Nick Jones - Escape To Arizona

Trading New York snowstorms for BMX in the desert

22 Sep 2015

Alex Slayton came down from Flagstaff every few weekends to handle some business with a few spots on his hit list, this being one of them. A late night session lead us to this rail were he quickly laced this over the L hanger before getting the boot.

Angie Marino takes a dip in the pool right next to where Fit teammate Van Homan once handled a tight bar to icepick.

College bro. Mustang. Car Crash. Probably a common occurrence around ASU. Ben Smith and I took what seems negative and turned it (kinda) positive by having him post up next to it for a flick on the 35mm.

I'm pretty sure I shot this as soon as I got off my flight. With Nick Seabasty at work I headed out with Dimitri Jame and company to get some WHT HOUS filming done while Ben Smith was in town. Dimitri hit the switch hang making for a good first flick in Arizona.

Ryan Olson. I can't say enough good things about this dude. He made the trip from Fresno to Tempre and took up temporary residency on the floor of The Stable's darkroom. During his stay he really left a mark on the greater Phoenix area while getting rails like this done in a timely manner.

Dimitri James laces the tires on this waxed up spot with some glass infested gritty pavement. Luckily Kore Bikes is right up the block, because after hitting the T's and tossing the B's he caught a flat.

Iphone shot of Greg Moliterno just before the opening of his photo gallery at The Stable.

Just a month or so before Kyle Hart made the move from SD to Phoenix he came through on a quick Subrosa trip, taking his original style to some great spots. Case in point, pegs to table.

Lahsaan Kobza wraps up a line with a big 360 for my Polaroid on a hot Arizona afternoon.

Probably one of the most never-racking moments of my life. The S&M team was in town and we headed to ASU to cruise around. Kareem Williams saw this wild tire ride and wanted to get it done. Unfortunately it didn't play out as planned and with a 12 plus foot drop straight to his back we found ourselves quickly helping him to the van and heading to the hospital. Somehow he got away with absolutely no injury, just a back that was going to be sore as fuck for the next few weeks.

Switch predator? OK. Hard 360 out? Also OK. Mark Burnett did this shit for some Slickables (if you've been to Tempe you know), and also for Shadow's 'What Could Go Wrong?' DVD.

The Volume video was going around Tempe for a few days before the premiere, but I refused to watch till then. Well worth the wait, especially because we got to view it in a movie theater.

Bryan Baker left his mark on this Tempe pole jam spot.

Once again Ryan Olson getting down on an XL setup. 80 something feeble grinds later and he got the 360 out for Bobby Kanode and his VX.

More Ryan Olson. This time with a switch snaggle tooth. This spot just calls for that trick, and don't worry Ryan handled it regular as well.

Troy Blair utilizes nature with a boosted tree ride early in my stay.

Gotta wrap it up with the dude who really made my trip possible. Nick Seabasty keeps it simple with a picture perfect euro'ed rail hop.

Words and photos by Nick Jones

Sleeping on a couch for four months probably isn’t something the average person would be into but for me, or anyone else that rides, it’s always worth it, especially if it means dodging the East Coast winter. When the first two snowstorms hit I slowly started losing my mind and with no winter escape plans I quickly called up Nick Seabasty, who had moved from New Jersey to Arizona Last year. Soon afterwards I found myself making sure my bank account was in check and started looking for flights. Just a few weeks later I was back for the second consecutive winter in Tempe, Arizona. For the most part, these photos tell the story of my time spent there and I couldn’t be more hyped on the people I’ve gotten to ride, shoot, and kick it with out there. Till next time!