Photo by Cara Seo/Daily Titan
Gold medalist and BMX flatland extraordinaire Terry Adams visited Cal State Fullerton in a campus tour sponsored by Red Bull to get the personal brand of Terry Adams as a professional extreme sports athlete and to meet students who are interested in (or impressed with) his sport.
BMX flatland is described by Adams as the more elegant side of BMX. There are no ramps and no rails, just the rider and his bike.
“It’s breakdancing on a bike almost,” said Adams, who recently celebrated his 29th birthday. “It’s more of the art side of BMX and I’ve been doing that since I was 12.”
He started his bike-dancing waltz when he was 12, but his passion for BMX was kindled about two years earlier, when he began racing and doing basic jumps off ramps. Later when he discovered flatland, he said, he never looked back.
Since 2002, Adams has appeared at four X Games competitions and won a gold medal in 2005. In 2005 and 2008, he won the Number One Rider Award (NORA) in flatland, BMX’s most prestigious award.
“It was a good way to show off his sport,” said Red Bull CSUF student brand manager Kendall Unbehand, who was impressed with Adams’ performance. “He made the BMX tricks look super easy, which I think was the most impressive thing.”
Unbehand said it is very rare for an athlete to promote not only the brand, but themselves as well. She said that Adams is an ideal person to market because he is passionate about both the Red Bull brand and his sport.
Adams said that his campus tour is not meant to be an organized show, but more of a way for him to “pedal around and do his thing.” Students, he said, are encouraged to approach him to watch, ask questions, and meet him.
“It’s really cool because it’s not something you’d normally see on campus,” Adams said. “What’s cool—the students who do walk up or who do hear about me being here is different from a traditional sports athlete.”
He said extreme sport athletes are more approachable and although they may be famous, they are more accessible.
“You can pretty much tweet any of these guys and they will tweet you back immediately… And everyone is pretty down to Earth,” he said.
Adams is on a college campus tour performing at about 18 colleges in Southern California, said Loren Piretra, Red Bull field marketing specialist.
Among others, he visited Vanguard University in Costa Mesa and will finish his circuit Oct. 4.
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