Name: Tom Haugen
Age: 30
Hometown: Minneapolis

You've been riding for Free Agent for a while, how is that going?
Tom: Couldn't be better- great communication, they're always willing to do whatever they can for me, and there's a perfect combination of professionlism mixed with friendship. I can honestly say I've never been more content with a sponsor.

Do you miss the time spent on the road doing shows? 

Tom: The days of doing 100+ days a year of bike shop shows with GT was a great time and I wouldn't take it back for anything, but I don't have any desire to do it again.

You've been entering vert comps, what made you decide to ride more vert?
Tom: I moved to Orlando in 2005 and There's a vert ramp ten minutes from my house that I can ride whenever I want. It's indoors and in the air conditioning. Florida is very hot- you can't ride outdoors during the day half the year, so I ended up riding a lot of vert with Rob Nolli and Dave Brumlow. Slowly I got better and it seemed logical to enter vert comps, too.

Is it hard getting good on vert?
Tom: Yes- it's a lot work and it's frightening. It took me so long to get comfortable with a vert pump- I still get scared sometimes, even on basic tricks.

What do you believe could be done to get more people into riding vert?
Tom: Smaller ramps for kids to start out on- a 14 foot tall ramp is very intimidating for young kids. I know woodward has a smaller vert ramp for the campers. Hopefully that will spark more interest.

Did you start off riding flatland?
Tom: From ages 10-16 I was strictly a flatlander. I was actually sponsored by Standard when I was 15 as a flatlander. I still ride it all the time when i'm healthy. It's a nice break from the fast pace of riding park and vert. I imagine I'll always ride flatland.

When did you start?
Tom: 1987 is when I started riding- mowed lawns all summer to buy a Diamond Back Hot Streak. It was lime green, had mags- the whole package.

With riding street, mini, flat and vert, do you think one discipline helps the other?
Tom: I think riding more disciplines helps with overall bike control, but being able to do a triple decade certainly isn't going to help your vert pump. Some tricks cross over- pinky squeaks are similar to tailwhip nosepicks for me.

If you would line up on a BMX starting gate with the following people, how would you do?
1. Dale Holmes
2. Koji Kraft
3. Sean Eggleston
4. Simon tabron
5. Rob Nolli
6. Mike Mancuso
7. Trevor Meyer
 Tom: Dale Holmes would definitely be miles ahead of anyone on that list. Koji would be drinking chocolate milk and eating little debbies on the gate so count him out. Trevor would be too busy thinking of a complicated flatland link to be in the running. Nolli would ditch the race to do burn outs in the parking lot in his Monte Carlo. Mancuso would be discussing the purse and thus lose focus. So it's between myself, Tabron and Eggleston for second.

Have you raced BMX much?
Tom: Never been in an organized race. But have gone to tracks and pedaled around- I know how much work it takes to ride tracks. It is exhausting.

You've been out with an injury lately, how's that going?
Tom: Better now. The first 6 weeks I was told not to walk. Now I can walk and ride- though just for exercise. Though the bones are now healed, my ligament isn't all the way there, and if I do any actual riding and fall, the screws in my ankle would break and i'd have to start the healing process over again.

What did you do to kill time?
Tom: Before I could put weight on it, I caught up on my sleep, tv, and internet time. Now that I can walk and do distance riding, I work out all day to regain strength and ride my KHS Flite 300 road bike a couple hours a day.

When can we see you on the ramp again?
Tom: The screws come out in early December and then I'm back on the horse.

Any special plans for 2007?
Tom: Just continue hitting all the Dew Tour events, doing all the demos I have time for- hopefully be in Europe again for the LG tour. My year is about 6 months of travel for contests and demos and I plan on keeping that going.

Thanks you's: Free Agent for all their support and understanding with my injury, Snafu and UGP for all their help, as well as EVS and Osiris.

2009/11/20 20:10:00 - Back! the Rad vs Lame list on FATBMX
2009/11/20 15:50:00 - FAT FRIDAY week 47. The summary of this week's BMX news.
2009/11/20 13:50:00 - Keelan Phillips flatland bmx. By Stewart Charles
2009/11/20 12:00:00 - Graffiti Art. Eindhoven.
2009/11/20 10:30:00 - ZuperMarket Flatland Jam Trier
2009/11/20 9:10:00 - Win Whitton's Vans Swag Sweepstakes
2009/11/20 8:00:00 - Coco and Simon getting ready for Berlin
2009/11/20 7:20:00 - 2010 Mirraco Black Pearl.
2009/11/20 6:40:00 - Nano Weekend Edit. By Josh Menard
2009/11/20 6:00:00 - Stealth Racing Forks from Sinz
2009/11/20 5:30:00 - A Day With Demolition
2009/11/20 4:20:00 - Marc Remmert's FAT FAVs list
2009/11/20 1:30:00 - Mitch Anderson Fall 09. By Brodie Gwilliam
2009/11/20 0:20:00 - Big tires, big boobs, but Big wheels too. 21+ Pin Up of the week.
2009/11/19 21:50:00 - Into The Woods - BMX Trails Montage. By Brian Dickman
2009/11/19 20:40:00 - Channel 4Down BMX :: The Channel 4Down Dvd Vol.2. By Channel 4Down
2009/11/19 20:00:00 - The Snafu Splitter stem
2009/11/19 19:20:00 - Michael Beran - Mini Proper Bike.co Autumn edit. By Bobbers prod.
2009/11/19 18:40:00 - Vibrations Urbaines as experienced by Leigh Ramsdell
2009/11/19 17:27:15 - WERMELS SESSION CLIP
2009/11/19 16:00:00 - RIDE UK # 134
2009/11/19 12:57:37 - Nick Dawg video
2009/11/19 10:40:00 - A day in the life of James Ivett. By Robin Fenlon.
2009/11/19 9:30:00 - Mirra Bike Co's Blink
2009/11/19 8:30:00 - AmityBikeCo Presents: Ryan Taylor. By Chris Wilmshurst