Achim Kujawski simply thought it was time for a vert session with his friends. "Vert is dead" is a T-shirt made by Spin Like Hell. People say it's dead but in fact, it's not. At least it didn't look that way at the Verthaus jam in Oberhausen where 10 vert riders made it over to ride together. Looking at the age of the riders though, most of the guys were close to, or over 30 years old. To make sure "Vert is not dead" it definitely could use some new riders.
One of those younger riders is
Aze. The KHE rider actually rides vert very well and isn't afraid to try new things. Tim Eichert considers himself his trainer so next to big airs you can expect the hard tricks from Aze like flairs, 540-s and tailwhips. Aze might look like he's coming straight out of the mad max movie but vert needs people like him to secure the future.
Romaric Fath from France is another old vert dog. Romaric has to take care of a family but tries to get some riding in too. Another family man is
Peter Jandt. The session in Oberhausen was Peter's second time on the bike since September but he still showed his rad inverts, manuels and no-handers during one of the sessions.
Achim had taken care of the drinks (still water on the platform of the ramps, Redbull in the fridge) and even had a catering company bring in some hot food. Vegetarian pasta, pasta with meat and 2 big plates of salad kept everyone happy. The I-pod took care of the tunes and a few couches made sure the visitors and riders didn't get a sore ass. Sweet. It's understandable that Achim had the ramp wired which showed on his huge alley-oops and tailwhips.
OBG was suffering from a sore back and had to sit out the second session.
Bennie Kopp now has his own vert ramp and is thinking of doing a similar vert session some time this summer.
Sander Nieuwenhuis (Holland) got the vert feeling back and was throwing down no-handers, inverts, disasters, bow-legged x-ups and Fiola style one-hander/one-footers. Sander is one of those riders who has to travel for hours to even find a vert ramp to ride and has been making the trip down to Achim's indoor place a couple of times.
Matt Fairbairn from Australia moced to Europe to ride the vert events this summer. Matt currently lives with Simon Tabron in England so he has a vert ramp to ride at any time. Matt rode a lot during the sessions and was stoked to ride a session with so many people without any pressure. It wasn't a contest (really) and it wasn't a show. The riders just pushed themselves and Matt did original variations with some tiregrabs and lots of X-ups mixed in.
Flying in from Spain for the session was
Eduardo Terreros. It was a sure pleasure to see him ride for the second time in 9 days. What was even better is that he survived the session too. The Spanish Fly did huge airs (as usual) and pushed his topside no-footed cancan a bit further for Kay Clauberg's camera. Edu had some sketchy landings on a few flairs but what would his riding be without scaring everyone on a few tricks.
The sixth nationality on the ramp was
Peter Geys from Belgium. Peter has been riding very well lately and having your own ramp in your backyard sure helps. Instead of driving for a few hours he can basically throw his bike on the ramp from his bedroom. By the way, a vert contest will take place at Peter's ramp on the weekend of 12-14 August 2005 called
"The Garden of Vert". He's putting his two cents in to keep vert riding alive. Peter pushed to pull some flairs and he did. They will look pretty funny on video if you have the chance to ever witness that. On the landings he basically came to a stop, then turn his bars to the middle section and rode out of them. He's got them though so from now on they'll be part of his run. Peter rides brakeless just like El Condor and he just learnt one of Hoffman's tricks; a no-handed-one-footer. The picture you see here is the first one ever shown of Peter doing this trick so consider yourself lucky. Peter was disappearing in between the rafters on his many inverts but the roof was high enough for the Belgian.
At the end of the session the riders were asked to come to the ramp where each one of them were handed a piece of paper where they had to write down the highest air winner and the rider of the session.
The highest air trophy went to Peter Geys and rider of the session was Matt Fairbairn.
BdJ 
One of those younger riders is Aze. The KHE rider actually rides vert very well and isn't afraid to try new things. Tim Eichert considers himself his trainer so next to big airs you can expect the hard tricks from Aze like flairs, 540-s and tailwhips. Aze might look like he's coming straight out of the mad max movie but vert needs people like him to secure the future. 
Romaric Fath from France is another old vert dog. Romaric has to take care of a family but tries to get some riding in too. Another family man is Peter Jandt. The session in Oberhausen was Peter's second time on the bike since September but he still showed his rad inverts, manuels and no-handers during one of the sessions. 
Achim had taken care of the drinks (still water on the platform of the ramps, Redbull in the fridge) and even had a catering company bring in some hot food. Vegetarian pasta, pasta with meat and 2 big plates of salad kept everyone happy. The I-pod took care of the tunes and a few couches made sure the visitors and riders didn't get a sore ass. Sweet. It's understandable that Achim had the ramp wired which showed on his huge alley-oops and tailwhips. 
OBG was suffering from a sore back and had to sit out the second session. Bennie Kopp now has his own vert ramp and is thinking of doing a similar vert session some time this summer. Sander Nieuwenhuis (Holland) got the vert feeling back and was throwing down no-handers, inverts, disasters, bow-legged x-ups and Fiola style one-hander/one-footers. Sander is one of those riders who has to travel for hours to even find a vert ramp to ride and has been making the trip down to Achim's indoor place a couple of times. 
Matt Fairbairn from Australia moced to Europe to ride the vert events this summer. Matt currently lives with Simon Tabron in England so he has a vert ramp to ride at any time. Matt rode a lot during the sessions and was stoked to ride a session with so many people without any pressure. It wasn't a contest (really) and it wasn't a show. The riders just pushed themselves and Matt did original variations with some tiregrabs and lots of X-ups mixed in. 
Flying in from Spain for the session was Eduardo Terreros. It was a sure pleasure to see him ride for the second time in 9 days. What was even better is that he survived the session too. The Spanish Fly did huge airs (as usual) and pushed his topside no-footed cancan a bit further for Kay Clauberg's camera. Edu had some sketchy landings on a few flairs but what would his riding be without scaring everyone on a few tricks. 
The sixth nationality on the ramp was Peter Geys from Belgium. Peter has been riding very well lately and having your own ramp in your backyard sure helps. Instead of driving for a few hours he can basically throw his bike on the ramp from his bedroom. By the way, a vert contest will take place at Peter's ramp on the weekend of 12-14 August 2005 called "The Garden of Vert". He's putting his two cents in to keep vert riding alive. Peter pushed to pull some flairs and he did. They will look pretty funny on video if you have the chance to ever witness that. On the landings he basically came to a stop, then turn his bars to the middle section and rode out of them. He's got them though so from now on they'll be part of his run. Peter rides brakeless just like El Condor and he just learnt one of Hoffman's tricks; a no-handed-one-footer. The picture you see here is the first one ever shown of Peter doing this trick so consider yourself lucky. Peter was disappearing in between the rafters on his many inverts but the roof was high enough for the Belgian. 
At the end of the session the riders were asked to come to the ramp where each one of them were handed a piece of paper where they had to write down the highest air winner and the rider of the session. The highest air trophy went to Peter Geys and rider of the session was Matt Fairbairn. BdJ 
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.