HUGO ALMEIDA

Blog by: Paulo’s Portugese

On my first post on this blog, I’ve said that one of my goals was to show a little bit of my country, and about me, my experiences, friends, etc. I’ve posted a few posts with BMX (repos from jams, contests, etc.), Art, family, tastes, and FRIENDS.
I consider myself a lucky guy, I have a few good friends, that I care, love and respect. You have to pay attention to your friends, respect them, help them, laugh with them, party with them, cry with them… in the end you have to be recognized for their friendship.
This little intro is to introduce my friend Hugo Almeida. I know him for at last, 15 years, and one of the things that I always appreciate in him (since the first time we met) was is mature personality, even when he was just a little kid, I think that came has a result of the fact that most of his closest friends where a few years older than him.
Hugo is a great and humble guy, a great friend and a great rider. As a rider he isn’t the kind of trick, trick, rider, no…He is the stylish, flow, type of rider. I can say that he is the kind of rider that you stop your riding just to watch him flow from ramp to ramp, space to space. And as a friend he is the kind of friend that you want to have, a trully friend wich you can count to and like to talk.
Besides riding is bike and surfing a few waves in the Atlantic Ocean, he do a lot of other stuff, from working with is Mac doing some Design work (he’s way of earning money to live life), to photography, to produce BMX and other kinds of videos projects.
A few years ago he started a brand called BMXFiles to produce a paper zine, and them started doing some other stuff like: T’shirts, BMX-videos, glasses, wallets, and organizing BMX tour trips (like the Movementtour).
He is a busy guy, always on the run! But He got the enough free time to help is friends. Since he unfortunately had two bad knees, he have to use 2 CTI knee braces every time he wants to ride his bike, and as all you may know CTI knee braces are really expensive. After all the money spend on his two CTI, he came with the idea of helping other fellow riders, with the same problem and without the money to solve them, and a few years ago he started a project, that he called “knee brace project”, that consist on a T-shirt to sell, with the phrase: «with you it’s OK, without you it’s KO, friends stand united», that he sell on jams, contests, etc., and after selling the T’s he give all the profits of the selling to the guy that needed the money to buy a knee brace and doesn’t have the money to do it. And he already helped a few with this project along this past years.
I personality owe him the possibility of accomplish one of my BMX riding dreams. Do a BMX road trip. Sure I’ve already done a few small riding trips, in Portugal and in Spain, but just for one or two days. And In 2006 he invited me to join the Movementtour (that I had the pleasure to document in DIG 56), with more 14 friends, riding for fifteen days around Europe in two vans. So many stories to tell and remember. At the age of 35 that trip was a blast! A dream! And in more than 20 years of bike riding, one of my best BMX riding moments, moments that will be forever with me, memories that even memory can forget! For that and for is friendship I will be forever grateful. He is a great friend and you have to show your love for your great friends.
Respect.
Hugo, ainda vou estar aqui mais uns anos para umas voltas de bike, e quem sabe numa tour para comemorar a minha entrada nos 40 e a tua nos 30.
Um abraço, Ride!

Link to Hugo flickr, where you can see is work: http://www.flickr.com/photos/yougoalmeida/

Hugo riding the pipe