"Never Bored on a Board" by The Wiley One, Download Now!

An @ Mkbain exclusive!

As Sam Wiley ollied over a massive flight of 10 stairs, he thought he’d like to get sponsored and enter the world of professional skateboarding.

As Sammy slammed into the ground at the base of those same stairs and severely sprained his ankle, he thought he’d like to write and perform music for a living instead.

Lucky for us, his ankle never fully healed.

The Wiley One, Sammy’s modern reggae-inspired rock band, features down-to-earth messages focused on promoting spiritual and artistic expression, saving the environment, and finding joy in every day’s struggles, set to a rhythm of catchy, up-beat guitar riffs. With his skateboarding background, The Wiley One’s music is an ideal companion to any board rider’s session, whether skate, snow or surf.

“When you forget the past, the future, and live in the now, you will feel true bliss and freedom. Music and boarding does that for us,” Sammy believes.

Pro surfer Holly Beck agrees—she uses The Wiley One’s “Go Green” as the sole track in her sustainable living and surfing video, “Life After Competitive Surfing is a bit greener.” The Wiley One’s passion for the environment and working with nature melds perfectly into the world of surf, sand and sun.

“Surfing is my last boarding conquest,” Sammy admits. “I consider myself to be a spiritual person and surfing is spiritual in nature. I love the ocean and everything about surfing.”

The Wiley One has also caught the attention of the X Games, and for the past three years they have performed songs such as their hit “Go Green” to the games’ immense crowds of extreme sports enthusiasts. This summer, The Wiley One plans to kick off their summer tour surrounding the X Games with a string of bio-diesel solar powered shows along the Pacific Coast Highway from July 21-31. The band will be previewing their new single “Never Bored on A Board,” scheduled to launch later this year.

Fuel TV features The Wiley One’s “False Reality” on an episode of Firsthand featuring pro surfer Damien Hobgood, letting Sammy’s music illustrate the calming, playful vibes of surfing in Tahiti.

For Sammy, these vibes fit the description of The Wiley One perfectly—cunning, enticing and lighthearted. And for the boarding world, The Wiley One’s passion and impact through music fits its sports just as well.

A story by Jessica Conditt
Sundawg Media


The anticipation is over, download this track by clicking here!

Update: Congratulations to Chase O'Dell, who got the trivia questions right and won the SK8BOX deck with Paradox grip.

Gatorade Free Flow Tour lands in Encinitas!

Last Sunday, June 13th, The Gatorade Free Flow Tour made it's stop in Encinitas at the Ecke YMCA. GFFT tours our nation looking for the nest generation of skateboarders and BMXers. At this stop they had Vert and Street events. I was able to attend the vert contest and was stoked at the level of riding I witnessed.

The event was held on a giant vert ramp that was first used in the 2003 X Games and then donated to the Y.  Danny Mayer, Adam Taylor, Josh Strafford, and Paul-Luc Ronchetti were the judges and they are seriously qualified.  If you are not familiar with any of the names I just mentioned, do yourself a favor and look them up.

There were roughly 18 skaters under 21 broken into 2 heats.  Each and every skater shredded the immense ramp.  It was awesome to see kids less than 4 feet tall flying above the coping of a 13' deep ramp.  Some of the skaters were close to 6 feet above the deck.  540s, great lip tricks, flip tricks, and amplitude were all here as these riders threw down every thing they had for their chance at the finals.  Judging was difficult, I am sure, but five finalists were chosen. Tom Shaar, Joey Hamlisch, Jesse McDonald, Cory Juneao, and Jimmy Wilkins.

In the finals the riding only continued to impress.  Tom Shaar and Cory Juneao were the smaller skaters in the final, but that didn't stop them from flyin out of the ramp with style!  Jesse had airs, inverts, and boardslides that blew me away.  Joey had varials and kickflips mixed in with his airs and lip tricks.  Jimmy threw 3 different 540s in his run!  It was hard to imagine before going to this contest that the riding would be at this level.  Who said vert is dead?  These kids are proving that vert is alive, and I am excited for the future of vert riding knowing they are out there shreddin it up!  The final reults were 1)Jimmy Wilkins 2)Tom Shaar 3)Joey Hamlisch 4)Jesse McDonald 5)Cory Juneau.



For coverage of the street contest, which I unfortunately could not attend, click here

Espn's Next X is coming back!

Season two of the reality sports series, “Next X”, featuring star athletes Bucky Lasek, Rune Glifberg, Daniel Dhers and Gary Young, mentoring young amateur competitors in their chosen sport, will premiere Monday, June 21, (7:15 p.m., ET/PT) on Disney XD. Developed by Disney XD in association with ESPN, it marks the second iteration of "Next X".

Who: The series features professional skateboarders Bucky Lasek and Rune Glifberg and professional BMX riders Daniel Dhers and Gary Young, as they pair up with four talented amateurs to help sharpen their technical skills, perform new tricks and try to become the next generation's action sports superstars.

The young athletes include Jamie Cooper-Ellis, a 12-year-old BMX rider from Putney, Vt.; Heimana Reynolds, an 11-year-old skateboarder from Honolulu, Hawaii; Alana Smith, a nine-year-old skateboarder from Mesa, Ariz.; and Tucker Smith, an 11-year-old BMX rider from Laguna Hills, Calif.

What: An action-packed reality sports series featuring athletes mentoring young amateur competitors in their chosen sport. Sponsored by Hasbro, the six-episode, short-form series will premier on Disney XD and Disney XD.com, with new episodes airing every Monday night until July 26. "Next X," developed by Disney XD in association with ESPN, reached 24.7 million viewers, including 4.3 million boys 6-11 last summer on Disney XD.

“Next X" will culminate with one amateur athlete named the Next X, who will then have the opportunity to showcase his or her action sports skills on the course at X Games 16. A 30-minute "Next X" special will be shot at X Games 16, which will feature the amateur athlete's VIP experience and will air in August on Disney XD.

When: Monday, June 21 (7:15 p.m. ET/PT) .

Where: Disney XD and Disney XD.com

Bob Burnquist, Combi Sessions

Bob Burnquist is a seriously great skater, you know this!  Here is a montage of him skating the week leading up to the Pro Tec Pool Party.  His IPad even shows up at the beginning.  Who knows how many of these tricks Bob would have put down in the final if he didn't slam sooo hard in the pre-lims.  I hope he is feeling better and getting ready for the Dew Tour and X Games. 

Gatorade Free Flow Tour in Perris!

On June 12, 2010, Perris, CA was treated with the Gatorade Free Flow Tour. If you are not familiar with the tour, the GFFT is the "minor leagues" of the Dew Tour. GFFT holds many events across the country looking for the best amateur BMX riders and skateboarders. I was blown away by the level of riding at this event. The Junior division that consists of riders 12 years old and younger was great to watch. These kids were throwing 360s, tweaked out airs, tail whips, tucked no handers, and one kid even threw his first back flip (3rd try) ever! Official results were Parker Heath 3rd, River Bias 2nd, and Pierce Howell 1rst.  Pierce (1rst) and Parker (3rd) consider the Krause Family YMCA in Clairemont their home park, and I do as well.

In the open division, the park riding was on par with the pros!  The riders are raising the bar of what is considered amateur to a level that is unbelievable.  I saw double tail whips, superman whips, 360 whips, front flips, flairs, flair whips, and even 720s!  Daniel Sandoval, Kevin Peraza, and Chris Rivers, listed first to third, are names to remember, they will be pros soon!  I felt lucky to be watching these guys.


The dirt contest, in it's first year with the GFFT, was the star of the show.  The blasting airs, creative use of the dirt park, amazing level of riding, and the fast paced action was outstanding!  I was seriously impressed these guys were putting down corked 360s, double tail whips, tail whip 360s, back and front flips, and again 720s, one into a banking left hander! Larry Edgar was seriously blasting into the atmosphere, going bigger than anyone else. In the slide titled extension, he has that amount of style at the apex of a 360 tail whip in the middle of a run! Daniel Sandoval's superman whips and 720s were amazingly polished, and since he won the park contest , I have to give the MVP award to him!  Kevin Peraza borrowed a 26" bike (usually riding a 20" bike) from a Demon Dirt rider and killed it.  Ending one of his first 26" dirt runs ever, he landed the super man in the slide show, and the crowd went wild! Official results were Kevin Peraza 3rd, Daniel Sandoval 2nd, and Larry Edgar with the win.

After driving 160 miles in a 12 hour day to cover this event I was still hyped up.  I had to view the hundreds of pictures I took right away.  I will share them all soon, but for now you will have to live with the slide show.  If you were in the event, chances are I have shots of you, send an email to mkbainsports@gmail.com and I will share previews.  Thank you Gatorade, Allisports, and The Compound for providing such an excellent amateur contest to encourage the next generation of riders!

Mondays with Mike V #9

This week's Mondays with Mike V is the best in the series so far. He takes you through a great day. Watch, and don't feel too sorry for Larry, after all he works for one of the best skaters in the biz!

Gatorade Free Flow Tour hits So Cal!

The Gatorade Free Flow Tour is coming to Southern California this weekend. Come out and support the up and coming action sports athletes!

Saturday will be BMX park and dirt contest at Da Compound in Perris, CA. Check out www.dacompound.com for location details. Here is the schedule of events:

9:00 AM – 11:00 AM Registration
9:00 AM – 11:30 AM Practice
11:30 AM – 12:15 PM Junior Jam
12:30 PM – 2:30 PM Open Park
3:00 PM – 5:00 PM – Open Dirt
5:30 PM Awards
Sunday will be park and vert skateboarding at the Madalena Ecke YMCA in Encinitas, CA.Go to
http://ecke.ymca.org for location details. Here is the schedule for Encinitas:

9:00 AM – 11:00 AM Registration
9:00 AM – 12:00 PM Practice
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM Open Skate Vert
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM Junior Jam
2:00 PM – 4:30 PM Open Skate Park 1st and 2nd Round
4:30 PM – 5:00 PM Open Skate Finals
5:00 PM Awards


 Pierr-Luc Gagnon, Danny Mayer, and Adam Taylor are scheduled to judge the vert comp!

For more information about the GFFT have a look at http://www.allisports.com/gatorade-free-flow-tour

Checkin' in with Burnquist

Bob Burnquist is one of the best skaters in the world. He has a tremendous backyard playground that can only be called a skater's paradise! In this video we find out what Bob has been up to lately and see some amazing mega ramp skating. Bob throws some amazing tricks that are incredibly difficult on regular ramps, let alone the mega. If you don't realize it, most of these tricks you are seeing are firsts for mega ramps. The mega ramp is far bigger than it looks in this video, if you have a chance to go to X Games at the end of July, make sure you get tickets to the mega ramp events. You will not believe how crazy these riders are. The top of the mega ramp is 90 feet above the ground, they are jumping a 75 foot gap, and then hitting a 24 foot high quarter pipe at the end. At the highest point, while airing above the quarter pipe, some riders are more than 50 feet high. This is a must see for anyone that even mildly likes skateboarding or BMX!