Birthplace: Green Bay, WI, USA.
Chad, Ride BMX UK april 2006: My first bike was awesome. Freedom to go wherever I wanted. Just had to be home for dinner. My parents bought me and my brother matching piece of-shit Huffys. I say 'piece of shit' cause they were broken within a few months. We knew that if we broke them we could get a stronger bike. So we ghost rode them oft everything till they broke in two. I was soo bummed my brother and me got matching bikes, We have our birthdays one day aped so we always celebrated them together and got matching everything. First thing I did to my bike was put coloured tape and some stickers on it. Made it mine.
CHRIS RYE.
Chad, Ride BMX UK april 2006: Chris Rye didn't use that name back in the day. He went by 'Eli.' My brother was in class with him in high school and they started talking one day. Next thing I knew he was at our house fiddling in the garage doing pogos. After I saw that it was on. Got some cheap Skyway pegs that threaded on and started doing pogos al day long. I would pogo out front of my house for hours, then go to the park and do another few hours, then go downtown and do another few hours.
Bio in Go december 1991 by Chris Rye.
In the small town of Green Bay, Wisconsin resides a 17-year-old flatlander who is anything but the norm -Chad DeGroot of Baco Designs. Chad has taken his riding a step beyond and rides with flair and originality. Tricks such as the baglady (cross-footed wheelchair roll) and hijacker (crackpacker behind the seat) are examples of his somewhat demented mind going over the brink of consciousness. Take a step now into the world of Chad DeGroot and witness for yourself the freshness he provokes. The climate in Wisconsin is hatin' it according to Chad. It's too humid in the summer and too cold in the winter. Indoor skateparks, warehouses, and basements supply the needed riding areas in the winter so Chad can keep up on his riding. And keep up he does. He can be seen riding at all Rampage comps and recently attended a three-week stay where he rode with Rick Moliterno, who pushed his riding even farther. He claims that video cameras inspire him to immensely to progress. "It totally does because if we think of a new trick or link, our main goal is to get it on tape so people will see it. That way it motivates us to do the trick a lot and then we eventually get it down." Checking out Chad in the video "BacoVision II' confirms the fact that he's an inspired one. Chad not only excels at flatland, but street riding as well. He will learn anything SO fast. He used to be pretty good at street, then when we went to pick him up from his stay at Rampage, he was doing insane jumps over the box and all these complicated lip trick combos. He even did a 19-step handrail in Davenport, Iowa before our bulging eyes. Where does he see street riding going in the future? "I can see a lot of flatland tricks being combined with basic street tricks to make them even harder. Stuff like decade fufanus and a lot of combo stuff' He cites "aggressive god Rick Moliterno, Bill Neuman, Trevor Meyer, and all the guys I ride with" as his most respected riders. He wants to eventually turn Pro and is ready and willing to do whatever it takes to make it... Record for jugglers (hitchiker whips)? "Nine, but the parking lot was small and I had to go down a driveway and into the street." Favorite music? "De La Soul, Beastie Boys, AC/DC, Bach." Will we see another video from the Baco crew? "Actually, we started filming some street stuff and a little flatland. We have a lot of footage from Rampage when I was there, too. So yeah, expect another video really soon. It seems that everything is going so great with Baco. It's cool because we keep on thinking of stuff to keep it hyped."
RODGERS GARAGE.
Standard Rodgers Garage video.
2nd place stuntboy flat @ BS round 1, Dallas, Texas, 1992.
BS LAKE OWEN.
1st place stuntboy flat @ BS round 3, Lake Owen Freestyle Camp, Wisconsin, 1992.
BS DAYTONA.
1st place stuntboy flat @ BS round 5, Daytona, FL, 1992.
BS FINALS CHICAGO.
2nd place stuntboy flat @ BS round 6, Chicago, november 1992. Chad took second and the Stuntboy flatland title for the year.
Chad is riding for Standard.
BS ROUND 2 SHIMERVILLE.
2nd place stuntman flat @ BS round 2, Shimerville, Pennsylvania, april 1993. Chad was riding as well as he ever has. His run was solid, clean, hard, and included tricks like a gyrator to caboose to backward wheelie to caboose again.
1993 KOC.
1st place flat A @ KOC 1993, UK.
BS ROUND 3 OKC.
3rd place stuntman flat @ BS round 3, Oklahoma City, september 1993. Darkside stuff: UpsideDown Wheelie to Backpacker.
BS FINALS CHICAGO.
2nd place stuntman flat @ BS round 4, Chicago, IL, november 1993.
LOOSE CHANGE.
Poorboy Loose change video. Chad Degroot est au sommet avec ses darksides et autres enchaînements bien à lui.
Shimerville, april 1993.
Chicago, november 1993.
2nd place stuntman flat @ BS round 2, Ft.Riley, KS, may 1994.
HEAVY METAL THUNDER.
Poorboy Heavy Metal Thunder video.
RING THE GACK.
Ells Bells Ring the gack video.
FAT ONES.
Standard Fat Ones video. Even better flatland stuff than on Baco 5, like backwards deathtrucks and combos.
Chad is riding for Primo.
BS ROUND 1.
3rd place stuntman flat @ BS round 1, Moreno Valley, february 1995.
FREEDOM COVER.
Pedal boogie on the cover of Freedom #9 september 1995.
Chad Degroot, www.facebook.com, september 2013: Was on a Standard trip and while at a skatepark I blew up my back tire so I had to borrow Dave Freimuth's bike, all virgin white. Chico clothing style, baggy as hell shorts, stupid face hair...but doing the pedal boogie for a cover.
INTERVIEW.
Interview in Ride BMX US june 1995.
RELEASE THE GREASE.
Ells Bells Release the grease video.
COVER.
Cover of Props #10 september 1995. Photo by Chris Rye.
BS ROUND 3.
3rd place stuntman flat @ 1995 BS round 3, Oklahoma City, OK, september 1995. Chad Degroot pulled upside down megaspins on the pedal to switch footed stick-b on the pedal.
UGP.
Chad has switched from Poorboy to riding for UGP.
STYLE CATS.
Standard Style Cats video.
KalaYasuda, www.youtube.com, december 2010: Ells Bells Release the Grease.
Chad Degroot part in Standard Style Cats.
Chad left Standard to ride for Schwinn in january 1996.
BROKEN BACK.
Chad Degroot, www.profileracing.com, 2008: Broke my back the summer of 1996. Was riding for Schwinn and on tour most of the time. It was sweet, no rent, no phone, no bills, just traveling with my body guard Dave Osato. We ended up at Woodward camp early just before summer. Nate Wessel was there and they were finishing the resi pit. No one ever road one of these before...just flipped foam then went to the real box. That day I had two coaches teaching me to do flips...got them wired in the foam and wanted to do them on a proper box. There was two reasons for learning flips, they looked like fun, and I wanted to end one of our shows with me, the flatlanded doing a flip over the box. The show I was suppose to do this at, my parents were coming and the show was near their house, so it was going to be sweet to see the looks on both their faces when I went upside down. After pulling a hundred flips on the resi, I went to the box and did it clean. Then faster and cleared the deck...thought that it was on. Not sure how many I did, but I do know that I didn't want to stop, much less it was a couple days till the show and wanted to have them dialed. Then I woke up in an ambulance coming in and out of consciousness. What the coaches taught me was how to flip, they never got into if I am upside down, how to get out of a crash. Turning your head while upside down will bring you out of it easier, better than landing on your head. Which I ended up doing. It was in lot 8, cleared the whole deck and most of the landing to my shoulders and head. I broke my lover back, it was a compression fracture, got knocked out, and had a scab from one shoulder blade across to the next. That saved my life, and helped with not being paralysed. Jay Miron to this day says it was the gnarliest crash he has ever seen. I sat on a couch at my parents for about 2 months going pill to pill. Pretty much had to relearn how to ride as well much of daily movements. The next year I went to camp and learned them again, got them dialed, but most importantly got the fear out of my head. Then I crashed again and broke my tailbone. It wasn't a bad crash, but it did hurt like a son of a bitch. I drove all the way back to Florida with a broken tail. Can't lie to you, I cried most the the trip. Why do we need tails anyway? So there you have it, I did flips, I crashed a lot, I still do flips on occasion cause they are a sweet feeling trick. I don't even want to start with fronts, it won't happen, or it wouldn't work, I guarantee that one...
Chad Degroot has left the Schwinn freestyle team and is now back riding for Standard Bykes.
Chad Degroot, www.profileracing.com, 2008: I made the mistake of going back to Standard just to get ignored off the team. To say that I respect Rick for having mind power wouldn't be a lie. He is an amazing rider, Hitler style boss, and overall wildman. He inspired me to look further than BMX. Riding a bike isn't a job, a reliable source of income, or a therapist.
BS PROVIDENCE.
3rd place stuntboys street and 2nd place stuntmen flat @ 1997 BS round 1, Providence, RI, march 1997. Sporting the rainbow sticker that comes with the new Baco Pride video somewhere on your bike. Chad Degroot is the leader of the Rainbow Coalition and one hell of a rider. Chad rode really well in amateur street (third place) with no footed nosewheelies and big 360 and even better in pro flat (second place). Move like backwards manuals to back wheel links and darkside ticks helped keep the pride alive.
1997 X-GAMES.
6th place flat @ 1997 X-Games, San Diego, CA, june 1997.
HARO.
Pendant l'été 1997, Chad Degroot quitte Standard et roule pour Haro avec cependant un EP de chez Hoffman en attendant de dessiner un vélo de sol.
PROPS.
Profile in Props 20 july august 1997.
INTERVIEW.
Interview in Ride BMX US #29 august september 1997.
FACE VALUE.
UGP Face Value video.
1997 BS round 1. Photo by Sparky Clark.
1st place stuntman flat @ BS/B3 round 1, St Petersburg, FL.
BS WOODWARD.
2nd place stuntman flat @ BS/B3 round 3, Woodward, PA.
BS OCEANSIDE.
5th place stuntman flat @ BS/B3 round 4 and finals, Oceanside, CA.
1998 X-GAMES.
7th place flat @ 1998 X-Games, San Diego, CA, 1998.
FANTASY.
Haro Fantasy video.
8th place stuntman flat @ 1999 BS round 1, Louisville, KY, april 1999.
UGP ROOTS JAM.
Chad Degroot came up with the design of the course and built most of the ramps.
BS RICHMOND.
10th place stuntman flat @ BS round 2, Richmond, VA, may 1999.
1999 X-GAMES.
20th place flat @ 1999 X-Games, 1999.
2nd place pro flat @ CFB round 1, Merrit Island, FL, february 2000.
GRAVITY GAMES.
Flatlanders Kevin Jones, Chad Degroot, Trevor Meyer, Andrew Faris and Leif Valin were on site doing daily demos.
GROUNDWORK.
Props Groundwork video. Chad DeGroot was doing some rad stuff such as his no footed manual where he throws in two barspins and keeps rolling.
Haro, Primo, UGP, Redbull.
BS ANAHEIM.
8th place pro flat @ BS/B3 round 1, Anaheim, CA, march 2001.
BS LOUISVILLE.
13th place pro flat @ BS/B3 round 2, Louisville, KY, april 2001.
UNIQUE INDIVIDUAL.
Leigh Ramsdell, www.hsacentral.com, 2001: Chad is a unique individual. In his riding and in his personality. But he's one of my favorite people to hang out with because you just never know what's going to happen next. He's been on top of his game from the beginning and even more so now. This year at the x-games he got sixth place. Not bad, not bad at all. One time I dropped Chad's camera and when it hit the ground it broke to pieces. He didn't get mad, he just laughed and put it back together. Maybe that's why I like him because he didn't punch me in the nose.
2001 X-GAMES.
6th place flat @ 2001 X-Games, Philadelphia, PA, august 2001.
NORA CUP.
2001 NORA cup #1 flatlander award.
MISSION OF NONSENSE.
UGP Mission of nonsense video. Backwards feeble down a double kinked ledge.
Props How to. Chad DeGroot shows rollback, peg wheelie, manual, nose manual, backyard, lardyard, frontyard, whiplash, side donut, decade, rollaid, and more.
BMX FREEDOM.
Interview in BMX Freedom march 2002.
CFB FLORIDA.
4th place pro flat @ CFB round 1, Merrit Island, FL, march 2002.
VIDEO GAME.
www.expn.com: Degroot donned the motion capture suit with the little balls on it at Camp Woodward, PA in March 2002 for the Mirra 3 video game by Acclaim Max Sports. "I would have never thought that flat would be involved in the game industry. And how to incorporate it so it will be interesting is a battle, but not impossible," says Degroot. Regarding the process Chad says it was "Soo hard to ride in that tight ass suit. The balls fall off all the time. Riding flat involves soo much movement and twisting and turning. The motion capture area is soo small, so to pull the moves off is hard."
BACKYARD JAM UK.
4th place pro flat @ Backyard jam round 1, Telford, UK, march 2002.
CFB JOLIET.
8th place pro flat @ CFB round 2, Joliet IL, june 2002.
EXPN ROUND 2.
5th place pro flat @ EXPN Invitational round 2, Gwinnett County, GA.
PROPS MEGATOUR.
Props is putting on a little something they're calling the MegaTour from October 24th-30th.
NORA CUP.
Chad was voted NORA Cup winner of "Best Flatland Rider" in 2002
vicx05, www.youtube.com, november 2007: This is the part of the Props video after Chad's flatland how-to's. He's got some original ride-in and ride-outs that I've never seen anyone else do to this day.
www.fatbmx.com, june 2003: Chad Degroot is one of the best versatile BMX riders around. He once made a list of everyone's hardest trick and got to work. One by one he mastered the trick and scratched it off the list. Nowadays Chad runs his own indoor skatepark in Florida and has to deal with a lot of bullshit from the kids day in day out. He might not have always been the trouble free kid himself but I'm sure he's matured in that aspect seeing all the fucked up stuff that kids are into today. Chad is one of the BACO originals and has rode for Standard Bykes, was part of the killer Schwinn team and then made the switch to HARO Bikes. Currently Chad is doing his own thing and rides for UGP, RedBull, Osiris, Primo and HARO (frame deal).
PUERTO RICO.
Chad DeGroot and Dave Freimuth in Puerto Rico. Transworld BMX magazine october 2003.
INSPECTION.
Chad Degroot's Haro Mirra Pro in Transworld BMX november 2003.
NORA CUP.
Chad was voted NORA Cup winner of "Best Flatland Rider" in 2003
Props Mega Tour 3 has been set for March 10th to 16th 2004 in Texas.
MESH PARK.
Chad DeGroot's park in Florida will change names from Mission Park to Mesh park. The new facility has a 25,000 sq ft indoor and 20,000 sq ft outdoor part full of ramps.
BACO.
Baco 10.
BrownHours, www.bmx-test.com, april 2004: Chad Degroot does a lot of park stuff and a little bit of flatland. He pulls a lot of tech shit at his own skatepark. It's hard to explain his part. It's so tech, but it's awesome.
NORA CUP.
Chad was voted NORA Cup winner of "Best Flatland Rider" in 2004.
Baco 10 section with Chad DeGroot from chad degroot on Vimeo.
Red Bull, Primo, UGP, BACO Designs, Meshskatepark.com
Chad DeGroot, www.undergroundproducts.com: I live in Altamonte Springs Florida. I really like the weather here. This summer was horrible due to being inside building my new park. But otherwise you can't go wrong with beaches. When I started my park I realized that I am here for awhile so I bought a house. With the house included a girlfriend (long story how that worked out). I really like going back home (Green Bay) but, I know that I can come back to Florida and sun bath. Try and beat my tan. Should look like leather soon. Can't wait.
Chad Degroot sessions the Deltona FL skatepark with the sputnic crew, march 2007.
INTERVIEW.
Interview in Dig may 2007.
MegaTour 8 hit the road September 5-12th.
Chad Degroot, www.go211.com, june 2008: 34 years young from Green Bay Wisconsin. Now living in Orlando Florida. Own Mesh Skatepark in Longwood Florida (meshskatepark.com), previous owner of Mission Skatepark. Do videos and shirts for Baco Designs, my childhood company still going strong. I ride everyday, unless my baby is crying, then I have to tend to that. His name is Cooper, he was born the 8-29-07. My first kid. Past sponsors: Haro bikes, RedBull, Vans, Airwalk, Adidas, Clif Bar, Primo, Spy. Current sponsors: UGP UnderGround Products undergroundproducts.com, go211.com, Profile Racing profileracing.com, Bern Helmets, Mesh SkatePark of Longwood meshskatepark.com, Baco Designs, Versa bikes, UGP has me as the TM for the team, I also do some sales and design. Photography has been my current interest. Most of the UGP ads were done by me. We are traveling a ton for 08 getting some web edits showing the world were back on the map. Look out Japnan, Look out, there are big things coming...
Chad Degroot, www.profileracing.com, july 2009: Just completed the American dream, wife, house, baby boy and now our newest member, Coco DeGroot. Cooper (my son) can already do bar spins and really likes inlines with a soft spot for classical music and re-runs of the Cosby Show. The wife sews, sips on wine, and likes the art of pole dancing. Baby Coco doesn't really know anything yet, cept where the milk comes from and appreciates a good nap. Me, well do you really want me to get into that? I like soft sand, a stinging pilsner, some hot sass, and raw coffee in the morning. I still hate idiot music. Sorry.
DECO.
Chad DeGroot is the founder of Deco. BMX started in 2009. “DE” is short for “DeGroot” and “CO.” is “Company”. Put it together “DECO.” and you know why the name is what it is. You gotta live in the present and look to the future, if you have a problem with that Chad will be your teacher. He was quoted as saying “Look how you want to be seen.” He lives by this moto.