FATBMX Your Online BMX News Resource Since 1998

FATBMX 2012 REVIEW: DIRT NIGHT SESSION HEUSDEN. It gets dark early in the fall/winter over in the Netherlands. At 5pm it's too dark to see a thing. If you work till 17:00hrs that means you're stuck or you must have an indoor place near you where you can ride after work. Trail riders usually aren't that lucky because let's be honest, there aren't many dirt spots that have enough lights to ride at night. It was time for an experiment. How many lights would you need to make a dirt spot bright enough so you can ride?

Dimitris Araouzos took on the challenge and rented an generator for his trails in Heusden. He bought some lights and called all his friends to bring the big beamers. We showed up a little early to get at least some attempts in to make it through the pack at daylight. When it got nearly dark the lights were tested. It was obvious that more lights were needed. The run up was still pitch dark and if you weren't a local, you had a serious problem. But the trails in Heusden looked like they had received a Christmas decoration.

FATBMX 2012 REVIEW: ROCK 'N ROLL JAM BLOEMENDAAL. The Dutch BMX scene is a good one. It seems like there are jams happening a few times each month. Nothing too major, but all kind of indoor park and dirt events take place on the regular. This time however, the BMX crew gathered at the Beach! The Rock 'n Roll jam was set for Bloemendaal and that's where we went. It takes some balls to organise something at the beach in The Netherlands. This is no SoCal, so picking a sunny day in June is like playing roulette. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. I always say that you get what you deserve so the sun came out and Mark Vos took his shirt off, and he wasn't the only one this time.

The location was perfect. The ramps were practically set up on the beach in the front yard of a beach house. The beers started flowing early and the scene was just too good to be true. If all comps would have a set-up like this, a lot of riders would become beach bums. The ramps and riding surface weren't all too great, but the girls in bikinis made up for it.

FATBMX 2012 REVIEW: BEN HENNON's OUR HOUSE JAM, HASTINGS. To be honest I didn't see this one coming. Ben Hennon was organising a contest. Cool. I like it when riders are giving back, or getting themselves into doing something for fellow riders. In fact, Hennon is a good guy for this. He understands fun, knows what riders want, and already has the power to tell people what they need to do. With the help of Seventies, Vans and Monster Energy "Our House" was turned into an event site. "Our House" is basically a ramp warehouse put up by the Seventies crew over in Hastings. If gives their riders a spot to ride, and since it's indoors, the riding can take place 24/7. This day, it was the place for Hennon's first comp.

On Friday morning I left home early to drive to Cologne. Achim Kujawski and Kay Clauberg were already loading up Andy Zeiss' van. While packing up it felt like 1994 all over again. On the road to Hastings for a BMX event. So cool. We took the tunnel to get to England from France, something I hadn't done