se7en

[bmxer4ever]

Old Fools Seven - the 999 edition....

Phew - finally finding time to write this one up!

Thursday 17th September....

Get to Glasgow Airport nice and early, baggage and bike box checked in, chilled out in the sun waiting on my flight. Weather looking great for the trip ahead...

All those silver bollards have been put in since John Smeaton had to interrupt his fag break to kick fukc out of a burning numpty, which happened just to far right of this pic!

Mmmmm... fun lookin' plane! Nice propellers!


Always reassuring when you see your bike box goin' on board!


And we're off!

 
M74 south to England.....for once I'm off to Old Fools and I'm not ON it!


Steve picked me up from the Exeter airport, stopped off in Tavistock for supplies, then headed to his place...








Not your average bike shop...










Met all Steve's family - great lot! - Mikie Richardson came 'round and me, Mikie and Steve and his good lady all went down to his local for dinner and I was introduced to what would become my staple diet for the next few days - Rattler Cider!

Sunset over Cornwall...


Me, Mikie and Steve ended up fairly rattled and ended up talkin' bmx 'til the wee hours, sitting outside the front of the shop!

G

[bmxer4ever]

Friday 18th September

Green Machine



James & Dean






Hungover Wilson...


G

[bmxer4ever]

Friday 18th September

After we'd all hung around Green Machine, drank coffee made by a very lovely coffee maiden, looked at all the crazy stuff in there, sat in the chair and signed the floor (!), we loaded up the motors and headed to Decoy.

Decoy Skatepark

What a great lookin' place!








Tried this several times, but I think the location freaked me out!   (Pic courtesy Oli Ward)






Nice pic Oli!






My favourite pic of the trip! LoL!


The Cripple Club!


Wish all local skateparks were built this way....


Darling Nikki....wish all local Council Workers were built this way!


See Paul Fosters video on YouTube for what went down at Decoy!

/>
G

[bmxer4ever]

Friday 18th September

Decoy Trails







Big 360s....




Jay gettin' dialled into the big stuff.














Northern John settin' up some pics...


Jay gets one in the bag!


G

[bmxer4ever]

My computer is absolutely dying on me - has been all week, sooo slooowww!

It's constantly on the verge of crashing, so I'm having to do this bit by bit!

Enough for tonight, but tune in tomorrow for the next intstallment of

Old Fools Se7en - 999 Edition!


G

[billstup]

Thanks Gary 

[generallee]

Awesome Gary - more more more!

[SaMAlex]

It looks like you had a great time at Green Machine 

[generallee]

yeah you know it baby...
she was smokin hot!
She is in the latest issue of one of the BMX Racing mags - cant remember which - in an advert... Brian and Matt showed me - she is in the Green Machine workshop,  wearing a work apron, high heels , and not much else -
amazing!

[bmxer4ever]

Friday 18th September

Had a blast at Decoy - one thing I promised myself on this trip was that I wouldn't hang about all nervous and not do any proper riding.
Me and Aileen had talked about it - how disappointed in myself I'd been on my previous two Old Fools - so I was determined to get stuck in this time around.
Think I rode more  - and crashed more! (Probably the hangover from the Rattler the night before, and Steve's little 'un givin' me the 5am alarm call!! Heehee!) - at Decoy than the previous two trips put together!
 
Just as well, 'cos I had no idea what state I was gonna end up in on the rest of this one....

We lost Alex at Decoy - I didn't see him crash, but heard he'd had a bad one and wrecked his wrist - hospital trip, x-rays, the lot!
Man Down, Man Down!
Hope your healin' well dude.

We were due to head to Saltash skatepark next, but we had ran late at Decoy and headed straight for "The Track" instead....



Rockstars en route...


Roadtrip!


The Track






Boris & Joe say Hi!


James Hitchcox, Jay Openshaw & Northern John (I think!) decided to have a wee race...Riders Ready...Pedals Ready...!


GO!!!


Hitchcox is not only an awesome freestyler, he's a bloody good racer too! Holeshot! Told us he done a few races before, 2 brakes, 4 pegs and upset all the serious racers by being too quick! Haha!


Great Resi / Foampit area....this is where Jay learned flairs!




What a place - you could learn sooo much here.

G

[harris]

top man gary,i wanna go straight back.

[bmxer4ever]

Friday 18th September (Still!)

Once everyone had had a blast, Jay had learned Flairs(!), Northern John had pulled at least 3 smoth 720's and various other madness, the posse saddled up and headed to what was to become our home for the next couple of days,
The Driftwood Spars....

Trevaunance Cove






(Was it one of these boats....? Ahem.)


The 'Spars....




This bit of road was effectively the Spars beer garden! Boy did this see some action...!


Turn left and through this little doorway in the hedge and you arrived at part of the annexe, which I think was completely full of Old Fools!


We even had our own private garden! Brilliant! And beautiful. There was even a wee stream running through it below the hedge....bliss!


I'd left it kinda late to book and ended up with the family room....But what a room! Think I had the plushest pad there! More on this later (!).


G

[bmxer4ever]

FRIDAY NIGHT!!

After gettin' ourselves sorted out with our rooms, everyone headed to the bar...I'd got some Vodka & Red Bull in Tavistock the day before, so had a wee warm up in my room..! More of that later!

I'm glad I did, 'cos me and Mikie were the last to get back from The Track, and the party was in full swing..

That wee dude at the front with the giraffe stuck in his throat was one of the DJ's who were playing next door (apparently!), where we should've been, but everyone was in a talkin' mood, so we left them to it!

John was havin' fun...



James had a twinkle in his eye....or is it something on the lens...?!


Steve & Mikie



Jay was on the pull....


"I'm gonna drink everything you see behind me...! Rock On!" Yes Steve....


It's smokin' time, so everyone out fer a fag!

Andy on the pull!

gentlemans relishfish!

Overzealous behaviour...


Hello? Is anyone there...?!


Chris Hardy enjoyin' the local brew...


Jeni Jaeger and John of the North. Jeni was one of the staff enjoying a good laugh at our shenanigans!


Then a bunch of us went back to mine, where it all goes a bit hazy and the Vodka Red Bull was in half pint glasses full of ice (thanks bar staff!), and Jay nearly killed Harry Potter by flinging her about! My clearest memory is of donning my Moto4 and diving over the couch to land in the 4 poster bed for no apparent reason!

'Ere, you're that bloke of the telly, aintcha?! "Yeah, I've had that Cat Deeley, I 'ave!"


Harry Potter


Not what you wanna see when you wake up...


Concentrate now Steve....!



G

[bmxer4ever]

Thanks Gary 

You're welcome Bill!

G

[bmxer4ever]

Saturday 19th September

HANGOVER!


More tomorrow everyone!

G

[generallee]

~Gary, this is the BEST thread I have ever read - keep it coming!!!!!!!

[bmxer4ever]

Went out last night to catch up with Aileen who was on a works night out. Ended up having a good few rounds of Bunnahabhain, to the point of a second bottle having to be opened (apparently!), hence why I have no memory of half the night or how I got home, why I was in the wrong bedroom when I woke up this morning, and my Vans were in 2 different rooms..... It's also why I didn't get around to doing any more of this last night...

Saturday 19th September

Don't think I got to bed before 4am or something like that the night before.
Not in a good way.
Got to breakfast as they were about to stop serving.
Don't think I was entirely sober 'til we got to Camborne...
 
Then I was just hungover. Felt that dizzy i could hardly ride!
Kept lookin' at Steve, lying on the banking, and I could tell he was in the same sorry state that I was!

How Northern John and Jay were able to ride those bowls like they did, I have no idea!
Rob Ridge put on a bit of a show too. Still got it!
Great looking wee place actually, would have a great time riding there, if i'd been able!
Then it was into the cars and off to Newquay.

Wooden Waves





Jay






Beautiful weather the whole day and some great places to ride. I reckon at least half the crew were hungover too!

G

[bmxer4ever]

Saturday 19th September

Newquay

A ride through the town to the beach was organised - sounded like a good way to clear the head!

And they're off....






Obligatory pit stop at a bike shop!




Fistral Beach


There was a surfing comp on while we were there...




This is where Questy caught crabs....










After everyone had finished their pints (!) we all headed back through town to Wooden Waves again





Fistral Bay


Jay decided to nail the flairs he learned at The Track and took 'em to the plywood...






This was his first PULLED Flair! Well done son!


G

[HUTCHMAN]

did you guys go to Hayle at all?

[bmxer4ever]

did you guys go to Hayle at all?

Sorry for the late reply - nightmare weekend.

The group split up a few times, I know some folk went surfing, some folk went to Mount Hawk, but I don't know of anyone going to Hayle.

G

[bmxer4ever]

SATURDAY NIGHT!

After another hungover (still), back seat nausea ride in Steve's car (I really wasn't in a good way!), we got back to the Spars.

I was ready for bed! But plans were afoot, and that just wasn't gonna happen!

Dinner was postponed for an hour or so and everyone headed down the beach for a drink and a wander...


Then back up to our own dining room and a round of i-phone portraits with Northern John. Good chat and a mad moment while we were waiting for our food and Jay O dialled up YouTube on his i-phone through the Spars wi-fi and the two of us watched Paul's video from Decoy that had been posted the night before....

/>.....awesome!.
Everyone drifted outside after dinner, I think at some point there was a birthday cake and then the tray of shot glasses appeared....oh dear.


Oh dear again...concentrate now Captain Wilson.


LiferBmx Team Photo.....

The photoshoot with Tweaker that was going on at this moment was rudely interrupted by the arrival of two police vehicles, not only a car, but a van too, and several members of the team were then interviewed by occifers ov the law about previous goings-on concerning a fella wiv a shootah....!

Needless to say, everyone else carried on drinking....


At some point later, said occifers ov the law released the Lifer boys and the evening rolled on.

At some point Steve ended up wearing a white T-Shirt and everyone in the bar was attacking it with an inkie....


Around that time, the word 'Lock-in' was mentioned and me and my camera beat a hasty retreat. I was treadin' water already, and decided to cut my losses and head for bed.

Next morning at breakfast, Dan Harris told us of the mornings emergency service goings-on that he'd observed, then more hungover Fools arrived with tales from the night before and it turned into a very interesting full English.

Camera was dead, but I'm sure NJ got some stuff on his i-phone, so there should be some pictorial evidence of the state of everyone that morning.
I, fair enough, was hungover, but that was nothing compared to the lock-in crew.
Let me think....
I heard talk of the JaegerBomb Domino, which happened last night. Everyone in the bar got a JaegerBomb. The bar staff lined up 25 glasses of RedBull derivative, 25 upturned halfpint glasses behind them with 25 shots of Jaegermeister on top of 'em. They then somehow tipped one shot glass at one end and it dominoed the rest into their respective RedBulls. Anyone who can corroborate this, please get in touch. I'd love to learn how to do it....!
There was much drinking , much laughter, some 4am swimming and there was a boat involved.

Probably the most entertaining bacon & eggs I've ever had.

To top it all off, there had obviously been some serious inkie action that night as Boris, Joe and Steve all turned up for breakfast with permanent marker Jay Openshaw beardy moustache things!

But pride of the table was Questy, proudly showing off a prize set of inkie c ock & balls on his shaved head. F uckin' priceless.

It all got a bit sentimental after that as we all packed up and prepared to head homewards after such a mental weekend. Grown men hugging, last minute flatland demo's...that kinda thing.

Steve, Boris and Joe got me to the airport in one piece, we got my bike boxed and we said our farewells.

Old Fools Se7en.....Phew - What a Trip.

G

[generallee]

ah Gary, youve summed it up entirely. It was a very emotional farewell, I felt like Id been part of some amazing movie script - I honestly think the story of that weekend would make the most hilarious film - like Dazed and Confused but better!
NJ indeed has pictures - will get em off him and up onto this site asap!
steve

[northern dean]

That was an amazing write up of the trip Gary. Each entry had me gripped wanting to know what i had missed out on. I think that the Old Fools Road Trips are the best thing that has happened in BMX in a long time. Can't wait for the next one .
Dean

[bmxer4ever]

That was an amazing write up of the trip Gary. Each entry had me gripped wanting to know what i had missed out on. I think that the Old Fools Road Trips are the best thing that has happened in BMX in a long time. Can't wait for the next one .
Dean

Thanks mate - I do my best! Computer nearly killed me on this one though - it's knackered and will HAVE to go or get fixed. I can't put up with it anymore, it's so slow...!

G

[bmxer4ever]

Can't believe all this happened only SIX weeks ago! The weather, the riding, girls in bikinis on the beach... SIX WEEKS ago! Bloody hell, what a difference to today!
Can't wait 'til next years one!
OF 9...bloody hell.

 

G