Once the contest started the stress began (for the orga team). The qualifying could not be finished on one day and part of the group had to ride the next day. It took forever for the orga team to finally start the street finals but once it got the way things were looking good. I decided to film the finals on the new DV camera that I'd brought. I thought I could use it to write this article but to be honest, I haven't even looked back at the tape. Not that the footage isn't interesting, I'm just not used to have back up material other than pics when writing an article. I'd like to keep it that way. Bringing a DV camera along next to a still camera is a pain in itself. I don't want to end up carrying a backpack full of tri-pods, batteries, chargers, computer, different plugs, cables etc. to the contests.
This leaves you with a fucked up report though as I'm trying to recall tricks at a contest that happened a month ago. Here's what I remember. Chris Mahoney pulled a double flip after three years of trying. Boy was he stoked and for a reason. Ryan Nyquist did an alley-oop flair from quarter to quarter that was sick. Watch it in replay and still be confused how he rode out of it. Craig Stephens knows how to whip it and did plenty of those.
Tobias Wicke is the tech wizard. I'm sure he can come up with 100 different nosepick variations. With so many people running rear brake only these days it's good to see some front brake action. Senad Grosic joined Tobias for many nosepick sessions and had a good time. Ben Manual rides with speed. His first quarterpipe air/hang-up was nasty and kind of set him off a bit. Ronnie Surridge (who is embarrassed to do invert-360-s now - the best in the business for sure) rode with a bunch of energy. If it came out of a can, I don't know but Ronnie kept riding and spinning 360-s and whipping his MacNeil and going opposite and ...... you get the picture. So much stuff.
Dave Mirra can put a run together. With the jam format style he had a few runs to offer and it's great to watch. Opposite 360 stuff over the spine, big flairs on the quarterpipe and a whip from quarter to quarter on the South side. Looks effortless but it isn't as simple as it looks. Tom Haugen is one tech rider and whips it in every way including a 180 over the spine. Martyn Tambling did a mad 540 tire tap on an angled wall that I thought was impossible but he proved me wrong after 10 hard crashes. If I remember right, Pill 720-d the box and chilled a bit during his final runs.
Ben Wallace, Gareth Wilson, Lance McDermott and Lorenzo "loose canon" Reid made the Sunday finals and are the future of BMX.
When all was said and done, Nyquist won the comp, Mirra got 2nd and Tobias finished 3rd. Hopefully this report does it for you. It does it for me. Peace out.
Pro Street Finals
1 Ryan Nyquist
2 Dave Mirra
3 Tobias Wicke
4 Chris Mahoney
5 Tom Haugen
6 Senad Grosec
7 Ronnie Surridge
8 Martyn Tambling
9 Ben Manuel
10 Ben Wallace
11 Gareth Wilson
12 Lance McDermott
12 Craig Stephens
14 Pill
15 Lorenzo Reid
Dirt
The KOD at Bike 2004 was a big let down, just like in previous years. Is it because it's combined with the MTB action away from the other disciplines? Or is it because the jumps suck? Maybe both have to do with it but basically the jumps are at fault. With 3 sons riding trails you would thought that track builder Mr. Forte had the knowledge to build decent jumps or the will to listen to the riders who have to jump them. At the last minute World's jump builder Markus Hampl, Bibi and the Peynier locals Dropsy and Patrick Guimez were asked to fix things but it was too late.
Nyquist never took a look at the jumps, Stephen Murray (good for a few gold medals I'd say) did not enter and neither did Aloise, Fuzzy, Bagley, Mahoney and other good dirt jumpers who were hanging out in the same building. It's a shame really.
The crowd also was more interested in the ladies giving out free MTB product than the jumping itself. Even the best BMX MC (Paul Roberts) could not make it happen. Still a contest was had and it's a miracle the few who entered pulled the tricks they did.
Note to the organization, make it right next time or the riders won't come back. They might have already made up their minds.
Vert
The extra wide RedBull vert ramp was stacked with riders which was definitely good to see. England has always brought forward some huge halfpipe talent and it looks like things are not over in vert land. The cash session was a good one. Zach Shaw put on his Bell helmet and blasted huge airs with lots of style the way only Zach can. Still one of my favorites to watch.
With people from the 414 crew on the decks with cash in hand for those who did something good, it didn't take long for the British to go crazy. Once Simon spun like hell and pulled a 900 (and grabbed some cash for that) Pete Marselle and of course Dennis Wingham joined the session. I have to admit that Dennis' first attempt was damn close. I wish he had just held on and rode out of it because that way he didn't have to kill himself trying some more. Knowing Dennis he tried until he had to be carried off the ramp. Next day he was limping but all in good spirit. One day he'll pull it in front of a big crowd and I'll scream: "Hell yeah!" How Pete Marselle managed to ride his bike after his 900 crashes is beyond me. Tough as nails.
While hanging out at the street course I heard the crowd go crazy at the vert ramp. The contest had started and to my surprise Jamie Bestwick did show up. And did he ever show up, my goodness. I like to see Zach ride but Jamie is just in a league of his own. The wide ramp was almost not wide enough for the Brit as he carved from side to side in alley-oop, regular or opposite direction. Flairs, whips, 540-s and combo-s of all at insane height and with perfect flow. He kept it going and the crowd loved it. Jamie was back in his home country and showed what he had been working on at the other side of the big pond. Vert riding at its best at the Bike 04 show.
Pro Vert
1 Jamie Bestwick
2 Simon Tabron
3 Zach Shaw
4 Mike Mullen
5 Shaun Eglington
6 Ronnie Remo
7 Benny Kopp
8 John Taylor
9 Jan Valenta
10 Dennis Wingham
11 Chris Mahoney
11 Toby Gresswell
13 Pete Marselle
14 Paul Jones
15 Justin Gardener
16 Eggy
Flatland
It's good contests like Bike (to the future) still make sure there's flatland. With the flat community taking care of their own thing more and more, it feels good to have them part of a BMX event. The turnout was good too. No entry fee and a decent pro purse had Jesse Puente fly over from the USA with his new signature series KHE. Jesse competed against Europe's best. Nathan Penonzek (half European by now) was present courtesy of Eastpak who were introducing their "European" team (which includes Canathian).
Martti Kuoppa represented the KGB with his latest moves and Michael Steingraeber had landed in Europe after a long Australian visit over our wintertime (their summer). The Paris posse of Jumelin, Dassie, Raphael and good old Armin crossed the channel as well for Bike 2004.
Lowcash was sporting a fake titanium WeThePeople frame and span lots of circles on the black surface. Phil Dolan was smoking cigarettes while watching the comp. Is he really quitting?
The event was actually quite relaxed. A cash jam was ended by an old school battle for the last 20 quid. Michael Sommer got part of that by doing Nourie handstands and koala bear rides. Consider yourself newschool if you're never heard of those tricks.
The actual contest was won by a rider from Canada who rides for wethepeople and has been coming over to Europe a few times already. He'll need the money too as he's on a 6 month travel program. To know who won, go to the profiler section now (he's got an interview on FATBMX) or simple look at the results.
Pro Flat Results
1 Travis Collier
2 Nathan Penonzek
3 Alex Jumelin
4 Martti Kuoppa
5 Jesse Puente
6 Frank Lukas
7 Michael Steingraeber
8 Raphael Chiquet
9 Michael Sommer
10 Dan Margetts
BdJ
The KOD at Bike 2004 was a big let down, just like in previous years. Is it because it's combined with the MTB action away from the other disciplines? Or is it because the jumps suck? Maybe both have to do with it but basically the jumps are at fault. With 3 sons riding trails you would thought that track builder Mr. Forte had the knowledge to build decent jumps or the will to listen to the riders who have to jump them. At the last minute World's jump builder Markus Hampl, Bibi and the Peynier locals Dropsy and Patrick Guimez were asked to fix things but it was too late.
Nyquist never took a look at the jumps, Stephen Murray (good for a few gold medals I'd say) did not enter and neither did Aloise, Fuzzy, Bagley, Mahoney and other good dirt jumpers who were hanging out in the same building. It's a shame really.
The crowd also was more interested in the ladies giving out free MTB product than the jumping itself. Even the best BMX MC (Paul Roberts) could not make it happen. Still a contest was had and it's a miracle the few who entered pulled the tricks they did.
Note to the organization, make it right next time or the riders won't come back. They might have already made up their minds.
Vert
The extra wide RedBull vert ramp was stacked with riders which was definitely good to see. England has always brought forward some huge halfpipe talent and it looks like things are not over in vert land. The cash session was a good one. Zach Shaw put on his Bell helmet and blasted huge airs with lots of style the way only Zach can. Still one of my favorites to watch.
With people from the 414 crew on the decks with cash in hand for those who did something good, it didn't take long for the British to go crazy. Once Simon spun like hell and pulled a 900 (and grabbed some cash for that) Pete Marselle and of course Dennis Wingham joined the session. I have to admit that Dennis' first attempt was damn close. I wish he had just held on and rode out of it because that way he didn't have to kill himself trying some more. Knowing Dennis he tried until he had to be carried off the ramp. Next day he was limping but all in good spirit. One day he'll pull it in front of a big crowd and I'll scream: "Hell yeah!" How Pete Marselle managed to ride his bike after his 900 crashes is beyond me. Tough as nails.
While hanging out at the street course I heard the crowd go crazy at the vert ramp. The contest had started and to my surprise Jamie Bestwick did show up. And did he ever show up, my goodness. I like to see Zach ride but Jamie is just in a league of his own. The wide ramp was almost not wide enough for the Brit as he carved from side to side in alley-oop, regular or opposite direction. Flairs, whips, 540-s and combo-s of all at insane height and with perfect flow. He kept it going and the crowd loved it. Jamie was back in his home country and showed what he had been working on at the other side of the big pond. Vert riding at its best at the Bike 04 show.
Pro Vert
1 Jamie Bestwick
2 Simon Tabron
3 Zach Shaw
4 Mike Mullen
5 Shaun Eglington
6 Ronnie Remo
7 Benny Kopp
8 John Taylor
9 Jan Valenta
10 Dennis Wingham
11 Chris Mahoney
11 Toby Gresswell
13 Pete Marselle
14 Paul Jones
15 Justin Gardener
16 Eggy
Flatland
It's good contests like Bike (to the future) still make sure there's flatland. With the flat community taking care of their own thing more and more, it feels good to have them part of a BMX event. The turnout was good too. No entry fee and a decent pro purse had Jesse Puente fly over from the USA with his new signature series KHE. Jesse competed against Europe's best. Nathan Penonzek (half European by now) was present courtesy of Eastpak who were introducing their "European" team (which includes Canathian).
Martti Kuoppa represented the KGB with his latest moves and Michael Steingraeber had landed in Europe after a long Australian visit over our wintertime (their summer). The Paris posse of Jumelin, Dassie, Raphael and good old Armin crossed the channel as well for Bike 2004.
Lowcash was sporting a fake titanium WeThePeople frame and span lots of circles on the black surface. Phil Dolan was smoking cigarettes while watching the comp. Is he really quitting?
The event was actually quite relaxed. A cash jam was ended by an old school battle for the last 20 quid. Michael Sommer got part of that by doing Nourie handstands and koala bear rides. Consider yourself newschool if you're never heard of those tricks.
The actual contest was won by a rider from Canada who rides for wethepeople and has been coming over to Europe a few times already. He'll need the money too as he's on a 6 month travel program. To know who won, go to the profiler section now (he's got an interview on FATBMX) or simple look at the results.
Pro Flat Results
1 Travis Collier
2 Nathan Penonzek
3 Alex Jumelin
4 Martti Kuoppa
5 Jesse Puente
6 Frank Lukas
7 Michael Steingraeber
8 Raphael Chiquet
9 Michael Sommer
10 Dan Margetts
BdJ 
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.