FATBMX Your Online BMX News Resource Since 1998

It's been almost 2 months since I've been in Peru. It has literally been a long and dangerous road. My time has been spent in highs of the mountains in Cusco and Macchu Picchu, all the way through spiral roads into valleys all the way to the desert coast of Peru. New adventures and wild rides are what this country is all about, the highs and lows are all around you, from the rich to the poor, from the desert to the jungle, it truly is a country of extremes. My time has been varied between many different sports, sailing off the coast of Lima to an island called Fronton (old prison), playing tennis, swimming, horse back riding and of course riding Flatland with the locals. 

Last year we visited the [url=//fatbmx.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=192] etnies skatepark in Lake Forest[/url] and were denied access so all we could do is take pictures from behind the fence. One year later we gave it another try hoping that the rules had changed. I parked the Subaru Outback in a spot and walked by the cop car on my way to the entrance with the Canon in hand. My question was simple: "Can I take some pictures?"  as I wanted to walk into the park. This innocent approach usually works but not at the etnies park.

On Cali trips I usually trip to stop by Hidden Valley in Huntington Beach. I've ran into miniature razor riders there, mountain bikers, BMX-ers and plowed trails. This time I parked the car behind the grocery store on Beach Blvd. and made the walk down only to find one rider who was filming himself with a helmet camera. After checking the current trail situation and snapping a few shots, I drove off to Sheep Hills to see if Thursday afternoon was more popular there. Consider that a negative so I headed back to Beach and Adams to check it out one more time. I had more luck this time.

Around 10 riders were making it through the pack. I stayed low profile and snapped away. POW Jay Lonargan was there too and so was Sean (who did recognize me and said he was a FATBMX regular so this one's for you Sean! good to see you again). Ben Snowden had a posse there including Sean Logan, his girlfriend and some photographer. Some other guy was filming so you get the idea, Hidden Valley is still happening. 

If you live in the Le Havre area in France you're stoked. The biggest outdoor skatepark of France is being built in this city that is situated 200 kilometers West of Paris. That's good news for the British riders too as it's not too far for them to cross the channel in the rubber boat. If you can, lend a helping hand and show your support. The park will definitely put Le Havre on the BMX/sk8 map. With these kind of parks popping up, we can only say that the future is bright. 

January 2006. Starting the year on a high, GBH Ramps has just completed works on two parks in Beddau and Gelligaled. Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council has been committed to providing exceptional skate facilities for the youth in their area and through a tender process selected GBH Engineering as the choice company to design and construct their two new skateparks. 

Jeffrey Bignell is a former BMX rider who won a title or two. After his BMX "career"' he got into freestyle skiing. He made it to the Dutch team, won a few titles left and right but felt like he needed some more facilities to practice. One way to do this is to go lake jumping. But you need a ramp for that. Telling from the photo, the ramp is in the works. The location is De IJzeren Man in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. With Jeffrey's BMX background it is good to hear that BMX bikes can use the ramp as well. Two other lines are reserved for snowboarders and freestyle skiers.

A heated indoor dirt spot at this time of the year is a dream for most dirt jumpers out there. Last weekend a pre-opening took place at the AbFlug Halle in Grevenbroich, Germany. Yup there are dirt jumps inside and pretty damn good ones. Benny Paulsen (one of the Red Bull Backyard diggers and co-builder of the Masters jumps) and friends got to work at the 1800 square meter Dirt-Halle. The 70 meter by 25 meter hall has 2 Big lines, 2 medium lines, 1 small line and 1 XS line. The roof is 14 meters high so Vic Murphy and Timo Pritzel are welcome too.

Thanks to DC's Rob Dyrdek, skate plaza's have gained in popularity. Here's a new one located on Marton Road, Middlesbrough, England. Lots of work went into this but the skate and BMX community have a place to go now other than the mall. The opening hours are: 9.00am-9.00pm, this will be subject to Enviromental health with regards to the lighting. Weekdays will be staffed by Andy: 4.00pm-9.00pm and weekends will be staffed by Alex 9.00am-9.00pm.

JOPLIN, MO. USA - The newly constructed Autumn Ramp Park will be opening its doors to the public in April 2006. 

Autumn Ramp Park is located in a brand new 20,000 square foot building within the Bridge Youth Center Complex next to John Q. Hammons Convention Center off Interstate 44.

The distinctive ramp park was designed and constructed by Nate Wessel and his experienced crew of builders with some assistance from Jud Heald of Untitled Skateboards, and American Ramp Company out of Joplin.  Surfaced in Skatelite, Autumn Ramp Park features an assortment of interconnected bowls and ramps ranging is sizes from 4  to 11 feet deep to keep both skaters and bikers happy. The park also features a multi-level, flowing street section with stairs, bowl corners, handrails and ledges, hips, wedges and plenty of gaps and transfers.