Available on the newsstand nationally in the USA and Canada.
Warwick Wheeler, Chief Editor, october 2007: I started Session BMX Magazine. I am an old school rider going back to the late 1970's ish. At first I didn't have a bike cause we were poor. So I borrowed friends bikes. We lived on a small farm and built our own dirt jumps. So I dirt jumped and then progressed to riding the streets doing endos, and pancakes and 180's before dirt jumping/trails or street/freestyle was heard of. After that I raced BMX. I grew up with people like Stu Thompsen, Clint Miller, Tony Henderson, Hollywood Mike Miranda, Harry Leary, Kramer, Greg Hill, Eddie Fiola and a million other pros back in the day as my heroes and inspiration to ride. So I have been in the and around the sport for close to 30 years now. I have been a magazine publisher or involved in that industry for almost 10 years now. This issue is the premiere issue of Session BMX magazine. We also have a magazine called BMXWorld. This publication (BMXWorld) was a mixture of race, dirt, park, freestyle, everything BMX basically. As we progressed, and with racing being more active and having a higher profile than it used to in recent years with the Olympics etc, we were getting more demand to run more race articles. To be fair to our readers and now with enough content to fill up an entire magazine with racing and associated lifestyle articles, we decided to split the magazine in to one race magazine (BMXWorld) and a second publication devoted to non-racing (Session BMX magazine). That is the short version. In issue #1 read the editors desk and you will understand where I came from and what experience I have had with BMX. The two magazines are written by riders for riders. Both myself and my co-editor have been riding in various disciplines of BMX now for a long time, well over 50 years between us.
Dave Mirra on the cover. Photo by Ryan Guettler.
Edito by Warwick Wheeler.
Frontside: News, S&M party 2007, Chad Kagy, Mat Hoffman, Giant Bikes, Steve McCann, ...
Ryan Guettler's backyard.
Metro BMX jam Singapore.
Josh Hult's 10th anniversary trail jam.
FBM Brawlin' at Belmar.
Fat jam!
BMX tour guide Greenville NC.
Braun Cruzer tour 2007: FISE Montpellier, NASS, Suzuki BMX Masters.
Bio Hazard trails.
X-Games 13.
AST Dew Tour round 3, Portland.
Eddie Fiola interview. One of the forefathers of freestyle.
Rebel Jam.
The Ground up.
Slayer, Casey Joyce interview.
DIY: cement quarter.
Spec'd: Bike check with Nate Berkheimer.
Hang five with Alistair Whitton.
The first time with Cam White.
Wasting time with Def Paul Bonner and Elvis Stuppard.
New products.
www.mirrabikeco.com: There is a new BMX magazine in town: Session. The premiere issue came just off the press and features Dave Mirra on the cover riding at his private warehouse in Greenville. Team rider Ryan Guettler shot the photo and also has a full page photo taken at the Rebel jam in Berlin.
The mag is coming out six times a year. Those who are interested can contact: Session BMX Mag, PO Box 7205, Arizona, USA 85281.
Bart de Jong, www.fatbmx.com, october 2007: Starting off with a 100 page full colour magazine deserves some credit. Session's premiere issue hit the market and it's full of BMX freestyle riding from all over the planet. Reports from Singapore (Metro jam), the X-Games, Germany (Rebel Jam), Braun Cruzer Tour (UK, Germany, France), the Dew Tour, The Netherlands (FAT-JAM), Ryan Guettler's backyard ramp in Greenville, Suzuki BMX Masters in Cologne, Germany plus Josh Hult's Backyard trails jam, Brawlin' at the Belmar and also the Bio Hazard trails shows that they did collect some material before slapping together the first issue. Dave Mirra scores the cover with a turndown at his own warehouse. Ryan Guettler took that photo. Other riders who have a feature in issue 1 are: Def Paul Bonner, Cam White, Alistair Whitton, Elvis Stuppard and Nate Berkheimer. As you can see, it's not your typical So-Cal book.
Colin Mackay one foot invert on the cover. Photo by Ryan Guettler.
Frontside: Tony Hawk bikes, Josh Harrington, Glendale public park, Intense bikes, ...
Last bowl comp.
Scrape the town! Oakland, California.
ESPN X-Games Mexico.
BFF Block party, San Francisco.
King of New York.
Dew Tour Salt Lake City and Orlando.
Utah scene.
2007 Interbike trade show.
Stephen Murray jam at Nasty's trails.
Fuzzy Hall interview.
Bio: Chris Gerber.
Do It Yourself: Tailtaps.
Spec'd: Josh Harrington's Premium.
Hang five: Adam Strieby.
First time: Morgan Wade.
Wasting time... Robert Deveaux aka black rob and Colton Satterfield.
New products.
Sessions: Nick Noble, Jaie Toohey, Adam Strieby, TJ Lavin, Todd Mayn, Ricardo Laguna, Cody Laveck, Jo Canina.
Mike Ardelean hitting up his favorite hip at the Santa Monica skatepark on the cover. Pic by Maicol Chavez.
Frontside: LG Action Sports Championships Dallas, Latest on Giant/Mosh, S&M Orchid Matt Beringer shoe, Midwest BMX contest, ...
Ghetto jam in South Africa.
RedBull Down and Dirty.
Portland, Oregon.
The Flow Dirty east comp.
Hell on wheels.
Icer air.
Banksgiving jam.
Mike Ardelean interview.
X-Games Dubai.
Paul's boutique Gangmember tour.
Back to basics.
Hillbilly Hellhole.
Just one question: I quit that trick.
DIY: Tuck no-hander.
Bike check: Colin MacKay.
Hang five: Ryan Guettler.
The first time: Ricardo Laguna.
New products.
Bart de Jong, www.fatbmx.com: This issue of SessionBMX goes worldwide. It has articles from South Africa, Dubai, the USA, Europe and features Australians Colin MacKay and Ryan Guettler. We like that worldwide feel and you get 98 pages of it in issue number three. Mike Ardelean gets the cover and an interview, the mag covers the RedBull Down & Dirty, the Ghetto jam in South Africa, the Icer Air event. Banksgiving jam, Dubai X-Games, Hell on Wheels, the travel to Portland and The Flow Dirty East Comp. This would normally mean that the pages would be filled but since there is still little advertising in the magazine, there is room for more: Paul's Boutique gangmember tour, New Products, The first time with Ricardo Laguna, Back to Basics, Hillbilly Hellhole, a bike check with Colin MacKay, a how-to on a tuck no-hander with Josh Boatright, Just one question (I quit that trick!) article and a Hang 5 (top 5s) with Ryan Guettler and six pages of wallpaper. Dude, it's got some content!
Bart de Jong, www.fatbmx.com, august 2008: We received the issue of Session number four a bit late but decided to show you the mag anyway. It's got a Kevin Kiraly interview and also a six page report on the Simpel Session. Session travels to South Africa to check the scene over there, covers a few events down under (BMX Games/Cam White's Hillside jam) and also the Heath Pinter St. Patrick's day jam. Brandon Dosch goes Northshore at Camp Woodward on the contents page (sequence of a tailwhip drop) and Justin Barnes gets creative with a school bench/table on the Staff spread. But there is also news, a B-day party report (it gets interesting when the B-day boys are Brian Blyther and Robert Castillo and they're bringing out the quarterpipe and jump ramp for a show with Eddie Fiola, Ben Snowden and The Lord (Voelker). #4 reports on a BMX jam in Skate City, Cesar and Slayer's jam in Australia, Troy Merkle's getaway, Chicagoland gets checked and there was a Los Angeles street jam that Chris and Che visited for Session mag. If you would skip 5 years of watching any BMX riding and you show up at a contest you will notice how things have changed (trick-wise). Session uses 5 pages to give respect to those who are pusing the envelop. Stop the Tailwhips? Session shows you how to do them on page 82. There ain't no stopping the tailwhip Catfish! Scott McMenamin gets a Bio, Ricardo Laguna gets a Bike Check, Brandon Dosch wasted some time for page 86 and of course there are a lot of products shown. 8 pages of wall paper wrap up the issue. A lot of content just because, unlike other mags, Session does not have 40% of ads in it.
Bart de Jong, www.fatbmx.com, april 2009: The other day I received a new issue of Session BMX mag. To be honest every time it's a bit of a surprise it's still around. It's issue # 5 - #5 - Volume 1. Yup it shows up unregularly or they send it by boat or something because the content is pretty old before it gets here. I was stoked on seeing the Ricardo Laguna Extreme Thing dirt comp in there but it was last year's comp, not the one that took place a few weeks ago. It's got an article on Ryan Guettler's backyard but in all photos he still has long hair. If you don't mind looking at older content, Session can still be interesting. It has the fewest advertisements of all mags out there so that means loads of content. The pages that would be filled with ads are now filled with full page wallpaper pics. There's a 2008 Dew Tour recap, a Street Session T-Mobile report from Berlin, a Bomb Down Broadway write-up, the 2008 Santa Cruz Jump Jam report, and a full article on Phil's trails. The S&M team went to Oz for a little tour and the March/April issue has a full article on that. The South East Idaho scene report gives Bio's to: Ben Voyles, Josh Hult, Nick Hugues, Colton Satterfield, and Bryan Shepherd. Dayton Ohio gets a scene report as well and on the Interbike 2008 trip Session mag also visited Ricardo Laguna's backyard. If you're not looking for the latest news in BMX, Session has some decent content. If you want to know the ins and outs on BMX, come back to the FATBMX site every day. Or at least check the FAT Friday news reports every week for a 7 day update in BMX land.
Sam Schlappi doing an awesome wallride on the cover.
Bart de Jong, www.fatbmx.com, december 2009: You don't hear all that much of Session BMX magazine. I think lots of you don't even know it exists or where to get it. Issue #7 came in and in the time that they had to finish an issue, they sure collected lots of stuff for it. It's not that they have a big well known staff of photographers that you see at events. The mag consists of contributions from a lot of talented guys out there that don't always make the cut at "the big mags" with their own staff. And on this quality paper the shots come out great. 132 pages in total bring you a.o. a Daily Grind with Ricardo Laguna (does he run pegs?), Ryan Guettler's top 10 tunes, a bike check with Roman Tencza, Nasty's Stephen Murray benefit jam, Big in Bavaria dirt comp, X15, a night on the town with Cam Wood, Sam Schlappi interview, Mike Payne bio, the Gatorade demo with Nigel Sylvester and friends, Old School BMX Reunion, the Freestyle BMX World's in Cologne, and that's just part of the list. Now where do you find Session Mag?