Jamie Bestwick Interview - World’s Best Vert Rider Now Riding For DK Bicycles

FatTony

• July 15 2009
• 2,315 views
• 10 comments

Interview and photos by Fat.

We saw the DK sticker on Jamie’s head tube a few weeks ago at Dew Tour in Chicago, but since Ride isn’t trying to be a tabloid we didn’t want to say anything until we got the official word from either Jamie or DK. Well we have it, so we hit up the man himself to find out more about his new gig with DK along with some other things that were on our mind.

This is getting posted a little late due to the fact that Jamie was off in Germany winning the BMX Worlds…

Big news here…you are on DK Bicycles after a few years of not having a bike sponsor, fill us in on all the details…
I stopped by DK a few months ago, and after a small discussion with Bill and Catfish we agreed that it would be a great idea if we could all work together, and as they had been hooking me up for a couple of years with bikes it seemed like a natural progression to move on to something more solid, a move on to DK.

What are you most excited about with being on DK now?
Just being a part of a bike team again. I have missed those days, they are good times. Also, I highly respect all the members of team DK. Drew Bezanson is one of my favorite riders along with Kachinsky and B. Hunt. And who wouldn’t want Catfish as a team manager? It has more of a family atmosphere than anything.

Jamie and his new team manager on the deck of the vert ramp.

What frame are you riding?
I picked the Brian Kachinsky frame because if Brian Kachinsky can’t kill the frame, then I have no chance. The dimensions were right and it comes in white, which is what I have gone with this year.

Why do some of the top riders go so long without bike sponsors?
It was solely my own choice to not have a bike sponsor, after the whole GT thing I vowed I would never ride for another bike company. But after being with the System Cycle guys for a while they just put me at ease about joining a team again. It’s going to be a lot of fun.

At the Chicago Dew Tour recently, on your first run you dropped in and crashed on a flair on the first wall. Then after you won the contest with your flawless second run you made a comment about having to resort to “your old style of riding.” Explain…
Well, in Chicago I rode in like I do everyday. I drop into flairs all the time, it’s just too much fun. In a contest I usually like to go wide open from the start, so when it didn’t pan out in that first run I just said I am going back to how I always ride in as fast as I and go, as high as I can, that’s all. No point in messing around—go big, or do push ups Big Daddy style in the flat bottom!

Even after starting off the contest season with a crash on the first wall, Jamie was still smiling.

Every year when a new contest season starts we hear about people who have been “working on tricks in the off season.” Do you have any tricks you can tell us about that you haven’t brought to the contest ramp yet?
Yeah, I have a few good ones that I wanted to do in Chicago, it’s just sometimes the night dictates what gets done. And in my last run I had to watch three top guys get pummeled by the ramp, so it wasn’t easy to go in and start dropping bangers when guys where getting smashed up. I have nothing that’s a secret. In fact, most of the kids will tell you what I am doing as they all sit in on sessions. I think this year I wanted to work on putting harder tricks together. While its important to be progressive, it’s harder to link hard trick back to back. Ask any flatlander…

Why are people so secretive about their tricks like this anyway?
Not sure. Maybe they want the competitive edge that will give them an advantage over their rival; maybe they want to shock the BMX world with something new; or maybe they want to be the first to do a certain thing…

Are you mad that I took a photo with my telephoto lens of your wife at Dew Tour, not realizing that it was your wife?
No, I am not mad as this is typical of any photographer who shoots at a contest. While they have a great mix of the best action shots of the day, they also have a huge file of women from the contest who they unsuspectingly shoot. I guarantee I know what you took a photo of, and would like a copy for my collection please! Haha, love it! I just told her, and I will point you out at the next event! Haha, even better!

Jamie’s beautiful wife, his awesome son, and the photo in question… Add it to your collection, Jamie, haha!

Speaking of your family, you’ve taken your son up to the podium a few times after you’ve won big contests… Is the lil’ tyke riding yet?
Yeah, he loves riding. In fact, he took me down to little dirt at Woodward the other week to watch him go through all the jumps! Crazy, as he hadn’t even turned four yet. I am so proud he can come to the contests and watch, and when I do well I take him up on the podium as it’s just as special for me as it is for him. I like him to enjoy my success. Plus, his classmates think he’s super cool! As for the future, the future is up to him. I’m not a pushy dad and I will just enjoy watching him grow and if it’s following in my footsteps and he looks to me for help with riding, then I will help. But I can’t imagine at what point he would start from as right now a kids first trick is a double whip, so it will be insane to see were his generation will take the sport to.

Jamie and his son on the vert podium in Chicago.

Now on to the real question I want to know. You have to answer this truthfully and not the way you are “supposed” to answer in order to be politically correct or whatever… How do you deal with being the best vert rider ever? That’s not an over zealous compliment—that’s a fact and no one can deny it, so you are obviously aware of this fact. So, waking up every day and knowing that you are hands down best in the world at a given task (riding a vert ramp), how does that make you feel? I think there are very few people in the world who can honestly say they are the absolute best at something, so I just wonder how your brain works… I would ask Oprah this same question, and Billy Mays (if he hadn’t just died).
If I ever woke up feeling that I was the best there had ever been, or is, then that would not be me. I am constantly striving to be better, to progress, and to make my riding the best it can be. When you look at what I have achieved, it’s absolutely incredible in both competition and in progression! I am very proud of it, considering where it all started from. Yet the day I start to get complacent and sit back, then that’s the day I quit! When people tell you you’re the best it’s a very high compliment, but you have to believe this, and as somebody at their top of their sport, the competition becomes with yourself, and everyday I am striving harder, wanting to learn more and progress. I feel that it would be like this for anyone at the top of any sport.

To be the best you have to be hard on yourself because there is always someone wanting to take your place in the sun and bask in the glory.

When the best in the world says he will do a few tricks for you, have your camera ready and be prepared for him to be much higher than everyone else you were shooting. Superman seatgrab out of my frame…

Any last words?
Yeah, I’m the best vert rider in the world! Now where’s my OBE, England?

Thanks to all the crew at DK—happy to be a part of a good thing!

Jamie has some of the and highest downside tailwhips in BMX.