Terry Adams doesn't just win big competitions, he makes things happen. © Yasu
The Katrina Kid
Jan 28 2007 / Los Angeles, CA It doesn’t matter if you’ve never heard of flatland BMX because Terry Adams is going to make sure you know exactly what it’s all aboutThere are a few things about Terry Adams that totally will blow your mind.
There’s more to BMX than dirt jumps and vert ramps. As Terry Adams will tell you, it’s all about flatland. Terry definitely that street cool vibe going on, with a tattoo sprawled across his ripped belly and hip flexor muscles that always seem to be peeking out from his low-slung pants.
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But watch the kid ride and the complete picture emerges: A master of balance, coordination and guts, he can flip and spin that bike beneath his feet like the blades of a helicopter, like he’s just on the verge of airborne. Like Adams says, “flatland can be taken anywhere there’s a flat surface,” but what makes him magic is his ability to turn it into so much more.
That’s not the whole story, though.
From the time he was a little kid, Adams seemed to have this crazy ability to turn bad fortune into opportunity. For starters, he grew up in the small town of Hammond, Louisiana and was home schooled because of serious asthma. He outgrew the asthma when he was 11 and discovered BMX. Instead of making him go back to school, his mom drove him to contests all over the Southeast. But she raised him right: He managed to finish high school by the time he was 15 and put in two years of college at nearby Southern Louisiana State University, earning a 4.0 grade point average while traveling to pursue a pro career.
It definitely seems like it’s that body and brains combo that’s launched him over the top. No doubt he’s an insane rider, winning big comps like the Asian X Games in Korea, the Flat Jam in Providence, R.I. and Texas Roundup 2. But where he’s really gotten ahead is in taking some serious initiative and making things happen.
Take the fact that no Flatland rider has ever been on the cover of a major BMX magazine. Adams decided to change that. He created a new trick he thought would be worthy and sent photos to the editors. Then he called them—more than a few times. “It was a big deal because a lot of riders thought flatland wouldn’t make the cover. I invented a trick that I thought would look really insane and called them up and said, ‘Look, I have a trick that’s perfect for the cover. Fly me out there and let’s shoot it.’ I pushed hard, but I did it not only for myself but for the future of flatland.” The shot of Adams doing his signature trick, “Katrina” was the first-ever flatland cover, featured on the cover of the December 2005 issue of Ride BMX magazine.
When Adams didn’t like the way flatland contests were being handled in the U.S., he created the Voodoo Jam, now in its third year in New Orleans. “Flatland needed to be presented properly, so that’s what we did,” Adams says. The contest is held at night in what he calls a “nightclub atmosphere” with a DJ and lights and a more exciting head-to-head format. “Now that we did that, everyone is copying our format around the world,” he says.
It seemed like the BMX industry finally pulled their heads out and took notice. In 2005 Adams was voted the 11th most marketable rider in the world by BMX Business News Magazine, the only flatlander on the list, and named the NORA Cup Flatlander of the Year. “That’s been my biggest accomplishment so far in BMX,” Adams says of the NORA nod. “It’s definitely one of the coolest awards anyone can get in the industry because the readers of the magazine vote. I was really happy just knowing people who don’t ride flatland knew who I was.”
Okay, so he’s a ripping rider with a brain in his head (how unusual), but the thing that really gets anyone who knows him is the kid has a conscience that might even be bigger than his ego. His mantra seems to be, “for the future of flatland,” as he’s created this whole new breed of selfless self-promotion. The whole Katrina thing weighs in, not only because he had the ingenuity, drive and talent to invent a new trick, but also because he learned it during that legendary storm. Even though he tries to downplay it, the namesake does evoke remembrance of the tragedy, even if it’s just one Louisiana native’s interpretation of it.
“My friends who live in New Orleans have a lot of heart-felt stories. Even though I live an hour away, it was complete chaos. Our power was out for almost four weeks, there were four hour lines to get gas, it was hot … people were freaking out, fighting over bags of ice and generators. I was in awe of how crazy it was. I wanted to dedicate that trick to the people who lost their lives and their homes. What’s really cool is, no matter where I go, people ask to see me do it, whether it’s the old men who hang out in the town park near my house in Louisiana or little kids in Singapore.”
- Check out more on Terry Adams at http://www.terryadamsbmx.com
- Watch Video of Terry Adams on his official site. Watch Video>
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-Alison Berkley
