Winterjam, Capital Bikepark, Stockholm, Sweden. By: Jon Bokrantz

Feb 12, 2007

Written by Bart de Jong

Read 14074 times

With Friday off from school, a jam-packed car eager to get exercised on the snow-coated roads of Sweden, and the knowledge of an amazing week-end to come, I would say that my wellbeing could’ve been characterized as top notch. The destination was set to Capital Bikepark, Stockholm’s finest setup of ramps made possible by long-time BMX-enthusiast Andreas Lindqvist. The five hour drive was supposed to be made worthy thanks to Andreas Lindqvist’s Invitational Winterjam, an arrangement with an experimental approach as far as contest format goes. 16 riders, considered to be Sweden’s best, was invited to compete in a format called “Battle”, and at least I had raised my anticipations to the edge.

After we had calmed down from the unavoidable stress and nervousness that comes with the final stages of departure, we switched the stereo on, dug ourselves into the fabulous 2-disc CD-collection and made our way onto the highway. Five ours of driving in darkness and slush, with Johnny Cash’s and Chuck Berry’s song texts becoming more and more familiar for every settled kilometre, was actually a bigger treat that imaginable. After endless of pranks, jokes and stories well provided by my two good friends Lars Sjöholm and Andreas Lundberg, we found ourselves standing outside the proposed destination, surprisingly safe and sound after a few mishaps when reading the map. We assembled our bikes and made our way into the compound, ready for a late night session with our friends. Although Friday night became more of an evening of friendship rather than a heavy session with repetitive bangers, everyone was smiling and laughing trying to get familiar with the ramps and setting up for the next day.

After a good night of sleep, we went back to the park at noon for a warm-up session. For a few hours, the riders and the lucky ones who managed to get in hold of a limited riding ticket, could session the ramps and try out tricks and lines for the contest. The lineup looked amazing, and all the riders were obviously having a blast. After a couple of hours, the warm-up session was done and the contest was about to begin. The 16 riders were supposed to get paired up by drawing lots, and the winner of each 1-on-1 heat advanced further in a ladder-system. After three rounds, only two riders remained in one last chance to win the special-designed trophies. The contest was going to be held in two separate parts, miniramp and boxjump. In mini, you had two runs each, and the judges simply picked the rider who performed the best and sent him on to the next round. For boxjump, you had three jumps each, and, weirdly, only the trick over the boxjump counted, but if there was to be a tie, a trick in the vertwall as well as on the boxjump backwards, could determine the winner.

In eager expectations, the organisers started to pick the first pieces of papers out of the compulsory lottery-helmet, and soon everyone found their names on the list. In a last act of desperation, the competitors challenged each other with angry expressions and taunts, hoping for any tiny bit of advantage. But soon the first two riders lined up on the deck, and as the green light came, hell broke loose! The following minutes were a complete treat, with some of the best riding Sweden has ever seen. I have no idea if I’ve memorized it all, but I sure do remember some! The first rider on the course was Jimmy Nordström, and as always, he did not ride cowardly. With massive airs, tailwhips, oldschool air-manoeuvres like the can-can and the even the can-can xup, combined with his middle name consistency, we all knew he would hang in there for quite a while. In addition to his flawless first set of runs, he also delivered a couple of barspin variations, hundreds of different regular and backwards grinds united with the true meaning of back-to-back tricks. Fredrik Khilanki, one of the Capital Bikepark locals, fired off airs with some serious amplitude as well as tailwhips, tiregrabs and a pedalstall to 270 out on the large subbox; clean as glass! Adrian Malmberg from Hedemora, located in the famous Swedish idyll Dalarna, contributed the contest with smoothness, barspins to both tailtaps and manuals and even combined with some front wheel action. Oscar Rehn, the Gothenburg-located rider who has been in the world of BMX for decades, surprised and amazed everyone. With unstoppable consistency, he pulled tailwhips in airs, to tailtap and to manual, barspin variations and grinds with some serious length and speed, naturally with that genuine touch of the old school. Jens Nielsen, one of Sweden’s up and comers, did massively overclicked turndowns and inverts like it was nothing and adding tailwhips, 540s and technical moves on the deck for the sake of variety. I, Jon Bokrantz, was happy with my run that included whip to tailtap, tiregrab, tailwhip air and finally a pedalstall to 270 on the subbox which I unfortunately couldn’t land too smooth. Martin Dannetun-Törnström had a good couple of runs which included regular tailwhip to tailtaps as well as opposite ones, tailwhip airs, barspins to everything and also some memorable crowd-pleases. Peter Grünfeldt started his runs off with a 180 and a 360 drop in, much to the crowd’s delight, and he wouldn’t stop his spinning craziness despite the rather intimate meetings with the plywood. Joakim Olsson rode the mini as amazing as always. With turndowns, lookbacks, tabletops, huge tuck nohanders and 540s combined with 540 tailtaps both ways, icegrinds and barspin-combos, he definitely offered himself as a candidate to the trophy. Jimmy Röstlund is known to be a trick-machine, and today was no exception. Back-to-back tricks is his signature, and with tiregrabs, xups, toboggans and tailwhips far over the cooping in addition to going technical on both wheels with added spins and barspins, he definitely produced. Jammed in between the Swedes, the Australian/Denmark-located shredder Travis Johnston stood out. Barely any trick was done below 1,5 meters from the cooping, and then we’re talking turndowns, lookbacks, tabletops and opposite alleyoop onefooted bermsliders, of course turning everything way past 90°. Jacob “Beach” Jansson is known to go big, fast and without the slightest bit of doubt in his eyes. I remember coming up with the idea that Jacob himself is probably the only one who’s not holding his breath while he’s on the course, and he definitely established that thought as facts this day. If you take tailwhips, barspins, footjam nosepicks both ways, canadian nosepicks, grinds and stalls of every kind, spins, turndowns, lookbacks and tabletops and mix them into combinations, you probably have a good idea of his runs. Finally, we have Patrik Swensson. He is the master of tech, and the amount of tricks he pulled could possibly be just as many as everyone else combined. His rear triangle is the basis of his riding, and if you take tailtaps, icepicks, toothpicks, 540 tailtaps and fufanus, then trying to come up with every possible combination including them, I wouldn’t doubt that Patrik incorporated almost every single one in his runs. In addition to his spinning madness on the deck, he also did fufanus and icepicks (and yes, combining them as well!) and a daring disaster on the subbox, and even his very first tailwhip to tailtap, smooth as it gets!

As you hopefully understand, the miniramp-contest was a complete success! But with insane trickery in the mini, what were you supposed to expect on the boxjump? After a half-hour of practice, the riders were mixed up into new groups, and the show could continue. The sounds of applauds and cheering during the boxjump-contest might not have been as loud as in the mini, but that doesn’t mean that the riding was quiet. The highlights included Jens Nielsen’s clicked turndowns, Oscar Rehn’s tailwhips, superman and barspin to onehanded landing, Jacob Jansson’s superman tailwhips, Joakim Olsson’s stylish 360s, turndowns and extended tuck no handers, Martin Dannetun-Törnström’s tailwhips and barspin to xups, Fredrik Khilanki’s innovative crowd-pleasers, (boastfully mentioning:) Jon Bokrantz’s tailwhips and xup-variations with 270° of turned bars, Travis Johnston’s height when cranking huge turndowns, 360s and tuck no handers, Jimmy Nordström’s variety of old school awesomeness, tailwhips and an unbelievably amazing 360 one handed tabletop. Last but not least, Jimmy Röstlund’s big bag of tricks consisting of turndowns, xups, toboggans, some of them combined with spins, in addition to the tailwhips of which he also pulled together with a 360° spin.

When the last trick was pulled, I think everyone took a breather and thought: What a day! So many amazing tricks were done, and all in an atmosphere of joy. As the riders got rid of their sweaty pads, the crowd gathered up underneath the wallride to watch the price ceremony. On the top of the big wall, with the announcers steadily holding the microphones, we were about to hear the results. Prices were given to the best trick in both disciplines together with the two winners of each “Battle”. First off, best trick in miniramp was given to Jacob Jansson for his tailwhip drop in, and a big bag of prices couldn’t keep him from smiling. The first trophy was given to the best rider in miniramp, and in my opinion, Patrik Swensson really deserved it! You couldn’t misunderstand his reaction; screaming, raising his arms and dancing undoubtedly means that you’re happy! We all laughed as he raised the shining lump into the skies and received a huge bag of shirts and parts. Thereafter, Best trick in the boxjump was to be delivered, and the chosen winner was Peter Grünfeldt for pulling a 180 over the boxjump backwards. Finally, the last price, best rider in boxjump, was given to Jimmy Röstlund, yet again well worth in my opinion. Another trophy was raised in the sky, and another huge bag of prices was carried down from the wall, ending the first day of the jam.

But if you know Swedes, you know that the evening doesn’t end at 7. Everyone packed up and left in a hurry, and 1,5 hours later the invited riders and organisers met up for dinner on a tavern downtown. With a delightful dinner and some renowned late night Swedish partying, the day was completed!

To everyone’s big surprise, after a rough night and an even rougher awakening, we managed to pack up and drive to the park at a decent time. Me, Lars and Andreas didn’t feel to ride, so we crammed everything in the back of the car and left pretty quick. But during Sunday, an amateur and a high-air contest were held. Since I soon found myself sitting in the driver’s seat again, all I know is that Erik Olsson from Uppsala won the amateur contest, and that young-gun Jens Nielsen went 2,68 meters (roughly 9ft) over the cooping to be able to call himself a high-air-contest-winner.

So, the rather great amount of words that you’ve just read has hopefully been entertaining, because that would really reflect what this week-end was all about. In Sweden we like to have fun, and Andreas Lindqvist’s Invitational Winterjam was an absolute treat! I hope to see you all next year!

Jon Bokrantz

Photo credit: Andreas Lundberg

Finally, a big shout out to all the sponsors!
Red Bull, FOX, MirraCo, J.Lindeberg, Future Promotion, Child BMX store, rite.se, Sunshine distribution , Ditch clothes.