The journey of a professional bike rider is not limited to just riding. Sure, the riding part is very important, but there is a whole lot more that comes along with it. There are highs, lows, great memories, friendships and a wide array of experiences in between.

I was recently flipping through an old Ride BMX mag and caught a glimpse of Van Homan shooting photos in the background. This set off a light bulb in my head and lead me to think that Van must have some amazing stuff in his archives, considering he was into photography at one point. So, I hit Van up to inquire about all this along with the possibility of running a feature. He said he would look around and get back to me. Sweet!

A few days later, Van called me up and said that he had come across some cool photos, in addition to a whole bunch of random things from his past. He offered to send me a package of stuff (yes, actual prints and personal belongings), and I said hell yeah! I busted out my scanner for the first time in Defgrip history and went to work.

In this feature, you will see a bunch of old photos that Van has taken, as well as some cool random stuff from his legendary career. Definitely a trip down memory lane.

A special thanks goes out to Van Homan for putting this together, writing captions and having the foresight to save some of this stuff.

Click on through and enjoy.

- Nuno