Coco Zurita during a day off, amongst his non-stop traveling schedule.
I have to say the best part about my job is getting to know and meet so many inspiring riders. It seems every pro has their own story on how they came to be but I've never heard one as impressive as Coco Zurita's. Emailing back and forth for this top 5's, I was astonished to learn his back story. Born and raised in Chile, he learned English to get to America, worked dozens of odd end jobs, (like selling water filters door to door to Spanish people in Texas), put on shows with the GT crew for 4 years, (including working the Dew Tour action tent- padding up little kids), until he finally got the nerve and guts to enter the Dew Tour series himself. All while living off a temporary tourist visa and traveling back and forth to Chile every 6 months. The rest as they would say is history. Now, Coco Zurita travels the world riding his bike, lives at Woodward West and is able to live his dream as a professional BMX rider. Now go read his Top 5's...
Top 5 things you love about America:
1. Freeways when there's no traffic
2. Mexican food
3. Cars
4. Riding spots
5. Bike shops
Top 5 things you miss about Chile:
1. Home made food
2. My family
3. My girl friend
4. My church
5. Short distances
Top 5 jobs you don't miss working:
1. Selling water filters door to door
2. Changing ads at the banks
3. Working at the grocery store
4. Being a sales man at a skateshop
5. Doing 40 bmx shows a year
Top 5 reasons you love riding contests:
1. It pushes you to ride harder
2. You learn from other riders
3. You get payed
4. You gain exposure for your sponsors
5. It's awesome to hang out with all the riders
Top 5 things you do outside of riding:
1. Travel with friends
2. Drink smoothies
3. Shoot pictures
4. Paint
5. Drive
Top 5 places you've traveled to:
1. Berlin
2. Chile
3. Brazil
4. Italy
5. Japan
Top 5 things you love about living at Woodward West:
1. The mellow environment
2. Nice people
3. It's the perfect place to ride.
4. Perfect ramps
5. The good summer weather
Top 5 photographers in BMX:
1. Jeremy Pavia
2. Christian Vanhanja
3. Ben Crockett
4. Keith Mulligan
5. Ariel Cruz
Top 5 pieces of camera equipment you'd like to own:
1. Photogenic light kit
2. Canon 1Ds Mark III body
3. 100-400mm telephoto lens
4. Extra Pocket Wizards
5. An extra 580EX Canon flash
Top 5 things you don't travel without:
1. Tooth brush
2. Hangout shoes and riding shoes
3. Music
4. My bike
5. My helmet
Top 5 riders to ride with:
1. Mono Illanes
2. Mark Webb
3. Kevin Kiraly
4. Simon Tabron
5. Jamie Bestwick
Top 5 favorite bands:
1. Mstrkrft
2. Ratatat
3. Redial
4. Gostland Observatory
5. The Faint
Top 5 things you'd like to accomplish this year:
1. New tricks
2. Higher airs
3. Rep Jesus Christ harder
4. Get better comp results
5. Get more new sponsors
Top 5 movies:
1. Donnie Darko
2. Big Fish
3. Taladega Nights
4. Step Brothers
5. Anchorman
Top 5 things you can't live without:
1. A new bike
2. Avocado
3. My iPhone
4. Chocolates
5. Church
Top 5 people you'd like to meet:
1. Jesus Christ
2. Michael Schumacher
3. Kevin Schwantz
4. Saul Hudson/Slash
5. Adrian y los dados negros
Top 5 people you'd like to thank:
1. Jerry Badders
2. Eddy Buckly
3. Sean Tarrant
4. Bo Wade
5. My parents
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Contributors
Brian Tunney
This is Brian. He lives in Jersey City, rides BMX bikes often and somehow ended up in the X Games a few times. Facebook him if needed.
Cody York
From Cleveland, Ohio, Cody was raised on a steady diet of backyard jumps and skateparks, and his photos have graced the pages of Ride BMX, BMX Plus!, Ride UK, and Dig magazines. Got something to share? cyorkphoto@me.com
Mark Noble
Mark is from the U.K., and has 28-plus years of experience in BMX. He has launched, published, edited and written for more BMX mags than you can shake a bike at. He also runs Deluxe BMX.
Nick Ferreira
Nick Ferreira is a BMXer, photographer and zine maker from Taunton, Mass. He has been extolling the merits of tucks and tabes in print and online for the better part of the past 10 years.
Pat Nugent
Patrick was born and raised on Long Island. The only outlet to BMX that he grew up knowing was racing. For a while, he got into all those weird forms of BMX, but eventually returned to the race scene. He enjoys shooting races and snaking practice laps.
Steve Crandall
Hails from Ithaca, N.Y., created FBM in '93, paints pictures of eggs, soup and pigeons in his spare time, throws down a mean tabletop.
