Team riders started leaving one by one, including Dakota Roche, Chase Dehart, Terry Adams, Eric Lichtenberger, Seth Kimbrough, Kurtis Elwell and Dan Lacey. The mass exodus continued into 2011, and to be honest, it got to the point that I stopped even mentioning riders leaving Lotek in the blog because it seemed to be happening so often. Alongside the team, which went from, according to Hirsch in a 2010 interview, "too big to even write honestly," the shoe range also shrunk in the past year. Team rider Mike Aitken's signature shoe remained, along with an Eddie Cleveland signature shoe and a newer shoe called 'Classic," down from almost ten shoe models in season's prior.

Many of us wondered what the future of Lotek held, myself (a loyal fan of Lotek's outsole) included. Fortunately, Lotek seems to be rejuvenating their program in the new year. In the past week, Lotek has new team riders to the pro team, including Tony Malouf, Drew Hosselton and once former Lotek team rider, Shawn Mcintosh.

According to Lotek, "There have been a few team changes this year and with a few more still coming. Shawn McIntosh is back on for 2012 for starters but it's not like he ever really left... Drew Hosselton and Tony Malouf are now on the team and they both have a ton of cool things in the works for this year. Tony is going to be helping out this year with video projects as well as shredding so there should be plenty more good stuff to come... We just signed Jason Enns on for his eighth year on the Lotek pro team. It's going to be a good year."

LotekLotek's upcoming Mike Hoder signature shoe, available soon.

The Lotek team now includes (according to the Lotek website) Mike Aitken, Eddie Cleveland, Jason Enns, Jesse Whaley, Mike Hoder, Craig Passero, Shawn Mcintosh, Tony Malouf, Scott Ditchburn and Alex Donnachie. And new shoes are on the horizon, featuring new insoles and outsoles, and signature models for Mike Aitken, Mike Hoder and Craig Passero, in two color ways each.

While I'm personally going to miss the classic Lotek outsole that lasts half a year and is old man flatland friendly, I'm glad to see Lotek again making a push. Times are tight all around, and BMX footwear brands are constantly fighting an uphill battle against larger, more established footwear brands from outside of the BMX industry. Typically, mass team exoduses are difficult for BMX brands to bounce back from, but Lotek seems to be doing just that.

And yes, I wrote this in a trailer in Aspen, Colo. between Winter X Games index programming on a Sunday afternoon.