But Zac is no slouch and not the type to forget about BMX when his "adult" life started. He's maintained his sponsorship with Solid Bikes and continued to ride throughout all of his work and research, even bringing his bike to Panama to roam the streets on his weekends off from work. In his Northern Californian twang, Zac had a lot of interesting things to say regarding his studies, life, and of course, BMX.

On BMX beginnings
"I'm from Santa Rosa, Home of Charles Schultz, the guy who made "Peanuts." His daughter was really into rollerblading. He owned an ice rink but his daughter got him doing like extreme stunt shows. I guess you could call it but it was choreographed and kind of wack but I saw DMC, Mat Hoffman, Rooftop and Taj [Mihelich] when I was 11 in person and I wanted to go buy a Mongoose 'cause DMC was killing it! (laughs). And then I think I got a BMX Plus! or something for my twelfth birthday. I seen pictures of dudes riding street. Riding rails. Rooftop was in it I think. Seeing the street made it more accessible to me. I watched these guys in person but it was still on ramps and we didn't have any ramps. We had a small skatepark but just with small ramps. But with street it was like "I know where there's a rail just like that." And that was it. I was hooked. It was on."

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Kyle Emery-PeckHuge feeble from Costa, probably going mach 10.

On Solid Bikes
"I first met Aaron Huff, I think, when I was 16. After I got my license I went up to Sacramento, Calif. They had some ramps up there. So I started going up to the skatepark and I was dating a girl that lived up in Sac. I kind of knew Huf a little and this was when Ryan Puckett was still involved. I went up there randomly expecting to go on a two or three-day trip with a couple friends. They were goin' to interbike and had seats in the van. So it turned into like a week-long trip and that's when I really got to know all those dudes and be friends with them. But I was originally on flow on S&M back in the day. I came back from Thailand for a study abroad program and Kurtis [Elwell] was living in Sacramento. Kurtis is a real good friend of mine, and said Huff was down to put me on. So from there it was on. I moved out to Davis, Calif. for my undergrad degree. It's 20 minutes from downtown Sacramento so I was even closer with them and we were riding all the time."

On Continuing Education
"When I was in undergrad I needed to keep myself mentally challenged to be happy and to have a good life. So basically I just kept it going with school and in undergrad, I got introduced to doing research with biology and ecology-based questions. As a kid I always loved animals finding frogs and catching snakes and with biology you can get paid for that. I started working in a research lab and that exposed me to a lot of different stuff."

On Richmond, Va.
"I didn't know anything about Richmond before I moved here. I knew Steve Crandall (of FBM) was here and I kind of knew him through the bike circles. My advisor, basically my boss, who is a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University. I applied to work with him in Panama. So I kind of saw it as a means to an end. Coming here I knew I could get the chance to go to Panama. So I drove across the country and moved out here not knowing anyone and there's a thriving BMX scene and now I'm friends with everybody. I'm stoked I made the coastal change. Biking is like that though, especially here. There's older riders here, they're from the generation I'm from. And basically, there's no [expletive] in that (laughs). We all get a long pretty well. It's all good."

Kyle Emery-PeckSwitch tooth on a DIY volcano/rainbow rail in Nor Cal. No tadpoles were harmed in the making of this photo.

On Academia
"I used to sweat it more than I do now. I mean I dealt with it to a point. You know I ride bikes and hang out with a bunch of wild people. I've done some things in my life that a lot of people haven't done, good and bad. So I used to sweat it and think "I can't really relate to these people." But in the end, everyone's a person. If you put forth the effort, you get in where you fit in. I'm realizing now Biology attracts a lot of different kinds of people from all walks of life so there's a place for everybody. Now I'm finding my niche and seeing where I fit in. I don't really sweat it anymore. It also helps who you work with. My boss is incredible and I really have a good relationship with him and that makes everything easier. Which is really all I care about. But you gotta choose your battles though. It's easy to think you're a scummy biker and you're trying to interact with people who haven't done anything except go to school their whole life (laughs). But in the end it's all people, you know?"

On Traveling and Perspective
"I would like to say yes, that traveling and riding bikes has helped me out with a better perspective. But I can't say objectively. You could say the total opposite that Bike kids, a lot of those dudes who ride bikes, only hang out with kids who ride bikes. People are different. I like to think of myself a positive person and I'm psyched on people who do anything good, exciting, and cool. It's hard to say (laughs). It's crazy, my perspective has changed so much. These past two years I've matured more and learned more about life. I'm less concerned about [expletive]. I'm still living the life, I want people to know. I've got responsibilities. I work hard. But at the same time, like I was down in Panama working with tadpoles And going to Panama City every weekend to go ride my bike. I was out there working from June 2 until middle of December. Working. Navaz (Ryan Navazio) came out, Rob Dolecki, Max Gaertig, Tom White, and Tyrone Williams. They came out in December. But It was the worst rain they've ever gotten in recorded history so we only got to ride a couple days. But there was flooding and roads were out and a lot of people died. It was really bad.

Kyle Emery-PeckAnd the regular tooth grind, again probably going too fast for his own good.

The Smithsonian has a research facility out there basically like an hour from Panama city. It's pretty much in the jungle so it's good for research but it's still accessible. I could hop on the bus with my bike and it cost 60 cents or something, so I was doing that all the time. When it was raining though I didn't ride as much as I wanted to, but I made a lot of friends out there. All the riders are cool. They have older dudes who are married with kids and they got young hungry kids who are hungry doin bunnyhop whips. Those dudes helped me out a lot.

The standard of living there is so much lower so riding means more and not only that, it costs more. They don't have a distributor, they don't even have a shop. Dudes just wanna ride though. I've never seen a tube patched with a piece of string before I was in Panama. They just tied off the hole and kept rolling. They're definitely influenced by BMX media though. Asking how much my bike weighs and I tell them that if they're worried about the weight and rocking titanium, to save a couple ounces they should just go to the bathroom before they ride. Those dudes are sick though. I really wanna go back as soon as I can. I wanna do another Central American tour and hit up all my homies out there in different country codes.

Future Plans
"I'm going to graduate in May. I'm gonna be chillin for a little bit. I might teach over the summer and make a little bread but I want to take some time off to really evaluate what I'm going to do. I'm gonna keep going with school but I'm gonna take a year off. Basically getting a PhD is the next step if I wanna keep goin' with school and research. As it is right now basically getting into a good PhD program is pretty competitive. I have to get my research from my Master's Degreee published in five different journals and that will make it a lot easier for me to get into legit program. If I'm gonna do it I'm gonna do it 110 percent. I still like it. I'm getting more into research and enjoying being a scientist. The logical step is to get the PhD because people pay you to be a student and that's your life. It's hard but it ain't that hard. You actually make a living being a student, Regardless of what happens after, it's still a pretty good life."

Zac was adamant about thanking the following people:
My boss James Vonesh for giving me a great opportunity, all of my friends and family, Aaron Huff and Jase for getting the King Cobras dialed, RVA crew, mis amigos de la Jungla and all the Panama riders that helped me out; Jose, Juan, Chechere, Andres. Everybody that's helped me out and anybody I forgot, I got you on the next round.