I’m not sure when or even how I first came across Prettyshady. What I do know is that once I did it became the site that I religiously checked every time I got on the computer. At the time it seemed like every other BMX site was solely concerned with videos of the latest grind or ones showing that someone had been able to kick their bike around another time. Prettyshady was different and posted videos that I wanted to see. While trails had all but fallen off of the radar of other sites, Prettyshady was often updated with videos of trails that I had never seen or heard of. There was a lot of talk at the time that trails were dead and that couldn’t have been further from the truth. Prettyshady proved that almost everyday! One of the cool things about site was the randomness of it all. Not only were there trails videos but also all of sorts of random things like Formula 1,  Tour De France, crash videos, vintage bikes, etc. Prettyshady not only was a place to find trails videos but it also offered a window into the world of Joe Alderson, or Prettyshady Joe as he came to be known. As time went on Prettyshady seemed to slow down a bit. What was interesting was that you could see Joe’s changing interest by what he posted on the site. Prettyshady had a huge influence on me starting CYDI. It showed me that not only were there trails videos out there that were mostly going unseen but more importantly that trails were very far from dead! Even though I was a huge fan of the site, up until recently I really didn't know much about the man behind it. Just by chance a few months ago I ended up getting Joe's email from a mutual friend and we've been chatting back and forth ever since. Prettyshady has recently evolved into Veloup and I wanted to interview Joe about that change and about some of the history behind Prettyshady. He has stories for days so kick back and enjoy this one! (more...)