Well, me and Pete just got back yesterday, following four days of the best BMX I have ever witnessed! It was RAD and no amount of pics or video can really describe the whole atmosphere. I'm still buzzing.
FRIDAY - JUST THE BEGINNING
We left the UK on the Chunnel at 8.30am, then blasted through France, Belgium, Holland and Germany. We got off the motorway at Aachen because of the traffic, but stumbled across a nice little skatepark at the edge of the road:
It had the weirest concrete wall ride with a real severe transition...
And a lovely mini ramp, where we popped off a couple of little airs...
Then we headed to the park in the centre of Koln, where it was all happening. Parked up, no problem and bought our 3 day passes. We then watched some awesome street, dirt, mini ramp and vert riding, ate some noodles and chilled out. We met up with Paul Meacher and his lovely missus and had a real good day.
Finished the day with more noodles and a mooch around the stands at the event.
SATURDAY - THE RADDEST DAY EVER.
Wow. What a day. As long as I live, I'll always remember this one.
Started off with coffee and donuts at the show ground, then walking through the stands Pete spots Mat Hoffman just chatting to a few people, so had to grab the chance to say hi to my hero:
We then watched a bit more street and mini-ramp…then headed over to the vert ramp, where we spotted Mat Hoffman practicing. It was great because you could jump on your bike and ride the ramp with him if you wanted. Everyone was so relaxed it was just like a big jam.
Hoffman still rocks…
Those were just from an informal practice session!
We then had a bit of rain which put everything back a couple of hours. But what followed was fecking amazing.
Amateur Vert Final
Was awesome with RADBMX’s own Paul Meacher ripping up the ramp to take FIRST PLACE!!! He was awesome, banging out massive airs, big tail-whips and the smoothest lip tricks you’ve ever seen. All pulled with the confidence and poise of a hardened pro. This one pic says it all:
Pro Vert Qualifying
Or as it should be called, ‘The Hoffman and Tabron show’. Simply awesome. Hoffmans run’s saw everything the great man had to offer, all the classics and some! But it was Tabron who really switched it on…big big airs, flairs and tail-whips. But it was Tabrons 540 which had the crowed screaming – it was huge, around 10 -12ft huge. Feck.
Then Hoffman and Tabron signaled to each other and they both dropped into the ramp. The first wall they both did simple 8 foot airs, the second wall saw Hoffman go over Tabron and then the third wall Tabron 540’d a good 10ft over the top of Hoffman’s own 5ft 540. Jaw dropping stuff.
Mini-Ramp Final
Just as I thought it couldn’t get any better, we settled down for the Mini-Ramp final. Because of the rain, went on into the night, so it was spot-lit. Which only added to the drama. Mark Webb dominated, pulling tricks that you wouldn’t believe – his final run can be seen at the BMX Masters website (
www.bmxmasters.com) in the downloads section…but that doesn’t come close to the final trick section, which is where we saw some of the most aggressive riding ever. Highlights included one lad pulled a Fufanu on the back rail of the mini – 7 foot back and four foot up. And Mark Webb then pulled a string of 6 (!) flairs with the last one coming off a fecking bunny hop!!! The old trooper Dave Osato was there, rad as always with the crowd chanting him back on the ramp after his run. It was awesome.
You’ve really got to wait to see the TV coverage of this final. No pic could do it justice.
SUNDAY – THE RADNESS CONTINUES
Sunday saw the Pro-Street and Pro-Vert finals. We set up base at the Vert Ramp to catch more of Saturdays madness and we weren’t disappointed. Tabron and Hoffman put in some awesome runs, I caught a couple on my camera movie mode:
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Didn’t take many pics, as I just didn’t want to be behind the camera – like Sunday, the level of riding was stunning. And my opinion of Simon Tabron went right up with him pumping up each and every rider to pull their final tricks…plus he was the first one on the ramp after each fall helping people up. Top bloke.
We then had the awards ceremony and saw Paul crowned EUROPEAN BMX MASTERS CHAMPION – AMATUER VERT!
Results can be found at
www.bmxmasters.com In all, a fecking excellent weekend of BMX. If you can make it, get your butt over there next year – you won’t regret it!
More pics a nice surprise to follow later!
Dave
