The last couple of days I've been hanging out at the beach. It's my holiday so spending time at the beach is nice. But it gets better, there's BMX at the beach. The Vans US Open of Surfing is taking place in Huntington Beach which is about a 30 minute drive from where we're staying if there is no traffic. But there is a lot of trafffic so it usually takes twice as long to get there, or get back home. It's a problem in California that has not been solved yet. I hate sitting in traffic. But once we park the car in the parking garage near Main street, it's all good. The Vans US Open takes place for 10 days straight. Every day we've seen different activities going on at the beach. I designed a Vans shoe on paper, I threw an American football at some empty cans, played a game on XBox One that has yet to come out, watched skateboard and BMX practice, did some body surfing and watched the US Open of surfing right there. It never gets boring. The killer passes we got from Vans get us in the VIP area which surely feels good. I like being a VIP. Today I got my picture taken with Tony Alva, one of the skateboard legends and I liked watching the skaters rip apart the pool. Aaron Wheels
Sunday we went to Stephen Murray's place in Riverside. We parked our car at the parking lot and a bus took us to the house with all the jumps and a miniramp. When we arrived a lot of bmx-ers were already riding the spot. We first met Ben Wallace who told us he got inured at Woodward last Wednesday so that was a bummer. I hope he did not snap his ACL but he will find out later this week. Then I saw my idol Hucker, Pat Casey and of course Stephen Murray. I asked Hucker for his autograph and told him that I was very pleased to finally meet him, actually my dad said all that because my English isn't that good yet. I cannot describe the feeling I had being there surrounded by all these famous people my dad is always talking about or whom I watch on the internet.
Time went too fast, I saw Bryce Tryon and his dad again when he was preparing himself for the big jumps in front of the house. The best trick contest was won by Andy Buckworth who did a no handed double backflip. Stephen Murray himself picked the winner. Rick Thorne played some music with his band and after
FATBMX KIDS Goes USA part 10. Vans AM comp in Orange! Intro by Philip. Story by Bart de Jong
On Saturday I skipped a day of BMX. I hung out at the pool and enjoyed the ever good weather in California. Dad left for the Vans park in Orange to help out and the plan was to go to the OC County fair at night to see the ASA vert contest. The Vans comp was rocking it looked like when I checked the photos. I'll pass update 10 to dad. Here's his report about the Vans x Cult AM contest.It's hard to find amateur contests in the States. The Recon tour does a good job at it but America is a big country so covering it all is rough. Vans teamed up with Cult to have an amateur contest at their park in Orange. It was an open qualifier for the Vans US Open, a big invite only event that takes place in HB the first weekend of the month August. Now for all sponsored riders that did not get an invite, the street comp at the Vans park was the only way in. Winning became a big deal.
The turnout was very decent. Three classes were held with the 13 and under class, the 14+ class and the Sponsored class. The
FATBMX KIDS Goes USA part 9. Newport Beach BMX clinic with Team Soil. By Philip de Jong
Today we went to Newport Beach to watch the clinic from Team Soil. It was the final day for the kids after a week of riding and learning about BMX. In the clinic they showed their parents the tricks they had learned and they got their certificate to show their approvements. I took some pictures of the kids and their bikes. One kid road a Diamond Back Silverstreak which was a true piece of history. The children looked happy and proud of what they had achieved. Besides the kids also the Cordova brothers and Dylan Stark showed what they could by doing a superman,
Day 8. Staying at Tracer and Shelly Finn's in Las Vegas was great because they had a dog called Downey. I've always wanted a dog but my parents won't let me. Downey became a good friend in the few days we got to play with him. The last day of our stay we did a McDonald's breakfast in the park. I never had that before. While Tracer and dad got the food, we got to play one last time with Downey. When getting the food, Tracer showed a new Las Vegas riding spot to my dad. After 18 skateparks, it was now time for a pump track and some public dirt jumps in Sin City.
We have always woken up early for some reason. It's probably the jet lag that is still following us. But getting up early means we have full days to explore. After some cereal breakfast at Tracer Finn's place he had a plan to go visit multiple Gravity and X-Games champion TJ Lavin's place. Tracer used to be his Team Manager when he worked for Specialized bikes and remained good friends with him. TJ said no problem so at 9am we were on our way to see TJ's place. I rode in Tracer's Pick Up truck. It's one of the big American cars and felt 
Day 6 in the States. Today we are leaving for Vegas. We first checked out the Megaramp. That ramp is huge. I felt real small when I walked on it but think that one day I will be riding it. There was a big nest underneath the platform of the quarterpipe and I wonder what kind of bird made it. We then had breakfast and said goodbye to Bryce Tyron and his dad who had been doing the pick up runs in Woodward's 'Grumpy' van. We rode for a little bit and I started saying goodbye to the parc little by little. I cruised the Crater but treated it with respect. I rode the dirt jumps in the back and crashed once on a new section. I did a step-up transfer that I wanted to do so that ended my session on the dirt jumps. The little pump track was next. A few laps there
Day five from our California trip went something like this:I rode the whole day, drank a lot of Gatorade, took a little swim and ended the day with a goofy bowling session which I won! I entered the gate at 8 in the morning, and left the facility at 8 at night. I was toast but had the best time ever.
Day 4 at the States. Hi Everybody, Philip here to talk about my fourth day in the States. First we had to collect our stuff to go to Woodward West. We took our car and started our trip to the place I have been dreaming about for a very long time. First we went to Hollywood to watch the big letters in the mountains as we see it on television. After seeing a bit of hollywood I asked my dad to turn to Woodward because I couldn't wait any longer. Before arriving at Woodward we checked out Carl's Jr. I took
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.