After last year's success we were hoping to make it back to Guadalajara for the second edition of Red Bull's Dirt Conquers event. From start to finish the contest was a blast so it wasn’t hard spending 25 hours on the road to get there because we knew it was going to be good again. For those getting jealous of our trips (we're lucky, don't get me wrong) I'll fill you in on a bit of the travel experience. The alarm clock went off at 04:55am. For everyone that's early. After putting some clothes on, getting a quick wash, some early breakfast and going through the checklist, it was off to the train station to catch the 06:06hr train with Paul to Schiphol. With no direct trains to the airport after Eindhoven we opted to skip the bus trip from Boxtel to Den Bosch and went the b-route via Breda and Rotterdam. Total time to get to Amsterdam airport was 2:20hr. We met up with Daniel Wedemeijer at check-in and had no time to chill. Waiting in line took a bit, we dropped our bags and got back in line at passport control. I'm not sure about you, but I hate waiting in lines and I always pick the wrong ones too. It was off to the gate directly and back in line for the security check before we hopped on the plane. We'd been up for 5 hours before we finally took off for an 11 hour flight.
Sitting in the "back of the bus" isn't very comfortable. Since our tickets were booked separately we didn't even get to sit together. Yes, the plane was full and we did check on it. We flew through Houston to get to Mexico. If there's one advice I can give the United States Of 'Merica it's getting more people to work at customs. Friendly persons preferably. Every time you make it to the USA, you waste loads of time waiting in line to get in the country, it sucks.
Luckily we had plenty of time to catch our next flight and the line for the security check wasn't too crazy. We actually met up with Tobias Wicke and Andy Zeiss at the airport and decided to get some food at Ruby's (and a few beers). By the time we had to catch the next flight it was past midnight for us. Andy Zeiss was going a different direction but we ran into Ben Hennon, Tyler Fernengel, Kriss Kyle, Dennis Enarson, Ryan Navazio, Bas Keep, and Gary Young at the gate for Guadalajara. Ryan Nyquist showed up too but had a flight with a later departure time. 
It was a small plane this time and full of BMX-ers. It made it kind of special to get to Mexico that way. On arrival all luggage made it. We got picked up by two van's and were on our way to the "Red Bull - Hotel". 2 minutes on the road and we got stopped by de Federali police slowing down our trip to the hotel with a couple more minutes. Why we got stopped remains a mystery but by this time we were awake for over 24 hours and things became a blur. It was good to see the familiar faces on arrival at the hotel though so the start of the trip was soon forgotten. 
Now you don't get to see the things going on around an event too often. The videos , press releases and reports usually don't focus on that. But the Mexican Red Bull crew made sure everyone was happy. The next morning we had breakfast till 9am and left for the venue at 09:30am with a couple of vehicles. Everyone was curious what the Dave King Dirtsculpt crew had come up with this time. They didn't let anyone down. It was practice time till 13:00hr. followed by a "Mexican Fiesta" at the Tequila restaurant. Those who have any form of social media set up will remember a photo or two from that one. Saturday's practice didn't start until late in the afternoon. We had some time to kill and asked Alex Vasquez if he could show us around the city a bit. We got to see more than the hotel, the airport and the city this time. Thanks Alex! It was hot in Guadalajara and the practice session in the heat wasn't pleasant.
Riding the course was fun though so the riders were given some extra practice time. Everything was chill. With no evening program and the contest on the schedule for the next day a lot of the riders called it a night early. Smart choice. Sunday was the big day. Entering the venue in the vehicles felt a bit strange as "the fans" were looking at the cars to try to see a glimpse of a famous rider's face. We got escorted in and out of the park by a quad, leading the way. The federali's were present wearing full uniforms, a bullet proof vest, and a big gun in case someone didn't behave according to their law. At no point it felt unsafe being there.
After some "warm up", the event happened. The bleachers were full of people and the Mexican wave with 15.000 people did a few rounds. The contest could start. The field of 29 was brought down to 27 after two riders injured themselves in practice. Sergio Layos was out with a broken bone and our Colombian friend lost some serious skin on a front flip that went wrong. The qualification rounds were finished in no-time. The finals finished soon after. It was an action packed program with a strict schedule to stick to. It was filmed live so there was little time for "freestylin'" as far as extra time was concerned. Kevin Peraza got injured last year before the contest started. This year he was ultra motivated to do well. Staying on the bike was important as the soil was grippy and hard. The dirt was turned into rough concrete by the Dirtsculpt crew and it was no joke crashing on it. Kevin took some risks but pulled his tricks when it mattered for the win.
Daniel Sandoval was ripping and looking good with tricks all over the place but one nasty hang-up crash in the bowl cost him the win. He still got 2nd though. 3rd was for Canadian Drew Bezanson who was stoked on the result. After the comp it was back to the hotel. Ready to pack the bags for the 04:45hr airport shuttle pick-up. The plan was not to go to the after party, but sometimes things don't go as planned. The afterparty rocked with an open bar and plenty of Tequila shots all night. Every now and then we had to check the watch so we would make it back to the hotel in time to catch the early airport shuttle. With one hour of sleep in the bag the alarm clock went off. Time to get up and catch that ride to Guadalajara airport. On the way back we had an extra layover. After Houston we went to Chicago and then to Amsterdam. This time we decided to take the train back home via Den Bosch, which meant that after 25 hours on the road
we had to get out of the train, did a part of the trip by bus, hopped back on the train again in Boxtel, changed trains in Eindhoven and finally walked the ten minutes home from Helmond Brandevoort. To get where you want to go isn't always easy, but it's worth it in the end.
BdJ
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.