Podcast – Kiyomi Waller

Kiyomi has been on the short list for a few years now to do a podcast and last week we finally sat down and recorded one which was Kiyomi's first ever podcast. Kiyomi tells us about growing up at Camp Pendleton (San Diego) with his mom and brother, discovering BMX in 77 and first racing in 79 in El Cajon. Racing in the SD area at Rancho, Lakeside, and Kearny - meeting Johnny Johnson, progressing through the local ranks to expert, racing every day of the week including trips to the Orange Y and seeing all the factory riders that were winning Nationals at the time. We talk about sponsorship, riding for local teams like Hidden Valley Bicycles with Shawn Texas, moving onto the Torker Support team, looking up to guys like Eddy King (Factory Torker at the time.) Kiyomi talks about his first National win, still struggling to get support and the frustrations that came with it and quitting for awhile, going to school, working and coming back to riding and racing in the late 80s in the 17 and over x class and getting on Peddle Power, Tech and later Redline and Haro. We talk about Kiyomi being up for Am titles, turning Pro, riding for Parkpre, racing mountain bikes, winning the ABA Pro Cruiser title before catching the mid 90s wave of BMX on the up, getting on Trek and being one of the highest paid AAs at the time. We talk about Kiyomi's other Pro Cruiser titles, World Championships Mains and his first AA Win alongside being the rider/team support for Oakley. We talk about being let go mid-season on Trek, going back to Haro, racing the Vans Triple Crown, retiring, coming back to race Vet/Masters in 05 and winning the NBL Masters title, riding MX these days and working at Magnaflow in San Diego for over 25 years now and counting. We also talk about some of the magazine covers Kiyomi has had, riders he looked up to, his riding style, training and so much more. Photo: @usabmx