FATBMX Your Online BMX News Resource Since 1998

With communities and tracks across America slowly reopening, USA BMX is working hard to confirm our originally scheduled events for 2020. As you can imagine, this is no easy task. We continue to work daily to assist local tracks in reopening, and currently less than a third are operating at some capacity. We are also rescheduling postponed national series events while navigating ever evolving guidelines. In some cases we are going to the extreme measure of finding tracks not previously on the schedule that can host an event. With that being said, we know your questions center around the return of the pro series. Unfortunately, restarting the pro series at this time is an impossible task considering these unprecedented circumstances.

Here are the challenges:

-Host sites are slow to confirm their ability to host races as originally planned. So while we'd love to say the pro series events on the schedule will happen, we just don't know.
-International travel bans limit some of our usual pro participants.
-The financial commitment to offer standard pro purses runs counter to our current focus of bringing back our employees who remain furloughed.
-Our Pro Series sponsor GoPro has canceled their sponsorship for 2020 due to the COVID-19 crisis. This not only eliminates the GoPro Cup Series but negatively impacts our sponsorship forecast for 2020.

In an effort to provide USA BMX women pro riders more options to compete, we have implemented a

"It is with heavy hearts that we have to close our doors after eight great years due to unforeseen circumstances (COVID-19). The Kitchen was Brett Banassiewicz's dream and we are happy to have been able to share it with you all. This skatepark was more than just a place to ride and we can’t thank you all enough for the support over the years.

To celebrate everything The Kitchen has been to all of us, come join us for one last weekend of riding May 29-31. Let’s pack this place!"

The Australian Cycling Team is pleased to announce the Athlete Memberships across all disciplines for 2020/21. In BMX, three athletes - Natalya Diehm (BMX Freestyle) and Lauren Reynolds and Izaac Kennedy (BMX Race) will receive Individual Athlete Performance Support (IAPS) memberships. The trio joins reigning world champion Brandon Loupos, 2017 world champion Logan Martin, plus Saya Sakakibara and Anthony Dean. 

Caroline Buchanan (BMX Race) has not been offered a new BMX IAPS membership, however, she will receive transitional support until August 2020. Kai Sakakibara (BMX Race) is receiving support as he continues recovery and rehabilitation following a racing accident in February.

“As we continue to prepare for the resumption of racing, and ultimately the Olympics and Paralympics in 2021, the confirmation of athlete memberships gives everyone a chance to continue to sharpen their focus on their preparation and individual progress and development,” said Simon Jones, Australian Cycling Team Performance Director. “I would like to thank those team members exiting the program for their commitment to their own personal development and to the Australian Cycling Team program as a whole. “Re-entry to the program for these athletes is possible. Sometimes, stepping back and taking time away from something can be a way to move forward if their ambition and desire remain.”

After many discussions regarding how to deliver an edition of FISE World Series Montpellier that can meet the safety and security requirements needed in response to COVID-19, Hurricane Events, in consultation with our partners, has taken the decision to organize a fully digital FISE Montpellier event in 2020.
Due to the impact of COVID-19, Hurricane Events had initially adapted it’s events calendar in order to hopefully take advantage of more favorable conditions this summer. Given the ongoing situation and the new measures announced by the French government on April 28th, this plan had to be revised to ensure the health and wellbeing of all festival attendees, which remains our main priority.

According to a media survey commissioned by Estonia’s action sports series Simple Session 2020, the event reached 735 million people worldwide via traditional and social media. The report compiled by Meltwater, a digital media monitoring company established in Norway and based in San Francisco, finds that mentions of this year’s Simple Session festival had a cumulative reach of almost three-quarters of a billion people. The report counted social media posts, as well as traditional digital media articles published online. The survey was conducted over three months: from January 1st to March 31st 2020.

Within the first quarter of 2020 Simple Session amounted 4259 mentions in social media. This number

Eight-time BMX champion Matthias Dandois will perform acrobatics on his bike as part of a special FIAF:Talks event on how athletes have been coping with confinement during the COVID-19 crisis. Originally from Paris and now quarantined in a Brooklyn apartment, Dandois will share how he has been able to continue his BMX practice and explain how confinement has actually sparked his creativity. He will discuss how important maintaining a workout routine can be in relieving stress and keeping you sane during this difficult time.

Dandois will be joined by Patrick McEnroe, sports commentator, former professional tennis player, and former captain of the United States Davis Cup team. McEnroe will speak about his personal experience spending a month in quarantine recovering from COVID-19.

Dandois and McEnroe will answer viewer questions live on Zoom and Facebook.

Free & open to all. A Zoom link will be sent to the RSVP list on the day of the event.

The official word about the cancelation of the 2020 X Games in Minneapolis can be found below. Looks like not much will be happening in the coming months but once the green light will be given internationally, things will be off the hook. Charge them batteries now.

“Due to the ongoing COVID-19 concerns, X Games Minneapolis 2020 – July 17-19 – has been cancelled. The safety of the athletes, staff and spectators is our top priority, and we will continue to closely monitor

Dear VANS PRO CUP friends,

Hope you are staying healthy and safe during this time of uncertainty.

As we’ve all come to witness, we are currently facing an unprecedented global crisis that has impacted the way we live, work and interact as a global community. It has caused global disruptions and changes to the way businesses operate beyond what could have been imagined. In light of the COVID-19 situation, our brand has been taking a series of precautionary steps to ensure that the health and wellbeing of our Vans Family and the global community remains our top priority. This has involved postponing or canceling upcoming owned events globally through to closing our corporate offices and Vans retail locations across North America, Europe and select locations in Asia Pacific.

As a global brand focused on connecting with our consumers around the world through experiences and spaces that bring their creativity to life, Vans will always prioritize the health and wellbeing of our consumers and staff.

With that said, we have made the difficult decision to cancel the 2020 Vans BMX Pro Cup Series season.

This was not an easy decision, but one we feel is necessary in the current state of uncertainty.

Join Flatland BMX riders Terry Adams and Matthias Dandois LIVE on @RedBullBike this Friday, April 24 at 1pm ET / 12pm CT where both riders will be streaming from their homes. Terry will be streaming from his garage in his hometown of Hammond, Louisiana and will be joined by Matthias who will be going live from his apartment in Manhattan.

They will be sharing the screen while social distancing. One does tricks while the other narrates the tricks and interacts with fans. They switch it up, go back and forth, have some fun banter - trying to one-up each other.

Terry Adams: "Flatland is my heart and soul," he says. "I will do everything I can to help it grow." Growing up in Hammond, Louisiana, a small town about an hour outside of New Orleans, Terry discovered Flatland BMX when he was 12. Terry began competing in flatland contests at 16, and since then has amassed an impressive number of awards and accolades, including an X Games gold medal and two NORA Cup wins. These days, in between competing and continuing to pioneer his discipline, Terry is now widely regarded as the ambassador for flatland, taking part in demos all over the world.

Matthias Dandois: Matthias was crowned the world's best BMX flatlander at the age of just 19, but the

etnies, the global action sports footwear and apparel company, has been donating shoes to the homeless of Los Angeles for 23 years and will keep on helping those in the streets despite the COVID-19 pandemic. For etnies, it is a tradition to celebrate Good Friday on Skid Row giving shoes to the homeless during the Los Angeles Mission Easter Event, which is cancelled this year. However, that is not stopping the company from continuing with their giving tradition to the city’s most vulnerable.

For the past two decades, etnies has collectively donated tens of thousands of shoes. This year, the brand is extending the opportunity to its loyal fans to help the brand reach an all-time total goal of 50,000 shoes to those in need through the giveback program.  For every pair of shoes sold on the etnies site from Thursday, April 9 through Sunday, April 12, 2020, the brand will donate an additional pair of shoes to the homeless. 

“Doing something meaningful and purposeful for the homeless community has always been very