I Made a Movie!
And it hit Amazon today
This is me.
I was six years old when this picture was taken, just weeks before the bike and my left leg got munched under a Cadillac.
“Don’t ride in the street -” said mom. Too bad I was already a pro at disobedience.
But I persevered. And in my freshman year of college, itchy to find anything other to do than keep going to college I quit and started my own BMX bike company.
I was 19.
Since we lived in an apartment I couldn’t have a dog so I had lizards and snakes and anything I could hide from the landlord.
I called my first and only frame the “Basilisk” after a cool looking bright green lizard I saw on National Geographic striding across the water in South America.
I had no idea if it would stick.
I used what funds I had and placed one ad in one magazine on one month. October of 1991 to be exact.
I had no idea how important that one ad would be. I got letters from all over the world. And looking back probably undervalued that boost.
But I persevered. I sponsored a kid and we gave this BMX thing a shot, heading to ABA races around the western U.S. while I drew up new bike designs, mountain bikes, cruisers, more BMX.
We had a blast actually, just a blast on a near-zero budget. Neal was good but one 16 year old Expert and no business partner wasn’t paying the bills.
Then I made the phone call. I asked for the remaining bikes I’d paid for (50) since I’d only received 30 to that point.
The company had sold.
The owner retired and didn’t know where or if those 20 frames had been made.
In 1995 I put the company down and walked away.
25 years, 60 jobs, 13 cars, and 4 girlfriends later and I was ready to tell my story.
Actually I wasn’t, but somebody or something bigger than me was.
One of those 30 bikes surfaced on a website called BMX Museum and the BMX community that was now older and heavy on nostalgia was curious about this mystery frame.
A friend and I wondered how many I could track down, and if maybe it would make a movie.
With nothing to lose, staying at a friends house and washing dishes, I found two filmmakers and we got to work.
Today that film I started, on a shoestring budget in 2018, about a 19 year old kid who followed a dream and wanted to know as an adult if it mattered, hit Amazon.
That’s a pretty good place to stop and celebrate.
So celebrate with me. Whether you know me or not, raise a glass, pour some tea, ride a bike, kiss your spouse, whatever you gotta do.
Us dreamers gotta celebrate the wins.
It’s a great story, I met some great people, and yes - I found what happened to those missing 20 bikes.
I hope you’ll watch it.
Cheers *hang loose sign here*
Alden Olmsted
October 19, 2021
