Eastpak Carhartt tour part 4: Almere, NL.

May 25, 2006

Written by Bart de Jong

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Being on the road on a BMX tour, you get to check out new stuff. It's foreign terrain and adjusting to it takes time depending on your skills. When we arrived at the snakerun in Almere we weren't allowed much time to get used to the old school concrete park. Dark clouds had been following us since the start and after 45 minutes it was the end of the session. The park was actually quite fun and had multiple lines that never got to see any action. Bummer but hey, we got to ride a new spot and know how to find it next time.

Apparently the park will be bumped to modern standards in a few months which will make it even more interesting to go back on a sunny day.

Two out of the three pools had sand, leaves and puddles in it but with the dark clouds coming and more stuff to ride we didn't bother cleaning it out. It was possible to ride around the slippery sections and Bruno Hoffman and Markus Braumann took care of some tricks on the rail next to the square bowl. The bowls are actually around 5 feet deep so if the photos make them look super big, they're not.

There are not too many snake runs around any more and also here you had to avoid the wet spots. Hannu Cools, SteVan and Sig found a line that required full speed pedaling to pull off soeach one of them got their work out for the day. If you like flatbanks you can use the backside of the snake run. The middle has a big asphalt section that is pretty rough. Ask Benny Paulsen, he crashed on it and wasn't very stoked.

The place was pretty hard to find. It's located in the Koningin Beatrix park. Once you find that, take your bike and start pedaling. It's around there somewhere. We parked at the Sauna, crossed two bridges, rode by a playground and found the park in one of the corners. Just ask around, you'll find it. When it started pouring we decided to drive back to Zoetermeer to stay at the same hotel. I'm not sure but maybe the hot receptionist and the good service had something to do with it. We actually wanted to ride the park at Het Malieveld and the Scheveningen bowl the next day, hoping it would be dry enough to do so. We ate some food in a completely orange decorated place (World Cup is coming up) and had bought some booze to finish the night in one of the suites (Lion suite) at the Golden Tulip. Nighty night.

BdJ