Place of Birth: Caracas, Venezuela.
Daniel Dhers, www.dewtour.com, august 2006: All my friends just started cruising around on bicycles, so I bought a mountain bike and started jumping stairs. One of my friends got a flatland bike, so I discovered all of the other parts of freestyle riding from that. I eventually started hanging out with some street riders.
www.redbullusa.com, 2007: Daniel took his first spin around the local skatepark on February 4th, 1998, a date he remembers with ease: "That's the day I rode my first ramp. I remember it because I did my membership for the skatepark the next day and that day it was printed. I was a member for a few years, so I remember it to this day. I got dizzy riding the ramps, but I really liked it, so I started going there every day." Unfortunately, the park closed a few years later, and Daniel was forced to hit the streets to work on his riding skills.
www.redbullusa.com, 2007: When Daniel was 16, his parents received a job offer in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and off they went. "At first it was hard; I didn't know anyone. There was a skatepark there, though, and it really helped me out because there were more riders and bigger ramps. People were already doing flips; it was a whole different level. I started going there every day, all day. I really focused on riding." Unfortunately, that park eventually closed as well and Daniel was back to street riding, or making the rare trip to a park an hour and a half away on the sketchiest train in the country.
www.redbullusa.com, 2007: The perpetual lack of riding facilities prompted Daniel to dream of the chance to ride Woodward's ramp mecca in Pennsylvania. A chance meeting with Woodward resident pro Tom Stober at a demo in South America in 2003 resulted in an invitation to camp, and Daniel took full advantage in 2004. He was originally slated to stay for two weeks, but enjoyed it so much that he ended up staying for most of the summer.
www.redbullusa.com, 2007: Daniel returned to camp in 2005, but arrived too late to enter the qualifying events for the contest season. Disappointment turned into drive, and Daniel rode at camp non-stop, further motivated by one of his early heroes, BMX legend Jamie Bestwick. "He'll push me every time," says Daniel. "He'll see me try something in the foam, and he'll say, 'You have to land that right now.' I'll want to wait, but then I'll think, 'Okay, he's Jamie Bestwick, he might be right,' and I end up pulling it first go. Now, if he told me I could throw myself from a five-story building and land on my feet, I'd probably try it." Pulling that move is probably not completely out of the question, given Daniel's machine-like precision on the park course. He can fire out tailwhips in his sleep, often combined with countless variations, many of which only he can do. He stays up on his contest tricks by perpetually riding at his highest level, always pushing the boundaries. "I don't really think about the fear factor. After riding for so long, it's there, but you know how to control it."
Daniel won the Baco Jam in October '05, Longwood, FL.
Daniel Dhers, www.dewtour.com, august 2006: I couldn’t ride the contests this year because they were invite-only and I came too late for the qualifiers, so I just kept riding and learning stuff. I was just about to go home when I went to the Baco Jam. I was riding a lot at that time, so I really wanted to get top three there. I had been working on frontflips over the spine, but one day, I broke my nose in the foam pit, so I was over it. Winning the contest and then doing the frontflip over the spine for best trick, I was really happy because I never expected that. I think I was possessed that night.
