Eastpak/Carhartt tour part 5: Landsmeer, NL.

May 26, 2006

Written by Bart de Jong

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More rain welcomed us on Sunday morning meaning the A4 trails, the Malieveld and Scheveningen bowl were out of the question. We decided to head back north in the direction of Amsterdam. The XL series hosted one of their rounds at the Insaen park so maybe that was an option. On our way there, we got the news that the park had closed so plans were changed to Amsterdam's latest park: Everland. It's actually a skatepark but with Carhartt and Eastpak being sponsors of the park we thought we might get to ride it anyway. On the way to the park we encountered something hi-tech and new. Instead of a road map, the information center had a touch screen to find the street or address you were looking for. We only had Everland's street address so we typed in the first three letters. Wow, the computer screen showed where to go, step by step.

We noticed a Print button and decided to hit that. Wow, a print version of the map including how to get there rolled out of the machine! We need more of those things. It's like a route planner but then on the road. Awesome.

When we got to Everland at the docks of Amsterdam we decided to check the place before bringing the bikes in. Hmmm, lots of flat banks and a small mini. Lots of skaters too. By this time it had dried up outside and it was decided to go to the outdoor park in Aalsmeer which looked good on paper. We passed a McDonald's on the way there that we stopped at the day before. The park was only 100 meters away from the Golden Arches and we totally missed that the day before. Thanks to Barry Kohne for the directions. Like always, just when you have cleaned up the place and made it dry, it starts to rain. We went back to McDonald's for more shitty food. Braumann loves it there and I think he's the only one. The dark cloud had passed and we gave it another try. This time successfully.

It was Barry's second day at the bowl and he lives in Amsterdam. It either tells how new the bowl is, or the quality of the public concrete park. It actually wasn't bad (I say) and with all these riders ready to ride, it turned into a decent session. Barry also joined the sesh and clicked some mean lookbacks over the hip and did a couple of those weird boomerang-whip fly-outs to the bank. Alistair Whitton does those, maybe that helps. Benny Paulsen found out where to put his knees while doing inverts and they look insane. Super upside down and style for miles.

Hannu and Sig, even when it started raining again, they were still ready to ride some more. There's no stopping them. Both had good lines and plenty of moves. After a couple of tables over the hip, Ben Manuel packed up his bike. He was flying home from Amsterdam that evening. SteVan did plenty of tireslides, inverts and whipped the extended version. Bruno tricked around on the rail, banks and did flyout jumps out of the lower section. When it started to pour it was time to pack up. The Cools brothers were disappointed. They drove all day to only ride for 45 minutes. They wanted more. Barry showed this crooked 6 meter high quarter pipe made out of bricks. It's an obstacle made for BMX stunts but not when it's wet. It would be suicide. With a couple of hours driving ahead of us we decided to head back south hoping the weather would clear up so we could ride the spots in Den Haag on the way to Antwerp. No such luck.

Road trips are what you make out of it. Sometimes the weather cooperates, sometimes you have to shift to plan B. The Eastpak/Carhartt trip had a lot of Plan B riding going on but it was still a great trip. Thanks to Mike Emde and Andy Zeiss for bringing FATBMX on board.