020 Trails, something for everyone! NOW PLUS MOVIE!!!!

Oct 23, 2007

Written by Bart de Jong

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The Red Bull Backyard Diggers made their way to our beloved capital Amsterdam for some serious building, just like at the former two stops. Especially for the grand opening on Sunday afternoon, the sun acted as if it was summer and made for a perfect ending of an amazing Red Bull Backyard Digger series. With the building of street theatre group ISH on one side and an army survival style track on the other side, the choice of location for this dirt course was an obvious one. During the week leading up to the opening on Sunday, enormous amounts of dirt were delivered on an open field as big as a soccer pitch. French pro dirt rider Patrick Guimez, who spent the entire Red Bull Backyard Digger series chilling in the Netherlands, decided on the lines and the take off once again and got to work, with the help of the enthusiastic Amsterdam locals.

Upon arrival on Sunday morning, the end result of their hard work is amazing. An enormous take-off gives you the speed you need to hit

two different lines: a monstrous big line of three sets and a more human line, existing of 4 sets.

Right next to these main lines is the kiddy line, which was already in full effect on Sunday morning. The variety in lines and difficulty not only gives the trained Amsterdam locals a place they feel at home, but the local ‘Osdorp’ youth felt right at home immediately. On bikes of all sorts they work their way through the kiddy line. Great to see is the attendance of the entire Leende crew, who have progressed incredibly since Red Bull came to their town for the first leg of the Backyard series.

Ten-year-old Richard got wind of the event through a friend of his. Next to the Red Bull Hummer, on which DJ Dirk Diggler was at it once again, Richard is going through a Red Bull dispenser unit, looking for a Red Bull light. He exclaims enthusiastically: ‘Yeah, I’m gonna get a BMX now! I think I’ll start off with the small jumps and maybe after that the bigger ones. I live right around the corner, so it’s really easy for me to come out here and practice.’

The official opening of the ‘020 trails’ is done by Achmed Baâdoud, of local council of city suburb Osdorp, responsible for sports and sport venues. In his speech he mentions how proud he is of this Red Bull supported event and exclaims his hope to turn this spot into a place that schools as well will endorse and take up in their school program: ‘Next to traditional sports, there should be a place for sports that really appeal to the youth. This course gives room for these kinds of innovative sports.’ With the help of local initiator Barry Kohne, who is temporarily out with a broken leg, he symbolically smashed a bottle of champagne against one of the two diggers.

MC Mischa FSO proceeds to announce the demo in a way only he can, after which a selected group of riders attack the biggest line of the course. Some riders such as Maityn and Bas Brouwer are having a hard time clearing the first set. Patrick Guimez has an obvious explanation for this: ‘The jumps are still fresh and soft, that’s why you loose a lot of speed. Within a week the jumps will be even better than today and everyone will get through the big line easily.’ Standout riders this day are without a doubt Patrick Guimez and Mark Vos, thirteen-year-old local rider Jonas agrees with me. Jonas his knowledgeable judgment: ‘Mark Vos was definitely the best rider today, but that flip whip by that crazy French guy was awesome as well!’

After a day of intense riding, the festivities are brought to an end with an appropriate BBQ for all people who helped out. But this didn’t hold anyone back to keep riding the course. When the darkness of the night sheds it’s shadows over the jumps, organizer Michiel Verberg decides to bring out his car and lighten up the last set, which is sessioned deep after the night kicks in. Long live the 020 trails!