06.04.07 - The Guam Demo Diaries Guam is a tiny 22-mile long island that sits in the Western Pacific. Even though it sits geographically closer to Asia and Australia, it is a US territory and the culture and currency are US based. Even so, the island has a very eclectic mix of races and an economy based mainly on tourism. Don’t forget, Guam’s a tropical paradise. It sits almost directly on the equator; the temp is almost always around 90 in the day and 80 at night. The ocean is crystal clear and it’s never far away. The island is also home to a huge US Naval base and the US Navy was also the reason why 3 of Vans top BMX Pro’s and a legendary skater were on a week long trip to Guam. The Navy, along with the other armed forces, have a solid relationship with Vans and NEXCOM, the Navy’s retail facet is a customer Vans is very proud to have. Every year, NEXCOM has a customer appreciation day and each year Vans sends pro’s to do small demos and visits to military schools. This year, a few stops were pulled out and the demo turned out to be a treat. If you were to think of three BMX riders you’ve seen on TV but would like to see in real life you couldn’t make a much better list than Cory Nastazio, Ryan Guettler and Alistair Whitton but they were the three riders in the show and they were being backed up by skate legend Omar Hassan. Just so the riders would be able to put on a show, ramp builder Nate Wessell was flown out with his right hand man, Ryan Corrigan, to build something for the riders to showcase their talents. Vans will later donate the ramps for the kids and parents on the base to ride. Anyone who knows BMX, knows that Wessell is the man to see when it comes to BMX ramp building, his resume speaks for itself. The three ramp set up to be used for the show may not have been as large as some of Wessell’s past creations but it still got to see some of BMX’s biggest tricks. Vans TM Jerry Badders flew in with Wessell and Corrigan the day before the Team riders. Also on the trip were Rodney Rambo and Kristy Van Doren from Vans who both made sure everybody and everything was in the right place at the right time. After visits to a military school and a US Navy Warship the demo would happen on the Saturday. Customer appreciation day. The atmosphere at customer appreciation day felt more like a Carnival. The huge NEXCOM retail outlet, that really does sell almost anything you can imagine, there was a music stage with bands, Navy climbing walls, Magic shows, crazy sword fighting demonstrations. Even so, the BMX shows were highly anticipated with kids and parents turning up and lining the edges of the course. Kristy showed her magic power of being able to whip small children into a frenzy with Vans goodies and by the time the riders hit the course for part one of the demos, the crowd were already hyped. Cory and Alistair had both been claiming the top of the height pole and even though the wind was definitely a little on the gusty side, both made good on their words. Omar even grabbed some big air on the Quarter and had a motorbike drag him up to speed to do it. The quarter definitely saw some action but it was the box that the bangers came out on. Supermans, Whips, Superman whips, 360 whips. Downside 360 whips, Backflips, frontflips, tabletop flips, front and back, double whips and 720’s. All that in the first show, all pulled clean. The first show just proved that those riders can be anywhere in the world on any given day but if they’re riding, there’s gonna be fireworks. But even knowing that, the second show was still a surprise. Ali, Cory and Ryan are all big contest riders and with the start of the Dew Tour less than one month away by this time of year, the new tricks they’re gonna bust at those comps are in the process of getting dialled, the second show saw a couple of those. Ryan and Ali were trading flairs for no handers on the quarter when Nasty threw down a turndown frontflip over the box. The crowd were already loving Cory and that did nothing to harm his popularity, that’s when things got nuts. I guess when you’re feeling it, you’re feeling it because Ryan Guettler then proceeded to roll back on course and throw down a perfect double flip over the box. When you consider how few people have ever done that trick in the history of BMX, it is jaw dropping to consider that Ryan even tried one here, let alone pull it perfect first try. Needless to say, that shut the demo down and the riders then went to meet the kids at an autograph signing. Whether it was Rambo’s team speech or the riders feeding off of each other or how psyched the kids were, who knows but the Saturday Demo’s in Guam were almost unbelievably good and they proved a few things. Alistair and Omar really are masters at whatever they ride or skate. Cory Nastazio is fully back from his knee surgery and back to being that mix of Style, Power and Charisma that is the Nasty Dawg and Ryan Guettler now has double backflips in his bag of tricks to take to Dew Tour. The team spent the rest of the week enjoying Guam’s and the US Navy’s hospitality. Snorkelling, go-karting, Sunbathing and some retail therapy(Omar even got a samurai sword) filled the last few days before leaving the Tropical paradise and heading back to the States. For the Vans crew it was a week amazing enough to rival any vacation. The Navy and especially Bill Marx, Keifer and Randy made sure everything ran smooth and were the perfect hosts. For the kids at the show and the members of the armed forces who came to see the show it was a chance to see some of the Worlds best riders and skaters that they normally only see on TV or read about in magazines. The Demo just proved how proud Vans is to support the US armed forces. Last year was Naples, Italy, this year was Guam, who knows which corner of the Earth the Vans team will visit next year. Visit www,vans.com to see where the team will be next and to check out the Guam demo podcast for footage of Ryan’s double flip.