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Re Print: Wiz - First Time For Everything

Dedicated to the riders who have truly influenced bike riding

19 Feb 2015

Words and photos by Rob Dolecki Originally published in DIG 84 September 2011

Upon hearing the term “influential” used in relation to BMX, I think most people would agree that names like Mat Hoffman, Brian Foster, Taj, etc., resoundingly define the term. Yet it seems like in the last few years or so, the true meaning has gotten a little lost, and “influential” is consistently thrown around without any reservations, for better or worse. It seems like it should be retained for the appropriate people who truly define “influence” from what they’ve done on a bike, personally. Besides, at the end of the day, does anything outside of what people do on their bikes really matter as far as affecting the true sense of bike riding, anyway? Since there aren’t laws on how words can be used (and that’s a good thing), “First Time For Everything” is dedicated to the riders who truly have influenced bike riding.

Anyone who is familiar with the name Brian Wizmerski and his video parts throughout the years already knows the impact of some moves he’s thrown out into the BMX world, some still not repeated by anyone else almost a decade after first pulling them off. And when watching Wiz ride on any given day, it’s apparent that list of new tricks isn’t complete yet. Read on for a few of the defining moments along the span of over two decades Wiz has spent on a bike.

Wiz had a full interview in DIG 60 that ended with a lap dance (definitely a first for us). No such luck this time round though. Bump to gap over some Philly stairs.

First time you rode a BMX bike:

I’m not sure when I learned how to ride a bike, but I started racing in 1987 when I was six.

First skatepark you rode:

Shimerville Skatepark in Emmaus, PA, probably somewhere around ‘94-‘95.

First pro you tried to emulate:

Dave Clymer.

First photo in a magazine:

Backwards rail in the Ride US mag Philly scene report. I forget the date.

First magazine cover:

The Faction one with my interview I think, in 2002.

First clip in a video:

Props Bethlehem scene report from 1997.

First video part:

Resist video; just spent 20 minutes trying to look up a date to a video I made, and failed. It was around 2001, I think.

First sponsor:

Bensalem BMX Raceway, maybe in like 95-96? Too long ago.

First ad:

Damn, I’m not even sure. Either a Square One ad or an Airwalk ad maybe?

First signature part:

Primo Wiz grips.

First time you saw the Pacific ocean:

1999.

First trick of the day:

180.

First time you were in a vehicle and attacked by a bear:

2003, leaving Yellowstone. Me and Bob Scerbo in the front, Vinnie Sammon in the back. Man, the times that Blazer seen.

First manual to backwards rail:

The first one I tried was in 1999, but I smacked my face on the rail. There is a clip in the credits of Garrett Byrnes’ Props interview issue. That trick freaked me out after that for a while. The first time I pulled it was the one in Square One’s Wide Awake Nightmare, so 2002.

First turndown to ice down a rail:

First time I ever did it on a real rail I had a sequence Losey shot. Not sure when that was, during Schwinn days, out in Cali.

First manual switch 180 lookback:

Around 2001-2002, I think. I don’t remember my first one.

First ledge smith to pop-up nosewheelie:

I used to do smith to nose bonks on ledges when I was a kid. Riding the ledge behind the stores (RIP) in Northeast Philly got me doing them again, and back there I started slowing down and getting them to roll, in 2003.

First ice to 180 on a rail:

Red Bull Mean Streets in 2006.

First backwards feeble to Indian lookback out:

Props interview, 2005.