the reason, then makes this even more frustrating, when end of day communicating one’s feelings (esp: males) are trapped in this shitty culture that still pervades right through modern society could of somehow been easily prevented…

    On one hand I understands Fred’s perception of it, I feel hacked off for the situation now the daughters etc now find themselves in.
    However, they will be the ones to soul search the reasons for his decision to carry out this, and not our place to judge it and do so on their behalf!
    Mental illness is a such complete and utter bastard. I’m still baffled, but I understand the possible reasons at the same time.
    What to I know…I just hope that somehow this is making more awareness on an often misunderstood surrounding mental health.

  14. I am so saddened by this, and the thought of the suffering that proceeded it Dave’s decision. I lost my father and several uncles to depression and, while its manifestations aren’t physical in the same ways broken bones and banged up bodies are, it is no less debilitating and painful. And, in addition to all of the insightful posts about CTE, someone like Mirra or Winkleman has the added burden of dealing with the physical neurological change that a change in lifestyle can cause. One of the best methods of treating depression is enhanced levels of physical activity. Ridding, with the physical demands it involves and the interaction of dopamine and endorphins that it can induce, are great for mood alteration. Take the away, by injury or self imposed lifestyle change, and a otherwise depressed person is likely to have some really physical consequences to address. George Clooney, a pretty active athlete in his spare time, once wrote about hurting his back, having to quit playing basketball for a season and becoming severely depressed. Anyone whose quit ridding for a time, and speak to the physical change in us this can produce. And the pain that depression can produce, can be excrutiating, have no doubt. Believe you me, Mirra has slammed the ground from considerable heights, and shown himself a warrior on many occasions! This was no mere flesh wound he succumb to, this was debilitating, all encompassing anguish! We have too much previous experience of him confronting pain to go out and slay it!!!! RIP Dave, I hope that, at the very least, your suffering has ended, on many levels. Now I wish your family all of the best in the long road that is recovering from tragic loss. Sorry so long winded!

  15. My first public comments on Dave’s passing. I knew Dave for nearly 30 years and lived just down the road from the Greenville NC area. Having a horrible time processing all this. Knowing him, it just does not add up. I can’t help to feel the Greenville PD got this wrong and it was an accident that just looked like a suicide. Out of all the people I know, I would have never ever thought I would see this happen to him. Sure, we all have our struggles, but I know Dave absolutely enjoyed life, loved his family dearly and loved his friends dearly. The details of everything just seem so “off” to me. Regardless, Dave’s passing has hit me hard and those of us who knew him best it will be one of those un-fillable voids in our lives. He was so excited about coming back to ride BMX again. I had a nice long chat with him not that long ago about that. My heart goes out to his wife Lauren and his girls Madison, and Mackenzie! His brother Tim and his family, Dave’s parents, and all of those closest to him. What an incredible guy…I will miss him dearly!

  16. I forgot to mention in my post above…way back in the day during his earlier years, Dave was most definitely an amazing young flatland rider! The story goes it was someone on the Haro team saw Dave nail a clean double decade and that was what really caught their attention. He grew into the park / vert role in time and we all know that story well. Dave left a mark on the entire BMX community that will live on for many, many years to come..if not forever! We miss you greatly bro!

  17. Truly devastating news. I was lucky enough to have spent a lot of time on the road with Dave during the Sprocket Jockey tours. Some of the best times In my life. This guy is one of the GREATEST riders ever to do it.
    This is probably not the time to question the motivation for his choices, let’s just take some time to mourn a fallen comrade.
    Dave, Brother you will be missed.
    My thoughts and prayers go out to his friends and family.

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