ZACH
Have you ever been so determined to do something that you’re willing to risk actual bodily harm, if not the permanent use of your body, to get it done? Have you ever wondered what it might be like to try something that hadn’t been done before, to redefine the boundaries of your discipline, to rewrite certain rules, to seek change rather than settle for straight up passive acceptance? Have you ever dreamed of being at the forefront of the thing you love most? Have you ever set out to get there? Have you devoted your entire life to getting there? And did you get there?
Zach Shaw has done all the above. That’s why we’ve signed him up - because he’s retained that same attitude throughout his career as a rider, that imagination, that creativity and that determination to succeed, to be at the front not the back, to change the way people think about the things he does. He invented the 360 flip on a BMX. Today it’s called the Zakflip, although we’ve no idea why.
How the trick came about tells you everything you need to know about what it takes to succeed, not just in BMX and others sports, but in anything. He imagines something in his head. It seems crazy; no one has done it before. Even so, he then sets out to learn how to make it happen. And he doesn’t give up.
“I came up with the idea after doing the Mansfield Demo with Mat Hoffman in 1990 where he pulled the first flair. It got me thinking that a 540 flair was possible but I had to learn flips first! When I finally got the opportunity to learn flips I started messing with flipping and spinning (on a jump). I could do 180 flips no problem but getting the extra rotation was really hard and I never could get more than flip 270s until I went to the jump at Crowhurst in Hastings.
When I first jumped there I realised that this was THE jump i could do it on. I didn't say anything to anyone there and just rode in to try it. The first one I rotated full 360 and landed then my back wheel slid out. The second attempt the same thing happened and on the third attempt I landed sideways and blew the spokes out of my back wheel and had the wind taken out of me as I landed on my ribs. I vowed to pull the trick the very next weekend. When I went back to Crowhurst it took me 2 attempts to pull what’s now known as the Zakflip.”
Zach’s won pretty much everything in his time, yet he still bases himself in the UK and continues to give something back to the sport here by nurturing local talent.
