The Daily Rotter - - The Tuesday Toss Up: Kurt Hohberger

The Tuesday Toss Up: Kurt Hohberger

Blog Listng

10 19, 2009

I've known Kurt for a couple of years now and since the creation of his site, BMXunion, I've seen him progress into quite the BMX blog master. Kurt currently works for DIG magazine, putting in the daily work on their site but he's always down to help and pitch in with whatever and whoever else comes his way. He's a real open minded dude and I feel that's what sets him apart from a lot of others out there doing the same work. Also, what I can say is this dude spends a grip of time on the computer but unlike others, his time goes towards getting shit done for the good of the BMX community. Kurt still finds the time to shred bikes too, even though he's pretty slammed packed with work, school, blogging, babes, jury duty, drug dealing and everything else... Now learn a little more about Kurt below...

Name: Kurt Hohberger

Age: 20... 21 in like two weeks?

Currently residing in: Rochester, Minnesota

How long have you been shreddin?

Right around 10 years. I'm at like 1 or 2 years in skill compared to kids now days who are flairing at two weeks in.

How long have you been bloggin?

"Seriously" for a little over 2 years now.

Did you own any sites or contribute to any prior to BMXunion?

I started doing websites when I was in like 6th or 7th grade. I started this site called BMXrochester. It featured all the dudes who rode in the city, with pictures and videos I would film and edit. It's pretty weird to think I'm able to still do all that stuff and consider it a job?

How did the whole DigBMX blog job come along? Are they regretting their decision yet?

One day John Povah from Etnies hit me up asking how I would feel if he told Will Smyth at Dig about me. I'm pretty sure he already did before he asked me, but either way I was stoked he did it. That was a little over 6 months already. Time has been flying! We had a Dig dinner at Chipotle during Interbike and everyone seemed to be pretty stoked on what I had going on. The site has been growing in numbers and it looks like I'll even be contributing a bit for the actual magazine now too. So hopefully I don't blow it.

Adam22 hired you out to help run The Come Up for quite some time, how was it workin on there? I ve heard word from numerous people that you ran it far better than the owner

Haha, TCU was a lot of fun. I definitely learned to care a whole lot less about what people think about me because of that site. You get some ridiculous emails and comments about why you are a piece of shit. I was so bummed at first but over time I started actually thanking the people who took time out of their day to tell me how much I suck. I don't know if I actually ran the place better but I do owe him for giving me the opportunity. I'm 69% sure it helped quite a bit with getting the Dig job.

Are you contributing to any other websites or magazines?

I was helping out a bit with the dude starting Slammed magazine. Otherwise, no not really. I stay pretty busy with Dig and BMXunion. To be honest, I'm sure I could probably do more but I guess that's for the people who think they could use me for something to decide.

How many hours would you say you spend a week on the computer? Do you spend more time in the internet world than real life?

Oh geeze... I usually put in an hour or three in the morning before I go to my part time job working on semi's and a little after. I'd say around 15-20 hours a week. I definitely go out and ride everyday I can and try and hang out with friends and everything at night too. Am I really trying to prove I have a life? Shit.

You ve mentioned a legit job you work as well that involves driving big rigs around and shit Care to elaborate a bit on what you do for work outside of the internet world?

Yeah, basically my older brother is a mechanic and his best friend is the shop manager at his dad's trucking company. So I go in there for 3 hours everyday to help change tires, move trucks and trailers, heckle truck drivers who have killed cops and just in general goof around. I think I spend more time pissing my brother off and making fun of my boss than I do anything else. It's pretty fun and I've learned quite a bit of stuff I never thought I'd know how to do. I don't even have my CDL license, haha.

I would imagine you re stacked with work of all sorts online and with that real job of yours Where do you find the time and energy to shred?

I don't know, maybe it's just me but I freak out if I'm not doing something at all times. When I'm done with the work all I want to do is ride or go shoot photos or something. I think they call it ADHD but I've never gone to the doctor to find out if it's actually what I have. I just know everyone else in my family has it, so why not?

What s the newest trickery you ve acquired on the bike? What s a trick you can t seem to dial in?

Oh geeze, I'd say sketchy pedal grinds to 180 and 360's. They aren't really very cool but it's new. Anything that takes actual talent is a no go. Barspins, tailwhips, airing higher than 3 feet and having style... Not happening.

When are you going to ditch the brakes and add a couple more pegs to your bike?

If I didn't have brakes, I'd be in jail for murder. I took my brakes off for a few days once and I ran into so much stuff including small children. I'll stick to two pegs. I got chest hair but I don't think I'm manly enough for four.

Tabes for babes or would you say its your goatee that reels the babes in?

Well, I don't know if you have ever seen my tables... definitely not it. Goatee is currently on a hiatus and I've been doing the sketchy beard thing. Either way, I have zero game. I'll admit it. I usually just attract the kooks who are mentally unstable. Aren't all girls mentally unstable though? Shit.

Where does one go to see babes in Minnesota? Are there even babes in Minnesota and can they be called babes?

When I was still going to school, it was the college I went to. I met sooo many chicks there. Now it's either the bar, parties or at my friends colleges. I don't even like myself when I have a girlfriend. I sit around and do dumb stuff like watch TV and spend money on stuff I don't even like. I'm flying solo at least for a little while longer. I'd rather be attempting to make Kosman G'z over spending Kosman G'z on some girl.

You recently let the dick out of the bag when you announced Kyle Hart on Subrosa pro, would say that s been your only blunder thus far as a BMX news dude? How pissed was Ryan when he found out you blew it? You still going to test shred one of those Subrosa 2 Dogs:1 Bun frames or did Ryan tell you to suck it?

Yeaaaaaah. You know better than anyone that I blew that shit and felt so bad. I had to have hit you up at least 12 times asking if you talked to Kyle and if he hated me, haha. I think that was the first time I really messed up when it came to news related stuff. I'm generally always real good about keeping a secret. When I got to Interbike this year, my first stop was the Subrosa booth to apologize to Ryan. He wasn't even bummed at all and was stoked I actually came and apologized since I guess most other people wouldn't? I still feel a little shitty about it because I don't want people thinking I can't keep a secret. I hate when people have to forewarn me in a conversation that "this better not show up on a website" but whatever. I think I'm still getting a DTT, I hope this week actually. I've been drooling over that frame since the day I saw it. Expect an annoying amount of bike checks and reviews on it, haha.

What s next for Kurt Hohberger?

As of right now, I'm just hanging out. I was going to go to Orlando to party mostly and hang out at the Dew Tour for a little bit last week but I had jury duty. Remember when I was with you and the PADI people and the Jury Duty people called and were like "Where are you? You missed jury duty today..." "...Uhh, I'm in California." Haha, I had to hang out with that pissed off lady for a few days. She wasn't stoked on me at all. Otherwise, I believe I'll be flying out to Seattle, Washington to hang out with a friend who is now in the Air Force for a week in November. I'm pretty excited for that since I've never been to Washington. Hopefully I'll go on some more trips over the winter though. I spent all summer going all over and now I just feel like I'm a lazy ass for not being somewhere else every other week.

Is there anyone in particular that you look up to or would like to thank?

It seems like this list grows and grows by the day. I'd like to thank you for hooking up this interview and letting me come out to California and stay with you for two weeks. Justin Kosman for motivating me to aim for high income. Will, Rob, Fred, Ricky and all the Dig guys for being awesome. Adam22 for all the help he has been with getting BMXunion's name out and letting me look like a fool on his site. John Povah for always coming through. Brian Osborne for making me dance on old women in hopes of receiving shoes, Team Bitty, my mom and brother, Ryan Sher, Robbie Morales, Everyone at Odyssey and Sunday, Chris at Federal and anyone else who has let me interview them, hooked me up, helped me in any way and I guess if you have a connection to BMX at all, thanks for helping it grow.