Monday, April 22

Bike 2002

By Josh Root
EXPN.com

Bike 2000 and Bike 2001 were contests run by Ian Morris and the crew at Seventies Distribution. This year, they decided to run the Backyard Jam series instead. So organizing Bike 2002 went to the capable Zach Shaw. I wasn't really sure what to expect at the event. To get press passes, I had to go through some sort of Public Relations firm. Don't get me wrong, they were very nice and it all went smoothly, but it's just a little strange to deal with something like that for a non-TV event. Bike 2002 was mainly a bike trade show. I had sort of put this out of my mind during all of my traveling and other work I was doing. But let me tell you, I was reminded the minute I stepped through the doors.

Trade shows are a crazy place. Some people see them as a place to check out new gear, or maybe score some free stuff. Me, I see them as a huge annoyance. 63 different kinds of music blaring from every corner of the room, announcers trying to "stoke" the crowd for whatever mountain bike demo is going on at the moment, scary slutty girls in vinyl pants handing out stickers at the booth of some shady bike company. Maybe I'm getting old and jaded, but that kind of stuff isn't BMX to me. Especially after being at two amazing BMX rider run events in the past month (Toronto LaRevolution and the Telford Backyard Jam. And to be fair, I should point out that Zach Shaw is a rider and a good guy), I was a little blown away by all of it. It's like Principle Skinner says in the "Maison Deriere" episode of the Simpson's "I was just there to get directions on how to get away from there".

Alex Jumlin works it.

Good thing I didn't though, because the riding was really very good. I'd give you a full results list. But neither Zach or the guys at the PR firm could get it togeher to send them to me. Don't know what to tell you about that. The flatland course looked pretty good. But then again, what do I know? The riding was particularly solid though. The best trick contest gave the riders a chance to throw down their hardest links without having to worry about making a whole contest run out of it. Seeing as how flatland is harder than practically anything else on earth, the tricks that went down would have to be classified as........uh....even harder. I feel like an idiot, but I can never think of how to explain something like flatland. Someone should just make up some new adjectives for it. Maybe I'll get around to that before the next contest.

The street course looked a little shady, but turned out to be solid. And unlike most of the recent contests I've been to, it included a miniramp in the street course. Yes, we all know that a miniramp is not technically "street". But neither are perfect quarterpipes, jumpboxes or ramps in general. I like watching people riding mini, and it's something that has been missing from most every contest over the past couple of years (with the notable exception of the Worlds in Germany). There were a bunch of good riders there both from the UK and abroad. Daniel Randal, Bruce Crisman, and Rich Hirsch all made the long trip from Portland to represent the Northwest USA. Sadly, none of them made the finals for some reason. Rich especially was robbed as his run was really smooth. Josh Heino was there, attacking whatever line he felt was most interesting. Adam Streiby opened up his bag of tricks on the jump box.

Ben Manual, tabletop for the camera.

I feel like a jerk for not being able to remember the names of all the UK/Europe riders that I saw and met. Especially since they were the ones who really blew the place apart. Big gaps, subrail handplants to barspin out, a huge manual across the top of the wallride, and plenty of tailwhips were just part of what my feeble mind can remember.

The best was seeing Gary Young win though. He's a really nice guy and one of the riders who rode well in the finals at Telford and should have placed higher there than he did. All that was forgotten after seeing the amazement on his face at winning Bike 2002.

Vert had two parts. A rather strange best trick contest, which turned into a sort of "Dash for Cash" type of thing. There were all of these envelopes with money that Zach was handing out for various tricks. I don't really know how it all went down. But Simon Tabron and Edwardo Terrera were looking pretty good. The next day was the regular vert comp. And pretty much all there is to say about that is that Jamie Bestwick returned to his native soil and schooled the place. X-up to x-up to turndown all in one air. How does that even happen?

Adam Streiby launches up and out.

Annoying trade show or BMX contest with amazing riding? It's a tossup I guess, so you'll have to decide yourself. It just comes down to another contest that lets riders do what they want and cares about their input enough to hire good people to set it all up.

Related Photos:
Bike 2002