Kevin Peraza and Ryan Williams, BMX Athletes and Multiple X Games Gold Winners – UNLEASHED Podcast E408

Get behind the scenes at X Games Ventura 2024 with certified BMX legends! Listen closely as Kevin Peraza from Tucson, Arizona, and Ryan Williams from Sunshine Coast, Australia, join a special live episode of UNLEASHED with The Dingo, Danny, and Brittney.

The podcast sends it live from X Games Ventura 2024 with two bona fide BMX legends: On the first day of competitions, Kevin Peraza and Ryan Williams share their personal X Games moments and analyze the weekend’s competitions. Peraza has won every major BMX contest at least once and ranks as the only BMX athlete with X Games golds in BMX Park, Dirt, and Street. Williams won the Monster Energy BMX Triple Challenge series title in 2023 and owns eight gold medals from X Games. Get the inside scoop on how these riders get into X Games Mode and Unleash the Beast – only on UNLEASHED!

Press the play button (and hit Like) on the new episode of UNLEASHED with The Dingo, Danny, and Brittney.

Make sure to subscribe and stay tuned for more UNLEASHED episodes. Regular editions of the show are recorded live inside Studio M at Monster Energy headquarters in Corona, California, and published bi-weekly. Also, follow @monsterenergy for updates.

Transcript

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I love to talk, and I love to fill up of everyone's energy. Like, I can't even wear a mouthguard because I've been taking it out the whole time. But you are talking to people out there? yeah, all the time. I love I'm like in the air, like, yo, what's good? Like. But, yeah, I mean, I guess, I guess it depends like the mood, like, if there's music in the background, that's completely cool with us. Like the earbuds, it's more of like a zoning out and kind of like, I have never like to zone out my friends in the session. so we'll usually just bring a speaker and just dive off of whatever we're feeling. And I think Ryan could probably say the similar things for sure, I was the kind of kid that would just ride anything at the skate park. I actually started because all I had in my garage was rollerblades. And I watch ultimate X and I watch the X games. Maybe the ultimate X, And then I was like, okay, extreme sports, like, what do I have, in my garage that I can take to the skatepark right now. And it just so happened to me, the rollerblades I was doing that at the skate park for like four years. But I was the only person like that. I really saw rollerblading. I find myself at the skate park kind of just like riding with the scooter riders or riding with the BMX riders, and then I'd borrow their shoes because I wouldn't bring shoes. The park home from rollerblade. So I'd have to borrow their shoes to ride their scooter all. And eventually I got my own scooter and my own shoes, started riding scooters and then kind of rode BMX maybe within a year or two after that, because I just, I used to race BMX a little bit because my mom was really good at race, but I don't Now. we all love. From the rooftop of the monster trailer. adventure. it's X Games day one, and it's, It's going to be three days of madness. We're back to the beach. Danny, you look very beach today. What are you with? What? What what are you wearing there? You've got this. Every fish under the sea. Every fish under the sea. I mean, we're here next to the ocean. Ventura. We are next to the ocean in full beach mode today. You know, you did go full beach here. Brittney Palmer, how are you doing? I'm good. Dingo, how are you doing? Looking beautiful, as always. You, I'm lacking a little bit of sleep, but, I'm here. I'm physically here. I'm sitting right here right now. We think so. And we have two of the biggest names in BMX to kick off the week. Kevin, you've been on the show before, so I'm not going to start with you. Willy, it's it's it's your official coming out monster energy guy. I think we officially signed you in December. Yep. He is probably one of the gnarliest BMX is to hit the whatever it is. I would say action sport athletes of all time. Okay, there we go. We live in heaven. Give me soccer on now. I'm. I'm stoked to be a part of the family, too. Last year I was in the motel six for half the this X-Games. And now I'm in the crown over there with running. I'm loving it. Welcome to the. Welcome to the good life, baby. Yeah, I'm loving it. It's so good to be a part of the family. And, Yeah, everyone's been very welcoming. I've been loving it. How's, how's your prep for, for X games been this year? Yeah, it's been good. I mean, I'm, I feel like I'm always just having fun. We never. We don't really train, but I kind of forced myself to ride a little bit more than usual and just do the tricks. When I'm scared to do a trick, I'm like, no, you don't have time to be scared the next games. You just gonna have to do it. So I was kind of pushing myself to do those tricks more often. And, yeah, I'm excited. The jumps are huge, so the jumps. Yeah. Yeah. Like probably like, I don't know, 3 or 4ft bigger than the last year, which is nice. I like it. The bigger the better. Let me do my homework a little bit. you got two golds last year. Yes. Correct. Yeah. What about you? Yeah, I got two. God, that's two right. Two golds and one silver. Let me do my. You you did too. We did the same thing. But let me do my math on that. What was what. So you a and so I did, first street gold medal. That's right. Street. Yeah. Then I got a park silver on Saturday and then I did the park. Best trash trick. And then you were on the jumps. Yeah, I did the mega ramp. got Golden Mega and then silver and, and then gold. And best trick that. Yeah. Kevin, it's an Olympic year for you. You just. You're representing Mexico, I believe. Yeah. So I'm representing Mexico. I didn't make it into the qualifiers this year, but the motivation is still high. We're still going aiming towards LA is the next goal right okay. So now you're setting up to go to the next Olympics. Yes. Yes. Correct. You you don't compete in the Na. So it's like it's it's just a park event currently in the Olympics. I hope they put more in because it'd be cool to have a more diverse field of BMX. I feel like like they only use one portion they can have straight. They could have dirt if be sweet to have that in. But I'm just commentating, which is even just as exciting. The Olympics, yeah for sure. Yeah that's awesome. I like that even more in your opinion, which would be the next one. Would it be like dirt would be kind of more the natural progression to go in? I don't know. I think it's more, kind of got more events to go off, but I feel like maybe a best track contest would be really easy for them to do because, like, you could almost have a best track contest on the track. It's easy to judge with what I'm saying, and you could just have it on the event, like the park course. Just have a best trick contests. Easy, easy add. Just add a make another medal, man. Yeah, well for you with some of those big best tricks. Hell yeah. Yeah. One and done. I just noticed we have a bang pan on site. anybody that doesn't know we own bang energy, so, that's that's not that's not where pot is. That's not a conflicting. Oh, yeah. Okay. That's how that's ours. It's mine. that's 20 push ups that night. Yeah. You got it. I just had the mi. Any word? Yeah. But anyway, you know, you haven't heard of that. If you say mini nitro. Second, you have to do 20 push ups. Some people do. I did not go. I remember this because it was like I think I was doing 22. Right. If you ask, who's that? You say like you got to drink the whole thing, like who's this? That? And you go, oh man. They were paying attention to say that I own it. He's doing it. Let's go. Oh, well, I can't look, but his knees on the ground always. Oh, on over there. He said he had barely any sleep, but I feel like that's normal. Isn't that like normal? He runs off of no means. He's fully rested. A little cardio to start the podcast. Oh, I like a real cool. Once he goes down, he stays down a while. That's true. Some breath work. You good? You were asking something that I don't know. I can't remember what you last. You got me. Let's go back to the start. What? You were born in the goal. You're born. Oh, yeah, I did, I, I came out and then I was here, but isn't, I actually lived in, in Victoria. I was born in Victoria and Wodonga Hospital, and then I moved to. Oh, yeah. Yeah, but then I moved when I'm pretty young, so it makes a lot of sense. What's going on in number? Don't go to hospital. Yeah, right. I don't know, I don't know, I wasn't that long, but then I moved to the Sunshine Coast where I currently live, in Brisbane. So yeah, I've been there for my whole life and I honestly couldn't live many other places. Maybe if I've moved to America, I probably live in Vegas, San Diego, probably San Diego. That's because you're so tied to, Nitro Circus and Dana and UFC, like, you have a whole crew. And now Nitro Circus. You guys have a facility out there? Yeah, exactly. That's where we're in the UFC office now. Like the Nitro seconds off in the UFC. Sorry, I don't know if, like, if I can convince them to make my own indoor compound that has my jump in it, then. Yeah, maybe I'll, move over. Well, you know, you got to talk to you for that. I know, yeah, I know you got to go up a little higher. I'll say I'll see what I can do to get to Frank. so it's it's no secret, but you came on the scene as a scooter rider. Yep. And you became, I think, the most world's. Were you a world champion or were you just. It was. There wasn't really a circuit. You were just the most well known. I'm competing with Oliver Tree for the most famous spot. probably just that. But that's a joke. But, I just I just got that joke. Yeah, but that's fine. Hey, that's not much of a shadow of a tree, though. but. Yeah, yeah, it's the biggest scooter. Honestly, I, I rode ride everything. I was the kind of kid that would just ride anything at the skate park. I actually started because all I had in my garage was rollerblades. And I watch ultimate X and I watch the X games. Maybe the ultimate X, and I can remember, like, every song off a heart and it just it's ingrained in my mind. And then I was like, okay, extreme sports, like, what do I have, in my garage that I can take to the skatepark right now. And it just so happened to me, the rollerblades that I used to rollerblade around on at the roller gym, you know, where you just go in circles? Yeah, that's a lot. When he was huge in Australia. Yeah. Roller blades. I mean, it used to be in the X-Games. I think when I started it was in the X-Games. These guys are doing crazy tricks. And then I just, I was doing that at the skate park for like four years. But I was the only person like that. I really saw rollerblading. Like maybe I'd see one person every six months at the skate park and I'm like, oh, well, he was big in Melbourne, though. There were a lot of rollerblades in Melbourne City, I mean big. What do you mean by big? Like that was three, I think six and 6 or 7. So I mean, I find myself at the skate park kind of just like riding with the scooter riders or riding with the BMX riders, and then I'd borrow their shoes because I wouldn't bring shoes. The park home from rollerblade. So I'd have to borrow their shoes to ride their scooter all. And eventually I got my own scooter and my own shoes, started riding scooters and then kind of rode BMX maybe within a year or two after that, because I just, I used to race BMX a little bit because my mom was really good at race, but I don't have a similar upbringing. I think that's just too strange. A lot of people don't know. We have parks and BMX parks and BMX racetracks and skate parks everywhere, and they like side by side. Usually. That's what in my case, I was on like the race track on my race bike. And then I'd finish my race and I'd go to the skate park with my mom, be like, get, get off the freaking skate park. It's not built for the skate park. And I'd be like, oh, come on, mom, I love my responsibilities. I sent letters, sponsored me letters to monkeys, redline. And back then you would get responses like, oh no, sorry, we're not like. But I used to sponsor me. letters to BMX. They're like, sorry, we're not sponsoring 12 year old kids and I've only been riding 600. and then when did the escalation of that come from you becoming worldly famous? I feel like, I mean, not your circus really helped. I feel like that was my biggest break. I got into Nitro Circus, and then, I kind of could prove to people what you could do on a scooter. On a bigger rant, I could help at the skate park. There's, like, a set amount of tricks you can do. Like, I mean, obviously it's progress a lot, and people can do crazy tricks that people can do triple backflips at a skate park now, which is kind of insane to think about. But Nitro Circus gave me a great platform to turn and change people's perspective of like, scootering. And I just tried to do tricks that stood out because there are certain tricks on scooter you could do well that people didn't think to do on BMX yet, but they looked crazy. Like they look spectacular. Like I'm doing a front flip while my scooter is doing a front flip. Side scooter is actually doing a double front flip and people just see that like, oh, that's like crazy. I thought you were just going to jump this ramp and now you're doing tricks. So I feel like that's kind of where my, my, social media following, like, grow grew a lot. Yeah. Is it true that because is it you, because you learned to do tricks on a scooter, that it's when you go to a BMX, it's somewhat easier? I mean, is that just. No. I mean no, it definitely helps. Oh, oh movement helps. Like, I'm sure a good gymnastics person, like someone that is good at gymnastics, like is good at flipping. Could probably do some like tricks on BMX, but there's some tricks that I do better on BMX than I do on scooter. Like, yeah, it's just something to help, definitely. And it's helped me a lot. Like the movement. I understand the movement. I just understand that I'm using a different, you know, contraption and it might be a little heavier, the wheelbase might be a little bit wider. So I have to, like, kind of, change the simulation that I have in my head of the tricks. So, like when I go through the trick of my brain, I do the trick on my head because I have like a simulator in my head of like, what it's going to be like. I'll go, okay, this is what it's like on a scooter. I know that a BMX is like a little bit heavier, and it's just, what's a this is probably what it's gonna be like. And then I heard yesterday at the X games forum, which you were really good at, that you went to X Games Austin to do, a demo, and then you actually snuck onto the Mega ramp. Yeah. I feel like I obviously got I got the chance to go to an X games, and it was for a scooter demo, and they gave us like a mini ramp that was like about four foot tall. No, not even probably three foot tall. And we only could do is like flash I think I did like I think he front flip was my best trick and I'm like, I knew I could jump the X games Mega. I just knew it because I been running Nitro seconds for so long and I was like, obviously was putting my name out there. But back then I didn't realize in my mind I was like, why don't you just put me in, man? Like, just put me in. But I didn't think about it in the way of I'm actually taking someone else's opportunity. I didn't think about that. I thought, just add me in. Like it's just adding another person. Why is it so hot? Like, why is it so gnarly? Why do I have to find a mega ramp that I'm allowed to ride and like, get my own, my position? But then I realized that I'm actually taking someone's position from the event right? And that's when I went out of my way to, like, make a video, prove what I could do. But anyway, 2015 Austin I think it was. I just pad it up, I put all my pads on and I'm like, you, the pads go all the way to like your your wrist. Oh, I can imagine. Like, I'm just like standing on the top of the mega ramp is the gnarliest thing ever. But we standing on top of the mega ramp with fucking scooter. No no no no I didn't I didn't write a scoot. I wrote a Batman. Oh, you write a bike? No, no, I wish I was on a scooter. That would be like a no. It's on a bike. So I was trying to get on being like. Because I got the same time I was trying to ride, BMX at X games on the Mega because I had a run. It's funny, because the run I thought I would do if they gave me an invite was the run that I won my first gold medal with. So it was just like trippy ass. But I snuck in and I had the full body armor on so I couldn't see my wristbands. So they thought I had wristbands on, and I just went up the elevator with whoever was anyone in. And not too many people are showing up to the mega ramp with body armor on. I think. I think, yeah, I think they know who was like athlete go. Yeah, exactly. So I used to poach. So I would say the mega ramp would be like the least suspected thing. So then I just had dropped in, did a 720 front flip and right away. yeah. Because I didn't think I was going to I thought they were going to kick me off. So I just went straight in. Had planted it. No, I did two, I crashed two, 720 front flips and then I landed on third. And then I did like a three foot air. And I bailed before they kicked me out because I wanted to watch. X games is my first X games I've been at, but I just wanted to sneak on, get it done, and then after X games, I posted the video and then now you're probably one of the biggest stars X games SIM had. Oh, thanks, I appreciate it. I mean, I'm still going, so I'm trying my best. It's it's really crazy because, me and Danny have been coming to Danny. It's two time Olympic silver medalist from snowboarding. And Danny's at like 12 X games medals in snowboarding. And we've been coming X games since the early 2000. What was your first X games silver. my first X games I got to compete in. Oh you want well I similar I poached the half pipe in 2000. Yeah. 2000. Yeah. And I couldn't get in. I got kicked out there, like get out of here. Yeah. And then I went back the next year, got an invite and won the first one I got to compete in in 2001 in Vermont. And it was like the funnest event ever because it was like full on the party scene afterwards, like meeting my heroes. I mean, I got to meet Tony Hawk afterwards and growing up, like full on little skate rat in Florida, getting to meet Tony and Tony's like, You're Danny. And I was like, Holy shit. Like, Tony knows my name. That's crazy. Yeah, but just like that whole, like, we grow up looking at it and want to get into it. So it's like, it's so rad when those dreams come true, right? And you get to, like, do it and then you're there. It is a mind trip because he had a house up the road from where we lived in mammoth, and we used to do this event called Grenade Games. We had his kid play the band there once, and then I went to Tony's house one day and there was a lanyard with Danny's face on it, and when you walked into Tony's bedroom, it was on his door. Our faces. I was like, that's crazy. What? Yeah, that was a smooth move. Obviously, we wanted Tony to show up, but we didn't know how to ask him. So we just hired his kid who was playing in a band. Yeah, we're good at that. We made sure it was the youngest kid, so he couldn't drive himself. Yeah, yeah. That's how we get to Little John two. We'd hire his kid. A little John just came with. No way. That's, say, Kevin, I want to talk to you because, Are you freshly a father? Yes. So. And family? Yeah. Still. Still unreal. Still unreal. To say I'm a father. First Father's day, my wife Etzel and I welcomed our little baby girl, Mila on May 13th. She's going to be two months now. This is our first X-Games. First event. Her first concert will be Wiz Khalifa. It's crazy. It's insane. Yeah, it's. It's such a blessing to live this chapter of my life. I've seen, you know, friends and family go through it. And all the ups and downs and the sleepless nights, it's all completely worth it. And it's. Yeah, I wouldn't take it back for anything. And I think that's awesome. So it's real. The sleepless nights are real. The sleepless nights are real. But like I said, it's completely worth it. It's one of those things where you're more motivated than ever, but you're so afraid of the world as well. And now it's like a crazy. It's a crazy world. Yeah. Everything. Like everything, everything I do now has a more meaningful purpose, I would say. And you two grew up together. Like, when did you have. Where do you guys meet? Yeah. So my wife and I, we've known each other forever. Her dad, like, forever. Forever. Pretty much forever since we were. Yeah, since. Since we were born. So my mom, they both my mom and dad lived in a city called Hermosillo, Sonora. It's the first state under Arizona in Mexico. They grew up in that city. my wife's parents also grew up in that city. And in the 80s, BMX and skate culture wasn't that big in that city. So you're talking back when it's first getting involved, heavy metal music and rock music. And so I think when the culture became more established in that city, the people that like that culture were all in the same little community and and that community was my dad, my father in law, Martin, and the rest of the group of friends that were there actually, my my dad met my mom because my mom's younger sister was a real big metalhead, and she used to hang out with that group of dudes as well. And so, yeah, long story short, I've I've known my wife, my whole life. Yeah, a best friend. She supported me. Her dad actually had a skatepark in that city from 98 to 2002. Was it her dad or your dad that built the skate park with her? her dad had the skate park in that city. Yeah, my dad rode BMX, dirt, mainly race racing in the 80s and 90s. He moved to Arizona straight away before all my brothers and I were born. mainly for music and the BMX culture, but yeah, like, I've known her forever. It's been absolutely incredible to marry my best friend and to have someone there understand what I do, and that it takes discipline and sacrifice and lucky that it's not easy. Yeah, it's it's honestly such a blessing that it's really, really cool how I still look, like, forever. Yeah. there, right across we have a couple, so your dad being a big metalhead, what were some of his favorite bands growing up, too? I mean, dude, everything. I mean, he's a big maiden fan. He's got all the the maiden. I've been to one of their called. Yeah, yeah. With my dad especially. I've been to Sabbath. My first concert was Anthrax and Megadeth. I was like seven. I'm on my dad's shoulder and I'm like, got my hat up. Like, how do Inglewood and the. And it's just okay. It's just so crazy how how that influenced the way my dad was raised. My dad comes from, 15 brothers and sisters. He's a second dad. Wild. And, you know, obviously he's got brothers that are into every style of music and fashion. He just happened to be the outcast and, and the one that, like, metal music. And so I think with music comes the culture of skateboarding and BMX and action sports and being different. And so out of all of his brothers, he's the only one that picked up BMX. He was one of those dudes that pioneered the sport with the rest of the dudes in the city field trails behind abandoned houses made it happen. Take the bus for 30 hours to Mexico City and ride races down there and and just make it happen, you know? And that's cool. Yeah. From metal music to action sports to just being different was always an everyday thing for me. My older brother, like it's a perfect fit though. It always has been. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And like it was always so normal for me. Like older brother David and then two younger brothers, Victor and Eddie, all ride BMX and it's like been so normal for me my whole life. It's so insane. So, guys, we are. You got a question? Yeah. I just wanted to know about music and, like, writing. Do you guys, can you do you guys train with earbuds or is that possible? Yeah, I mean, I love to talk, I love to talk, and I love to fill up of everyone's energy. Like, I can't even wear a mouthguard because I've been taking it out the whole time. But you are talking to people out there? yeah, all the time. I love I'm like in the air, like, yo, what's good? Like. But, yeah, I mean, I guess, I guess it depends like the mood, like, if there's music in the background, that's completely cool with us. Like the earbuds, it's more of like a zoning out and kind of like, I have never like to zone out my friends in the session. so we'll usually just bring a speaker and just dive off of whatever we're feeling. And I think Ryan could probably say the similar things for sure, unless he's by himself, you know? Yeah. I feel like I was going to add Kevin is like the atmosphere. I feel like I'm always super nervous sometimes. I mean, I get nervous every. I'm nervous right now, to be honest. But, he's always like, just look at, like, smile. And you're like, look what we're doing. We're having fun. And it's. I always look to Kevin when we're on top of the rolling. We have an event called the Triple Challenge, and every time I'm there with him, he, like, takes almost like a weight off my shoulders when I'm out there because he's like, just look what we're doing. We just right now have a lot of fun because I'm like, I'm going to land this super test stuff on his body armor to address. And I'm like, yo, just relax, enjoy it bro. So good. Yeah, I don't I don't music in my ears then. But I do listen to music a lot. It depends like kind of what what I'm doing in the session. Sometimes I'm like especially at my local skate park, Caloundra. It's kind of like a big ball, so you can cruise like you can cruise for like 60s without pushing. And I'll just like it depends on if I'm going real fast. I'll listen to like Slayer. I'll listen to some crazy like that. But if I'm doing like techie rail tricks, then I'll be listening to like, Wiz Khalifa, key Glock. but I'll then I'll listen to Empire of the sun. Like cruising around to such an Australian thing to I am by the sun I was listening, I'm on my way over. Yeah, he's like our new Alvin. So we have a couple questions in the chat that kind of goes, with what you guys had just spoken about. What are some of the things that you both do always before competition to prepare any pre rituals or superstitions? I don't know. Where do I begin? I would say, just gratitude. Gratitude. A little quick prayer and just appreciation to where I'm at and just being an athlete and a role model to the kids. I used to look up to the same guys that I'm competing against now and, and that our judging, our sports now. And it's pretty insane to to be in this position and to and to really say like to yourself, like I did it, you know, I could do this, you know, and I'm here now. And to be that role model and to hang out with guys like Ryan Williams who who I saw videos of growing up from the other side of the world and now we're teammates and good friends and we support each other and we're on the deck, and we're not technically competing against each other, but ourselves and and what it is. But it's yeah, it's one of those things. And I just think gratitude and it doesn't matter, you know, where you come from and what you have. I think just being here and having this platform to share our personalities and our ways of showcasing the sport to the rest of the world in our through our own, our styles, you know, I think that's something that gets me going, gets me motivated. So like just that. Yeah. Still nerve, still before you go up there all the time. Yeah, I think I'm nervous and I think I'm more excited than ever. Yeah. But it's one of those things where it's like, we all have those personal goals of just doing, pulling off that run, pulling off those dream tricks that we want to showcase to the world, and and being able to just showcase all the hard work of months and months of training and preparation that we all put into it. You know, everybody that's here is just as talented and just as incredible to walk away with a medal. You know, it's so hard nowadays to say who are your top three Pixar for for metal. You know, it's so one of those things where it's like, you just wake up and you say, like, it's showtime. You know what I mean? Whether I'm the first guy to drop in and get the show started, or I feed off of Ryan's run right after, and then I get to, you know, go off of that. But yeah, that's why I think BMX is so exciting right now, though, you guys are at such a level where as like last year, you guys ended up, I think, being the the most viewed on television and, and also in, in, at the live events and again this year the same thing it's you guys are basically main stage next to the stage. It's that the I think sometimes too, like when there's somebody or 1 or 2 people that win every time, it is a little boring. Right. And, and I think having that level of competition where you don't know who's going to win and that excitement and everybody pushes themselves like when you land a trick, the energy you put off is fucking crazy. The energy is everything. Yeah. Ryan Ryan showcases that to through his personality. And that's why Ryan is Ryan you know like and then everyone after that is like, let's go. This is it's hell yeah. Let's fucking do this. It's probably my favorite thing about action sports in general is that like, I feel like everyone just wants everyone to do that best, and who's ever best comes out at the end of the day. Like, everyone's stoked. I feel like the one thing is, you know, you're not fighting. Like, it's not like UFC, not like fight and mean you don't like. I guess a fighter wouldn't really want another fight to hurt themselves or for the fight, because you want to fight them at their best. We want the best ever. Everyone wants. If you want to beat up, if you want to win, you want to win with everyone doing their best means like it's a better contest. It's fun for everyone. And, this big race involved in action sports. And that's the thing. Like, you can't you can't wish for the other person to not do good, because that's me. That's so there's so much, danger involved in that, you know? So we're all out there, just like everyone's got everyone's back, and, I just want to throw it back to you said. Yeah, free. Like, what do you do before you go out and ride? Oh, we know you have some stuff I can tell. I just want to say, just to lighten the mood. I always take a number two. Oh, hey, before you jump, if I feel nervous, if I feel as if there's any inkling of something, I feel I'm going. I'm going to get rid of it. Because I don't want to be unconscious and crapped myself. Well, the good news is, is there's about 200 porta potties over there. Well, we see you. I think I can do that. You'll see. There's the VIP in the VIP. I also I also heard that when you were, at I don't know if it's your first UFC fight, but there was one way you, like, ended up, like on the cage. On the cage, like. I mean, they let me in. I went into, one of the what? Not in the cage. You ended up screaming like, oh, this is this is when I was, This was the last time I drank alcohol. I'm 138. That's for 130 days ago in Anaheim. Yeah. Congratulations. Yeah. Just counting. Beat me up. Yeah. Vote as close. Win. It could be the last one. Ones a fight and there's those free beers. And I thought I could handle my beers these days, but 14 days is too many. I'm like. Wow, guys, we are at the X-Games, so I'm gonna throw in some footage. So, throwback footage of last year. Kevin, this is. I don't know if you can see that screen. Yeah. Yeah, I can see it. This is you, winning one of your one of your gold. Yeah. This is BMX park. Probably my favorite discipline. Just the fact that there's no right or wrong way to ride the course. It's all like a personal expression. We all find our line. Everything that works for you. Personally, I love to be able to touch a little bit of everything on the course, from deep ends to balls to style, mixing it up with big tricks. technicality. This was probably my favorite feature. It was this gondola that was in the middle of the car, shredded that thing. I don't know why it was there, but it had to be there, and it was probably the best thing that I could ride there in the whole contest. there's a bunch of cool features on last year's course, just as it is this year. And, it's very different this year. And I can I can jump in and explain why, like, this was made for TV, this car. So it's sick how it's bold in. Yeah. The ones behind us more opened out last year we we it was very un viewable for a lot of people and we Cassidy we sell tickets to this event, so we want people to be able to watch it. So that's why that's opened up the way that it is this year. for good or bad, it just is what it is. You are on the street course and this. So this is my first street medal and my first street gold. This. I think if I don't, it sounds crazy. Like a brag, but it's, I think first BMX athlete in X-Games history to have a gold medal in all three disciplines. So, like, it's still, still a dream come true. It's a humble brag. Yeah, it's one of those I could do it to mic drop. I still I still like find it hard to even explain that to people. It's like, I don't even know how that happened. But, I love BMX for what it is. I don't think there's, a right or wrong way to do it. I think being able to just ride and being all well-rounded riders made it that much more funner for me, if that's a proper way to say it. And being invited in all three disciplines. Last year I rode dirt eliminations. I rode street and I rode park and park. Best trick. So I'm riding for disciplines just like Ryan. but this was my first medal. My first medal happened to be a gold, which is absolutely insane. You were just on a roll last year. Yeah. I mean, just going with the flow and one day at a time kind of feeling. I think it also had a little to do. It's it's been one year now, over one year since, losing Pat, Casey repeated. I think, I think you really carried his energy last year here. Yeah. I think one of those things where, as difficult as it was for everyone, Ryan also lost a good friend right before Pat as well. Luke, who, you know, repeated the family and the whole family, their family and the Casey family in our prayers forever. But both of them, you know, incredible friends, incredible action sports athletes, we carry their energy, like Ryan would say. And how I would say, Pat would say, get that shit done. I know you didn't work all, all year long to come out here and not give it your all, you know? And so Pat's energy is it lives on forever just like Luke's. And I think as difficult as it was losing a friend and a close friend to everyone, it was also at peace knowing that he was doing what he loved while it happened. So he had a motorcycle accident, motocross accident. And, and like I said, doing what he loved. And I think that's what keeps us all at peace. He lived his life to the fullest every single day. And he always said, if this is how I go, then this is how I go. he's got an incredible family and support system, great group of friends that are going to be there for his children forever. And, and yeah, Pat Casey forever is all I can really say. Yeah, yeah, I got too emotional. Yeah, I'm getting emotional. Tears of joy and tears of sadness. And, you know, we've all lost, incredible people in our life. And we're here another day. We have another opportunity to. God gives us another chance to get out there and keep try and keep pushing and and, you know, do it for them. Do it for them that aren't here anymore. And here through the spirit and through emotions and through energy. And yeah. Keep going. Amen. Yeah. All right, here we, we're going to roll into some footage. You're out. Willie, this is footage of you from last year. Yeah. Let's go to the jumps. actually bigger this year, which is already quite big. Is this your winning run here? Well, yeah, that was my first trick run. I just had to get that Aussie roll out of the way, because I tried that in my, dirt run, and I crashed it on the last jump, so I was like, I need some redemption. a classic Aussie, Aussie breakfast. Yeah, exactly. $360 backflip. And then this one, it was always on my mind to do. I just didn't know if the jump was big enough. But sure enough, second try. I managed to go insane. How? We. We have to watch this in the slowest slow mo. So you guys can really understand the technicality of what's happening. It's so insane. Just the. But the hardest part is actually making the bike not hit me in the face. That's what I was wondering. I was like, has he hit himself in the head when you come around? And then what happened? I actually get myself a block. I want a notch, a circuit, and I still landed it like zip up my eye and then I still grab my handlebars because I had one eye open. I still landed it, but sometimes it smacked me real bad. You can see how close it is. I kind of pull my head back, but if you throw, if you don't throw the block away enough, it will smack you. And if you throw the bike too far away, which I did on my first run, but it just get away. You can't even grab you, man. You just fall out of the sky. So I'm like, on a quick note, I think all the tricks and everything that Ryan's done in the last few years for BMX, he's elevated the sport to a whole different wave of styles, bringing them this whole idea, whatever it is, right? Yeah. Advanced motion slams. It's not just having fun. This at this point. This is just for the crowd too. Obviously I wasn't trying to better my score or something. I'm just having fun and then it's slippery on the side. yeah. I think, it is the energy. This is the energy part. This is where this is actually when I have no energy. If you, guys, I think, like, like any insane move, you know, all of us are so crazy at what we do, and we're probably going to trip on a set of stairs or something clumsy. So happens to all of us. We are human with what Kevin said. I've just tried to like I've never, never been the one to box myself in and think, okay, I just got to do these set of tricks. Like, these are the only tricks. I always try to open the walls, you know? I never put any blinders on. It's like anything is a trick, you know? It's, That's the one thing that we love about action sports is that there's no wrong or right way to ride your bike. Yeah, there isn't exactly. And it's kind of like we always fight, but there's always people that have not. Oh, yeah. Style. I mean, yeah, I lockout. No, no, I don't think so. It depends what I'm doing. But yeah, pretty much I don't know, I just feel like you almost make a bigger impact and it's I honestly feel like it's almost like a cheat code when you can ride your bike and do something that it might be very unique, but I find it not quite as hard as I can personally, that I think that just that's the way I like to ride my bike, and that's why it's easier for me to do like strange tricks. But I feel like it's almost like a chico because I'm not going to go out there and do like more whips and bars. And someone switched over to Mega Ramp. Did you win the Mega ramp too? Yeah, I was there that day. Yeah. That one. It's a smaller mega. That's that's at Elliot's place. Yeah. It's like a mini mega. It's kind of like a skate three mat. Yeah, that I know I like how it just flows and it's like next, next, next. Yeah. It's kind of crazy to be honest. Like, I'd hate if it was actually the full size of the Mega. That would. It'd be like the Super Mega Park Skate three. Well, unfortunately, I don't I don't know if we're at the end of Mega. It's just it's it's a it's not a it's just expensive. And if honestly if it was here, we would get blown away right now it would get canceled. You have to think about like that's that level of skating. And riding is so gnarly the size of that ramp has. There's no room for error. So with this one, it's almost impossible. And you have to also remember, like most of these guys don't really have a mega ramp year round to really train on, you know, and so you kind of almost feel like the progression begins the week of X-Games on that. They're almost practicing what they need to practice. Only a handful of guys could really ride that ramp like there. There's a few mini megas that exist out in the world like Elliott's. There's one I would, or at least there used to be one at Woodward West. But like like I said, most of these guys don't really get to ride that jump. So you really put that into perspective. It's like, Holy shit, here we go. This is practice today, compete tomorrow, and do the best. And like it almost kind of like plateaus the level of it until you're at the event, you know. And so it's only gnarlier that way I think too. Do you guys are you trying any new tricks out the sex games? And I think we're always like, looking to try something new. Yeah, it's hard to it's the same thing. Like we don't know what the course looks like till you get. You see what the course looks like. Maybe a month out they might post something, but. And then that's just like a digital sketch. And then you get here, you're like, oh, wow, that's more than what I thought. That's deeper than what I thought. Feeling it out, I don't think. Yeah, I'm not gonna really be able to do that trick there. but we're always trying to bring something new because it's a huge thing. And X games like this is the place we want to bring something new out. Yeah, it's just depends like, is is there the obstacle that's going to be able to get it done? Yeah. Let's not forget this last year about how that this is actually, you know, you want to be it's entertainment as well as much as it is this absolutely incredible talent and sport. But like you really want to entertain everyone that's watching. So you're taking so many things into consideration. You want to do something different every time. But then when you saw this ramp up compared to last year, what did you think? Were you like, oh, this is not necessarily so a definitely higher we know that. Is there anything that changed in your like minded, what you were thinking to do or. Yeah, I mean, like Ryan said, we all get a digital rendering before we create these imaginary lines and, and, and ideas that we can get. And until we really feel it out, we don't really know what's possible. And, and even with how the wind's been, it's been almost another challenging factor to maybe I won't even get to practice this until the day of the contest. And and if it is what it is and whatever. But, but. Yeah, absolutely. Like when you get to the course, you find an obstacle and you think risk for a reward factor as well. And is this worth doing just is there any room for error. Is, is is it worth me getting injured over or completely motivated and be like, yeah, I got this, I've trained for this. I'm ready for this. Yeah. And it's one of those things that you get into the zone the day off, you know. And so I'm pretty organically I would say controlled when it comes to like my parkrun, just because it is all consistency and being able to do tricks. But when it comes to best trick, that's when it's like, all right, now I have room for errors. I can play around with things. I feel like less weight on my shoulders. I don't really have to focus on cardio and breathing. It's one trick at a time. I have other guys that are trying as well, so it feels kind of like a little lucha libre match where we're all kind of knocking each other over and and going with the flow. But yeah, like at the end of the day, like you mentioned, it is a show. Yeah, it's a contest for us. We're all trying to earn a medal and and have a good result at the end of the day. But it is a show. It is our personal space to showcase our personalities and our new tricks and our new style to the kids and just influence and inspire kids to not only pick up a BMX bike, to just, but just to enjoy action sports in general and put a smile on people's faces. That's the goal. At the end of the day, I think for everyone you stood up there and you took that bow like that. Just it's such a personable thing. Well, no, because that's what kids are going to look up. You be like, oh like that? Yeah, like what a chill guy. You know, like, what a cool, like personality. And I think, like you said, to inspire the kids to, you know, keep this beautiful, you know, like spectacle and sport alive and have them all try it out. Brittany's done an outfit change. it's a little chilly. I don't know how this is keeping me much warmer, but guys, is this wind going to affect you guys at all on the day? It does a little bit, right? Yeah, it dies down like it. It might seem pretty bad, but if you look over, we got, like a flag that we see. And as long as it's like a tailwind, it's not the worst. That means you can. You don't know when he breaks. No I don't know. Brakes on my bike. Oh. So if it's a tailwind you might just go right into the crowd. Yeah, but usually the jumps are pretty big. So like usually we're trying to like get speed. So if there's a tailwind it's not too bad. We'll we'll see. Do you read brakes Kevin. No brakes either. So what did you want to stop. What do you do. You just drag drag the feet or we call like under pumping. It's like okay don't pump. Yeah, yeah yeah. Put your foot in the wheel. That's what I do. Put the foot in the wheel is another one. Not the fun one. Accidental slide on the floor. Tip over one the table. besides the three, BMX is you guys are going to do. What else are you looking forward to watch here? Oh good question. Higher is always Moto X. Higher is always a cool one. I'm a big fan of Skateboard Street as well. I mean, I just think in general all action sports at X games are incredible. I saw they're doing scooter demos as well. I think that's the forefront shortly. And, you know, surely in short, live that can be a big thing, mate. Well, when there was a scooter demo here, last time I snuck on the Mega. No, you never know. You can't get a name, so maybe you'll create someone else. Yeah, I this scooter demo, but I feel like. Yeah, like we should just get him on the park for 20 minutes or something. You'd be surprised what these scooter orders are doing. Like, I don't know, like, I've tried to compete in a scooter event, and I find it just as difficult as competing at X games. But the truth about it now is, is every young kid has a scooter. Yeah. I mean, it's it's fun to buy. It's a the thing is, it's not it's not about being cool. Like we didn't we didn't really start running BMX because we wanted to be cool. Let's, I think that's like the something that's fun. Get outside. Yeah, exactly. Whatever. Whatever it is, get outside, have fun. Get get a good group of friends and enjoy it. What else? What else is out here at X games? Casey pack, Casey sun. We'll be doing some demos. I'm hope to see him riding. What day is that? I think today and tomorrow. And the course now. Somewhere over here in the back to all the activations. Yeah. Is women's skateboard park always fun to watch? This is actually the first X-Games where women's BMX will actually be showcasing at. So next of and today I believe at three right after dirt eliminations. So I'm excited. Popular is these little Japanese kids on the ramp doing that. Yes. Yeah. Like yeah for sure for me is a big part was in his zone. And if he didn't do three back to back wins in a row, you'd get off the ramp and he would be pissed. I just go back to the top. I should have stayed playing video games. Japanese. Like they're killing it in BMX too. Like, yeah, they're coming in hot. Yeah. I think it's one of those cultures where the devotion exists, where it's like very, very well present. They find something they love and they like go all in, you know? And so actual sports is growing. The future's looking bright. Yeah. What more can I say? Everything out here is, is, is flowing. Well, as long as, you know, fingers crossed the wind doesn't affect us to, to bad today and the rest of the week, and then everything's going to be sweet. One thing they cannot do in the wind is moto. High air. Yeah, but they can do moto best trick. That's it. That's what I'm looking forward to the most. I feel like that's probably, I guess the quarter pipe is gnarly, but I feel like the moto best trick is just. And it's just like a next level thing, because it's not like they're not like us. They can't, like, crash. Oh, I'll just try again. It's like they crash and then I'll try again in six months and my legs are back together. Yeah, yeah I do. So it's definitely like one of the most like gnarliest sports where like as long as they can hold on to the bike, they they'll, they'll go where like, you know, you're like, Bilko, you'll like watch him walk around. He'll be like, what's going on? I'm like, oh yeah. He's juggles. He's like put together like a watch, like a Lego. You know, or like a. Yeah. He says he's ankles, man. It's just got a bag of marbles. That's a, that's what he called. But did he get him on his bike. I mean, he looks like a superhero. Yeah. And through the air doing every trick right? We all got a little hobble on our feet, and then we ride and we we? Yeah. I mean, we all live. We all. We all have a funny watch. Athletes all walk funky for a while. That's facts, you know. You know what's crazy. The what's the craziest crash I've seen was the the influencer kid at the Nitro circuit, Anaheim. Oh. He went off the rolling. That was it, Jalil. Shout out to jelly. He's an artist. He's actually. So he's an artist. Like he's a full music artist. Pretty. I mean, he's pretty big and yeah, he's huge. It's like you could do that. Like hangs on, like the skate jumps into the crowd and. But who got the best video of it? I was in a meeting with Jeff Tremaine like, yeah, after Jeff Tremaine was sitting. And you know, Jeff was whatever film the Jeff as like, of course it's going to be the intro for the next jackass. What do you think happened, though? Because this guy obviously. Do you think he I can tell you out I no no no no no no. He had size 16ft. That's what happened. He had a size 15. And he's wearing these boots and like leather boots. And they're so long that even when I sit on a truck, my feet nearly hit the ground like my back of my. My heel is the hit the ground. So my theory is he's black. His right heel was on the ground, and, he just jumped in and he got like, he didn't even. He sat in the truck once on the ground, like when he should have been, like, got comfortable anyway, in the show, he pushed out, I reckon his right heel was dragging. And even though he tried to, steer straight, if you're right, heels dragging it just will slowly drag you sideways. And he just didn't correct it. Like maybe you tried to correct it, but his heel was dragging and you just straight off. It's gonna look like he tried to correct it. It was the worst. It was for the worst. One of the worst crashes I've ever seen. It. Not a circus. So he hit the jump and went off. No, no, no he didn't. He just rode off. There's the rolling, Danny. Oh, he lived off the road. Off it into the, oh, halfway down the road. And he just for the jump he just went on. Yeah. But like dropped in like halfway down the road and came after all that straight flat. Yeah. The shows are exciting though now. Yeah. That's going to sell some tickets. I like the new show. You been working on a new show that's that's going to be in Vegas as that started. Yeah. Well we haven't we're going back indoors for the night just like a show. So it's just indoors is next level. You can control the lights. You control what people see. You can light up certain things. You can have the indoor pyro that sounds better. And just so we have new contraptions and Travis Pastrana is back in doing 96 shows. And it's just been it's a new level because we went to the outdoor shows. It's I mean, he can fit more people, but it's not the same atmosphere. So that's why I feel like 90s is back. And, I love doing that because it's kind of like a contest, like it's kind of like a contest because we're still like, having fun competing with each other in the show. But if you land on your head, everyone just cheers and you go, oh, yeah, oh, let's try again in the next show. It's not like you don't lose loses. You said that you're doing it at the UFC headquarters in Las Vegas, correct? I no, that's where it. So the UFC it's the Nitro box office office is in the scene now, so. And how did that happen? Who did that conversation about it? Dana bought it. Dana volleyball. They bought throw one. Yeah they bought throw one which is ridiculousness. Nitro across Nitro Circus. That's why cowboy does all those races now. Yeah, yeah okay. Because he loves it. Oh, no, I understand she's, she's close with cowboy, right? so I not not that our old friend WAC friend have you see friends? Oh my God. Well, Dana's son as well. He didn't. Aiden. Yeah. And deal with it. Yeah. He's working. He's working at, SLS. Yeah, yeah, that's what I saw. He's doing SLS. Okay. All right, so I'll see you all, man. But when you've got somebody like that, like in modern day entertainment. Dana is at the forefront. Yeah. You have seized the most excited, the most viewed, most ticket sales. Like. Yeah. As a business of entertainment. Yeah. These guys know what they're doing. So having them involved in this and action sports and trying to figure it out, they're going to try and figure it out. Which means they're probably going to figure it out. Yeah. Yeah. And I think they know that action sports is the future. Just like yeah. You know like yo, let's throw this right the right levels and there's no difference than us like trying to figure out this league thing. Right. Like it's it's new and we still don't know what the ten Commandments or the Holy Grail of it is, but we know that we need to figure something out to grow it. And and doing this and trying to create this is only going to make it bigger for everyone. Yeah, it's a progression of the sport and the people and the people. We want to get involved. You know, we're talking to Jerry Jones, we're talking to Ryan Smith. These guys owned the biggest sports organizations in the world. That's only going to help action sports down the road. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So yeah, I feel like if we have more action sports events and there's more limelight, like there's more bright lights on action sports, the bigger the, the more opportunities that action sports athletes get. And I feel like if action sports athletes get spotlight, they usually shine really bright. And you see that at the Los X games you have great events. You have so many people seeing X games and these crazy, like, tricks going down. And I feel like I like a lot of bravery when you land something new at an X games, it's like the best time to land something. Yeah. And that's when if you capitalize on the opportunities in front of you, that's when you become a superstar. It's kind of the same as UFC. Like if someone wins by spectacular knockout, yeah, they get an extra thousand, 3000 followers, you know, and then. Yeah, or $1,000 you get stayed away feeling knocked out. You can also get some nice internet fame. Right? Is like a big slam on X games is also sometimes I mean yeah, some of the fun real contents can't do this, guys. But we're being yelled at because, the show's over. I want to thank everybody for tuning in today. Brittany, say sorry, guys, for all your questions. We'll be back tomorrow. Yes, I will save these questions. Say question back tomorrow. Guys. This is day one from X games. Oh the girls here they goes. That is fan club girls are here. thank you. I really thank you, Ken, for us. we are going to jump down to the rig, right? We got the monster girls here, and we thank you guys down. That is officially a wrap from Twitch. We're coming down, rig, right. Our. Willie, are you ready? Let's go. Yeah! Monster grabs you. Ready? How?