“I don’t know… it’s… style dude—they’re sick. I see people wearing white shoes and I think they stick out.“
16 Sep 2015
Words and Photos By David Leep
Austin Aughinbaugh… not playing favorites here since he’s from my home state and a fellow Hoosier bro, but it was refreshing to be around someone who wasn’t the least bit pretentious—and he definitely renewed my faith in BMX. Anyway, I had a great time hanging out with Austin, so in-between a way too short weekend/heavy days of dodging rain, security, police and corn cobs... I figured I'd make a wee list about 10 things my spidey sense picked up on that you may or may not know about Austin Aughinbaugh.
01: White Shoes
“I don’t know… it’s… style dude—they’re sick. I see people wearing white shoes and I think they stick out.“
02: Old Betsy
“She got me to Chicago and back. It’s my step-Dad’s truck, so he’s been letting me use it to go to this job out here. He didn’t want me to take it to Chicago, but I’ve taken her there twice now.”
03: Muncie, Indiana
“Muncie is home. It’s where I first really got into riding. I moved out of Marion, David Grant was out here in Muncie, so there was somewhat of a scene. There has never been a tornado in Muncie, because apparently Chief Munsee put a spell or something on Muncie so no tornados would ever hit it."
04: Expelled From High School
“I got kicked out for a whole year. Not that bad of a gig.”
05: The Army
“Well dude, when you’re 18 and your parents are hardcore-Christians and they kind of push things on you… I was kind of going though a young life crisis and I said fuck it and joined the Army. As much as I hate cops, I was going to be a military police officer—just because I could have a K-9 unit, I wanted a dog, so I could kick it with him. I always asked my friend who joined and said, you still ride, right? You can still ride when you are in the Army? He was like, yeah, a little bit… not really. I was like, fuck. I went to the MEPS (Military Entrance Processing Station) and I had all these dudes yelling and me and I was like, I’m not even in the Army yet. Yeah, so I joined and then I was supposed to ship out in three weeks and I was like… fuck this and I dipped, went to New York and worked this door-to-door job. I didn’t get in trouble because you are not technically AWOL until you go to basic training."
06: Living With The Amish
"I got in trouble in my 5th grade year going into 6th grade. My Dad sent me, I stayed there for like a month or two—fully immersed in the lifestyle. I dressed like them, went to their German church. The little Amish boys wanted to beat me up because I was a fraud and they knew it. I drove Clydesdale horses, buggies… it honestly wasn’t that bad—it was tight. I was kind of bummed to leave, they were always doing something."
07: Vegetarianism
"This has been recent… maybe two and a half or three weeks. My stomach is like soooo much better. It’s better. Meat is such a horrible product. The more and more I get into it, I don’t know if I’m ever going to eat meat again. Its such a bad thing for my stomach. Anytime I would go and eat a burger, I’d have the worst gas and stomach cramps—I just didn’t want it anymore"
08: Tattoos
“They’re sick. Daniel (Bunker) is the reason I got tattoos. He started getting a bunch and then started tattooing. I don’t know… I’ve always liked to defy authority. My Dad always told me to not get tattoos, so I was like I want tattoos now. I feel like anything that gets drilled into you mind hard enough—you want to do the opposite."
09: The House
“We really don’t have a name for it, it’s pretty much Creepy’s (Daniel’s dog) domain. Creepy Crawler the dog. It’s pretty much been two tattoos a week, partying, we’ve been having a lot of friends come through. My friend Drew from Portland… friends I haven’t seen in ages have been coming through to kick it before I dip out. A lot of crazy stuff goes down, like skateboarding inside the house."
10: Skateboarding Influence
“Growing up with Bunk and T-Lo I met them skating first and I gradually got into bikes. I think my cousin got one and then I got one. I started going to the skatepark and everyone would hate me—seriously. Id din’t have many friends when I was super young and I would kind of force them to hang out with me and they showed me the ways. We started going out on missions and I remember trying to fit my bike in Bunk’s Blazer… the first time I did it he was so pissed. I just remember watching his face. But, we grew up to love each other and anytime we’d go to spots I feel like I’d have to huck myself.”