Gap Year
My entire life i was looking forward to my upperclassmen years of highschool. To experience the glory varsity sports have to offer. Then boom, COVID 19 - a worldwide pandemic. Schools online and sports vanished into thin air. I was heart broken. Forrr about a week. Then i rode my bike and everything became better.
Well not that easy, but yes kinda..
Since school was online i could finally get back to my first love, biking. Only this time it was for good. I had a buddy post some videos of the jumps he was working on during covid, so i messaged him and the rest is history. Me and the boys spent every day that year in the woods. Building and riding our jumps. We were like the sand lot, meeting up every day and just kickin it. Camping, crushing beers, ripping bowls, building sick jumps, and riding.
Only once winter came around, they boys hopped straight into snowboarding. Something i’d never thought about doing. Then all of a sudden the boys had this brilliant idea. Since school is online, why not just move to Colorado.
What geniuses.
So thats what we did, we got a house and jobs in Winter Park Colorado, and drove our happy asses across the county from good ole NC.
Other than the high school zoom calls we attended from our phones and stuffing our faces in the restaurants we worked in, we spent all of our time boarding - and man was it fun. We got to know that mountain pretty well. It was that winter i found a love for riding pow, hitting park jumps, and exploring mountains on my board.
It was freeing.
Now one important detail i cannot miss. While we were all parting as much as we could, my best friend and roommate chose a different route. As he typically does. Boryan was our high school valedictorian, that didn’t go to college. Instead he committed to the idea of making “wifi money”. So while we all went out, and tried our hardest to convince Boryan tro come with, he refused and would sit on the floor on his computer clicking buttons. He found some successful ecom guys to hire him as a “Grunt Man'“, or virtual assistant for an easier term, and started working for some college drop outs turned millionaires. They taught Boryan how to build brands, and paid him to run theirs. He then used the money they paid him to test his own products in hopes of building his own successful brand. Well after only testing 100 products, Boryan still had no luck. It wasn’t until his one hundred and first product that he scaled to multiple millions.
And just like that, Boryan was free. We were all baffled at how he did it. He had unlocked complete freedom.
Anyways Its time to move back to NC after a winter out west boarding. We have about a week left before its time to drive my truck back across the country and uh oh.
My worst nightmare. My transmission goes out. I was missing first and second gear. I had to floor that thing to get going just a few mikles an hour. So it technically still dorve fine on the highways. But at stoplight, i was doomed. It would take about 10 seconds of me flooring that truck to get going 10 miles an hour. But eventually it would pick up. So i call a shop and get quoted 8k, and they’re 2 months out. I thought wtf im screwed. Looks like im driving this shit acorss the country. So to avoid the mountain pass, i had tripple A tow my truck all the way to denver, where the plan was to take a greyhound bus and meet it there, and then drive it all the way acorss the country. Great idea. Only the thing was when we went to catch the greyhournd bus, we soon discovered the local bus to get us there has stopped running. We were screwed, no way we could make it 5 miles in 30 minutes on foot. So we run to the road, each with tons of luggage and our snowbaords. We attempt to hitch hike for 20 minutes. No luck. I look and Boryan and say man if we don’t catch a ride in the next minute were missing that bus.
Lo and behold what comes around the corner? A smart car. I laughed thinking theres no way. The damn car pulled over and picked us up. We squeezed in with our snowbaords hanging out the windows, me sitting on Boryans lap, and we hurried to the bus stop. As we got there the bus was pulling out so i hopped out and ran to go bang on the side of the bus.
We had made it.
After i arrivoing in denver, we hike 3 miles acorss the city with all of our gear, only to arrive at the truck just as they are going trying to tow it. We quickly loaded our shit into the truck floored it out of there. Comically going about 2 miles an hour on the broken transmission.
Then under the full moon, we drove that broken truck 1500 miles across America. We broken down pulling into my neighborhood. Truly a miracle.
Anyways heres where the apple falls from the tree and nails me in the head.
I arrive home and instantly notice a new guy had moved into my neigborhood. The place i grew up. My stomping grounds. A guy named Alex who builds campers. And not just any campers, Alex specialized in vintage Airstreams and Sprinter Vans. Doing magazine quality work.
So how did we meet? Well as i’m applying to a whole 2 colleges (UNCA and APP State - who both accepted me), i notice a house in my neighborhood had about 5 airstreams and 3 sprinter vans parked in the yard. I would bike past the house everyday on my way to our neighborhood trails, wondering what is someone doing with all those camopers. So one day i decided to pop in while alex was workin on an Airstream. I approached him and the conversation went something like this..
Me: “what the hell is all of this”
Alex: “Its ROM Customs man”
Me: “looks sickk.. Do you need any help”
Alex: “You don’t wanna help me”
So Alex warned me about how shitty this work can be, but i convinced him i was down for it. So i started the next day. For the next 3 months he taught me tons about building Airstreams.
Now with the time to commit to college rolling around. My original plan was to follow my brothers footsteps and become a D1 runner. But that got tossed out the window as soon as i got into biking and boarding. So instead of going to college, i made the best choice of my life. I got myself and an Airstream and hit the road.
Now this idea sounded all sunshine n rainbows, but boy was that the biggest can o worms i ever did open. At this time Alex had moved operations into a million dollar shop, on the most beautiful property in the Appalachian Mountains. It was there that i first laid eyes on my soon to be home.
I couldn’t believe it was mine.
I quickly gutted the entire thing, happily tearing everything out. Only to be bombarded with anxiety when i realized what i had just done. I now have to build a house from scratch i thought..
That thought was then followed by all the possibilities of what i could do with an Airstream and North America.
So i got straight to work. Head down, nothing else mattered. I was on a mission, i was onto something big.
I was immedietly humbled again and flooded with anxiety when for starters, i ran into my first few issues, you know the ones you don’t account for when you’re building a house from scratch. Yea those begun, and Alex, the owner of the shop, who was supposed to be there to help me along the way, decides to leave the country for a couple months. Thats when i was faced with a choice. I could either quit on what could’ve been the coolest thing i ever do, or i can man up and figure that shit out.
Thankfully i took the challenge head on.
I stayed up till 2 am every day working on that Airstream, only to wake up the next morning and get straight to working with my pops handy man/mowing business to make some more money. My days consisted of mowing, crawling under houses, 4 or 5 home depot trips, and messing something up on the airstream only to get it right the second time. This lasted for about 4 months until one day i looked up and i was ready to hit the road.
I had done it.
It was time to put my money where my mouth is and hit the road.
As a 19 year old starting his gap year, i had no idea what lie ahead. I only know i believed in living life to the fullest. I believed i was capable of achieving my dreams. Which was living like the people i saw as superstars. The guys doing stunts on bikes and snowboards, the people who travel and find the most beautiful spots nature has to offer, who find themselves meeting the coolest most unique beings on this earth, i wanted it all.
Thats exactly what lie ahead.
For the next year i couldn’t stop having the best day of my life. It seemed like every week i would call my dad and say “welp pops, i just had another best day of my life”, and fill him in on all the life changing moments i’ve experienced.
So when my friends were leaving for their freshman years of college, i was driving a 26’ Airstream across the country. With the van i was lookin at a 45 foot rig! Boy was it fun towing all that. First stop, Fort Collins. I drove all the way to Colorado to see my Asheville boys at their spot at Colorado State. After a fun week of hangin we set off the Laramie Wyoming to do some backpacking in Medicine Bow.
Off to a good start.
I then proceeded to my next destination. Utah. (What ended up being where i spent most of my college age years). I show up looking for a spot to park my 45 foot rig in the city. This was a nightmare. I got kicked out a few spots and started lsoing hope that i was gonna be able to live here. Thats when i decided to hit up a mutaul friend i had on instagram. Nate Sprenger. I’d been watching him tear up Utah on his snowboard for the past couple years since he moved to Utah to go to the U. But Nate said i could try parking on the street he lived on. Texas Street. My new home. I parked that Airstream on texas st and didn’t move for the rest of the year.
Now after settling in Salt Lake City, i had found a spot i really liked to bike at. I street. This place was honeslty what i had always dreamed of. A dirt jump park for big bikes. I took a liking to it and decided to hang around for a bit. Not long after i get word that Red Bull Rampage is going down soon. Without even thinking about going, i was blessed with a gift that would end up changing my life forever. Brad Kee (the cool dad from my neighborhood growing up, who traveled the country with his sons in an RV racing BMX), gave me a free ticket to Rampage. What an epic gift.
Almost immedietlty following the great news that i was going to rampage, crack!! I snap my frame. Yup, i broke my bike. Up at i street i went way too big on a backflip, all the way to flat, and snapped my frame. About a $3k fix. Yeah that cut me down. I did not have the money to buy a whole new bike after buying my first house and a van.
I was heartbroken.
But still, life could be worse. So i took the ticket, said thank you to Brad probably 10 times, and headed to Virgin Utah for my mind to be blown. Boy is that what happened. My first impressions of Rampage were as follows:
Holy shit this is huge!
Why would anyone with a family do this?
How in the hell does anyone get to a point where they can do this?
I was flooded with emotion. I was starstruck, amazed, terrified, amused, curious, interested.
I was inspired.
I left my first professional bike event branded with inspiration and ideas. I had a fire lit under me that day.
Then things got even harder. The entire week after Rampage, free riders from all around the world ride all the old Rampage sites. With me camped out there, i was forced to watch. I say forced because it was the hardest thing ever watching guys ride the sickest jumps i’d ever seen, while i sat helplessly on the sidelines.
A spot i hate.
It was here that i watched random dudes i’d never even heard of, start throwing massive tricks on rampage jumps. I thought who are these people, and dang i didn’t know people did this for fun, and on their own time?? I was interested. I saw something i wanted. Something that aligned with my visions of being a rockstar.
I made up my mind that i would be back next time with a bike. I’m sure of it.
So during the week after Rampage, everybody is talking about the Green River Classic next weekend. What people called a big party in the desert with a bunch of sick jumps. Thats all i needed to hear. I show up and instantly get teased with fun biking again. Only this time, i’m watching the Hills Gang put on a masterclass of how to have a good time. This weekend consisted of the Hills Gang building a 10 foot tall wooden pallet structure, covering it with sheets, premiering their epic season edit on it, and then douseing it with gasoline and burning it to the ground. This turned into a 10 foot tall fire, that people then started throwing mortars and bottle rockets into (yes i got hit in the face with a bottle rocket), while people are jumping the fire on dirt bikes. Guns firing in the distance, dirt bikes ripping up the hills, beers being crushed, and a strong smell of spliffs.
I felt like i was home.
From the sidelines, I sat and watched dudes at the riding level i always dreamed of being at, absolutely throwing down. Hayden Zablotny, Aidan Howe, Aidan Parish, Finley Kirschenmann, Talus Turk and more, all tearing shit up. These guys were colddddd. They had style. HUGE tricks. They were my dream.
I left that event with not just a flame lit under me. I had a 10 foot tall bonfire with mortars and dirtbikes flying over lit deep inside my soul. I had struck passion, the gold of the soul.
The following week, running out of money and winter around the corner, i got back to Salt Lake and had a decision to make. Do i work at Brighton snowboard resort for the winter? Or do i go work at woodward and sesh the foam pit as much as possible this winter? I started at woodward next week. My workdays went like this. Pull into the woodward parking lot, smoke a bowl, walk inside and say whats up to the homies, walk upstairs to my station, and proceed to serve park city moms the worst lattes they’ve ever had.
Then on lunch break, i would go to the foam pit and practice my flat spins. The trick i swore i would learn after going to the Green River Classic. They we’re not clicking. I thought it would be easy, because so many riders make them look easy. But they humbled me. This trick ended up taking me 3 years to learn. I struggled for a while, but didn’t quit. My break would end and i’d go back upstairs to serve people. Stuffing my face with soda and doritos, and whatever lunch the kitchen guys had for me downstairs. Life was good. But i wasn’t finished working.
When i moved into the Airstream, the goal was to work remote like Boryan, so i could make money on the road. So while working at woodward, i’d have my computer open on the counter for when things got slow. It was here i was doing outreach to business owners trying to convnce them to hire me as their “email copywriter”. Well i convinced this brand Snowears.com to hire me. I was stoked. It was the least legit job i’d ever had, but that didn’t matter. I was making money from my computer. This job only lasted about 2 months because i eventually wrote a pretty bold email that contained the word “sucks”, and it cost me my job.
Not to worry, i’m still living rent free on Texas st, and my thinking was that as long as rent and food are free, i can invest my time in something that will eventually pay off. But i still needed money. So i started going to the library, the Sprague Branch library in Sugar House. A beautiful little spot, perfect for a homeless guy like me. It was there i refinded my outreach strategy for finding business owners to hire me. See after sending countless emails every day to business owners and getting no promsing responses, i knew i was doing something wrong. I thought i was doing everything i could. I would find a business that was advertsiing on facebook, go to their website, use a tool that would help me find emails associated with the website, and write a tailored email to the business offering my services. But it wasn’t working. So after calling my guy Borayn for advice, he told me to try twitter.
Jackpot.
There is a side to twiiter where bsuiness owners and “Ecom Bros” post any and everything abvout their business. Fromt he mass amounts of money they were making, to the problems and headaches they were expereinceing. They called this “Money Twitter”. Now money twitter consisted of young entrepreneurs, most who were choosing to get straight into bsuiness instead of college. This is an important detail because someone who didn’t go to college themselves, insn’t looking to hire college graduets looking for a big salary. No, they are looking to hire someone like me. A young guy hungry to learn and work hard, for cheap. Twitter was a jackpot for someone like me. I would go to the explore page and simply search “ecom”, and get results from all kinds of business owners sharing their advice, issues, and pioctures of the millions of dollars they were printing each month.
So i came up with a pitch and strated reaching out to them. Now for my pitch i used some psychological tactics and strategies to pluck the emotional strings of these money hungry bsuiness owners. To start i would not immedietly show my hand and let them know i was looking for work. No, i would feed their ego, telling them how much i loved loistening to their ideas, and how i thought their ideas were the best. And thats exactly why im reaching out with a question.
See thes eguys use twiiter dm’s to communicate woth other bsuiness owners, genuienly helping eachother with advice. The perfect place to approach soomeone with a business questions. They are all happy to answer because it makes them feel good when they pass on their knowledge and experience.
So after feeding their ego, i would then ask them a question as if i needed advice for my own business.
“Hey Michael, love your ideas man. Had a question i think you'd have the best answer to. When you delegate your ecom work, are you hiring a bunch of people to handle specific jobs? Or have you trained a grunt man to handle most of your work how you like it?”
They love this question. And their answer would give me the needed context to slide my services in there while i had their attention.
Anyways one guy Jake Kreuz, founder of Vitalredlight.com, responded like this - “I need a grunt man!”. Perfect i said, i’m your guy. Jake gave me some test assignments to do. After completing them, i had the job, and my first title of COO for Vital Red Light. I’m 19 working directly with a multi million dollar 28 year old brand owner. Perfect. Now i’m mkaing money online, gaining tons of business eperience, and Utah is DUMPING snow.
Yes this winter turned out to be the biggest winter in Utah histpory. My first year there. What a gift. It was fate i like to think. It felt like every day that winter i woke up to a foot of snow on the Airstream. It was cold, but it was fun. I rode more pow than i knew was possible. Pow laps every day, every week it seemed. We had fun.
With the faucet on, i didn’t just ride pow every day, jumping off cliffs and hucking flips. I made some lifelong friends.
I actually got brought to pool league. Yes a league of college guys, some frat, some not, who met every thursday night to play pool, and have a tournoment at the end of each season. Quite a group of characters, some of the best i’ve ever met. Each week was a different theme, where we’d have to get creatve and put together the most stylish, outrageous fits. Some iconic themes being 02 NBA Draft night, Divorced dad, Peaky Blinders, Rob Dyrdek, and some others i cannot mention. We would go all out.
It was pool league where i met one of my best friends to this day, an absolute legend.
Shug.
My buddy nate who broguht me to pool league points at this handsom fella and says, “his dad started Nitro Circus”. “You’re joking” i said.
So i went and introduced myself, thoroughly impressed with this guy. And we hit it off as best friends. We then proceeded to hang out all the time and make some all-time memories together. Writing stories that should probably stay between us. Some notable ones were him taking me to my first Nitro show, and getting to meet the atheletes including Travis Pastrana in the locker room after. Man was that cool. Thanks Shug.
Anyways pool league and boarding have been so fun, and keeping me so busy. But its now time for the league championship.
The tournament.
A bracket that would decide a winner in one night. We got to playing. i chose to drink slightly less that night because i was serious. I’m a competitor. I win my first, win my second, and before i know it, i’m in the championship. Holy shit i wasn’t even thinking about getting this far. But shit, we’re here, so lets get after it.
My apponent — Cameron Caulkin — AKA 2 Time.
This guy can play some fuckin pool. He’s now known as 4 or 5 time, i don’t know i can’t keep up. But he runs shit. The game is best 2 out of 3. We get to playing and i am one on. Sinking all my shots, i take game one. 2 Time strikes back and takes game two. Now its down to the last, the boys are all crowded around. I’m getting serious. I somehow find myself on the 8 ball in game three, and i sink it.
The boys were electric. They couldn’t believe someone had beaten the champ, especially the rookie.
I won $450 bucks that night, and blew nearly all of it at X-wives buying pitchers. (X-wives is the shittiest most beautiful diver bar in the heart of SLC, a place we called home when we were underage)
Anyways Utah has gifted me a lot, more than i could have ever imagined in one year. My gap year brought direction to my life. Clarity in who i wanted to be, and clear goals to chase.
I haven’t looked back since.
