The Athlete: RICK THORNE
Episode: Semi-Truck Wall Ride | Premiere: April 23, 2007

Perry's Thoughts:
Rick Thorne is a legend in the sport of BMX and it was an honor to have him as part of the Stunt Junkies family. This stunt was an intricate combination of man, bike, motorcycle and semitrailer. Getting everything to work in unison was a stunt in and of itself, but Rick and his team pulled it off. After watching the playback of the stunt, it looked as though Rick could have ground the top of the truck — maybe that's an idea for next season!

Eli's Thoughts:
Reading up on Rick, I was impressed by the long list of work he had done on and off his BMX bike — everything from competition, movies, hosting to video games. It's nice to see an athlete who has obviously devoted his life to his sport living well and busy with opportunity. Unfortunately in action sports, there is still a very small percentage of athletes "making it" for what they do. So, thanks to guys like Rick Thorne, the future is brighter for the young riders today. I met Rick out at his "backyard park" and watched him ride. He showed me what he had planned and I could tell right away if anyone was going to do it, he was the man for the job. When we met out at Dodger Stadium, we got our first look at the setup: one big semi and one big ramp. Rick showed us how he wanted to get towed to the ramp and hit the trailer with perfect timing. He did some test jumps without the truck moving and it looked pretty good. He decided he wanted more grip tape on the side just to be sure the tires wouldn't slip. As it turned out, this stunt required lots of timing in order for everything to go right. Wall rides are not an easy trick and with the wall moving at all, things were bound to be a bit tricky. When stunt day came, Rick decided to hit the ramp with the truck stationary just to warm up, but as he came down he clipped the back tire and slammed down. You could tell he had the wind knocked out of him and this was no way to start the day. He got right back on his bike — with a "Bring it on!" attitude and hit it clean. He then had the truck move and before you knew it, he was putting in the "death gap," which spiced it up a bit. For the stunt, he had the truck go 15 mph and J-Beats pulled him at over 40 mph. The run was clean and the timing was perfect. Rick has worked extremely hard for the things he has; he's a supercool dude who's helped push BMX to the forefront of action sports. As he says, "Never give in, never give up." I say congratulations to him and his family.