The complete package


The Mirra Bike Co team is a varied mix of riders. On their European trip Dave Mirra brought Mike Spinner, Dave Rytell and Mike Laird along for the first leg at the FISE in France. After flying in from the USA to Paris the crew took a fast train to Montpellier and checked out the 2008 version of the FISE. With Rytell not being the contest type rider it was pretty wild for him to enter his first contest since the Local Exposure Tour a few years ago when he got picked up by Mirraco. Although Dave Rytell has lived in Germany for many years (his dad was in the army), he only received his passport two hours before take off. In fact, it wasn't even valid when he showed up at customs because he had not signed it yet. Seasoned traveler and company owner Dave Mirra had brought his friend Mike Rogoish along as well who promptly received the "Security" title. At 6 ft 4" and as fit as a K1 fighter you really couldn't miss him. Mike Laird was stoked to be back in France after coming out to the FISE for the first time last year. Mike Spinner is always up for traveling and was ready to meet his myspace girls in sunny France.



The first night kicked off in the Australian bar. After traveling for 30 hours straight it didn't take long before the boys were in da house. It was a rough night but a good kick-off of days to come. Friday saw some street practice which was difficult with over 100 riders on the course. The practice strategy was changed to an early morning session the next day because half of the guys couldn't sleep anyway.

European Mirraco riders Maxime Charveron and Alessandro Barbero joined Mike & Mike, and Dave & Dave on the street  course during prelims on Saturday. With over 70 pros on the sheets it was going to be difficult to make it to the finals. 20 riders made the cut and everyone was in it except for Dave Rytell. Time for another drink. Paul Lonsdale (Mirraco-England) and Marc von Varel (Mirraco-Germany) came over to show some support to the team and it worked
out well in the finals.


Mike Laird finished on place 10. After losing his bike in the water (just like Maxime in practice) Mike took Mirra's Blend to make the cut. Mike rode well and did the biggest no-handed 360 of the weekend. It was sweet. Footjam wallplants, 3-whips, flips, Mike did it all for a top ten score. Dave Mirra (9th) started off slow but finished off strong with a no-handed 360-flip on the box pulled perfectly. The crowd at the FISE is insane and they stood up to show respect to the Mirracle Man. Maxime Charveron made the cut in 18th place but rode lots better in the finals pulling handplants on the big quarterpipe, massive flairs and a bikeflip on a quarter. 7th place was his making the Frenchies proud.


Alessandro Barbero had been waiting for the moment where he could act like Jeremy McGrath and throw his T-shirt, gloves and watch in the crowd (hmm, maybe not the watch). The Italian is a trick machine and pulled trick after trick. He had just returned from Woodward and it showed. The windshield whiper was no problem, a triple whip was pulled, a double whip on the quarterpipe, 3-double over the spine and then he got a flat. He grabbed someone else's bike and pulled a 540 whip first try. "I'm so happy right now!" he kept on saying.

Second place went to Mike Spinner. His trick list is enormous and he knows when it's time to lay it down. He had a tech street move in there as well and 720-d out of that little miniramp on top of the flatbank section. Mike goes upside down these days (at least half way) and his inverted flairs are sick. He pulled a turndown-x-up 720 over the box and had one more trick for the crowd in the end; a 1080. He crashed the first one and saw that his tire was coming off the rim. With all the French girls screaming for another one Mike got up and pulled it. First one at a European contest ever. Sweet.


Right before it got too dark to ride Daniel Dhers rode his (Mirraco) bike to victory. He's a trick machine on drugs or drinks too much Red Bull. He does not stop. Great riding once again by the Veneluelan. He's ready for the Dew Tour. The team dinner that followed and the afterparty had everyone in a good mood. Ryan Guettler had arrived at 8pm and  missed watching the finals by an hour. He was out to party though and got his first taste of the FISE contest. The day after  was rough but if you are a man at night, you need to be a man in the morning.   Time to pack up and head over to the Easyjet that was waiting for us.

It was surprising to see that checking in all the bikes and the riders went as smoothly as it did and two hours later team Mirraco arrived in England. Paul Lonsdale had reserved some cars and had his own mini-van to put the bikes in. Stepping into an English car with the stickshift on the wrong side is something else. Driving on the  opposite side of the rode is scary too but surprisingly we made it to Central London in one piece. We scoped the Stockwell park for a second and the locals were surprised to see Dave Mirra, Guettler, Spinner and the rest of the crew watching in from behind the fence. After some dinner we called it a day and decided to go to Stockwell the
next morning.


Next morning came and one of the Vauxhall Vectra's was gone. Damn. Instead of going to the park in comfort we stuffed everything in the minivan and other car. That's 10 people (including "security") and 6 bikes. We would worry about the car at a later  stage as we assumed it was towed. It was a beautiful day and a few locals had come out. The park was fenced off as they were re-doing the concrete on it but somehow the police cared more about a person being stabbed than kicking the riders out. Good cops there in Brixton. It was a "productive" session in Stockwell. Sean Hargraves was taking  photos for the 2009 catalog and was stoked about the clear blue sky in the UK. Lunch was had at Subway and the riding continued at Southbank.


Having Dave Mirra around is always entertaining. He hasn't stopped making fun all day. Photo here, photo there, people recognize him on a regular basis and want prove that they were there. Mobile phones are excellent for these opportunities but it means Dave has to pose more often. Oh well, it was sort of a Mirraco promotion tour anyway. Dave will bring a few new variations on tricks to the Dew Tour this year and you better get ready for the  Complete Package.

People rode, people came over to say hi but there is always a time to say goodbye. More than a week on the road dealing with shitty internet connections, sleeping in different beds, dealing with towed cars, feeling sick, eating foreign food  and having a shortage of sleep makes you want to go home. Mirra, Guettler and Laird did, Spinner stayed for a few days and Rytell extended his trip as he was digging it over in London on his first trip over. It showed that the mix of  young and older guys on the Miraco team forms a complete package.