Starting with the day off with park practice, we arrived to mixed reviews from the park competitors. The course -- which is concrete and aimed more at producing lines than box jump-style tricks -- kept the field of riders carving around and not necessarily flipping or spinning all over the place. Regardless, the field of riders attending practice were psyched to train lines throughout the course. The big news of the day, naturally, was Dave Mirra dropping out of Park. Dave took a pretty harsh slam last weekend at Dew Tour and his back is still sore, so he decided it was best to pull out. Because of this, he is not riding BMX at X Games 16. He will continue to compete in both Rally Car Racing and SuperRally, but no BMX. I, for one, am bummed. Dave rode the Chicago Dew Tour last week and held it down, and it would've been nice to see him back on the bike at X Games 16. But back injuries are no laughing matter. And as Chris Farley's bus driver character in Billy Madison once said, "I know from experience, dude." Because of Mirra's decision, second alternate Craig Mast will be riding Park eliminations.

X Games 16 BMX Practice

Check out X Games 16 BMX practice in our exclusive gallery. Photos ».

Moving along to street, practice was nuts. The course, which is smaller than last year's monster, had everyone talking. "There's nothing I can kill myself on this year" said DK's Brian Kachinsky, who rode for a good portion of practice. But I'll skip the pleasantries and get straight to tricks.

And that was in the first 15 minutes of practice. During a lull in the action, Van Homan asked who was winning practice. And ironically enough, I had just Twittered that Van was winning practice. We all laughed. In other street news, Dan Lacey informed us that he is officially off Lotek. According to Dan, "I just didn't feel like I was a part of the team, and it's for the best." Dan is riding in Vans, but nothing is official. We'll have more reports from street practice coming in tomorrow.

Vert practice remained fairly mellow. According to Dennis McCoy, the ramp was flexing too much, and the underside of the ramp needed to be repaired. Despite the conditions, McCoy -- along with Jimmy Walker, Steve McCann, Vince Byron and Coco Zurita -- got some runs in, attempting to get used to the ramp. At one point, McCoy went down on a 540, yelling, "Whatever, I'm screwed!" about halfway through the rotation. He slid out safely and decided to wait for the ramp's underside to be properly braced before attempting any more 540s. In the high air department, Coco Zurita ruled.

Tomorrow, we return for the first day of competition, starting with BMX Park eliminations from 10:15 a.m. to noon and followed by more practice updates. During the day, when we're out in the field, you can follow us on Twitter for updates on practice highlights, sponsor changes and random photos of Fat Tony's shoes. And for the very latest from X Games 16, check out the X Games index. Till then, stay classy.