A look back

I have been thinking for a while about what this blog should be. I know it should be about my little business, RetroBMX. But the fact is that I don't have much to talk about there.

I don't have a lot of witty or incisive world observations to share with you.

And the Vikings are out of the playoffs, so I have nothing to carry on about there.

One thing I do have is a lot of magazines. I have saved every bike magazine I ever purchased, or subscribed to. And it is kinda sad that these magazines just sit around, collecting dust.

So I think it is time to start mining the magazines for material.

Here is the first image from one of my old mags...



The story inside this magazine made a lasting impression on me. I memorized a lot of the details that Bob Haro shared about his experiences working as a stunt double on the E.T. set.





Fast forward to 2007. Bob Haro had been booked to be the "Honored Guest" at the annual Rockford Gathering. I decided it was time to realize a long term ambition of mine as a BMX collector. I built what I call a "Bob Haro E.T. Replica" to show at Rockford. I got Bob to autograph it...



















...and a picture of the bike appeared in BMX World magazine, in their Rockford recap.



The caption reads "Each year this gathering seems to unearth a few rarities." The funny thing is, most of the Rockford attendees had no idea what this crazy-painted Kuwahara was supposed to be. And I am not sure that whoever wrote the caption knew what it was either...it was a replica of the bike ridden by the character "Tyler", who was stunt-doubled by Bob Haro, in the E.T. movie.

If you'd like to learn more about my E.T. obsession, go to my photobucket, http://s58.photobucket.com/home/retroBMX/allalbums where there are all manner of E.T. pics, and scans of the story from the BMX Plus issue pictured above.