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I wasn't sure if that was going to happen.

We drove over to Arnhem pretty early to make sure we were on time and with all the BMX-ers there, we could meet up with them before the show. Over at Paul's Boutique a lot of people had mentioned they were going to the Nitro Circus Live show so it was going to be massive. We checked Paul and Carry in at their hotel and cruised over to the Gelredome. The "Media-trick" didn't work well at the parking spot so we paid the €13 Euros and parked our car in London. It was nearly dinner time so we went to the McDonald's in the parking lot just like everyone else did it seemed like. But inside it was warm so we chilled there for a bit and then made contact with Big Island who came over with a friend and Chad Kagy. We caught up for a bit and Philip already scored his first autograph. Chad Kagy was happy to sign his white shirt.

All dads out there know how it feels to stoke your kid and this was going to be Philip's night. We had 4 regular tickets to the show so at least we would be able to see the craziness from the stands. The media counter wasn't open yet so we went to the big white beer tent where indeed we found the entire Aarle-Rixtel crew getting warmed up.

Back at the media entrance Philip kept pulling my arm as he had spotted Aaron Fotheringham in his wheelchair chatting outside. Aaron signed his shirt and we took a photo with him. They had some weird regulations for the media for taking pictures where they would guide you to a certain spot where you could shoot your pics from. Obviously we wouldn't be able to go there with the four of us so we opted to use our seats instead. That's when Der Kaiser showed up with four backstage wristbands. Boom! 2 minutes later we caught up with some more riders and Philip's shirt was starting to look better and better. Then TP199 showed up and gave Philip a high-5 AND signed his shirt. We could have gone home right there and it would have been a great night.

We had not even seen the ramps yet so we decided to peek in and it was massive. Vitesse is the soccer team that plays in the Gelredome but the football field was covered with ramps for the night. The roll-in and the gaps were huge. This was going to be good. The stadium had not filled up yet which was kind of strange because word got out that it was sold out. Turned out that loads of people were stuck in traffic trying to get to the show so the kick-off got delayed by 30 minutes or so. We had found our seats and couldn't wait.

For those in England who have not seen the show yet but will in the next few days, you have the chance to stop reading this. I don't want to give away too much, but so many cool things happened that I'm going to continue typing away. First off the start of the show was amazing. Travis Pastrana took a giant match and set off the bomb. A big light show with fireworks followed, one where you would say; WOW! Some of the riders were introduced via the many bigscreens around the stadium and then they showed up in the arena. It was showtime!

The BMX riders present were Chad Kagy, James Foster, Ben Wallace, Zack Warden, Andrew Ahumada, Matt Whyatt, Special Greg and Andy Buckworth. Zack Warden and Ben Wallace were brought in because Jaie Toohey snapped his leg in the first show (the video they showed was painful to watch, get well Jaie!) and Andy Buckworth was sitting out the show because he had compressed his spine and was real sick for a while but is starting to look better and better hoping he can be part of the England shows. 12 FMX riders were brought in plus a whole bunch of other people doing tricks on ski's, scooters, big wheels, MTB's etc.

It soon became clear that this was an action packed show where you did not have a minute to go to the toilet to take a leak. The pace was fast and the tricks were gnarly. Doing these shows every other day must be tough for everyone involved. Try spinning a triple backflip (James Foster), a no-handed double backflip (Chad Kagy) or a flipwhip to late 360 (Matt Whyatt) every other night. Much respect to all the dudes in the show riding their asses off. And of course there were stunts, big stunts, like rolling down the giganta ramp in a cooler, or on a boogie board heading for a 12 meter gap. Or try to roll down that hill on a Dutch bike and flip it.

After a 25 minute break the pace was stepped up even more and the crowd just ate it up. By this time everyone had made it in, which made this stop in Arnhem the biggest crowd that the Nitro Circus has ever performed for. Not everything was pulled but there was no time to let that sink in, the pace was that high. The USA vs. Holland team competition was great too, especially because "we" won. It's the moment where Chad Kagy gets boo-d by the whole crowd for telling bad things about the hosting country in the microphone. Chad is on the USA team and hasn't won once. But it's all in good spirits and part of the show, which never gets geeky because what they do is nuts.

You are catching my feelings about the show hopefully. It was amazing. Now imagine how Philip felt. After the show we got to go backstage again where he collected even more autographs of the riders and slapped another high-5 with Travis Pastrana. The night of his life!

Thanks to all who made this happen. See you again next year.

BdJ