Yearly Archives: 2014

Terry Adams signs up with Tiger Balm!

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Ever had a bad back whilst riding, muscle ache, and used Tiger Balm to get the session done? Well Terry Adams has gone one further, read the official press release below! Congratulations on the hook up Terry!

Tiger Balm U.S. Signs Professional Flatland BMX Rider Terry Adams as Brand Ambassador Two-time NORA Cup winner to promote world-renowned pain reliever on social media and BMX Events!

Two-time NORA Cup winner to promote world-renowned pain reliever on social media and BMX Events

HAYWARD, Calif.–May XX, 2014–Tiger Balm U.S. (www.tigerbalm.com) has inked an endorsement deal with professional flatland BMX rider Terry Adams.

Mr. Adams has been competing professionally in flatland BMX rider contests since he was 16 years old, and has become one of the sport’s most recognizable names. He has won dozens of championships during his 15-year career, including a gold medal from the X Games, and is a two-time winner of the sport’s most prestigious honor — Ride BMX Magazine’s “Number One Rider” Award (NORA).
Trusted by millions around the globe for nearly 100 years, Tiger Balm is the go-to topical pain relief solution for professional and amateur athletes alike. The product’s brand image is bold and strong, making it an ideal fit for extreme sports athletes such as Mr. Adams who take their bodies to the limit with daring and bold high-impact stunts that can cause sore muscles, strains, and sprains.
“I’m excited about the partnership with Tiger Balm because it’s a product I use and believe in,” said Mr. Adams. “BMX riders train very hard and sometimes we forget to take care of our bodies. It’s awesome to represent a brand that focuses on relieving muscle soreness and other aches and pains so I can ride hard every day.”
In the U.S., Tiger Balm has been endorsed by professional Football and Tennis stars, and is pleased to add Mr. Adams to that select group. He will promote the brand on his social media channels, including Facebook (www.facebook.com/terryadamsflatland), Twitter (www.twitter.com/terryadamsbmx), and Instagram (www.instagram.com/terryadamsbmx).
“We were excited to learn that Terry Adams is a big Tiger Balm fan,” said Kenneth Yeung, Founder and President of Prince of Peace Enterprises, Inc., the sole licensed United States distributor for all Tiger Balm products. “The skills he has on a bike are amazing and he understands how to promote a product. We are confident that he will be a fabulous brand ambassador and enthusiast for Tiger Balm.”

Simon O’Brien in Tokyo by Jason Halayko

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Text/Photos: Jason Halayko

I first met Simon O’Brien back in 2012 at the Red Bull Circle of Balance. As one of the main photographers for the event I was asked to take portraits of all the riders, and I was able to use this time to get to know Simon. As we are both interested in Japan we hit it off right away and had a great time during the competition.

Fast forward to present day, and imaging my surprise (and excitement) when Simon e-mails me and lets me know he is in Tokyo for a bit and looking to get some shots in. Great! Having just quit my day job to be a pro-photog I jumped at the chance to shoot with Simon in Tokyo, and headed up from my home in Kyoto as soon as our schedules matched up. As it turned out we would only have 2 days to meet up and shoot, but this was enough to get some cool shots in the can that we were both happy with.

The first day had us meeting in Tokyo’s Asakusa, an older area of Tokyo that still has the old school flavour from decades ago. With zero spots in mind and no real plan at all we started to wander, but it didn’t really take too long to come across some cool streets with that old school flavour. I was even able to get the new Tokyo Skytree in the background of a shot! After a couple spots and hours of shooting, some foul weather started rolling in, and it started to thunder and rain. Perfect time for lunch!

Finding a local udon shop we sat and chatted while waiting out the rain. Of course actually shooting photos is the best part of these rider sessions, but sitting and enjoying some hot udon with an X-Games gold medalist is a nice was to spend a day too. Simon is really interested in learning more Japanese, and since I have lived here for over 10 years and am pretty fluent, it was fun giving him pointers and teaching a little of what I know.

Once we were done the streets had dried so we were out shooting again. Things pretty much went like this for the rest of the day, ducking the rain, finding random spots, having a quick beer, chatting with locals (who were really enthusiastic with Simon’s riding) and generally having a great time. We even got some great weather in the end to finish off an amazing day.

A couple days later we were able to meet up again and headed into Shibuya, Tokyo’s shopping district for young people, to see what we could find. After getting kicked out of our first spot we decided to head over to Yoyogi Park, and were lucky enough to find some pretty sweet spots there. Although Simon may not have been riding full time this last year as he was in the Navy, he is super professional and was always willing to try for “one more shot.” And even if we had to wait for people to walk by and that it was never a problem.

After shooting a few spots in Yoyogi Park we wandered through Harajuku (TOO MANY POEPLE TO SHOOT!) and ended up at the famous BMX shop Decade Tokyo. This is a mecca for flat land BMX in Japan so it was great to visit and meet the owner. If you ever visit Tokyo you must visit this place and say hi! I know I will be stopping by the next time I’m in the city.

After getting a late lunch with the owner of Decade we decided to change areas and headed over to Kita Senju where Simon was going to be staying with some local BMX riders. After chatting with the riders it sounded like there were a couple local spots where we could get the lit-up Skytree in the background, so we headed out into the night, this time on bikes! My legs were happy we were not walking, that’s for sure.

Our first spot had us shooting on this really wide pedestrian bridge just up river from the Skytree. This was a great spot as the bridge was crazy wide, and pedestrians rather few. Using a slow shutter with my speed lights we were able to capture some really cool shots that I have never really taken before, but as the clouds were coming in and we wanted to try one more location that night we decided to ride on. Through Simon’s friend’s suggestion we actually ended up riding back all the way to Asakusa to try and hit up the temple at night. There are several areas of the temple that would have been great to shoot, but we could only get two spots due to the rain, and the local police finally kicking us out, just after I got my favourite shot from the two days of shooting too!

With the shoot done we decided to try our luck with getting our bikes on the train home (as it was raining pretty good by then), but let me tell you, garbage bags are NOT a replacement for proper BMX bike bags, and there is no way you can get a regular bike on the train. Trust me, we tried, and failed, hahaha.

In the end I am super happy with the two days of shooting, and glad that I was able to get to know Simon even better than when we first met at the Red Bull Circle of Balance. He is a super nice guy and I really hope we can shoot again while he is still in Japan.

Check out more of Jason’s work:

http://www.jason-halayko.com

Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/tensairiotphoto

Parisiana Jam – 25th May

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Vignolles Renaud hit us up with details of an up and coming jam in Paris, France right before the Fise contest in Montpelier…

“Before heading to the Fise, Gonzalo Bellanti from Argentina and two friends of him will be in Paris few days. That’s a good occasion to gather people, so there will be the PARISIANA JAM at Opéra spot the 25th of may. Mini Best Trick contest scheduled, sponsored by Brakeless, Heresy, Eighties Bike Co, Enlighted Clothing and Every One! So bring your bike and good vibes, and let’s have fun together!”

Simon O’Brien’s 2nd Solo DVD ”Deja Vu” Part 1

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Simon O’Brien’s 2nd solo DVD ”Deja Vu” Part 1 from Stewart Munro on Vimeo.

How many riders could deliver two amazing solo DVDs? Stewart Munro kindly sent in Part 1 of Simon’s second solo DVD “Deju Vu”, the fire hydrant full body varial to backwards half packer at 1:49 still has been hitting the rewind, and the 360 kickflip backwards half packer still has me wondering, did he pull it? Whatever the case it is definitely worth watching this amazing video once again!