Date of Birth:
10-11-1981

Sponsors:
Colony BMX, Roller Derby PDX (supports me with Etnies)

How long have you been riding?
23 years.

What got you interested in BMX?
The movie E.T.

Biggest influences in BMX:
Videos like Props and Baco. Riders like Dave Freimuth, Axel Reichertz, Dave Osato, Clint Millar, Alex Bender, Tobias Wicke, Joe Rich, Mark Murphy, Dustin Guenther, Rob Sigaty, Jay Miron, Sandy Carson, Simon O’ Brian, Shane Badman, Joey Garcia, Rick Moliterno, Rob Ridge, Dennis McCoy, Martin Drost, Bobbie Altiser, Kevin Jones, Mark Eaton, Dave Mirra, Chad Degroot, TJ Henderson, Kurt Schmidt, Adam Banton, Max Gaertig, Senad Grosic, Tom Haugen and many more.

Where are you living at the moment? And where did you grow up?
I live in Portland,OR USA and I grew up mostly in Germany but also use to live in New Zealand, Denmark, Scotland…since my family is from all over the place.

What does a regular Saturday out on the bike usually consist of?
My list of tricks, good people to ride with and a good place to ride at.

What are you doing for work these days?
I work in Customer Service for a big american online shop for bike components.

Top 3 places you’ve ridden over the years:
USA, Australia and Germany.

What are your interests outside of Riding?
My lovely Wife Casey, our 3 Cats, Friends, Gym, Art, Music, Movies, Cooking, Nature, Animals, Books and Life in general.

Car you own/drive:
Scion XD.

Tell us something about your local scene:
in a few words: a mix of everything! brakeless, frontbrakes, nu-school, old school, BMX legends, famous Burnside Skatepark, Scooters and lots of young BMX talents.

What motivates you to go out and ride all the time?
the freedom to do whatever I want to do without having to follow any rules or trends. the fact that there’s no limits (only my own) motivates me because everything is possible and I am in charge of how I am moving towards my ideas.

Favourite place you’ve travelled to and why?
I’d like to say that everywhere I’ve travelled so far outside from where i lived was my favourite because I’ve learned a lot about myself, different cultures and the planet. if you want a different perspective of your life and yourself you’ve gotta turn off the television and travel.

Good meals to eat:
chicken, kale, fish, eggs, fruits and heaps of cheese!

Give us some bands/musicians you are into these days:
The Twilight Sad, Fu-Manchu, Heaven Shall Burn, Jakob, Agent Orange, McRad, Interpol, Jawbreaker, Seth Sentry, Ted Leo, Tom Waits…

Favourite Colony product?
I love all the colony products because the design of each product shows the thoughtfulness of making it a unique, effective and pretty piece i would say I like the transformer brakes the most because of its trustworthy quality. I have two of them on my bike and they help me to realize my riding style.

What has BMX has taught you:
It gave me the opportunity to travel the world, learn about my fears, limits, life and perception. it also taught me to never give up even if it takes a lot of pain and time. If you want it you can do it and that also includes life in general, just don’t give up on what you want to pursuit with whatever and whoever.

The usual thanks…
my wife Casey, Clint Millar & Colony BMX, Cooper Brownlee, Keith Treanor, Axel Reichertz, Alex Schmitz, Tom Stretton, Shane Batchler, Christian Lutz, Buddy Lauter, Tom Stephens, Isaac Waits, Dusty Horten, Dave @Area43, John Buultjens, Claudi & Tobias Wicke, Levi Weert, Regina Heim, Marc & Brandon @ The Outer Rim Bike Shop, everyone @ The Lumberyard Bike Park, Shad Johnson @GoodsBMX, Andy Merrall, Max Gaertig, Bruno Hoffman, Dusty Horten, Charles Bogart, Jan Heinen, Janosch Ritter, Markus Braumann, Sergej Geier, Jens & Hans @ Mellowpark Berlin, Everyone @ Team Colony, all the Companies that ever helped me through my BMX career such as Andy Zeiss @ Vans, Mike Emde @ Carhartt, Schuetzi @ Etnies, Thomas Stellwag @ All Ride Dist. , Christoph Huber @ Unity Dist. ,Klaas @ Eastpak, Parano Garage, Thomas Goering @KHE, Stephan Prantl, Stefan Redinius, Schwinn Bicycles, Alex Reinke, Nick @ NYRM, Harry @ Klaus @ Wethepeople. Thank you all for your friendship, help and support over the years! I am not taking any of it for granted and it still means a lot to me!

Instagram account:
@paddygross