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  • [MUSIC PLAYING]

  • NIGEL SYLVESTER: The world from beyond my handlebars

  • is such a unique position.

  • It moves faster.

  • It's more intense.

  • I'm forced to think faster.

  • I feel more comfortable riding my bike sometimes than walking.

  • LAURA LING: When I watch you ride, I am just transfixed.

  • How did you get into BMX?

  • NIGEL SYLVESTER: Like most kids in my neighborhood,

  • just riding bicycles around was the thing to do.

  • It was a natural thing for us.

  • It was fun.

  • It was a way to get to where ever we wanted to go.

  • And it was that first point of like, I felt freedom from home.

  • And a lot of years passed in between

  • until I finally seen BMX riding for the first time on TV.

  • And that's what really changed everything for me.

  • And once I seen that, I was like, wow,

  • this is what I really want to do in my life.

  • Because of my neighborhood and because of my environment,

  • riding BMX on a professional level

  • and dreaming to be a professional BMX rider

  • wasn't common.

  • People would sometimes call me a white boy

  • because they didn't understand the sport

  • and because they associated BMX riding

  • with only young white men from middle America

  • or places like that.

  • But it was something that I had for a very long.

  • [MUSIC PLAYING]

  • I'm a kid from Queens.

  • And I would have never imagined in a million years

  • that I would have the opportunity

  • to ride my bicycle around the world.

  • It's incredible.

  • LAURA LING: Did you get pressure at home from your family

  • to follow that traditional route and go to school

  • and get a good job?

  • NIGEL SYLVESTER: Of course.

  • My family, my mom and dad, came to America

  • to pursue better opportunities.

  • It was very rigid growing up, which was fine.

  • It taught me a lot of valuable life lessons

  • that I would later carry on into my career.

  • LAURA LING: Like what?

  • NIGEL SYLVESTER: Hard work.

  • I learned hard work and dedication

  • and sacrifice at home from my family.

  • And those are things that I use every single day.

  • It's like, how much are you willing to sacrifice?

  • How hard are you willing to work to go achieve

  • your goals and your dreams?

  • LAURA LING: How hard do you work?

  • NIGEL SYLVESTER: I work every single day.

  • Anyone that knows me knows that I'm thinking about bike riding,

  • I'm thinking about a project every single second of the day.

  • And when it comes to the actual bike riding,

  • sometimes it may take one try to land a trick.

  • Other times, it may take one day.

  • It make take a week.

  • It may be something you have to leave and come

  • back and try again.

  • LAURA LING: You're not just a professional BMX rider.

  • You really are a BMX artist and filmmaker.

  • You make these really incredible videos

  • riding around different cities.

  • What are you trying to accomplish through your videos?

  • NIGEL SYLVESTER: For me, it's about sharing my point of view

  • with the world.

  • Not many people can get on a bike and go blast on a bridge

  • or bomb a hill in SF or blast through Shibuya Crossing.

  • I want to share that with people.

  • [MUSIC PLAYING]

  • For me, I never really embraced riding contests.

  • It's always been about content.

  • I just want to deliver people an amazing experience.

  • I want them to watch my videos and just be in awe

  • and be amazed and learn something and be inspired.

  • [MUSIC PLAYING]

  • LAURA LING: Would you say that BMX riding

  • is THE ritual of your life?

  • NIGEL SYLVESTER: It's something I do almost every single day.

  • And if I'm not doing it, I'm thinking about it.

  • You know, it's always around me, all the time.

  • It's one of those conflicts in my life.

  • The feeling of landing a trick is like nothing else

  • and it never gets old.

  • It's such an adrenaline rush.

  • It's such a feeling of a self-accomplishment.

  • It's more than just doing a bike trick.

  • It's about making it look good, about making it beautiful.

  • The majority of people in your life

  • have ridden a bicycle before.

  • They know the feeling.

  • They know that feeling of cruising down a block

  • and how joyful that is, that level of independence.

  • Once you find that sweet spot and you find it

  • all on your own, you're able to just soar.

  • [MUSIC PLAYING]

  • LAURA LING: Click here to see Nigel blast through Shibuya

  • Crossing, dodge flying fish at Tokyo's famous fish market,

  • and brace to get sumo-ed in his latest episode of "Go."

[MUSIC PLAYING]

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