SXA Backyard BBQ at the Sand Box BMX Track

Back in 1999 I had spent the majority of my time with my two boys Kai and Mikala and our family along with my friends Marlon and Maria their son Peanut at the Wheeler BMX track. We were a bunch devoted BMX junkies who were committed to going to the track on a daily bases to watch our 5 year old kids ride around in circles. This eventually lead to trips to the mainland to compete in Nationals and race other local tracks from California, Las Vegas, and Florida. It was goodtimes and we made a lot of friends along the way. In 2001 due to 9/11 the Wheeler track had basically shut down to civilians due to it being on an Air Force Base that had to implement tight security measures. So basically most of the racers had to move on to finding some other hobby to move on to because there was no local track off base. Everybody went there seperate ways except for Marlon and I. Here we are again 13 years later at a new track with his now 5 year old son Chug ready to do it all over again! BMX fever has struck again!

Marlon III aka Chug aka Bubs aka "Ricky Bobby Racing"!

Sand Box BMX Track

These three kids now young men were the center piece for the 5 and 6 year old Expert Class back in 2000. Mikala (left) was the 2000 State Champ in 6 Expert, Peanut (middle) was Mikala's main nemesis and eventually took over the 6X class, and Jordan (right) was the 5 year old National Champ which I believe he won in Oklahoma in 99' or 2000. All three of these kids traveled to the mainland and raced numerous BMX tracks against back then the best riders in the US. Jordan was the first racer on the island to ever use clipless pedals (pedals and shoes used by road and mountain bikers to lock your feet on to your pedals). His father Karl saw what the other racers on the mainland were using and found that it was a big advantage. Because Jordan was so small Karl had to modify a pair of soccer cleats to fit the clipless cleat on to the bottom of the shoe. Now you look around and everybody in Hawaii is using these clipless pedals. You can thank Jordan and Karl for bringing the idea back to Hawaii!
And here we are today back at the track doing what we now do best which is manning the grill and keeping the beer cold! Back then you could say Marlon and I were a bunch of crazed BMX parents screaming and yelling for our kids to PEDAL! Knowing what we know now it's time to relax and just enjoy and have fun (at least that's what I keep telling Marlon)!
In his first race 2 weeks ago Chug got 2nd place in the 5 novice Class. This past weekend he got 1st place! Not bad for a 5 year old who has only been riding bike without training wheels for a couple of months!
The Sand Box BMX Track is located on Sand Island sandwiched between the Honolulu Airports reef runway and Keehi Lagoon as well as Kalihi and downtown Honolulu. It really is a beautiful sight all the way around. The track shares property with a mini bike track (seen in the background) as well a harbor where all the canoe clubs race. There's also a couple of good surf spots straight out from the track.

Back to serious business. Instead of pedal it's cook faster we stay hungry! And no burn da burgahs!

Team Shake & Bake! "If you ain't 1st your last!" Hey I'll take last as long as there's some ono grinds on the grill and cold beer in the cooler!

Check out our Hawaii x Destroy blog for more photos of the Sand Box BMX Track.

SXA & Pakajunk Tee

If you like to BBQ or just a fan of good food in general, are from Hawaii or appreciate the local culture, and like to putt around on scooters then you can appreciate the this lil' project that Braddah Nelson and I did.
About 6 months or so he faxed me over a drawing of a bike with the saying "Loud Aloha Saves Lives"that he sketched out on a napkin. With some help of some good friends we turned Nelson's sketch into a tee that you can wear while out at your local BBQ or when you go out fo grind with your chic at Zippy's!

Braddah Nick thinking about where fo' eat after pau skate!

Nelson has a blog called Pakajunk which features a lot of good mom and pop style places to eat that most people would never notice but are amazingly awesome. His blog also covers motorcycles that his friends own, as well as his passion for jiu jitsu, MMA, and random stuffs from Hawaii. Lot's of funny kine stuffs he get on there regarding his homeys as well as home videos of local braddahs scrapping in a gravel parking lot somewhere in Hawaii. Oh yeah and did I mention the 411 on all the ono spots fo' grind in So Cal!

SXA / The Speed Merchant BBQ #2

So approximately 3 days after our first BBQ at The Speed Merchant shop Brawny and I decided it was time for round 2. We had about 20 pounds of meat left over from the first BBQ and a bunch of hungry local braddahs who never made it out to the first BBQ. We also had a bunch of hungry braddahs who did make it out to the first BBQ! After a long day of work on a Wednesday we all rallied and met up at Brawny's spot for a hana hou BBQ! I gotta tell you I thought the first BBQ was a good time but this one was extra special. When I took a look around at all the braddahs that were here I couldn't help but smile and think about how fortunate I was to be able to be in these guys company. Here we are in the middle of Long Beach a group of local braddahs and friends BBQ-ing on a Wednesday night as if it was "Pau Hana Friday!" Everyone had to be up the next morning for work but nobody wanted to leave knowing that this was the final BBQ until the next time. Big Mahalos to Brawny, Dustin, Jose, Mark, Len, Jensen, Alf, Nick, Jesse, James, Nos, Oblow, Kingman, Nelson and all that showed up to help make this gathering a goodtime!

Some good local braddahs in this pic: Braddah Jensen, Alf, James, Brawny, Nos, Len, and Nick

Jose's Knuck is sick!

Local style no mo' t-shirt, just gotta wear da slippah!

Oblow holding down da cooler!

Goodtime braddahs in this pic!

Talking story in the L.B.C.

Mahalos Nelson, Dustin and Brawny for making a braddah feel at home. Aloha!

SXA Backyard BBQ San Francisco

It's been about 5 years since I've been back to my second home of San Francisco, California. After 7 days in Long Beach I was really looking forwards to getting back to the city and seeing my family and my home away from Hawaii. Nick and I flew in from Long Beach and met up with my man Marlon who flew in from Hawaii. The plan was to eat, drink, BBQ, hang out with Dave, my brother Jason and his family, my friends Mike, Mary, Caesar, and Scott, and whatever else happens...happens. Oh yeah and I wanted to make sure that my brothers Marlon and Nick had an unforgettable weekend in SF! We set Saturday aside for the BBQ at my mom and Dave's casa. My friend Mary and her husband Caesar were driving down from Chico and my friend Scott and his girl Masara were driving down from Sacramento. Dave's son Adrian and daughter Lizette were driving down from Antioch and Nick's aunty Irene was coming from across the bay from Berkley. As you can see word has gotten out about the famous Shakas x Alohas BBQ and now we've got people driving from all over to experience how we do it in Hawaii!!! Dave added to the BBQ and prepared some unbelievably ono mexican style dishes. Braddah was running back and fourth to Oakland to get all the meats (goat, lengua, and carne asada) as well as fresh corn, red rice, beans, and molcajete (salsa). This was a true collaboration of flavors between my island style BBQ and Dave's mexican cuisine! All I know was the beer was going down easy and everybody was getting their grind on. Everybody was coming back for seconds and thirds! I was as happy as could be watching my nephews and nieces enjoying the pool and my friends and family all together having a good time!

Dave boiling the lengua in seasoning for the soon to be tacos de lengua!

Pure goodness going on in the bubbling water!

"Husk that corn Marlon no one eats for free around here!"

Chamorro style ribs!

"No pee in da pool eh braddah!"

"Did uncle Marlon really pee in the pool!"

Beef....it's what's for dinner!

Casa de Alcala y Chmolack

Teri short ribs and the SXA lei sticks!

There's some carne asada in there on the lower right side!

Kymani and the corn!

Finadeni!

My friends Caesar and his beautiful wife Mary drove all the way from Chico for the BBQ! You guys rule!

My highschool buddy Scott and his lovely lady Masara drove all the way from Sacramento!

My bro Jason and my extended family Adrian, Lizette, and Sara drove down from Antioch!

Big Mahalos goes out to David Alcala for the unbelievable hospitality. I appreciate you taking care of me and my compadres and showing alot of Aloha! This will be a very memorable experience for years to come and hopefully we can do this again next year!

SXA Backyard BBQ at The Speed Merchant Workshop

This was pretty much the day I'd been anticipating for weeks leading up to it. Today the SXA Ohana was going to be doing a BBQ at The Speed Merchant Workshop with local Braddahs Brandon "Brawny" Holstein and Nelson Kanno. These are two of the coolest local braddahs in my book. Both from Mililani where I live now doing big things out in Long Beach. Along with these two braddahs was a bunch of friends who were also from Hawaii as well as their families. It was a really good vibe and place to have a BBQ. I'd seen a similar event that Nelson did maybe 10 years back at Chica's shop where he used to work. I thought that was the shit to be able to BBQ and drink beers around some sick bikes and cars. This BBQ was a lot more intimate with a smaller group of really good people. My crew and I had prepared 20 pounds of ribs and 20 pounds of chicken along with some veggie skewers enough to feed an army. Brawny and Len guys made some fresh poke and Nelson and Sasha brought da rice and some fresh veggies grown from their garden right around the way. I can't express how much of a good time I had meeting the braddahs crew and eating, drinking, and talking story well into the night. Big mahalos to Braddah Dave Park for riding his bike all the way from San Diego to sample some local style BBQ, as well as to Brawny and Nelson for helping to organize this goodtime BBQ! (Get more pics on Hawaii x Destory)!

Nick holding down the veggies portion of the BBQ!

Like fada like son!!! Spock da mout!!!

Braddah Nos and Braddah Moblow!

Braddah Stance Socks Ryan Kingman!

Hangin' Loose with Braddah Len!

SXA Chopping and Prep

What would I do with out a little help from my friends? Thanks to Jesse, Jen, and Nick we were able to prep for our big BBQ over at The Speed Merchant shop. Jesse is the man! Dude was slicing and dicing and really helped to make prep so much easier. Not to mention braddah made some ono fried rice! With a little heads up for where to go shopping from Braddah Nelson we were on our way. We started off by going to Gonzalez Northgate Supermarket to pick up some meats and veggies. The best supermarket I've ever been to. Nothing but espaniol being spoken here, but the service and selection was "No Ka Oi"! From there we headed over to Ken's Island Market for some portugese sausage, lup chong, and Aloha Shoyu. Go figure get one local market in Long Beach! Once we got done with Ken's we headed over to the visit with Nelson and Dustin at their jiu jitsu class before heading to the Long Beach Farmers Market for some fresh veggies for the skewers. We seriously were on the go here and there but it was all good fun. Big mahalos to Jen for assembling the beautiful skewers. Took long time but trust me it was worth it!

Braddah Jesus is the man!!! Kens Island Food

Gonzalez Northgate Supermarket

Charsiu pork ribs marinating!

Chamorro style BBQ Chicken marinating!

Long Beach Farmers Market. So cheap!

Look who we bumped into former local skateboarder Kaile from Mililani!

Jen working hard! Putting together the ono SXA leis on a stick that you can grind!

Lots of Aloha went into the prep for the SXA / Speed Merchant / Hawaii BBQ!