By Matt Siracusa
See the issue: October 2008

It’s been said that skydiving is falling with style. But to extreme sport athletes, falling with style involves launching off ramps and performing tricks in mid-air.

We asked some Action Sports Tour BMX athletes what spins through their brains while they’re spinning through the air. Here’s what they had to say.

Zach Warden, 19: When I’m mid-air in a run, all I can think about is finding my groove. If I can get one big trick out of the way, then the next one follows, and I just try to find that groove. Once I’m in it, I can just keep going.

Ricky Moseley, 18:  Where’s the landing [laughs]…and where am I going to land? Am I going to land high? Am I going to land flat? Just pretty much hopefully [that] I’m going to hold on.

Kevin Robinson, 36: Right off the take-off, I know if I’m going to pull it off or not. I know that if this is going right, hang on and try to land it. Or if I know it’s not going to go right, I try to stay limp, get the second flip around and just try to slide out. But sometimes it doesn’t always work and you end up getting hurt.

Mike Spinner, 20: I’m actually really relaxed. I do these tricks every single day at the warehouse that we train at, and when I watch it on video I’m always like, “Man, I’m going so fast.” But when I’m riding, everything is like slow motion. It’s crazy.

Pat Casey, 14: You just spot your landing and try to see where you are. If you know you went off wrong, then it gets scary. But other than that, it’s fun.

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