FATBMX Your Online BMX News Resource Since 1998

For the second year in a row the Backyard jam is an indoor affair. The series of three is divided over three indoor spots in England. Round one took place at the BIC in Bournemouth. Paul and I had left in the Vito on Thursday evening. We opted for the ferry so we could bring all the beer we wanted and had a place to crash in case we needed it. England is an expensive country. Diesel is more expensive than gasoline so we luckily filled up the tank before we started driving on the left side of the road. We gained an hour on arrival in Dover but were too tired to make it directly to Bournemouth. We threw all the bags on the front seats and installed the fishing stretcher and mattress in the back of the van. Luckily it wasn't cold and the night went by quick.

Having USA PRO's coming over for a contest in Holland is not a yearly thing. In fact it was the Worlds in 1997 since the top of the PRO's were in the country of hookers, beers and weed. This didn't impress the Dutch scene cause I saw 2 empty stands on one site of the arena on Saturday Pro day but who cares, the ones that were there enjoyed it and the ones that missed it will regret it for the rest of their BMX lives.

This contest was created in the beginning of the year, I always looked for the best for BMX and all disciplines, Flatland deserves respect of everyone. Then we did something to show the potential of that. In my simple opinion, people who follow BMX nowadays sometimes forget this highlighter discipline, THE FLATLAND.

FAT Paparazzi in da hizouse Some things you cannot explain, you should have been there to understand what was going on. If you're boring and go to sleep early with a cracker and a bottle of water, don't expect to understand all the stories from the wild ones in the morning.

When it's early March and you live in Holland, it does not make sense to organize an outdoor event. It snowed heavily the week prior to the Battle Of The Lamp (Flatground weekend) and things didn't look too bright for Saturday March 6th. The initial plan of having the contest indoors at the Beursgebouw in Eindhoven failed so it was all or nothing depending on the weather as the contest was moved outdoors to the Stadhuisplein. It rained/snowed in the morning but we had good hope it would dry up. Yes, it was cold but you can dress against that.

To get people together you need to find a good excuse. Paul and I have been into BMX for 25 years now and that was enough of an excuse to get together for the Flat Battle and a Street Ride in Eindhoven. Saturday March 6th was picked for the occasion. With a party in De Effenaar lined up at night at least something would happen (the party). We had to depend on the weather for the outdoor activities. The street ride didn't take off until 17:00hrs. Peter van de Riet from South-Africa (currently living in Eindhoven) was willing to show the Dutch street riding scene the spots that DownTown Eindhoven had to offer.

Lots and lots of flatlanders from all over the world were moving in the direction of Amsterdam on the last weekend of February to attend the Braun Flatground 2004 contest. It was advertised as the biggest flatland contest of the world and they could be right! All the ingredients were there: the perfect floor, a stunning location, numerous riders from all corners of the globe, lots of media attention, a positive vibe and big pro names to shock the spectators with their magical moves and styles. The location is a unique building which has a dome shaped ceiling and a very industrial atmosphere, check out the pictures!

The end of last year sometime Jon Greer said he had an old mill that he was putting ramps at. I asked him if the cops were chill with it? He said yeah! He said I want to have a contest! I said "Cool, do it we can call it the 1st annual Failure Bikes contest!" He said sweet! so Jon and his bud ryan and a bunch of the inland empire 909ers (which is were we get all the great Metal Mulisha fashion comes from!) started making some of the most shakey ramps ever.

When ESPN announced that the Flatland discipline got dropped from the 2004 X-Games schedule we contacted some flatland riders to check on their view on this. For a few reactions, read on:

After the Transit RIP editorial of February we received a whopping number of 1 story from Erik de Bruin (thanks Erik!). It's either that the editorial was not read by the people who experienced a ride in Markus' van or they were too drunk to remember. We'll give it one more month for you to type out a story of you in the Transit and place them all together next month as a tribute to the BMX van that survived 467.000 BMX kilometers. Show some appreciation.