FATBMX Your Online BMX News Resource Since 1998

What's typical about the first night on every California trip coming from Europe is that you wake up early the first morning. The 9 hour time difference does that to you. 6am in Newport Beach, is 3pm in Helmond. You can't just switch instantly. But hey, the sun is shining, the beach only a minute away. Although chilly (8 degrees celcius) it's the perfect set-up for a little run/walk on the beach. I'm not a big runner any more but having these conditions outside of your doorstep would turn me into a daily runner, at least I thought so. Instead of heading in the direction of Huntington Beach I decided to head towards the Newport Beach pier. I tried to avoid getting wet feet from the waves coming onto the beach so running in a straight line wasn't much of an option as I wanted to avoid walking in the deep beach sand. Boy did it feel good. Considering being in the cold and wet only 24 hours ago and now walking on the beach, in the sunshine, palm trees everywhere....

A good Vacancy Coffee and a shower later we started off the day by heading to Sheep Hills. Normally the spot is under water in the winter time for a while but since it had not rained since February 2024(!!!!!) the trails were still rideable. My first time to Sheep was back in 1990. Considering it's now 2025 makes this spot legendary. After soaking up the energy of the dirt jumps the day continued with a quick visit to 3Bros Racing in Costa Mesa followed by a FOX HQ visit.

For many years I've done an annual winter trip to California. The first one being 1990 when 3 months were spent in San Diego. The winter weather in The Netherlands is simply shit if you want to keep riding your bike outdoors. The winters of 1991/1992 and 1992/1993 were spent in San Diego as well. Simpler times with nothing but riding and partying on the schedule. I do miss those times. In 1994 and 1995 we moved up to Huntington Beach and made life long friends in that corner. BMX Freestyle wasn't huge back then, and those who rode, had a passion for riding. Several of them stayed in BMX over the years and are now contacts to visit.

Getting to do these California trips with my son Philip (21) means a lot. This was our 3rd annual Cali trip together. For him to experience the sunshine lifestyle in 12 days is important. There is more in life than being in Helmond. With Philip's interest being focused on motocross we combined BMX and MX for the days we were there. Plans were made to visit dealers, friends, manufacturers, events, supercross races, lifestyle shops, and enjoy the palm trees with sunshine.

We left Helmond by taking the first train to Schiphol airport and managed to get checked in and all with time to spare. Thanks to the KLM status this process was easy and breakfast was spent in the lounge.