New Beginnings....

Hi!

Introductions are in order I suppose. My name is Sean Smith and I currently live in Modesto, California, USA.

From 1980 - 1985 I lived in Dublin, Ireland with my family. It was during that time that I had a chance to participate in the early stages of the BMX phenomenon that had reached Ireland in the early 80's.

It was through BMX that I had some of the greatest experiences of my life. I formed friendships that have continued to this day.

Even though now, at age 42, I don't race BMX anymore (But I do have a GT Pro Series hanging in the garage) I do still follow the evolution of the sport through magazines and TV. I am amazed at what riders today can accomplish, and the cool components and bikes that are available nowadays.

A couple of years ago, I recieved an email on myspace from an Irishman named Declan Molloy who was running a website named Irish BMX. "http://www.irishbmx.com/
Declan told me he was one of the younger group of riders that used to hang out with myself and my friends when we rode every day. Initially, I suspected someone was "having me on" so, I told Declan to call me on the phone. He did, and my skepticism evaporated, though I still couldn't put a face to the name. What transpired was a telephone interview and a good chat about the old days.

That first interview appeared on the Irish BMX website shortly thereafter and I was pretty amazed at the results. It is rather odd, seeing yourself on the Web for the first time, from an outside perspective.

Over the years, Declan and I have stayed in contact and I have peeked at the website and watched it grow steadily. He recently scored quite a coup by interviewing none other than Keith Callaghan, of the Irish Raleigh BMX Team. I am proud that my name shares the same WWW space with his.

Recently, Declan has expressed a desire to hand over the website to someone who can spend more time developing and maintaining the site, as well as gathering more content. Declan is quite the entrepreneur and has been having trouble juggling all his responsibilities recently and does not see light at the end of the tunnel in the future, with a baby on the way. It took a little arm-twisting, but I accepted the offer and will be taking over the site in January, 2009.

I can't say for sure what will follow, but I promise to take Declan's vision, goals and enthusiasm and carry the website ahead.

The excitement and feeling of the unknown is very familiar to me... Kind of like the first time I rode my new Burner back from the shop.

Hang on, it's going to be an exciting ride!

Sean Smith
Modesto, CA
USA