February 06, 2014

The Top 5 East Lake Ams


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I grew up 30 miles away from the mean streets of Cleveland in the roughest part of the safest city in Lake county. It sometimes seemed as though everyone in my school owned a horse, while I got funny looks for riding a bike. 
My city had a farm park, not a skate park. So everyday after school I'd ride my bike 10 miles(probably only 5) across town to the only resemblance of a skatepark around in Eastlake. Bikes weren't allowed so I was always paranoid and on the watch for Johnny Law. I only got a ticket one time, but I had to book it out of there quite a number of other times. 
I always heard that there were a couple other bike riders that occasionally show up to the park, but I'd never be there at the same time. That was always half the motivation to go up there everyday. It was always a solo session with skateboarders that most likely hated that I was riding on their turf.
Eventually I ran into the other mysterious riders, got some phone numbers, and finally started having people to ride with. The bmx scene at Eastlake skatepark started to bloom more and more every year and eventually we all became an unstoppable force and the "No bmx" rule was dropped. By no means is Eastlake a good skatepark for bmx. There's barely any ramps, and the ramps we continue to build every year also get taken out by the city every year. It's been this same cycle for the past 5 years now. We never learn.
Nowadays bmx has pretty much taken over the skatepark. Any given day I go up there I at least see an equal ratio of skaters to bikers. They're mostly a bunch of shit heads that don't clean up their trash and act like they own the place, pretty much riding the coat tails of the older bmx riders that actually care about the place. It's on the verge of being shut down, and the ramps are falling apart because the city stopped caring. 
Eastlake will always be my stomping grounds. I've done some of the craziest things I'll ever do in that small park, half of which can never be replicated because the ramps no longer exist. No matter how dumb, there is always something new to do on the same basic ass ramps I've been riding for the past 12 years. I've seen many people come and go, but a few of these Ams have stuck around to prove that they have what it takes to go Eastlake Pro one day, sooner than later for some. 
Here's where it gets tricky. How do we determine who's Eastlake Pro? Easiest way is to be 25+ years old, that's automatic pro status. There are other ways an AM can achieve PRO status though. 
1. Sign Autographs(you MUST be asked) 
2. Get asked by a mom to do a trick for her kids at least 5 separate times. 
3. Win BroFest(see video below) 
4. Gap out of the skatepark 
5. Backflip the box 
6. Stall one of the Sub Fences 
7. Drink beer at the park for 3+ years
8. Bring your own Grill and cook food.




This list was very hard to create, many people will feel that their friends should have made this list, but I had to draw the line somewhere. What exactly is an East Lake Am tho? Eastlake has quite a few riders coming from all over the county. I went as far west as the Little Ceasars in Willowick and as far south as the Denny's off rt-91 picking and choosing what riders fit the bill as an "AM". Sure I could've put all my older riding buddies on the list that have been killing it for years, but I wanted this list to be comprised of the young up and coming riders that have a following and have put out solid media on Instagram recently. 
Without anymore hesitation, I present..
The Top 5 East Lake Ams
5) Gage Sharp
Age: 18
Location: Eastlake, Ohio
Style reference point: Front wheel
Instagram: @G_SHARP96
Instagram followers: ~772
Known Associations: Chipotle, Danscomp, BadVibe, Instagram
If He Wasn’t Riding BMX He Looks Like He Would Be: Cat caretaker at Petsmart
Likes: I had to put Gage on the ass end of this list because he gets all of the instagram attention, and If I put him as number 1 or 2 that would ruin the fun and surprise. Gage is very skilled at nose manual tricks and crank arm grinds. more skilled than most pro riders even. He has the ability to do many tricks over and over again which is great for an aspiring pro,
Dislikes: Owes me countless burritos. Doesnt keep wheels true, TOO MUCH INSTAGRAM, cant jump a spine.
Pro Potential: Ive heard things...

G$$Sharp



4) Brandon Sabatini
Age: 18
Location: Eastlake, Ohio
Style reference point: Aint even kno
Instagram: @BRANDONSABATINI
Instagram followers: ~241
Known Associations: @g_sharp96
If He Wasn’t Riding BMX He Looks Like He Would Be: Just some random kid
Likes: I like that he's backflip training at Chenga
Dislikes: I dont know much about brandon besides the fact that he is absolutely a Facebook whiner, or at least was at one point
Pro Potential: Its there, If he keeps training with G. Sharp they both can start making some serious money selling weed to make money to ride bikes and never get a job.






3) Jeremy Malishefski

Age: 18


Location: Eastlake, Ohio

Style reference point: Dirt jumps
Instagram: @JEREMYMALISHEFSKI
Instagram followers: ~283
Known Associations: HoodWoods, BadVibe, NavySeals, JEEP
If He Wasn’t Riding BMX He Looks Like He Would Be: In a tree
Likes: I like that Jeremy knows how to jump dirtjumps and long jump competitions
Dislikes: Does not ride his bicycle enough.
Pro Potential: Im not sure if Jeremy is too concerned with going pro right now. He has a lot of time ahead of him to figure that out though.

Jeremy has quite a few jumpin clips in the HoodWoods edit.

2) Scotty Spaid
Age: 18
Location: Eastlake, Ohio
Style reference point: 3 MPH
Instagram: @SCOTTYSPAID
Instagram followers: ~445
Known Associations: Chipotle, BadVibe, FORD, Squires Castle
If He Wasn’t Riding BMX He Looks Like He Would Be: Weight training and playing baseball
Likes: I like that scotty likes to go to shitty sledding hills to snowboard with me. He's always down for Chipotle and always comes through when he owes me burritos. Hes good at tech grind shit and can jump stuff sometimes.
Dislikes: I will always complain when people ride slow, thats his thing though. Scotty doesn't drink beer either, i guess thats not a bad thing, but if he even wants to go Pro at Eastlake....
Pro Potential: As long as he makes friends with the big wigs of bmx and wins all of the contests, he has a bright future.

This edit is from when Scotty first came on the scene. SOO good

1) Jeffy Phillips
Age: 25?
Location: Lakewood, Ohio
Style reference point: Beer drinkin and hell raisin
Instagram: @LUNCHBEERZ
Instagram followers: ~611
Known Associations: Groupchat, MDC, Foundry equipment, High-life, BadVibe
If He Wasn’t Riding BMX He Looks Like He Would Be: 35
Likes: Although already classified as pro, after quite a hiatus Jeffy is resurging into the BMX scene at an alarming rate. He is Re-Climbing up the Amatuer ranks and has shaken up the bmx community, causing discussion and debate in all of the online forums. He's even purchased a RaysMTB membership this year. I like that he is focused and determined to win all the competitions this coming year.
Dislikes: I will never be a fan of his motorcycles.
Pro Potential: Been there/Done that.

Jeffy has a small appearance riding a bike in this. Its not a bmx bike, but its a bike none the less, and a 40.


Another honorable mention would be this John kid(barspin kid) that appears in the split edit below between Gage and Himself(John). I haven't seen him around lately, but he would be on this list if I knew more about him,



So there you have it. This was supposed to be a short fun PARODY, but i ended up putting way too much work into this junk.


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