The Escape Artist Thomas Vanderham

Thomas Vanderham's moment of clarity came when he was 10 years old. After witnessing a neighbor kid doing wheelies in an alley, Vanderham set out to master the technique himself. His first attempt was spastic and short lived, but for a brief moment he felt that perfect balance point. And that feeling, the one that fluttered through him during that first wheelie attempt, is one he has continued to chase his entire life.

We all seek the feeling that 10-year-old Thomas had. When we find it, we want to milk it and are constantly trying to re-create it. We search for it on the weekends and in our free time. We daydream about it and occasionally—perhaps while waiting for a train to cross—we'll even slip back into that feeling again, even if only for a moment. It calls to us, driving us to push through pain and fear. It frees us from rut of routine life, which is exactly what our bodies and minds crave, after all, we're all just looking for an escape.