FAT FRIDAY. You know the drill by now, but did you know you can subscribe to this newsletter and receive it in your mailbox before it goes online? Just check that left column and go to the bottom. Then get hooked up with the FATBMX mailing list. Don't worry, we're not selling this list to some viagra company, we "detesse le spam" as well. We're keeping it for ourselves so we can send you a weekly BMX news update, that's all. Here's this week's FAT Friday just so you know you didn't miss out on anything. Ready?

Taj Mihelich posted a tweet this week and announced that Giant was going to stop paying him in January. With no other paying sponsors for Taj, he's facing getting a job to pay the bills. His resume looks someting like this: juicebar employee 1994-1995. Bike bum 1995-present. That's it! Uh oh.....

It's the same for a lot of people who have lived the BMX pro life for a while. But they've seen the world before retiring at 65 from a normal job. The travel and the good times can't be taken away.

If you only hit one post this week, make it this one. It tells you a little about what happened in the BMX world and as usual it was quite a bit. Halloween jams, new reality shows, the remaining 2009 BMX events, links to the FAT Favourite lists, the results of the comps, race results, a photo of Frankse at work, BMX insurance, Mirra's comp, and most importantly the MX season has started. Go check, check check.

We're calling it the latest BMX news but when we talk about Bicycle Motocross from the 1950-s it's not quite hot. Or is it? This week we've been trying to get our point across that there was Bicycle Motocross in The Netherlands in 1958. Not only did we back that up with pictures, but this week we posted a video clip of people actually racing their bicycles on a motocross style track in Amersfoort, NL. If you still think that Bicycle Motocross racing started in the USA than we've got a different opinion. For Americans this one is hard to swallow but unless a Bicycle Motocross clip shows up from before 

The BMX steamtrain is unstoppable. It goes on and on. The first chill week has yet to arrive. Maybe it's coming soon as the weather is taking a change for the worse but it doesn't really look like it. Here's what happened in the last week or so:

-The Dew Tour is at its last stop in Orlando, Florida this weekend. Looks like Jamie Bestwick is going to walk away with another win which would be his 5th in a row. If he wins Florida, he won all stops

Not everyone knows that FATBMX is based in The Netherlands. Although most of our visitors come from the USA, we don't always have access to the latest and greatest that comes out of the USA. We do have lots of contributors that fill us in and we do make trips over to Eastcoast Cali (inside joke) from time to time. We have landed in Salt Lake City for the thrid stop of the 2009 Dew Tour series and this FAT Friday we'll fill you in on the latest news that we picked up on the first day in Salt Lake.

Today marks September 11th, a date that went into the history books because of what happened in NY in 2001. I remember driving to Geldrop to pick up a part for my MX bike when I heard it on the news. As soon as I got back home I turned on the TV and was stunned by what happened. This is 8 years ago already and if you let me, I'll continue with some bad news. All round good buddy Peter Fastenroth crashed at the trails the other day and smashed his face in. They had to cut his skull and lift his face to insert some titanium plates and screws. Scheisse! Frank's got cancer. Damn. Frans Swinkels had a burst apendix and was operated upon on arrival in Afghanistan on his next mission. Chris Doyle broke his ankle so he's pissed too. A kid on Philip's school died this week because of a tumor. Way too young. Pim van den Bos' face had healed up from his horrific crash in Belgium and now he has broken his ankle while doing "ne meeuw". I'm sure there are plenty of others around that are still suffering from a crash or illness and it plain sucks.

It would be easy to let these weekly summaries fade but we're not going to let that thappen. At least, not yet. Of course it's just easier to check the site on a daily basis, or even better, a couple of times a day as there have been loads of updates. To make a summary of it is almost impossible, and to be honest these FAT Fridays have taken a lot of time to put together, something that is not easy with the weekend coming up and having other stuff that needs to be done. I'm late again with this. It's 21h05 on Friday and I've got a shortage of sleep. Let's see how far I get. 

We're on the road. These things are hard to do when you're not behind your desk all the time. We actually need your help with the FAT FAVs, so fill in the form and get some coverage. After running over a hundred FAT FAVs I'm running short for the upcoming week so if you always wanted to get one of those things yourself and want to be on the FATBMX website, send in 4-5 pics (150Kb max per photo/jpeg/max 700pixels high or wide) of yourself together with the following list and we'll get you some coverage. Thanks in advance.

If this hasn't changed yet and looks like this I have not managed to get online before this post automatically goes online. There's a deadline to the FAT Friday each week but if you have to travel that day and don't know if you'll be able to score a wireless signal, you'll just have to deal with it. But for the most part the FAT Friday is done. And starts here:

It took a while to get back to normal and in fact, I'm still tired but it was all worth it. The World's in Cologne were a good time. Camp Holland was in effect and meeting up with everyone was just great. Making it from one side to the other side of the contest area wasn't a quick walk through the park. It took half an hour at least. The riding was off the hook as well. Jamie Bestwick on vert. It doesn't get any better than that. The first jump on dirt was 9 meters long but that didn't hold Anthony Napolitan back doing no-handed fronties on it and flip double whips on the last set. The level keeps on getting higher. On Mini the big surprise was this 14 year DK kid called Maddog. So good. He sees a trick, puts his brains to work, and then pulls it. Flair barspin for instance, pulled in his final run. Ondra Slez did one before him. Dhers won though. A bit of drama went on in Pro flat apparently but with a bit of a D-tour Raphael Chiquet took the pro title. Pro Park never happened which was a shame because over 100 pros had lined up for it. Highlight of the event for me personally was the 1986 flashback HARO Demo with the original crew. So good.

We're only a week away from the 2009 IBMXFF World Championships in Cologne. It's time to show some national pride. Barbero will let his pants sag a little extra to show his Italian underwear and so will the Brits. The Aussies have a big posse of kangaroos coming over and the French will bring some wine and bread. The Dutch of course will turn the grandstands orange and will bring the noise with their custom made wooden clogs. People will be camping out and fun is about to be had. Results are secondary but then in the end, it's "The WORLD's". Who knows where BMX Freestyle will go in the future and claiming a "Pro World Title" always looks good on your resume when you looking for sponsors. We will probably not pull off a FAT Friday from Cologne, but a few updates from Germany you can expect. We're glad to announce that you can view it live here on FATBMX too so if you can't make it, you will be able to see the comp online .

It's Friday afternoon and it's hot like hell. I don't want to be here but until I finish this up I can't leave this spot. The action this weekend takes place in Chicago at the first stop of the Dew Tour. It's BMX-only so only stuff we really care about. The Open Qualifiers in Dirt and Park were held yesterday. There was some rain but they finished up the qualification rounds. Main and Webb both made it in Park so they're riding again in a little bit to see what it's like to be at "the real Dew Tour". The level has been raised already with superman frontflips so stay posted for updates from Chicago here on FATBMX over the weekend. But there is more than the Dew this week:

Is it just me or is everyone looking forward to the IBMXFF World Championships in Cologne? The Dutch are packing their orange shit already and the red, white and blue flags to cheer for those who have registered to ride the comp. Let me check the website to see who are all going to ride: Bart Mol, Barry Kohne, Channon Balorian, Leroy Kleppe, Pim van den Bos, Daniel Wedemeijer, Nicky van der Veen, Bas Brouwer and Mark Vos. That sounds like 9 gold medals for Holland right there! Maybe that's impossible but team Holland will be present, and in a big way. 300 participants are expected from 40 different nations so if you feel like representing your country, pack that flag and some hometown beer and head over to Cologne next month (10-12 July). Hup Holland Hup!

-The 2012 UCI BMX racing world championships will be held in Birmingham, England. That's in the Olympic year so big news for the UK.

-Let's hand this over to DJ for some Brit BMX Freestyle news.

When we launched FAT Friday a long time ago we knew we would be into trouble at some point getting the news together in one post/mail to send out to the BMX community. As soon as you put a day to a name, you're stuck. After FAT Friday was born, also "FLAT Friday" showed up with flatland news on Global Flat site and the folks over at Terrible One started "Freaky Friday". Being stuck to one update a week isn't so bad but the pressure is already on to get it finished in time. I sometimes use the time difference as an excuse. I could work till midnight and it would still be only 3pm in California. On the other hand, the Aussies usually get the FAT Friday on Saturday as they are way ahead over there. They get the Friday Pin Up in time though...

It has been another busy week. For some reason things just continue and before you notice, the year is gone. Last weekend was a good one. Spent it in Belgium at the Vans Let It Ride event. I love Belgium. If you think anything goes in Holland, go to Belgium,

One thing that keeps us motivated is the numbers. The number of unique visitors, the amount of bandwidth we use up per month, number of hits, etc. It does take some effort to get things online on a daily basis. For some it is way too much to handle, others can't get enough. The thing is, you can pick the articles you like and read those and skip the rest. If you like to stay in touch with BMX just a little bit, these FAT Fridays are the right thing for you as it's a summary of the weekly news and has the results, most important news updates and it has got the upcoming events in it. But before we go into that we'd like you to know that May of 2009 was our best month ever. The statistics showed records in all categories; Unique visitors, Number of Visits, Pages, Hits and Bandwidth. After over 10 years online that's

It's hard to keep up with everything when you're on the road but if you don't get out there, you're missing out on the good stuff too. The comp in Montpellier was another good one simply because the crowd was so awesome. The riders gave it a little extra, the sun was there all weekend so it was hard not to like it. Even the parties turned out decent this year. After the FISE it was off to Paris for a couple of days of shooting pictures with the Mirraco crew. Good times for sure. Thomas showed us amazing spots and just cruising down the city was amazing. We'll get something up on the site next week to give you a bit of an impression of the time spent in Paris. Now it's back at home typing up this news report on a Saturday (missed Friday, sorry guys). It just seems from now on it's non-stop through the summer, something we did not expect with the recession going on. Who cares though. The bike, a bottle of water, the ipod and a riding spot will get us through the day. Here's some BMX news for you:

Welcome to the FAT Friday. In case you did not know, you can subscribe to these weekly BMX News reports so you get them in your mailbox before they are posted online. Feel the power. What went on this week? Well, a lot of events of which we have listed the results in this week's edition. Also, Robin Fenlon sent me a link of my "Legends" list for RIDE UK . It was hard to bring it down to five because there are so many of you I do and have looked up to.

Sometimes time passes by so quick that it's Friday again and you don't know where the week has gone. You sit down and wonder what happened this week. When you start to sum it up, it's actually quite a bunch. That's where the FAT Friday comes in. Just a summary of the news that happened on the site plus news that never made it to a post. If you want to contribute to the FAT Friday, make sure you send in your news by Thursday evening every week. 

The way I got into BMX was by imitating motocross. We took a bicycle, built some motocross like tracks and made the noise ourselves. Still fascinated by the sport I visited the Grand Prix of the Benelux last weekend to watch the best pro riders scoring points for that world championship title at the end of the year. Check a few of my pics by going here. This weekend it's back to the BMX bike for the Helm Jam on Sunday. Come on out and do some MX table, whips and don't forget to bring the braapp! noise. Here's the BMX news of this week:

This weekend is going to be a Motocross weekend. The Grand Prix circus is in town for the 4th GP of the season. Always good to catch up with some people in that business and seeing the best riders battle it out on the Valkenswaard track is awesome. The relation with BMX is bigger than people think. Current MX2 leader Gautier Paulin (France) is a former BMX racer and lots more MX riders still ride BMX. Through the Mirraco mail I received an e-mail from Ben Townley (NZL) a few weeks ago who was looking for a bike to hit up his newly built six-pack in his backyard. I'm sure former BMX riders Eric Minozzi will be there, Pieter Does, Karim Amour to name just a few. Looking forward to it.

But we're here to bring you this week's BMX news so buckle up.

-We announced last week that Tony D had left Haro Bikes. We can tell you now where he has landed a new job, or better, we let him tell it:

Here's a challenge for you. Go read the full FAT Friday of today. Are lengthy updates really appreciated? or are you here to look at the photos and the latest web clips? In the news you will find a link to the latest Harry Main web video so at least you have to look for that one. I'm off to Germany tomorrow for the Dirt Session and then on Monday I'm meeting with someone from the KNWU to see what their vision on Freestyle is. It's probably way off but it never hurts to talk. Last night we had a meeting about the Helm Trails jam which is

It was off to a slow start this week. The Mini FAT-JAM had taken its toll and both Monday and Tuesday were spent on the road. I've been playing catch up all week to get things off the list and I'm not done yet. The FAT Friday is always a big one to get off my chest but I get good feedback from people who appreciate getting the news in their mailbox so we're not giving up anytime soon. Neither are we giving up on the FAT Favorites. One every day for the rest of the year. This week we had the following riders:

Sorry about the massive Mini FAT-JAM promotion this week but we've got to compete with 7 other BMX events this year that are taking place at the same weekend. It seems difficult to look at the FATBMX Event calendar to come up with a date that is still free. Whatever, better 8 events on one day, than no happenings at all. The FAT-JAM and the skatepark opening in Jena, Germany are the only events that are taking place outdoors and yes, the sun has shown its face. Let's get this outdoor season going! Here's the BMX news of this week. Be up to date when you meet with the boys this weekend.

The FAT Friday skipped a week last week but for good reason. We had made it to Woodward West for the first time in our life and instead of spending 5 hours on the computer, we spend 5 hours riding the amazing place. The whole USA trip kept me busy but it turned out really good. Here's the trip in short; After 11 hours on the plane it was straight to dinner with Sunex in Long Beach. After dinner I managed to find the De Wilde's in Foothill Ranch and chatted the night away. Next day was a short visit to a unique Mercedes restauration place that Mariella works at. Then on to my friends at Mirraco for most of the day to see what's new. After that a quick trip to Snafu in Temecula where I had a few with McGoo, Bill and some friends at a car show. Checked out the car show in the morning and then drove over to Lonnie Paxton 's in Riverside. The jam was in full swing and didn't end till late in the night. I believe I was chillin'in the hot tub at 3:30am with a drink in hand. Spent the night in the car but with the state I was in that didn't matter.