What's missing in the list of London, New York and Paris? Amsterdam of course. It might not be the most exotic trip to do since it's only a 2-hour drive (or less), but there was a good reason this time for a day-trip to the Dam because Ben Hennon invited us to have a couple of drinks for his B-day. The plan was to go by train for obvious reasons but sometimes the train system doesn't work well. Some of it was blocked so parts of the trip would have to be done by bus, adding to the travel time. On the way up that might not be much of a problem but going back, you don't want to be stuck somewhere. Instead we drove over to the NDSM-Plein North of the city centre. Parking in Amsterdam is a problem but at the NDSM-Plein it's lots cheaper and if you can find an empty spot, parking is free. We managed to find a spot hoping it wasn't false parking but it was worth taking the risk.
The NDSM Plein has hosted several BMX events. Also the former shipyard was used to build ramps for the Red Bull Framed Reactions event back in 2012. Red Bull used to have their offices there and the place is full of graffiti which is always nice to look at. Next to the restaurants there are also some bars where we met up with Ben Hennon and family. They had taken the wrong ferry from the city centre to the NDSM-Plein and were thirsty for the first beer to say the least. Ben and his dad Tony are legends. We have traveled to many events where we ended up closing the bar.
Riding with BMX LEGEND Ben Hennon by Kieran Reilly
Ben Hennon has been there and done pretty much all of it, and made it look fun every step of the way. He recently stepped away from being a Pro BMX rider so Vans thought it only right to celebrate ten years of partnership and edited together some of the best moments they've had together along the way. Whether it was touching the roof at contests or ripping his local setup, everything has always been 100% with Ben.
Waking the beast! This thing is insane!
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.