THE GIANT KILLER pro Brian Stewart tells all, and then some!

Written by Aaron Monday, 13 April 2009 17:07

In Dearborn Heights Michigan, (about 10 miles from Detroit) is Transitions Ramp Park. TRP as it is commonly known, is home to some of the most ridiculouslly radical shedders around. Its not uncommon to see pro's like Matt Sparks, Brandon Dosch and Brian Stewart catching massively big air with super tech tricks. You may have not heard of Brian (a.k.a."Stewy"), but he is quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with. Brian took 10th place in the JOMOPRO last week and will be competing at the Dew Tour games next month. I've had the opportunity to ride with Brian on many occcasions at TRP and I can tell you his incredible riding radness is only matched by his humble and shy demeanor. I had a chance to sit down with Brian in between one of his latest rad sessions and find out more about Jedi shred master himself.

Aaron: So how long have you been pro?

Brian: um, a year

Aaron: Who are your factory sponsors?

Brian: ummm..ALBES, RETRO RAD, MONSTER FLOW TEAM and I like to suppost my local skate park TRANSITIONS.

Aaron: How would you describe your style of riding?

Brian: umm, I'd say my riding style is like, more less like a "trail-style", "flowy", just like a lotta whips, uh 360's. I like to find like the biggest gaps, and just go fast, and get rad.

Aaron: So what would you say comes naturally to your riding?

Brian: Well....pretty much alot of tech tricks, like alot of foot jam variations, just like anything like turn downs, look backs, tables, just...anything like that though, ya know, it's just flow'in, just go'in big and go'in fast.

Aaron: So what needs work?

Brian:  Hmm, well umm, definately my tail whips..like I've really been on the train for that one, gett'in my tail whips over box jumps and all that but, I'm gonna start work'in on those alot and start work'in on bar spin airs and just try to get alot of newer tricks that are improved to display..gett'in "dialed" you know?

Aaron: Everything you do looks pretty good anyway. So what are your big accomplishments?

Brian: Umm...

Aaron: We heard you took 10th at the JOMOPRO, dude that's awesome!

Brian: Yeah I got 10th at JOMOPRO...

Aaron: Out of how many riders?

Brian: 59 people

Aaron: Sweet!

Brian:  And a...got a couple of 1st places at my local skate park Transitions and won the MONSTER FLOW ARMY TOUR and got picked up by ALBES and RETRO RAD, real siked on that.

Aaron: So who do you ride with?

Brian: Umm, John Reed, fur sure..

Aaron: That dude does killer turn downs.

Brian: Yeah..my freind Matt Carmicael, umm, Jeff Tab, Justin Bayliss, and Steve Brynes and uh, Kenny Sanders, Scotty G. and B. Dosch and them.

Aaron: Yeah those guys are super shedders.

Brian:  Fur sure.

Aaron: So what do you do when your not riding, what do you do besides BMX?

Brian: Umm, I like to play video games..I'm all about Skate 2 and Call of Duty, umm, I like to go camping, thats always refreshing to leave the city, ya know escape the city and noise. and nonsense.

Aaron: Ok, so how do you train for your compititions besides riding? Your pretty muscular dude, you work out  much with weights?

Brian: Umm, I like to keep my body in shape, gett'in healthy and stuff. I like workout alittle on the Bowflex, couple of pushups and situps, take my dog for walk or whatever, just keep myself healthy. Its all about being healthy.

Aaron: Right on..so who do you look up too?

Brian: Umm, definately Jason Suchan a.k.a."Such", Mark Flipowist, Solan Foster, Chris Doyle, Chris Bennet, Shawn Saxton, Garret Renolds, it's..it's just endless because you just watch every type of rider..that comes with their bags of tricks and it's just everything, a different eye catch to you and you pick up on that, and your drawn to like their style, and you start to ride like them and they become your hero. Anybody I've rode with and shared a session with and ya know, be there and feed of them and learn new tricks with them or anything, anyone thats here to ride with me.

Aaron: Yeah, Solans a great example, he's close to 40 and still shredding. We rode together in the early 80's and now racing and practicing together.

Brian: Yeah, yeah fer sure the man's got talent, still ripp'in!

Aaron: So who is your toughest competition?

Brian: uuhhh I'd have to say my next trick...definately my next trick

APL: So your toughest competition is yourself?

Brian: Exactly..

Aaron: Whats the worst thing that happened to you in competition? And did you come back?

Brian:  umm, I was at the Riot Airfield contest and there's this gap that I had to physically pedal as fast as could, and I came up short the first time and bounced my chin right off my bars and kinda knocked myself silly and put a nice gash in my chin but with all that andrenaline, motivation and ya know, will power and not to take failure as a option, I went back and got it and little bloody and banged up afterwards but I acheived my goal and didnt regret it

Aaron: Cool. What's the most interesting place you've been riding?

Brian:  umm, about 3 years ago I went on a tour for DK and the RIDE BMX stunt team and we went pretty much all around the United States so I got to see the ocean for the first my time, the Grand Canyon Arizona, um the Hoover Dam, been out to the Yellow Stone Park, seen "Old Faithful", just got to see millions of places, if it was'nt for that trip I would'nt have gotten that opportunity.

Aaron: You get to ride your bike on the Hoover Dam or across it?

Brian: No, we were in the truck with the trailure so we could only jump out for a minute and check it out, got some pictures of it.

Aaron: Tell me somthing about your self,  know one knows....

Brian:  I can definately make some really good crepes!

Aaron: Really???

Brian: Yeah..if you don't know what crepes are their a old English pancake thats just like a pancake but its more flat and then you put jelly or strawberry in it. Probably been my favorite since I was a little kid.

Aaron: Dude, you gotta make some for us!

Brian: Fur sure. And I ...never been on a ..roller coaster...I highly doubt I ever will be!

Aaron:  WHAT!!??

Brian: Yeah...

Aaron: ARE YOU SERIOUS?

Brian:   Yeah, no joke...

Aaron: Your afraid of rollercoasters?

Brian:  Never been on one never will...you could be like, "here's $200. bucks, go on this with me", I'd be like NO WAY!

Aaron: Dude, your like doing 360's over the spine man, and you won't go over a rollercoaster..

Brian:  Nope, I just, I don't know..scary.

Aaron: You don't mind if I put that in the interview do you?

Brian: Oh I don't care that's fine.

Aaron: You have any nick names?

Brian: "Stewy", "Big Stu"

Aaron:  O.k. what 3 things would you choose to have if you were stranded on a island?

Brian: Uhh, a spear. Umm, like what can this be, can it be anything? Like can I say a bag full of lighters to start a fire?

Aaron: Only 1 lighter, you can have the bag.

Brian: ummm, lets see, thats a good question.

Aaron: Think about things to survive with..

Brian: A machete,  a spear, and....goggles!

Aaron: OK. Favorite food?

Brian: hmmm, that's a good one. I' have to say chop suey.

Aaron: Really?

Brian: Yeah, I only have chop suey made by my grandma though.

Aaron:  Your diet any diffeent around contests?

Brian: umm, I definately watch what I eat 'cause around the contest I start working out a little more just to straighten out my body and get it ready for the beating at the contest. Yeah I definately watch like the "junk-foods", and try to stay away from the pop and all that and eat healthier, not drink so much sugar and all that.

Aaron: What would you do if I gave you a million dollars?

Brian:  If you gave me a $1,000,000 dollars I would put it in the bank for 1 full year and not touch it and live off the interest of a $100,000 for the full year, because anyone in their right mind can live off a $100,000 for a whole year for the rest of their lives, it's just ya just gotta maintain and not get all "money fingers" and go blow it all and have noth'in to look back on.

Aaron: I don't think your gonna find any bank thats gonna give you 10% interest rate Stu, maybe more like 2 or 3

Brian: Yeah, yeah, lol

Aaron: You could live off $30-$40k a year though right huh?

Brian: Oh yeah totally def man!

Aaron:  So what's your advice for younger riders?

Brian: Definately stay away from drugs and alcohol, like that's thats the main goal in life you gotta keep a clear headed mind. If you want something bad enough, just like learning a new trick in BMX ya know, your not gonna do it your first try, it may take 80 times to do it right, but thats the glory of it, when you look back at those 79 other trys and how hard it was, and where you are now with this trick, what a accomplishment! Anythings possible in life, and if you want to be a pro BMXer and make money having fun riding your bike and give back to the BMX community then thats something you can do, you just got to want it bad enough and do whatevers possible to make it happen.

Aaron: Word! So whats the best thing you like about BMX?

Brian:  Umm, Definately the freinds who are like family, like when you go on road trips and your buddy down in Kentucky or Texas and you get to meet their family and see how each other lives, and you meet so many new people, and get to see all these people that share the same interests, "riding a little kids bike" and gett'in RAD is just awesome.

Aaron: Tell us something you've done that you'll never do again.

Brian: Uh, yeah, I um am not happy about this, FYI, but I used to rollerblade, I used to be a "fruitbooter", a "moonwalker".  I definately regret it...

Aaron: Uhh okay,  thats too bad dude

Brian: Totally lol

Aaron/ So what are your goals right now?

Brian:  Ummm, this year it's to make sure that I focus alot on the Dew Tour and try to do as good as I can, just make sure I have fun also and not push myself too hard but definately want to get my name out there alot more this year and get alot more coverage and see what I can do and maybe get picked up or somethin and see how it go's.

Aaron:  Whats your favorite spot to ride right now?

Brian: Umm, right now I'd say Transititions, 'cause it has a bit of everthing I want but a.. if I could go back to any park I've rode I would definately go back to the Autum Skate Park in Missouri, they have the "sickess" bowls and lines, its amazing.

Aaron: Favorite TV show?

Brian: Uhhh, I'd say House, fer sure.

Aaron: Biggest memory in terms of BMX?

Brian: Umm, going on the Albes trip when we got the new Albes bus and we stopped at North Carolina at Dave Mirra and Ryan Nyqists warehouse, that was probably one of the funnest moments of my life just  gett'in to meet two professional's who have been there for so long. They've created and invented so many tricks, it's just awesome to get to meet someone who's put all this work into BMX and made it what it is.

Aaron: How tall are you?

Brian/ Heh, heh well I'm 5'3, a little guy, but I pack a mean punch!

Aaron:  It's obvious your shorter than most of the riders out there, do you think that give you a advantage or disadvantage to your riding?

Brian: Umm, I don't know, I look at alot of tall people and when they it the ground they just kind of smack it when they land, I guess for me being short when I hit I just tuck and roll and it's not that bad, it might be a advantage but, everybody falls, you either take it or you don't. They don't call me "Big Stu" for nuth'in 'cause I get right back up.

Aaron: "Big Stu the Giant Killer" stay rad bro!

Brian/ LOL! Yeah fur sure!