San Diego has a legacy of action sports, but world-class public bike parks? That's new. Witness the creation of the groundbreaking Bradley Bike Park in San Marcos – a rideable masterpiece built against all odds on near-flat ground. Forget standard construction and wood ramps; this is about artistry etched in dirt.
Building the new Fairground at Twisted Oaks Bike Park in Suffolk, UK. This line has gone down better than we could have expected. There's been a queue for most of the time since it opened!
Last summer we built some dirt jumps in the back of the Powers BMX bike shop thanks to some help from Dirt Sculp Dave! We had an awesome fall season riding these jumps and now it's time to get ready for the 2025 season.
For Chase Hawk, having a ramp in his backyard has always been the dream. After years of preparation, that dream is now a reality. Tune in to The Hawks Nest now.
No less than 400,000 euros. That is what it costs to properly renovate the oldest skatepark in Europe, located on the recreational lake Het Hulsbeek in Oldenzaal. A lot of money, as initiators Jos Wissink and Marko Matic know. “It is an investment in youth.” They hope for help from the municipality of Oldenzaal. How much money should it make available? And who else can contribute? With their plan they want to convince the political groups in Oldenzaal to think about the renovation of the old skatepark on the recreational lake Het Hulsbeek. Jos Wissink and Marko Matic do this with dedication. “Skaters from all over the world came to Oldenzaal to use the skatepark at Het Hulsbeek. The job had a kind of international allure, a worldwide status,” says Matic. “There is little left of that at the moment. The park requires a lot of maintenance. It's a kind of patchwork.”
Save the Snakerun: Come and help us on Saturday, June 1! Skate enthusiasts, take note! The oldest skating rink in Europe, the Snakerun on the Hulsbeek in Oldenzaal, is in danger of disappearing. Of course we won't let that happen! That's why we're tackling things on a large scale on Saturday, June 1. Come help! Together we save this unique and monumental skate spot. Put on your old clothes, bring some tools (hammer, stone chisel, chips, trowels, brooms, buckets, etc.) and help us close the holes and make the Snakerun usable again. Materials for filling are made available by the recreation board!
Of course there is also music, drinks and treats for everyone who comes to help.
The UCI World Cycling Centre (WCC) – the training and education centre of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) based in Aigle, Switzerland – is pleased to announce that its first Continental Development Satellite located in China was officially inaugurated today in Shanghai, in the presence, notably, of UCI President David Lappartient, the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach and the President of the Chinese Olympic Committee and Director of China’s General Administration of Sports Gao Zhidan. The Shanghai Velodrome was awarded the UCI WCC Continental Development Satellite label by decision of the UCI Management Committee on 2 February this year. It is the ninth UCI WCC Satellite in the world and the fourth in Asia alongside those of Shuzenji (Japan), Yeongju (Korea) and New Delhi (India). The other Satellites are in South Africa (Paarl), Canada (Bromont), New Zealand (Cambridge), Portugal (Anadia) and Trinidad and Tobago (Couva).
The Shanghai UCI WCC Continental Development Satellite is located on Chongming Island, within a major multi-sport education and training centre created in 2019 and covering an area of almost 56 hectares. It includes a 250-metre indoor velodrome, a BMX Racing track, a BMX Freestyle park, training roads and a weights room. The centre also has athlete accommodation and a restaurant.
The Shanghai Velodrome will host the UCI Track World Championships in 2026, while Chongming Island is known in the cycling world for hosting the annual Tour of Chongming Island, a women's stage race that has been on the UCI Women's WorldTour calendar since 2017.
And that's a wrap! But not before one more run in the morning dodging the homeless along the riverbed. That got squeezed in before we checked out at Solarena and headed for Denny's on Main/Ellis for breakfast. 'All American slam' for me please with coffee. Philip had pancakes and a slam. Couldn't finish it, I couldn't help finish it either. $38 bucks later we hit the 405 North. It looked like we had enough time to go see Pete D over at Chase Bicycles and so we did. The Torrance area has some BMX history with BMX Action based there. We didn't actually go see the building or dive in the dumpster for photos.
Traffic wasn't too bad for a Monday morning. We stopped at a gas station to prepare the car for drop-off. Removed the Twin Air/FATBMX/Flame Trails stickers, cleaned the ironside, double checked all doors for phone cables etc. The return at Dollar rental was easy. No extra $urprise$ after that. Not coming back though, we'll choose a different option next time. We hopped on the bus to the LAX terminal. Got dropped off at the wrong one, but still had time to check in. We were able to check in the hand luggage suitcases too for free so we only had the backpacks to take through security. Easy peasy. Spent some time in the lounge, ate some more even though we weren't hungry but you never know what the airplane food looks like. We both had a window seat each and an empty seat next to us for the 11 hour direct flight home. Could have been (a lot) worse.
All this time we'd been staying just around the corner from Sheep Hills. With no big plans for Sunday, another morning run was decided on, to Sheep Hills. On the way there along the riverbed the cops had arrested a homeless man, I saw a Pelican, and one of the homeless people rode past me at full speed on an electric bike! I wondered how he charges that thing.
I got to Sheep through a back entrance. It was muddy but I knew where I needed to go. Made it there and saw the puddles in between the jumps. It wasn't rideable but it didn't look too bad. A few days later more rain made sure that a quick fix was out of the question. It's a bummer for all the workers and riders that they have to deal with this during the winter months. Free fitness/boot camp/workouts coming soon.
A2! Driving in California ain't bad when there is no traffic. Roughly 30 minutes it took from Newport Beach to the Anaheim Angels stadium. During rush hour you could add an easy 15 minutes. The highways are wide, but they're also full. Two in a car gets you in the carpool lane so that was a help for us while trying to dodge the jams. Anyway, a new day of Supercross racing ahead.
We made sure to go check out the oldskool BMX bikes that once again were on display during 'Fan Fest'. A Freestyle MX show also entertained the sold-out crowd that had shown up early to take it all in. We ran into BMX-er/filmer Oscar Mendoza from Spain, Tom Jacobs from Belgium, Big E, Alan Foster, and the Garcia brothers (Joey and Jimmy) who had made the trek down from San Jose that morning.