FATBMX Your Online BMX News Resource Since 1998

Michael de Wit aka King of Choq and Marek de Heus decided to make a little trip to the Arizona desert and check out the new Chandler Bike Park. Yes, you read it; bike park. This means no skateboards, fruitbooters or any other weird contraptions, just 20 inch bikes. In short the park is awesome, and has basically everything except for a full pipe: tons of hips, spines, sub boxes, transitions of all sizes and much more. Whoever designed it did a great job. 

Nate Wessel and Ron Kimler are at it again. Francisco Zurita managed to sneak out some photos of the building of the new indoor street course at Woodward West. From the looks of it Nate has gone creative again. Although it's not finished yet, with a working crew like this it wouldn't be long until the new section in the Hangar can be shredded.

Today we visited the grand opening of the new vert ramp at the Fazantenkamp in Maarssenbroek, Holland. After years of driving the local council crazy, the riders and skaters in town received a new vert ramp. It's four sheets wide, made out of metal and on the day of the grand opening, the builders had to set up the amount of vert on each side to make it rideable. After a 5 minute speech, 5 minutes of trying to break the bottle (vessel style), a 5 minute demo 

The Dutch are great in making events clash. There's not much going on all year long but when it's time to get together, you can count on two events on the same date. The opening of the new vert ramp in Maarssenbroek is taking place on 2 June next. Also the jumps at the same spot (Fazantenkamp) received an upgrade. If you feel like riding some vert and/or dirt, meet up in Maarssenbroek on Saturday for the grand opening.

Yo dudes another Update cause I love 2 work & I think more people should.......sheeattt......well I went 2 tha Aisan X-Games N Shang-Hi 2 do sum hostin'.........rode tha biggest skatepark N tha world....... take care!
Respect,
THorne Biker-N-Black

Yo here Is tha finished product of my yard...........took 3 months 2 build, 10 hours a day.........sheeattt sucked but It was all worth It........It's a spot 2 practice & learn free from tha haters! Ha! Ha! Anyhow I wanted 2 share these with U all & 2 all my sponsors please send them stickers my way, I have much more room 2 tag these bad boyz!
Take care,
THorne 

If the local council doesn't cooperate with your request of making a spot available to build dirt jumps, there's always the possibility to do it yourself. You can't have it close to where people live. The more people/kids know about it, the sooner they'll be destroyed. Find a location that you normally would never go to. Check the dirt. If it has a hilly section that's a plus too. The folks in Bochum, Germany have been digging and riding at the same spot for years. It's hidden in the woods and no we're not going to tell you where it is. Dig your own.

Public trails are hard to find. Most of the time they're private or hidden in the bush so  noone can find them. This will protect the jumps from being killed by people who don't know what they're for. Another option is the Abflughalle in Germany which is an indoor dirt spot where you have to pay to ride. The Helm Trails at the Johannes Vermeerlaan in Helmond are a public spot. Everyone can ride at any time of the day. For free. Truckloads of dirt were dropped but the last  couple of truckloads had the wrong dirt. That's why the locals are trying to get some more dirt from the local council. Dirt that holds up under the riding and the rain. Good sessions have been going on regardless and the building process never stops. Kids have their own section and also this part of the trails is being sessioned heavily. The part of the city where the trails are located (Helmond Noord) doesn't really have the best reputation but the trails are a perfect fit and we yet have to face the first incident. Last year's Helm Jam was a success and the next jam is scheduled for 9 September 2007. Until that time let's hope that the truckloads of dirt arrive to add some jumps and to fix up the existing ones with a new layer.

A lot of time has passed but now the waiting is over… and to be worth while! Next to the “Middle of the Night” there will be a whole day only for bikes from May on! Mondays will be reserved exclusively for BMX and MTB. “Open Bike” kicks off on Monday the 14th of May and if the weather keeps up, this day will be celebrated with a barbeque and cold drinks! Besides there is a new web page and new ramps are planned as well.
- From the 14th of May, each Monday: “Open Bike”

Singapore was a good time. It rules to receive invitations to go places that you've never been to before. Before I left I had not checked out much about Singapore. I had no clue about their currency, language, dimensions, regulations or any of that. It's a bit stupid to not look into that but I was ready for some adventure. On the way up on the stupid long 12 hour non-stop flight I sat next to Tobias Wicke and his girlfriend Claudia. At least I had travel company which is always good. On arrival we were picked up by a Singapore local who held a sign: