Brandon Loupos is one of the top Freestyle BMX riders coming out of Australia and is usually 1 of 3 standing on the podium at any given contest. Unfortunately during the UCI BMX world championships this year in France he tore his ACL which put him out for the BMX event in the Tokyo Olympics. Brandon is one of the most talented and without a doubt, one the hardest working athletes in the field so we wanted to ask him a few questions to help give the next generation some insight on what it takes to become one of the best! -DD

---

DD: What is your usual day-to-day routine with BMX and Fitness? 

Brandon: Pretty full on - mainly a gym session and riding session everyday for 4 - 5 days a week. Sometimes the gym sessions would be after riding but mostly they were before! Gym sessions would be an hour or two then riding would be around 2- 4 hours so some days are exhausting but I love it.

DD: How many hours a day do you ride and do you have a set routine?

Brandon: When we rode the hotbox it would be 2 hours a day on average. Some days were longer depending on how I felt.

DD: Mentally, how do you overcome your fear to do tricks that scare you? Are there any tricks that you have dialed-in but still get you nervous every time you drop in? 

Brandon: It’s easier said than done that’s for sure — it’s mainly belief and trusting yourself that you know exactly what you’re doing. As long as you believe you can do it -  that’s the big thing. 

DD: Injuries are unfortunately a part of the sport, and you just recently tore your ACL during the Tokyo Olympics qualifiers. You’ve always been a positive person, how are you dealing with this setback and what would your advice be to others dealing with injuries at crucial times? 

Brandon: I have good days and bad days. Some days I’m motivated and aim towards my comeback, and other days I want to quit and give up. But what I’ve learned is that feelings, thoughts and emotions are temporary and will pass... regardless if they’re good or bad ones. So I’m just trying to live life and find myself outside of BMX. I put my everything into going to the Olympics, and when it didn’t happen — being absolutely crushed and devastated is an understatement. So I’m just chilling now and enjoying my life with what I have... rather than look at what I don’t have or guessing “what if?”

DD: We could only imagine you are doing everything you can right now to get back on the bike, how are you attacking this?

Brandon: Yes, just mainly letting my ACL heal is a big one. It hurts some days more than others so I’m just trying not to push it and keep it moving with light walks and physio stuff. I’ll move onto more heavy impact stuff when I’m cleared to go ahead. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by L O U P Y 🇦🇺🦘 (@brandonlouposyo)

DD: When you get back on the bike, what are your plans? Olympics 2024? 

Brandon: No plans or anything when I come back. I’ll just start riding, find my feet, feel good again then aim at whatever I want to do. If I want to do the Olympics in Paris I’ll try again... but we will see. 

DD: What is something that you now know that you wish you understood back at the start of your riding career?

Brandon: That life isn’t all about BMX or the Olympics or winning, it’s always good to feel accomplished and happy about accomplishing a goal but when your identity is based all around that, it’s only going to get you hurt. Family, friends and unconditional love/support is more important than anything. 

DD: Who is your biggest influence and why?

Brandon: Myself in 4 years. Because he will look back and be proud of where he came from.

DD: What were some of the things you did as an amateur that you think help pushed you over the edge to become a professional athlete and what is your advice for any young rider that wants to be a professional athlete? 

Brandon: It was mainly pure grit, determination and passion for the love of my sport. I always wanted to be a pro BMX rider just like Dave Mirra, Jamie Bestwick, Ryan Nyquist, Daniel Dhers, Etc. So to be one of them was something I’ve wanted for longer than what I can remember. Glad to have made it this far. 

---

Brandon Loupos DD Athlete Page
Brandon Loupos Instagram

Want to know how Olympic Gold medalist Logan Martin stayed motivated and prepared for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics? We are very grateful for the following Q&A with the Gold Medal BMX Freestyle champion.

After reading the below interview you can clearly see why Logan is one of a kind.

Enjoy the read and Congratulations Logan Martin! Be sure to check out the BMX how-to videos afterward to learn tricks from an Olympic Gold winner!

---

DD: Congratulations on what everyone would call the biggest win of your career and every athlete’s wildest dream. What an incredible achievement!
How does it feel to win the 1st ever olympic gold medal for BMX Freestyle? 

LOGAN: Thanks so much! It honestly feels so amazing! By far the biggest win of my career. I wanted it so bad. I invested a lot of money and time into achieving this goal and it feels so amazing that it worked out!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Logan Martin (@loganmartinbmx)

DD: How did you prepare for this event? Did you do anything different for this vs the usual UCI events? 

LOGAN: I didn’t do anything different. Leading into Tokyo, I was asked if I was going to change anything in my preparation, and my answer was always ‘no.’ My preparation for events has always worked, so my thought process was “why change anything when I’m literally riding the same-style course against the same people that I’ve beaten before.’

DD: 4 years is a long time to work so hard on something everyday! It takes massive amounts of motivation, focus and strength. How did you stay motivated and focused during pre-selection as well as when Covid hit and the future was so unclear?

LOGAN: It is a very long time! I think for me it’s as simple as taking it day-by-day and just showing up: showing up to the session and showing up to the gym even on the days I don't quite feel like it (which is rare). I just enjoy riding my bike, it makes me feel good each day when I know I’ve put in the work or done all my big tricks for that session.

I took the Covid lockdown as an opportunity to progress my riding, learn new tricks and just dial everything in! And purely just stay ready for whenever the next event popped up.

DD: There is an insane amount of work that goes into such an incredible accomplishment. What would you say was the most challenging aspect of the whole journey to gold?

LOGAN: The most challenging thing for me is battling ongoing injuries. I have a bad lower back which not many people know about because I never talk about it. It played up again at the end of last year so I had to fully re-evaluate how much I rode and how I trained at the gym. If I worked out my back got bad when I would overload it with too many days in a row. But for me, I only felt content with having a day off only when my muscles were sore and my body is tired from doing so many gym/riding session days in a row. So I had to change my mindset and change my schedule to not overload my body too much. For the first couple of months I just felt like I wasn’t working that hard considering my body wasn’t sore. I had to really focus on recovery days. I also switched from doing CrossFit type stuff to a more standard gym-type session. 

I believe this change in routine helped me so much though!

DD: Leading into the Olympics, how often were you training and what was your schedule like? 

Since that change in my routine last November my schedule looks similar to this most weeks:

Monday - 60-90 minute strength workout in the morning, then I would ride for around 2 hours
Tuesday - Ride then a cardio session in the gym
Wednesday - rest/recovery
Thursday - Ride
Friday - gym/strength then ride
Saturday - ride
Sunday - rest/family day

DD: Did the day of the contest feel like any other event or was it a bit more challenging to stay calm and focused? 

LOGAN: The day of finals felt like a normal contest day! Battling a normal amount of nerves. The seeding round the day before I had way more nerves, strangely enough. Even though the seeding round didn’t matter too much and nobody was getting eliminated, I just felt more pressure for some reason.

DD: There would be a lot of excited groms out there knowing they too could have the opportunity to one day make it to the olympics. You are by far one of the hardest working BMX athletes out there, what would your advice be to the up and comers that have hopes to one day be a professional BMX athlete? 

LOGAN: I think the best advice I can give is to have fun! Enjoy riding your bike, enjoy the process of learning and becoming better on your bike, but also work on all aspects of your life. If you can work hard in all aspects of life and not just on your bike, you will learn to be content and happy and that transitions into success over time! It takes a long time to be successful in anything so don’t expect it to be anything quick. 

“If you can work hard in all aspects of life and not just on your bike, you will learn to be content and happy and that transitions into success over time!”

— Logan Martin

DD: After winning Gold in the Olympics, most people would be going home and taking some some time off.  What do you have planned for the rest of 2021? 

LOGAN: I enjoy riding my bike, that’s what makes me happy so I’ll definitely be still working hard on and off the bike still. I tend to put a lot of pressure on myself but I’ll definitely enjoy this win and live my life with a bit less pressure. I’ll do Nitro World Games in October and then get ready for a big year of contests next year! 

---

Sign up for our Newsletter for more great BMX content!

Subscribe

* indicates required

Email Address *

First Name

Last Name

What do you ride?

• BMX
• MTB / Mountain Bikes
• FMX / Motorcycles
• Freerunning / Parkour / Stunts
• Skate
• Something else (tell us at @DDAIRBAGS)!

The PRO NextStep was the very first airbag we designed here at DD. The initial idea was to create an airbag that would fit most riders. It sits at 6.5” tall and is the perfect size to travel around with for shows, or if you just want a fun ramp and airbag setup available at your fingertips. It only takes two people and around 10 minutes to set it all up, meaning you can pull this out of your garage and get your adrenaline pumping any time you want.

After the PRO NextStep had been out for a while, we noticed that people were really taking things up a notch - using the airbag to try things we didn’t even think about when we designed it. We decided to design and create the PRO NextStep PLUS - a version with some upgrades that provides even more safety. We widened the bag from 11.5 feet to 14 feet, along with adding an extra 4 feet of flat bottom. There is already plenty of flat bottom on the Pro next step so this bonus ads even more confidence to your riding.

Both airbags have vents on either side that you can open up to make it even softer - helpful if you are trying those bigger, scarier tricks for the first time. And both bags have a flat bottom in case you bounce at the bottom coming off a trick - the main difference between the two is the extended airbag dimensions and the extra safety you are getting with the PLUS. The size for both the pro next step and pro next step plus, is a size that you will never outgrow and something you will use as long as you ride.

This is used by 6 year olds all the way up to being the preferred choice by the top pros in action sports and by companies like Nitro Circus. Both airbags can be set up by 2 adults and can guarantee they will blow you away with how easy they are to set up/pack up and store away taking very little room up for space.

If you still have any other questions about these airbags, please do not hesitate to send us an email. We are here to help you make the right choice.

-DD

Even the smallest riders in the world need to send it safer - which is the idea behind the GROM FLAT AIRBAG - our newest airbag release! 

With kids getting into bikes younger and younger these days, we knew we had to start making it safer for the youngest riders to progress. Back in the day we were around 5 when we got our first bike with training wheels. Now 2 and 3-year-olds are zipping around on bike striders and balance bikes, which we think is one of the best things for kids wanting to get into action sports. 

Now we are watching these same 2 and 3 year-olds jumping their bikes on Instagram, and we wanted to create an AirBag that made them and their parents feel safer as they embrace this crazy sport.

The new GROM Flat AirBag is 14.75” long by 11.5” wide - plenty of space to work out new tricks and bail safely - and it’s only 1.6” tall so small riders can pair the GROM with a ramp like the JUMPACK - an awesome little ramp that folds up into a backpack.

Throughout my 20 years of riding, I’ve seen hundreds of kids bring a mattress to the skatepark so they could try and send their first backflip to wood or concrete, after spending weeks working it out in a foam pit or on a huge airbag. The GROM is made for those riders looking for a quicker, safer setup.

QUICK SEtuPS

The GROM takes less than 5 minutes to setup and packs down small enough to easily fit in your car’s trunk.

Like all our DDAIRBAGS - the GROM FLAT is delivered to your door - Total price includes shipping and or any import/duty costs on arrival -NO EXTRA COSTS

DD AirBags is about progressing action sports and making the next generation a priority — creating new airbags that can help any rider progress and feel safer while doing it. There are no limits to what we will try to continue progressing the action sports community.

We are very interested to hear what you think of the new GROM AIRBAG. Email us or hit us up on Instagram or Facebook with your feedback or ideas.

We have more releases on the horizon! Thank you for taking the time to read and stay safe.

@DDAIRBAGS

Lately we’ve had a lot of inquiries from people trying to decide between the NextStep Landers and the SendIt Flat AirBags — so we thought we would go through the benefits of each airbag to help anyone make a more informed decision. If you still have questions after this, let us know and we will happily give you a call so we can talk through it and you can be confident in your decision. 

Ask yourself: what is your main use of the AirBag?

Most of the time people buy an airbag because they want a safe and fun way to learn new tricks that they can setup in their backyard or skatepark. For intermediate or advanced riders learning new tricks, the NextStep Landers are a good option as you can open up the vents on the airbag, making it softer and acting somewhat like a flat airbag with a slope-style landing.

For example: if you can do both a 360 and a barspin, and you want to combine them into a 360 barspin you know that you are going to get close in each attempt. If you open up the side vents it creates a softer, more mellowed out landing. After practicing the trick and landing it you can simply close all the vents so you can land your new trick and roll away easier.

BEST OF BOTH WORLDS

Both the flat and lander airbags shapes can help you progress faster - but what types of tricks are you going after?

Between the two AirBags, the NextStep Landers are by far the more popular option because there are just so many things you can do with it. From starting a new show team, setting it up at the skatepark as an add on or simply just having something safe to ride, the options with the NextStep landers are endless.

The SendIt Flat airbags are made for sending it and going on learning sprees — constantly coming up with new tricks and new ways to innovate like R-Willy. Flat airbags are great for any style of rider who wants to step up their game and learn as much as they can. 

The flat SendIt Airbags is useful in learning bigger tricks like backflips and backflip variations, or anything that you are learning that is going to have a lot of wipeouts. This airbag is what you use when you want to send a new trick that you are not confident on and you want to learn as many new tricks as possible with the highest level of safety.

We understand that sometimes it can be a difficult decision to decide between the two airbags, so just send us an email with your phone number or WhatsApp and we will give you a call! After asking you just a few questions about what you’d use your airbag for and your idea around it, we are sure that you will be a lot more confident about your choice.

Keep sending it and stay safe!
-DD Team

---

NEXTSTEP LANDER AIRBAG GALLERY

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

SEND IT FLAT AIRBAG GALLERY

Logan Martin has one of the smoothest and stylish looking corked 720’s out there - so who better than him to take you through how to pull of your own Corked 720, step-by-step!

Last week we saw a video clip of Japanese rider Aou Matsuura go viral - who landed a corked 720 at only 10-years-old! We were blown away by this and coincidentally it was on our NextStep Lander so we took the opportunity to ask him a few questions.

The Japanese grom BMX scene is on fire at the moment with so many amazing, young, fearless riders doing things that are absolutely mind blowing and the progression at which these kids are learning is just incredible. Aou has done many wild moves including flair barspins which is still is a big trick for a professional riders. Japan’s BMX scene is growing fast and with riders like Rim Nakamura and Daniel Yoneta to look up to, these kids will be unstoppable!

Watch and enjoy! Be sure to follow Aou on Instagram at @aou_bmx

DD: How old are you and what age did you start riding BMX?

KOBY: I’m 8 years old and I starting riding when I was 12 months old on a balance bike, but I saw my first skate park around 2 1/2 and have loved it ever since.

DD: You just recently learned to backflip! Congratulations - What was the scariest part of the learning process?

KOBY: Thanks. Telling myself I’m about to go upside down… the fear was real and such a mind block but also I was worried about landing on my head. Once I got that sorted I loved the feeling. Than the lander came out and I was back to the fear of landing on my head but as soon as I threw it once it was on. 🤘

DD: After learning it to the flat airbag you took it straight to the airbag lander. What was the biggest challenge mentally, going from the flat airbag to the lander?

KOBY: Biggest challenge was just the lander I had it in my head that it was going to be such a different feeling. An hour later I realized it’s the same and finally sent it.

DD: What was the scariest part of the whole backflip journey?

KOBY: I have wanted this trick for a year but every time the thought and fear of getting on your bike and going upside down, was the biggest mental block and just couldn’t bring myself to do a full rotations. It wasn’t until I came to Perth and tried on the bag with Todd Meyn who is one of the raddest dudes I know - his words and inspiration got me in the best headspace to get this backie done. Going from bag to lander was definitely a huge fear.

We all know the hardest part of a backflip is the commitment.

DD: What would your advice be to all the other groms out there trying to get over the fear of committing to pulling back?

KOBY: Just send it it’s easier than u think!

We heard the next time you rode a skatepark you took it to concrete, congrats little legend, super proud of your achievements and excited to watch you grow!

-DD

This giveaway is targeted at our DD customers and users only. We have teamed up with Total BMX to give away a bmx frame through Instagram/Facebook.

Rules are as follows:

Post your favorite clip of you with your DD AIRBAG and tell us why its your favorite.
Be sure to tag @ddairbags in your post!
Ends: April 4th 2021


We want you to post your favorite clip to your DD Airbag and write in a paragraph why its your favorite clip.
For Example: I’ve been learning barspins for the last 6 months on the flat ground and today I sent it to the airbag and landed it first try after all the practice and hard work.

Winner will be chosen and wins a TOTAL BMX KILLABEE K4!

Contest will end April 4th, and a winner will be chosen and announced April 2nd.
During the weeks we will be sharing some of these to our stories.

Good luck and thank you to everyone in advance for sharing your videos!

DD: What is Jed Mildon Trick School?

The Air & Stunt Academy is a safe program to give people the experience to jump a push bike. It caters for all skill levels with people been able to progress there air to the next step in doing tricks.

DD: What was the motivation behind opening the school?

Jed: With BMX now in the olympics it’s to to facilitate the next step in Olympic hopefuls. It’s also a way any one can have a go at over coming they’re fairs and getting some air.

DD: You held your first trick-school this year, in early 2021! What were some of the highlights?

Jed: All the kids jumped the jump they were aged 8-10 and even Ben’s dad at 40 did it and then Ben’s grandad at 74 did it. The highlights were everyone giving it a go and having an epic time.

DD: Age limit?

Jed: There are no limits!

DD: How long do they go for?

Jed: We can custom the experience. To start we offer 2-3 hours sessions.

DD: Whats the location?

Jed: It’s portable so we can literally go any where. At the moment we’re set up at home in Tauranga.

DD: Birthdays only? Or other events?

No that’s just one avenue. The ultimate is in safe trick progression in getting the next generation prepared for the olympics.

There’s also shows, motivational Speaking and soon to be a national big air champs. It’s freestyle so there are no limits!

Why does this mean so much to you?

I’ve been lucky enough to live my dreams and travel the world. This is a way of giving back and having people see that anything is possible. With the new technology of the airbags it’s all become possible. Company’s like DD have put kids in the rite direction to a safe healthy outdoor lifestyle.

The PRO NextStep AirBag Landing was one of our first airbags to sell when DD AirBags first launched. This airbag was an idea to not only make it safer to learn new tricks but also an easier way to travel with ramps.

Action sports has become even more mainstream over the last 5 years and the demand for action sports shows has increased, despite Covid. One of the biggest problems with such shows is the cost of shipping and setting up ramps. With this new airbag technology these worries have been taken away, now making set up not only easier but also saving hours of hard labor, reducing costs.

We wanted to scale down these action-sports show airbags for the everyday person, so we came up with the dimensions that we thought would be easiest to travel with and fit the standard contest box jump height which is around 6.5 ft. With extra-flat bottom for safety and a width of 11.5 ft it makes it the perfect airbag setup to travel with for smaller action sport shows, eg: fairs and school shows.

This is still to date one of our most popular airbags though with the new release of the PRO NextStep PLUS Airbag slowly becoming a new favourite.

How old were you when you first started riding?

I started riding with training wheels at about 18 months, and without just after 3, and I started hitting the local skatepark at 5.

Whats your favourite thing about getting on your bike?

Trying to challenge myself to the trick.

Who inspires you the most?

I like to watch Nitro Circus videos on YouTube, especially the live show videos. Or things that happen at Pastranaland.

We’ve seen you riding some airbags lately, what’s your favourite thing about riding them?

I like airbags, because I can send new big tricks without much chance of getting hurt. It’s nice to practice on, before I take them to solid landings.

You just landed your first ever tail whip, how long have you been working on it for? And how does it make you feel rolling away from something you have put so much work into?

I started working on the tailwhip about a year ago, but just wasn’t strong enough for my bike. Really started putting sends in hard in late August 2020. Landed a few in foam, then airbag and solid in mid October 2020. They are still a struggle to land, so everyone is a celebration now.

Is there any tricks you’ve been working on to the airbag?

Backflip combos and double bar 360

Whats the highlight of your bmx career so far?

Placing 2nd in the nitro circus hot wheels superchargers bmx advanced

Plans for 2021?

I hope in 2021 to get more in person competitions. I love riding for a crowd, it pumps me up.

---

Follow Benny on Instagram @Energizer_Benny

2020 was one year we will never forget. The world was shut down and our lives were put on hold. We just wanted to take a quick minute to thank all of our loyal customers for supporting us through such hard times, it's truly humbling.

Our mission here at DD AirBags is to progress action sports while helping bring up the next generation. We have a few very exciting things coming into 2021 and we cannot wait to share them with you all.

Thanking you all.

Wishing you all a Happy, Safe, Joyful, Healthy, 2021

-DD Team

Bags We Released in 2020

Youth NextStep Lander PLUS

We took our standard Youth NextStep Airbag Lander and added safety barriers on the side along with a longer flat runout. This makes it safer for younger riders to try sending bigger tricks without worrying about falling off or running out of airbag!

Pro NextStep Lander PLUS

The Pro NextStep Lander PLUS bag jump takes is 2.5 feet wider and has a runout of 11.5 feet, almost doubling the length of the standard PRO NextStep.

MTB athlete Levi Goodall sent in this story of his progression this last year using an airbag. Levi has a great YouTube channel where he has heaps of great MTB vids: dirt jump, downhill and skatepark setups, as well as a few airbag videos, too. Thanks for sending this in, Levi!

---

I bought my DD Airbags Pro Next Step Lander just on one year ago now. At first I wasn't 100% on how well it was going to work out or how my goals of doing coaching and riding shows was going to go with it. I can confidently say now I am very happy that I bit the bullet and was able to get my hands on one of these landings as it has been one of, if not the best year of riding I have had so far.

Having the airbag landing has changed riding so much for me.

FIrstly it has allowed me to progress so much quicker and safer than I ever have before. Previously a lot of my bigger flip and 360 combination tricks were tricks I would only ever really do if I were filming an edit or at an event and now because of the airbag landing they have become every session tricks which gets me stoked! The airbag landing has also saved me a number of times which I think has been the key to the progression. If some of the crashes I have had on my airbag landing had been on hard packed jumps I don't think I would have been walking away uninjured. The landing has also allowed me to land my dream trick (and possibly everyone's dream trick) multiple times in the past year, double backflips. I never dreamed I would be able to stick a doubleflip to a landing but thanks to the airbag landing I have been able to multiple times which is a crazy feeling!

While the personal progression of my mates and I has been awesome the thing that really stands out to me about the airbag landing is how it has enabled me to grow the sport we all love in my community and get more people on bikes. Just today I got to ride in my 3rd school show and like the two before it the kids and I were absolutely fizzing. The easy set up and pack down and added safety for when you do crash has made show riding so accessible which is awesome. Additionally I have also been doing heaps of A & P shows, children's events and coaching getting our sport out there and hopefully inspiring others! I personally really love the school shows as its a unique opportunity to showcase what I love doing and do it in a way that really role models to these young people how fun this sport can be and what you can do and achieve if you put your mind to it, bike related or not. This is super special to me as I think our sport is often portrayed negatively to the public as being a bunch of bogans drinking beers, smoking bongs and getting up to no good on bikes when it is really not. It also allows me to hopefully inspire others. For me this is what gets me the most stoked about the DD Airbags landings. They have allowed me to do stuff I previously never dreamed I would be able to do and I am so grateful for the opportunity.

My plans in New Zealand this summer are to ride at as many shows and schools as possible and get heaps of people stoked on bikes and stoked on life! I currently have 2 more schools booked in before christmas and 8+ shows currently booked in over the summer so it's going to be a good one! Personally one of my longer term goals I am working on is trying to add double flips and 360 flips/cork 720s to my shows. Off my 6 foot ramp it is a bit of a pull to get it on a MTB but I think it would be pretty sick to be able to showcase those tricks to heaps of people. Other than that I am always on the lookout for unique gaps or setups to do with the airbag, will be setting it up heaps with mates and doing a heap of riding. Be sure to check it out on my youtube channel as I film it all and love sharing the videos!

-Levi Goodall @levigoodall

A couple weekends ago we had our first major contest held in New Zealand called Battle of the Bags — which consisted of our MegaBox and a custom Pro NextStep Lander back-to-back. This contest was run as a knockout style contest with the top athletes in New Zealand who put on an epic show for the spectators in a beautiful location, located on the beach front of Napier City.

The idea of this contest was to create a head-to-head battle of the best BMX riders in the world on a safe setup to make the riders feel safe to send their biggest, scariest, wildest tricks to make for one insane show!

Safe to say this is exactly what happened.

This is the first of many to come!

“BOB was the perfect way for spectators to be able to follow and gage the riders skills. Being crowd judged made the event the ultimate spectacle. Can’t wait for the next battle!

-Jed Mildon

If you are interested in bringing this to your city, please contact us for more information.

Caiden Cernius messaged us in early 2019 asking to purchase an airbag and we were beyond honored to send him out one. Fast forward to now, Caiden is up to his 3rd DD AirBag! He owns a SendIt Standard flat airbag, a Pro NextStep Lander, as well as a custom Megabox Lander.

Caiden has now joined the Nitro Circus shows after a wild few months of stomping some big tricks into the Megabox, proving himself and earning himself a well earned spot. At 9 years-old, Caiden is doing tricks that some pros go through their entire career without ever stomping.

We sent Caiden a few questions about his latest trick - The double backflip. Enjoy!

How old are you and when did you start riding BMX? 

Hello! I am 9 years old. I started riding on a balance bike but we started actually riding a few times a week around 5 years old. 

When did you land your first backflip?

I landed my first backflip at age 8! It really just took a couple fully committed tries.

How did you learn to double flip? 

It’s hard to say how I learned to double. It’s really just a matter of pulling a lot harder than a single and staying in it!

How many attempts did it take you to finally stomp it to the airbag landing?

The first one I took to the airbag I alllllmost rode out. Second was sloppy but by I nailed it on the 3rd try!

How did you feel after landing it?

It was amazing to ride it out! I threw my bike,m did a backflip on the ground and went to get sushi! That’s my favorite meal and we usually go on awesome nights or after a competition.

Whats your favorite thing about airbag landings?

Airbags are amazing! First off - their giant bouncies and I can just backflip off my roof and high dive from trees onto the SendIt. Of course they are super good for learning new BMX tricks too! With an airbag I’m kinda able to try some video game tricks without smashing myself on a box!

We are still learning how to make them extra soft and only let about half the air in for a first time trick and then fill them all the way up and close the vents when it’s time to take a trick to a box or concrete.

As it comes to the end of the year, do you have much planned for the rest of 2020?

2020 started off slow but in just the last couple weeks some crazy things are in the works! Like right now I’m in Texas with Nitro Circus and hopefully a lot more of stuff like that!

What the next trick on your mind? Or is it a secret and we will have to wait and see?

Next trick....I’m working on a few, let’s see if I can pull them before I throw it out there :)

Follow Caiden on Instagram: @caidenbmx 
Follow Caiden on YouTube: CaidenBMX
Check Out Caiden’s Website: www.CaidenBMX.com

Dreaming of landing a double backflip? BMX Pro and absolute Legend Jed Mildon does a quick rundown of the steps in a double backflip, along with some slow-motion footage so you can see the trick in action.

Along with the video, Jed sent through some step-by-step instructions for how to land a double backflip:

When you are at the top of the take off ramp you want to rip back like your doing a manual on the flat ground to your back… this will send you into a quick rotation.

Next objective is to pull your knees into your chest because the G-Forces will want to open you out and straighten your body, so pulling the knees into your chest will help re-tighten your body position and help get you the extra rotation.

At the same time as pulling the knees in you want to holding your forearms solid and pulling their flip around. When you get to mid-height you should have completed the first flip and should be able to spot the landing and sense exactly where you are.

Now you must quickly figure out whether to speed the flip up by keeping tight in the ball and pulling again on the bars OR slow it down by opening up and penciling out or you got it perfect and just need to wait patiently for the landing to open out the landing gear and stomp it.

Best mindset to remember when sending it is, flip up flip down.

Good luck be safe have fun. Yeeeeew!

VIDEO: