HARO UK tour 2005
Spending time on the road with friends is great. We experienced another week visiting skateparks, eating shitty food and slept at different hotels. We were on board with the HARO team in England and will give you a report on how things were. Check back over the next couple of days to get the full picture.
Day 1: Birmingham - Derby - Upton - Leeds
Some riders (OBG, Senad Grosic, Ben Shenker) arrived in Birmingham on Monday night and met up with the rest of the pack on Tuesday. After a quick stop at the HARO UK distributor we drove to Upton for a
first session at
Ben Manuel's Upton park. With a no-show from
Josh Harrington because of a knee injury and the airlines losing
Ryan Nyquist's bike, the USA party looked fairly slim. Good thing is that Ryan has a pro signature bike out and the people at Moore Large had one built up for Ryan to ride until his own bike would arrive.
The park in Upton was a good way to start the tour.
Anthony Pill, Ben Manuel and
Ben Hennon were already shredding the place when the rest of us showed up in the white tour van. "The rest of us" included
Ben Shenker from Hungary,
Stefan Geisler from Germany and
Senad Grosic from Austria plus Moore Large staff
Adam Garner and
Steve Palmer and myself, the white van driver. Ryan was fine-tuning his new ride while Hennon was doing barspin to wallrides, Ben Manuel 360-d the spine and transferred into the over-vert wall and Grosic started the techno frenzy, joined by Pill and Shenker.
We had another session planned for that day in Leeds so we had to pack up and head to
The Worx park. We showed up fashionably late and were bombarded by signature requests. Ryan signed a crusty sandwich that the kid was "going to sell on E-bay" and another special request came from the owner of a
1984 HARO freestyler bike who had everyone sign the HARO numberplate.
The park in Leeds was insane. Wood wherever you could look. Bowls, mini's street stuff, wooden rhythm section, wallrides, pool coping, you name it.
The building was rumoured to be 1 million pounds with 200.000 pounds worth in wood alone. This made for a good session with the locals. Instead of shutting the place down and get on the microphone to do a demo, the HARO riders just rode the park with the locals, signed autographs on the decks and gave tips to whoever wanted to learn a new trick.
Kids don't get to ride with Ryan Nyquist at their local park every day so this was a pretty unique moment for them. The 3 hour session was full of good stuff. It's amazing how quick Ryan adapted to his Pro Model bike and the park. On day one he pulled huge flairs, 720-s and all kind of 360 variations over the spine and jump box. When you consider he arrived from the USA that morning, had no extra sleep and he was riding a different bike at a new park, you can only have respect for that. True pro.
Ben Shenker and Senad Grosic spent some time in the street section with photographer Chris Woodage. Later on Senad did some decade jumps and also attempted a flair on a quarter. Ben Shenker flows and has all kind of tech tricks wired like the 900 tiretap. Pill is one more techno dude with lots of tailwhips and 360-s involved. His handplant is sweet too.
Two years ago we saw Ben Hennon rip it up at the Ape park when we visited that venue at the 2003 HARO UK tour. Now he is on the HARO team doing the same thing. Ben has flip-whips wired as well as double tailwhips. He did plenty of them at the Worx.
After the session it was back to the hotel we had checked in earlier. With Pizza hut closing just when we arrived, we ended up for some super food at McDonald's (not). The grocery shopping earlier that day came in handy now because by the time we left McD, the bars were closed. The hotel room was happening until 4am......
BdJ
first session at Ben Manuel's Upton park. With a no-show from Josh Harrington because of a knee injury and the airlines losing Ryan Nyquist's bike, the USA party looked fairly slim. Good thing is that Ryan has a pro signature bike out and the people at Moore Large had one built up for Ryan to ride until his own bike would arrive.
The park in Upton was a good way to start the tour. Anthony Pill, Ben Manuel and Ben Hennon were already shredding the place when the rest of us showed up in the white tour van. "The rest of us" included Ben Shenker from Hungary, Stefan Geisler from Germany and Senad Grosic from Austria plus Moore Large staff Adam Garner and Steve Palmer and myself, the white van driver. Ryan was fine-tuning his new ride while Hennon was doing barspin to wallrides, Ben Manuel 360-d the spine and transferred into the over-vert wall and Grosic started the techno frenzy, joined by Pill and Shenker.
We had another session planned for that day in Leeds so we had to pack up and head to The Worx park. We showed up fashionably late and were bombarded by signature requests. Ryan signed a crusty sandwich that the kid was "going to sell on E-bay" and another special request came from the owner of a 1984 HARO freestyler bike who had everyone sign the HARO numberplate.
The park in Leeds was insane. Wood wherever you could look. Bowls, mini's street stuff, wooden rhythm section, wallrides, pool coping, you name it. The building was rumoured to be 1 million pounds with 200.000 pounds worth in wood alone. This made for a good session with the locals. Instead of shutting the place down and get on the microphone to do a demo, the HARO riders just rode the park with the locals, signed autographs on the decks and gave tips to whoever wanted to learn a new trick.
Kids don't get to ride with Ryan Nyquist at their local park every day so this was a pretty unique moment for them. The 3 hour session was full of good stuff. It's amazing how quick Ryan adapted to his Pro Model bike and the park. On day one he pulled huge flairs, 720-s and all kind of 360 variations over the spine and jump box. When you consider he arrived from the USA that morning, had no extra sleep and he was riding a different bike at a new park, you can only have respect for that. True pro.
Ben Shenker and Senad Grosic spent some time in the street section with photographer Chris Woodage. Later on Senad did some decade jumps and also attempted a flair on a quarter. Ben Shenker flows and has all kind of tech tricks wired like the 900 tiretap. Pill is one more techno dude with lots of tailwhips and 360-s involved. His handplant is sweet too.
Two years ago we saw Ben Hennon rip it up at the Ape park when we visited that venue at the 2003 HARO UK tour. Now he is on the HARO team doing the same thing. Ben has flip-whips wired as well as double tailwhips. He did plenty of them at the Worx.
After the session it was back to the hotel we had checked in earlier. With Pizza hut closing just when we arrived, we ended up for some super food at McDonald's (not). The grocery shopping earlier that day came in handy now because by the time we left McD, the bars were closed. The hotel room was happening until 4am......
BdJ
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.