Archive for May, 2007

At 9:30 on Thursday evening, I got a phone call asking if we were going out partying. The Villa stops letting people in free at 9:45. Needless to say, we were there. Having not touched my bike (due to rubbish weather) since the previous Saturday at Brighouse, we made a half cut decision to hit up Newport yesterday

Ed said he was going to hit up the heaven that is Newport too. Unfortunately, he didn?t keep his word. Bad Ed? However, he was revising for his exams. Good Ed?

Everyone was sessioning the hip line out of the bowl into the box roll in. Lots of stunts being blasted left right and centre. The 157 Whitecross massive headed down from the sunny shire to meet the Bournemouth boys and I. Aidan started sending himself as soon as they arrived, as usual. For some reason, a lot of the photos I took are bum shots.

This may have been mistimed, but Yak thought the flash was on time, so who knows. Pretty sweet whatever. Six of us headed over the border in a VW van, which always results in good times. I pretty much danced to drum and bass the whole journey and talked rubbish. The back of the van is much better than having a seat up front. It?s where all the action happens. Fact.

Look at those two, all innocence I hear you say?

Ohhhhh no! It?s all out in the open now, the secret has been revealed. There were in fact tongues involved in this kiss. It may or may not have only been Aidan?s tongue that volunteered for this.

Pickles loves skate parks like team Blewbmx loves the woods. He had some pretty sweet lines, and whipped the box after shooting the B?s over this hip. Stunt machine. Look out for more Pickles action some time in the future.

Yak hadn?t ridden in ages, and before the journey from Whitecross hadn?t eaten anything in 30 hours. What a ripper. He still produced the goods over the box with the most mellow landing ever. Crazy boost thing whilst trying to perform the armpit sniff test.

Young Yakkle does pretty dialled moto/euro table things. It?s hard to get good lighting in Newport and these few box photos didn?t come out as rad as the previous bowl/roll in shots.

I hadn?t seen Yak perform a turndown in a long while, but he did quite a few yesterday. He wasn?t stoked on the snaps, but I reckon it?s not too shabby so it?s going up.

Tabletop. Not the best one I?ve ever seen young sonny jim me lad crank up, but a pretty cool snap. Last time I rode Newport was also with theshovelload.com. I had just bought an original Macneil Miron with Supra E/Seventies wheels, and was just starting the process of quitting riding tractors and riding kids bikes. I was real shady, and still am now. The park hasn?t changed since all those years back. That was a long time ago.

Little team shot, minus shrEdder, whilst Aidan tries to touch me with his genitals and Yak gets stoked. Newport is rubbish, but we still love it for some crazy reason, and it was an awesome day. Everyone tried to sleep on the van journey home, whilst I coloured them in with marker pen and OD?d on Smarties. We stopped at services on the way home, coincidentally the same ones as where Timmy?s laxatives kicked in on the Aversion trip. Good memories are held there! It?s been raining lots, the woods are flooded, so lots of fixing, building and perfecting is on the cards. Treats. If you are bored in the rain, do two things. Dig, and watch the April video young Tom Higgins me lad uploaded onto Cheltbmx.com. Adios

Found a load of photos which didn’t get put up from Chertsey when I went a while back. So here they are. There are some trees in the way here but I still like it.

Some people chilling

First ride of the year i guess

There are a lot of jumps

Team aversion

Herminator

Timmy

Will again

Louis no-hander!

Timmy no-foot can-can

Hello moto.

Stolen from Jirtjumping Worth a look kids. It’s been raining so hopefully some trails can be fixed up a bit or something, or at least gardners are gonna be happy. Maybe newport tomorrow with chaz…

It?s been a little while since my last update, but I think I?ve got a few gems for you. Last weekend Ollie and I went up to Bristol for a party in student halls, Turns out it was ?80?s vs. new rave? themed, and ended up being pretty funny. Everyone was pretty mediocre, just sitting about; we got wild, drank a bunch of wine and danced the night away. Met some weirdo girl who was doing psychology or summit, and kept analysing everyone?s behaviour, pretty weird if you ask me. On the way to Ollie?s house we saw this sign, which Jesus will get stoked on. He loves Pimms, and would drink nothing but it, if he could.

Saw some amazing views on the way into Bath on the Friday, but didn?t have the camera out. We took a different route home, where the views weren?t so spectacular, but were pretty photogenic none the less.

This weekend Jesus, Ollie and I headed up to Leeds to stay with some rad guys. They have mud lumps in private woods, locked up and very professionally kept. Maybe the best jumps I?ve ever had the opportunity to see and ride. Here?s a small snippet of the masses of jumps on offer.

Dan is the guy we stayed with, and is one of the most hospitable hosts ever. He put us up at his house, let us ride his jumps and took us to a Shameless-esque party. He builds the majority of stuff in the woods himself with help from a small crew of other people. He said to me that if you want a place like that, you have to get off your ass, take charge and do it yourself, which is very true. Dan has these woods really dialled in, has some real good stunts with it, and is one of the nicest guys I?ve ever met. Here he performs the timeless act of the tabletop over the fifth in the line that we mainly rode that day.

Paul Chapman a.k.a. Chappers is one sickhead. You might remember a picture of him turndowning out of Kings Park over the back rails real high. Dan?s jumps are his local place, and boy does it show. Going many feet higher than anyone else, with a dialled style, and enough cranked tricks. His turndowns are crazy, his body goes into place real quickly, and then he sits there whilst the bars go round real far. The boys got skills.

This jumps was amazing, only straight one in the line I think, and pretty much a giant box jump. Chappers sent some twists over it, which he claimed were ?stiff?. I think not. A few of the locals and me also rode their big line, and the last one riding in the line was a twenty footer. I was pretty scared just jumping it, and Chappers twisted it. I didn?t have the camera to hand, but it was pretty insane.

Pete has the best sideburns in BMX, if not the world. Fact. He raced since he was 7, and has skills. Racers most of the jumps, but flows so smooth its unreal. This is far from the best picture I?ve ever taken, but it?s the only one I had of Pete.

This is another shabby photo of Chappers lookbacking the hip in the line everyone was riding. I only had the camera out for about twenty minutes, and should have spent some more time shooting really. The problem was the jumps were so good I couldn?t stop myself riding all day.

We barbequed all day in the woods, on the home made BBQ, with hot plate and everything. They even have an in the ground safe with sauces, bog roll, etc in, and a dialled seating area to chill, with benches and home made slate seating. We went to a garden party for some guy going to the army on Saturday evening. The guy?s dad force fed us even more BBQ food, which most people reluctantly force fed themselves. The army guy and his brother got into a tussle over the music being played, and as they started tussling Jitterbug came on. One of them came back over to us afterwards and said ?anyone want a fucking copy of this??. One of those moments that you had to be there for, but was absolutely priceless.

Chappers also does some of the best one foot inverts ever, and is more than happy to perform for the camera. His little brother Sam also rides, and is just 14 years old. He?s more stocky than me, and has a deeper voice, and is one day going to be a savage. He also shreds on a bike, and by the time he even leaves school will be unreal. He?s quite quiet, but a funny kid. He told us how they give out ?yellow cards? for bad behaviour at school, and that he had gotten loads, one for sending the girl on the next computer to him an e-mail saying get your tits out. He was also quoted saying ?I?m riding shit. I hate my fucking life? on Saturday! The last photo I took on the day was one of him doing a dialled double can, which he held for ages. If you know Sam Chapman, show him this picture.
Thanks a lot to the Northern guys for having us this weekend, especially Dan for everything. Raddest weekend in a long while, I had so much fun. Until next time, here?s young Sam.

Guess it’s that time of year, sun has shown it’s face and people are starting to ride again. Also means its jam time! Chepstow had a little jam on. A fair crew turned up, and 4down distribution donated a box of stuff for some lucky kids. Here Jordan does a 180 over a bar at height.

Sorry not sure this guys name, but big hop over the bar from the bank.

Another 180 over a bin this time from jordan

Different angle, same trick. Arse shot yo…

Baz 180

Same again, got pop?

Baz doing a 360 over the bar, check his wheels lower than bar but was still pulled, no idea how. Hucker

People

Dave turndown.

Buy some stuff from Tim (corrected! sorry dude).

Baz lookback on a really small hip

Jim pocket air, I think these were rad, and I liked the photos so it goes up.

Dave alley-oops crank flip over the hip. 1998 on your ass!

Jim got some tyre marks on his face from one of these, screw getting it to the shoulder, get it to the face. Feet check also.

Baz again. So was a really good day, sun was out and everyone had a good time, except for grumpy will by the look on his face all day! He did hang five round the whole bowl and do some tailwhips though. Chin up mate! Dan also took some pictures of the day, go here to see them. Welshside will probably have some up sometime next year too I expect…