Bart de Jong
With World Cups Manchester and Papendal as first peak part of the season, the weeks after Papendal were all about training. We spent a lot of hours on the BMX track and did some heavy gym and other training sessions. It were tiring weeks, but I felt good and strong and knew with some rest I would be good to go for Berlin. 2 weeks after Papendal we had 2 Euro League races in Klazienaveen, Netherlands, this weekend was the first starting the Olympic Points Qualification for Rio 2016 for countries.I felt good, practice went well and I was ready for the races. I was unlucky in the 1st moto on Saturday, clipping out just before the 2nd jump and crashed. With 2 thick and stiff knees I was able to ride and fight my way into semi finals. There I was in good position going into the first turn, when I decided to take the inside lane and pass World Champ Liam Phillips, I turned too tight and crashed again. Really disappointing to crash twice and miss the final, because I knew I was good enough to achive a good result. On Sunday the knees were too stiff and painful to give full power.
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.