Birthplace: Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
Mike Aitken, Dig january 2008: 1985, my first bike was a 16-inch Mongoose that got handed down from by brothers. It didn't have training wheels, so my parents taught me to ride without them when I was two years old.
FUZZY.
Mike, Ride BMX UK february 2001: Early 1993, when I started racing, the first day I went to the track, I went out with my bike all ghetto and Fuzzy fixed it so I wouldn't die on the track. That was the first time I met him but the first time I really talked to him was when I started to go to his house in Roy, when he had jumps in his backyard. He was always really cool and suportive and always helped me out to learn everything.
FIRST RACE.
Mike Aitken, Dig january 2008: My first race was at the end of '93 in the ABA as an eleven year-old novice.
1995.
www.ridebmx.com, july 2006: Believe it or not, this is Little Mikey Aitken on a JMC with 1-3/8” wheels and a Uni seat back in ’95. Brad went out there to shoot with the locals and captured this shot of Mikey way before he became the pro he is today. Is there even a landing to this jump or is it a fly-out? Photo by Brad McDonald.
TURNDOWN.
1996, first turndown.
Full page photo in Ride BMX US august 1998. Mike stretches a nothing somewhere in the land of Mormons. Photo by Ike Taylor.
FIRST DIRT COMP.
Mike competes in first dirt comp, Southpark National in PA.
BULLY.
December 1998, Mike picks up his first sponsor, Bully.
First X-Games appearance, San Francisco, California, june 25 - july 3, 1999.
MOSH.
December 1999, Mike leaves Bully to ride for the new Mosh Bikes program. In turn he is picked on by his friends for riding a frame with a square downtube. Gets picked up by Square One clothing.
Mike at the MTV contest in TJ Lavin backyard on the cover of Ride BMX UK #46 april may 2000.
BMX ACTION COVER.
Cover of BMX Action #1 first quarter 2000 ?
INTERVIEW.
Interview in Ride BMX US #49 june 2000.
CFB WOODWARD.
6th place stuntmen dirt @ CFB 2000 round 3, finals, july 6-9, 2000, Woodward, PA.
GRAVITY GAMES.
4th place dirt @ 2000 Gravity Games, july 18-23, 2000, Providence, RI.
Mike Aitken has that extra pump thing going on and always did something huge over the big set to start his run. No foot can cans, table and lookback 360's, and giant lookdowns to x-up with a couple transfers here and there earned him 4th place cash.
2000 X-GAMES.
5th place pro dirt @ 2000 X-Games, August 17-22, 2000, San Francisco, California.
Fifth place pro dirt went to Mike Aitken with lookback 360's and a ton of moto style.
RIDE BMX US COVER.
Mike Aitken turndown on the cover and poster in Ride BMX US #52 september 2000.
FIT BIKE CO.
September 2000, Mike switched from Mosh bikes to Fit Bike Co.
Mike Aitken: I wanted to leave Mosh 'cause I wanted to do my own thing and help something grow. It's a lot more satisfying when you help something out that much and it's because of you. With Fit, it's a whole different program than Mosh, and I fit into it a little better. I'm not really hip-hop and we didn't get along well most of the time [on Mosh]. Me and Heath got along fine, but I felt like the odd one on the team [laughter]. With Fit, I feel more like a part of it. It's good.
VANS.
Mike signs to Vans shoes.
2nd place pro dirt @ DK DIRT CIRCUIT #3, SALT LAKE CITY, UT
4th place pro dirt @ GRAVITY GAMES, PROVIDENCE, RI
SNAP COVER.
Cover of Snap #50 december 2000.
Turndown on the cover of BMX Plus! january 2001.
INTERVIEW.
Interview in Ride BMX UK #51 february 2001.
BIKE SHOW.
2001 Bike Show in England. Visits the UK for the first time, embarks on Seventies roadtrip throughout England and Scotland.
VANS TRIPLE CROWN.
4th place dirt and 24th place park @ 2001 Vans Triple Crown Stop #1, May 14-16, 2004, Salt Lake City, Utah.
X-GAMES.
6th place dirt @ 2001 X-Games, august 17-23, 2001, First Union Center, Philadelphia, PA.
Mike Aitken did a 360 lookback off of one set, half pedal before the next set, and then 360 lookdown off of the next set. For his last run, he went for a big lip-to-lip 360 transfer, then turned around a cranked a huge tabletop 360. Then he turned around again and tried another transfer but came up short and let his bike fly off the next lip. 6th place pro dirt.
DK DIRT CIRCUIT.
4th place pro dirt @ DK Dirt circuit round 3, Perris, CA.
360-table at the X-Games on the cover of Ride BMX US january 2002.
TWBMX COVER.
Mike Aitken powers out a hop-over icepick on a chain linker in Utah on the cover of Transworld BMX magazine march 2002. Photo by Keith Mulligan.
LA REVOLUTION.
1st place pro street @ 2002 La Revolution, march 1-3, Toronto, Canada.
In pro street, Mike Aitken took the win and a Fender Stratocaster home after pulling an icepick to fakie on the 6 ft. sub rail and airing incredibly high over the spine.
VTC #1.
2nd place park and 4th place dirt @ first stop of the Vans Triple Crown of BMX Series, May 12, 2002, Charlotte, North Carolina.
MOVES.
Moves in with Matt Beringer.
VTC #2.
3rd place dirt @ Vans Triple Crown round 2, Denver.
INTERVIEW.
Interview in Transworld BMX september 2002.
VTC #3.
4th place pro dirt and 6th place pro street @ third and final stop of the Vans Triple Crown of BMX Series., October 3-6, 2002, Oceanside, CA.
ODYSSEY.
November, Mike Aitken gets free parts from Odyssey and protects his head with a Protec helmet.
INTERVIEW.
Interview in Ride BMX US november 2002.
www.squareonebmx.com: Mike Aitken is 19 years old and resides in Salt Lake City, Utah. Over the last few years he has gone from being the smooth little kid that rides at Fuzzy's house to one of the most respected riders in BMX. And for good reason. Whether it be street, park, or especially trails, Mike rides with unmatched style and flow that has become the envy of just about everyone who rides a 20 inch bike. Whether it be some complicated opposite move of some sort or just a good old tabletop 15 feet above the lip, everything mike does looks so damn good. When he's not air guitarring to Slayer or The Crown, he enjoys doing burnouts in his 1978 Trans Am, which I feel was a wonderful upgrade from his Toyota 4 Runner with TV's in the back of the seats. Mikes sponsors are Fit Bike Company, Square one, Vans Shoes, and Pro Tec Helmets.
2002 GRAVITY GAMES CLEVELAND, OH - DIRT 4TH PLACE
Cover of BMX Plus! january 2003.
INTERVIEW.
Dear Pro in Transworld BMX february 2003.
METRO JAM.
5th place pro street @ 2003 Toronto Metro jam, February 28th - March 2nd, 2003.
It was worth the price of the trip to Toronto simply to see Mike Aitken ride. Even video can't capture what it's really like when Mikey drops in.
SQ1 TOUR.
Square One demo tour.
GT.
Turns down sponsorship offer from GT.
Mike Aitken, Dig january 2008: The best way I can think to put it is, would you rather live with foster parents and have them pay you, or live with your real parents that you love? With most of my sponsors money isn't an issue because I'm happy, and in the end isn't what really matters?
X-GAMES.
5th place dirt @ 2003 X-Games, august 14-18, 2003, Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA.
POSTER.
Poster in Transworld BMX september 2003.
GRAVITY GAMES.
8th place dirt @ 2003 Gravity Games, september 2003, Cleveland, Ohio.
Mike Aitken and Brian Foster were the two guys doing the most transfer action, and you could tell they were both raised on dirt. Mikey ended up crashing and possibly separating his shoulder, but he was too punk rock to use the sling the medics gave him.
VIDEO.
Part in the Odyssey video.
Cover of Transworld BMX magazine february 2004.
FISE.
3rd place dirt and 7th place park @ FISE 2004, huitième édition, espace rock de Montpellier Grammont, France, juillet 2004.
VANS TRIPLE CROWN.
6th place pro dirt and 30th place pro street @ Right Guard BMX Championships Vans Triple Crown Stop #3, September 26, 2004, Huntington Beach,CA.
360 one footed invert in Eugene, Oregon on the cover of Ride BMX US august 2005. Photo by Mark Losey.
5th place dirt and 8th place park @ 2005 Dew Action Sports Tour round 3, Rose Quarter, Portland, Oregon, August 18-21, 2005.
Mike Aitken got the crowd’s favor with unique (and super hard) tricks like a wallride transfer to 180 into the elevated miniramp, and a manual to fastplant 180 into the takeoff of the fun box.
Mike Aitken's Fit s3 in Ride BMX US august 2006.
6th place dirt @ 2006 X-Games, August 3rd-6th, 2006, Los Angeles, CA.
Mike Aitken 180-lookbacked the third jump and pulled the rollback clean, even as he rolled backwards up the wooden roll-in.
INTERVIEW.
Pro Q&A with Mike Aitken in Ride BMX US november 2006.
Bart de Jong, www.fatbmx.com: A well deserved third place went to Mikey Aitken. Yup he rode brakeless but if you have so much bike control you don't even miss the brake. Mikey goes 3 feet higher than everyone else, has more flow than a lot of people out there and is not afraid to mix it up in tricks and even makes a nacnac seatgrab look sweet. 8 grand for a night's riding put a smile on his face.
Mike Aitken interview and gap to nose manual on the cover of Dig 62. Photo by Rob Dolecki.
BAD CRASH.
Jeremy Aitken, www.mikeaitken.com, october 6th, 2008: Our thoughts and prayers are with Mike, who was injured on Sunday while riding with friends in Pennsylvania. Mike is currently in critical condition in the ICU at St. Luke's hospital in Bethlehem, PA. His wife and parents have flown from Salt Lake City, UT to be by his side.
Mike was rushed to the hospital early Sunday afternoon after over-rotating a 360 and taking a severe blow to the head. Emergency staff immediately sedated Mike who was reportedly disoriented and convulsing, he has not regained consciousness since.
A ct scan revealed that there is currently no swelling of the brain, although there is an area that appears to have been injured by the fall. Further scans show breaks/fractures in Mike's orbital bone, cheek, both sides of his jaw, as well as throughout his sinus cavities.
Mike is currently on assisted breathing, but is breathing on his own for the most part. He has shown some voluntary movement in his left arm and leg. His right side is currently only responding to pain stimuli, but doctors say that this is fairly common for an injury of this type and are hopeful about his recovery.
He is not currently responding when spoken to or asked to move his hand. But again, doctors say that this is common for this type of injury and are hopeful.
Mike could wake at any moment, or his condition could remain unchanged for days or even weeks.
Mike is strong, and we pray that he will find the strength to fight through this. We will try to update as we learn more about Mike's condition.
Like many professional riders, Mike's BMX career makes health insurance companies consider him too high of a risk, and he is deemed "Uninsurable". Despite multiple attempts to obtain health insurance he is currently uninsured. The donations that have been offered and support that has been shown are greatly appreciated.
We all love Mikey, and hope for the best.
Mike Aitken POSH, october 2008 on the cover of Dig march 2013. Find out in this issue why this is Keith Terra’s favourite trails photo that he’s ever shot.
THE DIGEST.
After Edwin Delarosa, The Diggest is proud to present his second documentary about : M I K E A I T K E N.
From his riding to his brain injury recovery, everything shows that he was a true model of strength, willpower and style. Discover a video portrait that pays tribute to one of the most stylish and influential rider of his generation.
A film by Thibaut Grevet.
Filmed & Edited by Alex Valentino / Thibaut Grevet.
Photographer : Vincent Perraud.
