Bart de Jong
Aarle-Rixtel is a place well known in the BMX community. It's the town of the FAT-JAM and Paul's Boutique. A few years ago Aarle-Rixtel joined with villages Beek en Donk, Mariahout and Lieshout (home of Bavaria beer) to form Laarbeek. The local councils became one so if we needed a ramp of some sorts we had to go to this one place.
The IFMA show hasn't been the most popular trade show when it comes down to new BMX bikes and parts. The show is held only two weeks after the (more popular) EUROBIKE show in Friedrichshafen so if you've been to that show, you won't be seeing many new things in Cologne. Halfpipe opening party by Peter Geys
Overpelt, Belgium
If you're in your thirties and spend over $18.000 USD on your own backyard ramp you better know you're not done riding. Peter Geys worked hard on making his dream come true. The brakeless vert rider from Belgium spent all winter working on the construction of his huge vert ramp. At 4,16 meters high it's one of those monster ramps. It has a metal frame, wood ground layer and metal top sheets. At 12 meters wide it's a good thing Peter has a big backyard.
Overpelt, Belgium
If you're in your thirties and spend over $18.000 USD on your own backyard ramp you better know you're not done riding. Peter Geys worked hard on making his dream come true. The brakeless vert rider from Belgium spent all winter working on the construction of his huge vert ramp. At 4,16 meters high it's one of those monster ramps. It has a metal frame, wood ground layer and metal top sheets. At 12 meters wide it's a good thing Peter has a big backyard. 
The Festival International des Sports Extremes (FISE) in the South of France has been going strong for 8 years. The FISE usually started off the outdoor season for everyone who is living up north, as the event took place over Easter weekend. However, after a long cold winter, people packed their cars and drove down to the beach of Palavas hoping for some sunshine. The sun was not always around, so the organisers decided to move the event from April to July. We made the 12 hour trek down South with Achim Kujawski, Andy Zeiss, Paul and I. We were the BMX judging team for the weekend and hoped Paul's unreliable Volvo would take us there. 
Name: Jason Lunn
Age: 33 dob 20 04 71
Hometown: Epsom Surrey, England
Occupation: Partner in a Design and Media Company called Chilled Heat
www.chilledheat.com
It's 25 March today. Just got back from shaping the trails. We've got a jam coming up this weekend so things need to get ready. On Saturday the "mini-FAT-JAM" will take off with a mini-ramp jam on Saturday and dirt session at the Sugar Hills on Sunday.
We're functioning on automatic pilot when it comes to these jams. Putting on BMX events for almost 20 years has given us enough experience to know what needs to be done. It's actually quite easy to organize a jam but you have to make a step and go out and do it.
We're not expecting anything big this weekend. The weather is supposed to be nice so that will help a lot. We'll put up the easy-up tents, place some trash bags, take care of some music and leave the riding up to the riders. It beats riding by yourself and will motivate you to go for that one trick you've been working on. Also it's possible to pick up ideas for new tricks and get tips from the riders on the deck. No pressure, no entry fees, no contest, just riding with a bunch of people. Isn't that what it's all about?
When the new year came around I sent out a mail to a bunch of companies wishing them all the best for 2004 and checked if they were interested in supporting FATBMX. We've got our costs and need to cover those. We've been fortunate enough to have friends who feel that what we do is important for BMX.
The site is pretty informative, has a decent event calender that shows people what's going on and we cover a wide range of contests, races and other BMX related events for people who don't have the possibility to go to all of those. A big thank you to VANS, ACS, SNAFU, HOFFMAN BIKES, Paul's Boutique, EBC, FlyBikes and WeThePeople for their 2003 support.
Last weekend the Braun Flatground contest was held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. People from all over the world showed up. Jesse Puente, Chad Johnston, Paul Osika, Jeff Desroche and Shane Neville flew in from the West, Simon O'Brien arrived from Down Under, the Japanese delegation wasn't exactly small either. A dedicated Nathan Penonzek drove up from Malaga, Spain which was a 30 hour drive. Next to the flatland competitors we had a few surprise showings; vert rider Gerry Galley for instance, Amos Burke, the 414 crew from England and German flatland guru's Albert Retey, TG, Robert Moeller and Rollo. Also parked outside was a blue Ford Transit van with WeThePeople, Chico, Mars and HDT stickers. If you've been into BMX for a while you know that Marcus Arnoldi made it to Amsterdam as well. While talking to Marcus he mentioned that this would be the last trip for the Transit. The van is not going to make it through inspection so after a good 10 years and 467.000 kilometers of BMX trips it is time to say goodbye.
At FATBMX we like to party. There's no secret about it. Meeting up with everyone at night to have a good time is an important part of going to a BMX event. If the partying is good, at least it was worth it going the contest for that. The contest might suck but hanging out together can save a lot of things.
The editorial is supposed to be a personal note from the editor. This month I'm going to take it really personal and talk about our son Philip who just turned 6 months. Having a kid is a big step. Responsibility changes and you can't just go out for a ride any longer. The boy needs to be taken care of and either Wendy or I have to stay home to baby sit. But the babysitting is a lot of fun too especially when the baby is healthy and smiles all the time.
What will the future bring for Philip? We don't know. He might become a computer geek, he might like music so much he wants to start his own band, maybe he'll join the boy scouts (don't think so!) or likes horseback riding (no thank you).