Helm Trails Jam 2014. Let the good times roll! By BdJ

May 25, 2014

Written by Bart de Jong

Read 5254 times

Months and months of digging is what it took for the locals to get the Helm Trails in shape for the annual gathering in Helmond. Instead of an "official" Open Dutch Dirt Championship, this year it was decided to just have a jam. Even less pressure, and more fun. The trails had been improved in many places with no more straight line sets of doubles. The "Middle Line" now is like a smaller version of the rollercoaster and gave enough people problems to make it through till the end. The day wasn't actually about doing tricks, it was more

about making it through a line at the end of the day. And if you're a trail boss, the big rollercoaster was a challenge for you as well. Master shaper Dimitris Araouzos had promised a free beer to those who would make it through the new rollercoaster line. He got it covered with a 6-pack.

The week(end) before the jam the weather was ugly. Those who were in Papendal can attest. The Helm Trails didn't look too good at that point with puddles everywhere and some jumps needed to be finished before the weekend. But then the weather turned around on Thursday and gradually got better towards May 18th. We heard complaints it was "too hot" and people were grabbing for some sun lotion. The jumps needed to be watered during the day to keep the dust away but free drinks were there for the riders and some BBQ's got fired up towards the end of the day.

The turnout wasn't too crazy so everyone got to ride without having to wait in line for too long. It was good to see Kenneth Tancre, Mike Hendrick and the Dirt E19 trails crew show up from Belgium. The Amsterdam crew made it over as well fashionably late but took the challenge to make it through the Middle line coaster. Sem Kok arrived on Saturday out of Amerika and was the last one to leave. Tom van den Bogaard pedaled the two kilometers to the trails to ride with Arjan Ellens who had come over from Friesland. Trails riders Dennis Keunen, Bart Oliekan, Dani vd Maat, Tom Selbeck, Bart Mol and Rens Apperlo rode all day and chilled at the moments they needed a break. Also the local scene is very strong these days and many of them showed up to see the Helm trails in use.

"Today was a good day!" is a

song that could be played on the way back home. It was a day of BMX in pure form: Challenges, friendships, good times, music, drinks, trail maintenance, BBQ, more riding, sharing advice, jokes, crashes. More events like this one please.

BdJ