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Good grades teach you how to do Bike tricks |
Why I go to Penn State.
Hey everyone. It's me, Ron, again. Something you may not know about me is that I am currently a full-time student at Penn State University.
I know that the title of this blog may be a stretch, but the same work ethic and dedication that people with good grades apply to their studies can be applied to nearly anything in life to create positive results. That is something I really believe.
As you all probably know, I have my own business, Rise Above Entertainment. This, combined with everything I do with bike riding leaves a lot of my friends asking "why do you go to college"? I see their logic, college is thought to be a place where people go to train themselves for a career, and I already have one. But I don't see college that way.
I love to learn. In high school I learned how to design and fabricate metal and I used those skills to build the ramps that my teams ride. I learned math and that has helped me make the team work as a business. I learned how to write and speak effectively and that has helped me to write all the literature for this site as well as become a skilled event announcer. Inspiration can come from anywhere and skills you learn today can be applied to a limitless number of things tomorrow. Actually, little of what has made my team, or my "career" as a professional bike rider work has had anything to do with what tricks I can perform. I simply do that end of things because I enjoy it.
Truth be told, I want to accomplish many, many things in my life and a great education can be applied to all of them, BMX included. Like everyone, I want more opportunity than what I currently have and I believe that it lies, at least partially, in me continuing my education. I want more experience with a wider range of skills. I want to constantly challenge myself mentally and physically in order to give myself new perspectives on old practices. I want to learn about everything that I can.
So why do I go to college, even though I have my own business? I love to learn and challenge myself because since I was a poor kid in Michigan those have been the only things that have consistently excelled me to new heights in life and I'm aiming for the stars. I encourage anyone reading this to do the same. |
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Why the heck am I giving my bike away!?!? |
Why? I'd be lying if I said I haven't asked myself the same question, but then I put myself in the shoes of whatever fortunate kid ends up winning my bike and the answer becomes clear. (If you haven't heard about my bike giveaway, you can click the link at the top of the main page that says 'Win My Bike!!') I can picture how happy I would have been if I had won something like that as a kid. I hope that whoever wins it is inspired to try this amazing sport of BMX that I have been so lucky to be a part of! ...just as long as they wear their helmet.
I also owe it to the kids. I work hard, very hard. I do. But regardless, without kids, their parents, and the overwhelming support of all of the people that have ever watched us perform, I'd have no new bike around in order to give the old one away. I wouldn't have the best clothing sponsor in the world, Levi's. I wouldn't have all the great memories of the last several years. And perhaps most importantly of all I wouldn't even be able to stop and buy lunch on the way to the skatepark this afternoon. (I have the day off). And though I do work hard, I also realize that I do not work alone. If I can make a kid somewhere smile and excited to work hard for their self or their fundraiser then my goal in giving my bike away has been accomplished. If that boy or girl is inspired to try BMX and finds it to be as great of a thing as I have found it to be, then that's even better. If not. at least they will have an awesome bike!
And the final reason I want to give my bike away is... I want to make my team different and better than any other like it. If you read my first blog you know that I started the team on accident. It was never my original intention to have a 'stunt' or 'show' team. But once things started to go that route, I made a promise to myself that I was going to do things differently and better than anyone ever has. Using great riders is a key ingredient. My patent-pending ramp design has been another. I want to push the great things that my team does on many levels and giving back to the kids is most certainly one of them. So a third ingredient I've thrown in the mix to spice things up is my bike give-a-way.
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From LA to Jamaica and all points in-between. |
How Rise Above got to where it is today.
Although I built our initial equipment in my mom's driveway in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan, our reach has span the country and beyond. This would have never happened without the hard work of my very talented right-had man, Vinny. He has ridden with the team since day one, and I hope he chooses to continue doing so for a very long time.
About 1 year into running the team, Vinny and I wanted to change direction. We both lived in the same area of Michigan and didn't feel like our location was affording us much opportunity. We wanted to move somewhere to better our riding, the team, and our lives in general. At this point we had traveled coast to coast performing and riding. We had been to and experienced a lot of places and we had our sights focused on what would become our new home and the new location of Rise Above Entertainment, Camp Woodward. (I encourage you to check out their website @ www.woodwardcamp.com ) Vinny and I had a mutual passion for BMX and we figured what better place to hone our skills and further the team that the world's best skatepark!
Since Woodward Camp is a private facility we had to pull some strings, but thankfully all worked out and in October of 2006 we packed our bags and moved to Woodward. Since living there, we have got to ride with the absolute best BMX-ers on the planet nearly every day. Our average session includes guys like Daniel Dhers, Jamie Bestwick, Steve McCann and all the other amazing riders that live close by. This has pushed mine and Vinnie's riding to levels we never thought possible, and in turn, helped us push the Rise Above BMX Team to a level far-beyond any rivals.
The professionalism through which we approach business combine with the exceptionally talented athletes we have readily available at camp has given us a sharp edge no competitor can touch and helped our small team grown to a national company. We now have 2 full-fledged performance teams running full time during the busy season. They are managed by any combination of myself, Vinny, and Dan Sieg. Dan is a long-time veteran to our industry and ground breaking rider as well. You can look him up in our rider profiles to find out more about him.
Through the hard work and dedication of not only myself, Vinny, and Dan, but also all the athletes that have performed for our team over the years, we have been able to produce and participate in events nationwide and beyond. From a shopping mall in Las Vegas to a concert in Jamaica, we have entertained millions in the last 4 years and I want to personally thank everyone that has ever rode for our team because without them it would have never been possible. |
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How our company began by accident. |
There have been some astonishing things that happened to all of us at the Rise Above BMX Team since it began just about 4 years ago. I was 20 when I started the team, and I started it with my friends Matt Carmichael and Eric "Vinny" Vasquez. We had just 8 days of performances in our first season; spring of 2005. Now, as the fall of 2008 comes to a close and our 200+ performances end on a great note, I would like to take a minute to write about a few of the great things that have happened to us, the Rise Above family, a family that seems to be growing by the day.
It was never my goal to start a BMX "stunt" or "show" team originally. I toured with a couple of other teams for just over two years directly after high school and after a couple of pretty severe injuries, I wasn't sure that BMX was for me. So instead of continuing to ride BMX, I returned to my hometown of Wyandotte, Michigan and began to work as a plumber and residential contractor. I was 20 at the time. I was working like crazy, all night at times, and in the process was able to save up just over $10,000. My original plan was to buy a house that needed work, then fix it up and sell it but that all changed one day at the skatepark. I hadn't ridden in about a month, but some friends of mine talked me into going up to our local public skatepark, a place where we all used to ride together every day. Well, that day I ended up learning a dream trick of mine, no-handed 360's. To all of the adults reading this that have never ridden a bike, this may be hard to understand but to anyone out there familiar with the feeling of learning a trick on a bike, skateboard, whatever, that you never thought possible for yourself; you know exactly what I mean. I couldn't sleep right for days after I learned that trick. I am a passionate, hardworking person and a fire had been lit inside me! All I wanted to do was quit my job and ride!
But I had a problem. We had a local skatepark, but honestly, it wasn't very good at all. Aside from a short hiatus, I had been riding for about 10 years at this point and I needed something bigger, something better than what our local park or any skatepark in Michigan had to offer at the time if I wanted to push things to the next level for myself. So I decided to take all the money that I had saved for a house and use it to build ramps at my mom's house where I was living at the time. But since we lived in the suburbs of Detroit, they couldn't be in the yard permanently. I was forced to build all the ramps out of steel and make them collapsible so that I could put them away at the end of the day when I was done riding them. Without a second thought, I borrowed a welder, drew a design, bought the materials and started building. 6 months later, when all was said and done, I had spent nearly my entire savings on two ramps. But they were entirely mobile and thatís when a light bulb went off in my head: I could book events to make that money back. So I borrowed my sister's truck and through some contacts I had made during my years touring, I was able to piece together an 8 day tour. I realized that this work, this entrepreneurial spin on BMX was much more fulfilling to me than any of the construction trades so I out the pedal to the medal, or better the rubber to the ramps, and Rise Above Entertainment was born. |
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Hi all! I’m Ron Thomas and I own the team. I started it in 2005 after riding for others. I have been riding bikes since right around 1997. I’m 24 right now (2008). My sponsors include Levi’s Jeans, Albe’s BMX Mail-order, and my company, Rise Above Entertainment. I am a full time student at Penn State University but I still manage to travel nearly every week and ride for fun all the time too! I design and build all of our equipment and handle all the behind-the-scenes work for the teams. All of my contact info can be found on the site and I welcome you to get in touch with me if you have any questions.
