Freestyle BMXer Tom Haugen is answesing the Who? What? Where? Why? And How? From the GO211 community as he gets ready to head to his home town of Minneapolis for the first stop on the ASA Action Sports tour April 25th. So ask this music savvy ripper anything and everything about being a part of the infamous Free Agent crew what it's like to compete in virtually every BMX event known to man....fire away he's all yours..

it rules- never have to worry about it slipping or breaking!

I really don't feel that steroid use is common in Bmx freestyle, primarily cause taking them isn't going to help you. the only thing that's going to make you a better rider is to ride your bike- your build isn't going to help you learn tricks. I have heard it has shown up in Bmx racing, though, where strength is a huge component in doing well. while i do believe that you own your own body outright and whatever you choose to do with it is really up to you (providing no one else or something they own is hurt in this process), it's pretty obvious that steroid use is probably not the wisest decision one could make. the most difficult trick for me to learn was double tailwhips- i tried those for a long, long time before i actually learned it.

oh yes, all the time. bikes do break and will do so often if you ride them hard enough and long enough. i couldn't even tell you how many bikes i've gone through in my life- probably a hundred or more by now. fortunately the bikes I'm riding now are very durable and i don't have to worry about them breaking in half while i am riding!

you can add colors to your bike, paint it, add stickers. some people put different colored spoke nipples or odd colored parts. the possibilities are endless. all bikes have the capacity to break, but usually it takes a lot of hard riding for prolonged times to break one. i've had bikes for years that never broke, but also had bikes for a month that broke because i was riding so hard. but you're not going to break that Free Agent bike, i can tell you that!

my family watches me if i'm on tv and have flown to many contests over the years to watch as well. they are very supportive of my riding. i became a vegetarian because i read books like 'Animal Liberation' and 'Diet For A New America'. it also just made sense to me that it seems very selfish to ask another living creature to die cause you're hungry. you didn't hear? Ryan Adams retired from music as of March this year...

i'm sure at some point i'll learn flips, but it's never been a priority for me. i rarely ride foam pits, but next time i'm around one i'm sure i'll try. i always ride with music- i've become so used to it now i'm dependent on it. i ride by myself a lot, and the music helps me stay motivated. my favorite place to compete was Seoul, South Korea in 2004. Many of aunts, uncles, cousins came to see the event- family i hadn't seen in 15+ years or never before at all. i'll always have fears with certain tricks; part of the fun of riding is the excitement of apprehension and being able to overcome the fears.

I'll go to the first one in June, after that it's invite only so I won't know if i'm going to the following ones till they happen.

The first time I ever did a Bmx show i was 12. The owner for the bike shop I bought all my bike parts from lined something up at the Special Olympics and I did some flatland there. The last time I did a Bmx show was in Kansas City last month, so we're looking at 20 years now!

Sure... depending on what it is. Not sure if this means you are preparing to ask me something or if I should voluntarily offer information previously unshared?

when I was a flatlander it was definitely Kevin Jones and Chase Gouin. I used to watch a lot of videos of those guys when I was a kid. These days, no one really. I don't watch videos or spend much time keeping up with who is doing what. I just do whatever feels right to me.

I never intended for riding to become my full time job; I just always rode my bike purely for fun, and personal satisfaction. I'd say anyone who gets into riding with the idea of parlaying it into a lucrative job is seriously misguided. You'll probably make more money working at McDonald's. When GT called me in 1998 and offered me to be a part of their time, I had some idea of what I was in for, but it was only a rough idea at best. Though riding did become my full time job then and has been since, first and foremost it is a labor of love. If I didn't make a penny riding I'd still be on my bike every chance I got. So to answer your question- I never pursued riding as a job, I just rode my bike a lot and was in the right place at the right time and worked hard enough to allow myself to continue to make a living riding from riding.

Completely. If I learned something really difficult/potentially dangerous, i'd probably kill myself trying to do it daily. If I had access to foam/resi I think i'd spend a lot of time trying to learn crazier tricks and waiting to do them when it really mattered. But since I don't I just work on doing more technical tricks consistently.

I haven't heard a word about Cincinnati- I doubt I'll be going to that...

I'll be there- that's my hometown. Will be good to see you skate there!

I realized a long time ago that being able to do a few tricks on a bicycle (or skateboard) shouldn't give you any reason to feel you're something special or warrant acting like you're above anyone else. More people in our sports could benefit from this realization- especially in recent years- as I'm sure you'd agree. Fortunately, yourself and most of the skate vert class have their egos kept at actual size...

Dave is a very generous person from what I've seen. Ryan Nyquist is a great human being, too. Rick Thorne, Kevin Robinson- it's hard to narrow it down to one. One of the great things about Bmx is many of the celebrities in the sport are very decent, humble people who give a lot back to whoever they can. That's one of the things that makes me proud to be involved in Bmx!

This is easy: X-games 2002 in Philadelphia. I showed up with a severely separated shoulder. I qualified so I wanted to go and at least drop in and take a lap around the course, but could barely even move my arm. After I arrived I saw the medics to get some pain killers. They also told me it was possible I could get a cortizone shot into my shoulder so I could ride without pain. I didn't hesitate to get the shot and within minutes I literally had no pain in my shoulder and could ride. Well, it was about 100 degrees that day (the contest was outside), I hadn't eaten all day, had a lot of painkillers in me and the cortizone shot as well. I did my run, started to feel sick about halfway through, took my helmet off and puked on the deck of the ramp while hearing thousands of people watching collectively saying 'eeeeeewwwww'. Oh, and I got 18th out of 20 that day- it was hardly worth it...

It would read 'don't feed him animals, alcohol, nicotine or tobacco. Do feed him vegan ribs, ice cream, and chocolate soy milk. Keep him out of the sun as much as possible and make sure he gets plenty of Morrissey to listen to, Simpson's to watch, and good people to talk to'.

Rio, Brazil- amazing place, so much activity and thriving with culture. I've been there twice for a few days at a time. It's one of the few countries I've been to where I didn't want to leave when the event was over.

the bike i'm riding is the best i've ever ridden- a Free Agent Crown Imperial. It looks good, rides great, is light and feels comfortable everytime I get on it!