2/16/07, 5:55 pm EST

Week Five Finalist: Eric Bonholtzer on BMX Rider Ryan Nyquist

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Note: This is not an official Rolling Stone article. What follows is a submission to the “I’m From Rolling Stone” writing competition.

by Eric Bonholtzer
Age: 25

With the third annual Dew Action Sports Tour looming on the horizon, multi-medal winning BMX rider, Ryan Nyquist, 27, is wasting no time prepping for the competition. “With the introduction of the Dew tour we’ve had more stuff to focus on,” he says. “Rather than just one contest a year, we have one contest a month throughout the season,” demonstrating just how far BMX racing has come. “TV is the main thing that helped boost it,” Nyquist declares. “ESPN started to cover our sport and now we have NBC and other channels.”

At the heart of it, though, are the riders, and Nyquist, who pioneered such incredible tricks as the 360 Front Flip over a spine, is constantly searching for the next great feat. “My stuff is more original from years of riding and experience,” says Nyquist, who is well-known for being very technical when it comes to fashioning his innovative stunts, crafting a careful formula where he considers brake usage in conjunction with the dynamics of the bike. “There’s a lot of physics involved,” he explains. “It sounds really nerdy and technical, but it turns out really cool.” His dedication is just another facet of demonstrating his gratitude for participating in his profession, summing up his love for the sport by saying, “You travel, you hang out with friends, you ride a little kid’s bike and you have good time with it.”

Nyquist, who hails from Greensville, South Carolina, recognizes the difficulty of the competition declaring, “We’ve always said ‘any guy out there can win,’ “and within the past couple of years it’s literally been true.” However, with Nyquist on top of his game, this year’s season should be more exciting than ever, leaving fans with little doubt as to why the competition is dubbed ‘action sports.’