Name: Mike Hinkens
Age: 22
Location:
Milwaukee, WI
Years riding: around 9

Sponsors: slim jim, bmx, Heinz tomato catsup, and I occasionally get some flow from tampax.
Interests: besides bike riding I love music, either singing or listening or going to shows, I love it. And I also love frisbee golfing and girls!
education: I am graduating from uw-milwaukee in a month with my bachelors degree in history and a minor in political science. Then I start my masters program in fall and on to my phd after that to become a professor. So I will be in school for like 8 more years.

Random Questions

How did you get involved in bike riding & at what age? I started riding with the intention of doing tricks when I was like 14. The mung got me into it cuz we were losers and had nothing to do. So we picked up bikes and rode together everyday forever. We just rode around the city and explored everything and ended up riding miles and miles and that’s how my love of street started.

How often do you ride? Almost everyday.

Who where the last three people your rode with? Umm, it was a big session soooo…mike malasciewski, kyle compass, kc strong, austen welter, tippy, alex arezina, and cody davidson.

What kind of music do you enjoy? All sorts of shit…I aint naming bands cuz I am a selfish asshole and I am lazy, but hardcore, emo, and everything in-between…and UNDEROATH.

If you work, what do you do? No more c4, so now I work at a family bike store building gts, schwinns, redlines, and mongooses. It’s not hardcore or anything, but they are cool guys and it’s a job!

Favorite things to ride? I LOVE STREET. I love to ride anything and everything. Skatepark can be soo smooth and perfect, and trails are fun if I am in the mood, but street is where its at for me. I love the feeling of rolling down a street, riding from spot to spot, riding whatever I want. The best parts of street are that its so free, u can do whatever u want and if that’s 20 stair handrails, a sub box, or a fucking curb its all good. Also, its awesome to be the first one to do a trick on something or look at something no one thought was possible or intended to be ridden and ride it anyway. Either way, some of my favorite spots are waterway in milwaukee, the china banks in new york city, chunk to junk in west allis, and any sub box.

Any other things you like to do besides bmx? Like I said above, I like to disc golf and chill. Also, me and my buddy mike mess around with acoustic guitars and sing pussy music about girls and other things. I love to play music.

Drink/Smoke? STRAIGHT EDGE…this is forever

Where do you see yourself in 20 years? Happy. Teaching college in Milwaukee, living in a house with a backyard that I can do dumb things in. hopefully married…I don’t think I will have a sports car or motorcycle like most middle aged men. Kids probably…even though I don’t want any. I cant keep things in control sometimes though!

What is midwestbmx.net to you, if anything? Ha…it is a website. It used to be the source of anger. I used to go the message board and get all fired up. But that’s gone, so now I am less stressed!!! Ha, but, it is cool to see people motivated about bmx. So often I feel like no one gives a shit about this “scene”, but the truth is, be it a scene or not, it’s a big family, and its something I feel strongly part of and responsible for and Midwestbmx seems to help that family in a few ways. Its good to see people take pride in a community they are part of.

Who has inspired you on a bike? Ummm, I dunno, this is a weird question. At first I always rode with mung and that’s it so it was just about having a good time by ourselves, but I think that I am inspired by different people every time I ride. Every session, someone is doing something that I am psyched on and that makes me psyched to ride. If it’s a young kid learning to feeble or a pro doing crazy shit, I feel inspired to ride harder.

What do you like to eat? A lot! And everything, but most importantly: MEXICAN!!!

What are some tricks that you like to do? I like to spin. Any type of spin is good and off of any obstacle out of any trick. I like to grind a lot too…and I like everything I guess. I hate kick flips though.

What do you think your riding style is like? Like me. It’s all over the place. I feel like I have influences from street to ramp and everything in-between and of course, nice and sketchy.

Your car? Ahhhh, I just got a new one…it was sad to see the green civic go, but it had 225,000 miles on it, 90,000 of which I put on in three years. But now I have a nice new integra…black and stealth!

Do you enjoy going to contests? Yes. I like them a lot. I don’t like doing runs though. I enjoy going to contests to see all my friends, get the hell out of Milwaukee, and if it’s a jam format, I end up doing some stuff that I wouldn’t normally do. I love that atmosphere where everyone is going off and going nuts. It can happen any time and if its on street it’s the best, but it often happens at contests so I like going for that.

How many hours do you spend on a computer? Way too fuckin many. I am addicted to talking on aim and I play with my ipod and shit a lot so I would say, combined with homework…way too much.
favorite bike video & single video section? Dave Jacobs section in dk intuition. Good ass music, good ass riding, amamzing style.

Shout outs? Oh yeah! I wanna say thanks to u guys at Midwest bmx for always trying to do stuff like this for the scene. Also, thanks to anyone I have ever ridden with ever, hanging with people and having a good time is what its all about. Thanks to rick at c4…rip…and thanks to my family and close friends, u know who u are…

thedate: 24th of November, 2004