What's typical about the first night on every California trip coming from Europe is that you wake up early the first morning. The 9 hour time difference does that to you. 6am in Newport Beach, is 3pm in Helmond. You can't just switch instantly. But hey, the sun is shining, the beach only a minute away. Although chilly (8 degrees celcius) it's the perfect set-up for a little run/walk on the beach. I'm not a big runner any more but having these conditions outside of your doorstep would turn me into a daily runner, at least I thought so. Instead of heading in the direction of Huntington Beach I decided to head towards the Newport Beach pier. I tried to avoid getting wet feet from the waves coming onto the beach so running in a straight line wasn't much of an option as I wanted to avoid walking in the deep beach sand. Boy did it feel good. Considering being in the cold and wet only 24 hours ago and now walking on the beach, in the sunshine, palm trees everywhere....
A good Vacancy Coffee and a shower later we started off the day by heading to Sheep Hills. Normally the spot is under water in the winter time for a while but since it had not rained since February 2024(!!!!!) the trails were still rideable. My first time to Sheep was back in 1990. Considering it's now 2025 makes this spot legendary. After soaking up the energy of the dirt jumps the day continued with a quick visit to 3Bros Racing in Costa Mesa followed by a FOX HQ visit.
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.