08/12/07 - RADBMX Xmas Bash...

This was a big one for me, my first RADBMX get together (I'd missed the last 3 or 4) & to say I was excited was an understatement! The buzz on the site threads was good & it seemed that everyone who was going, was well up for it :-) Saturday came around & I spent most of my day dialing my bike & car & getting everything else ready to go. Ray, Mikey & I decided to trip up in the Scenic & by 4:30pm we were all packed & on route...

I don't get to see my riding buddies very often outside of when we are sessioning together so the trip up was a good chance to catch up & talk bikes/cars/life etc. We arrived at the park early & upon entering, it dawned on me that the last indoor park I had ridden was this one about 3 years previously! I was excited & feelings of anticipation about the park were rising as the last time I had been there it was some kind of Xgaymes stylee place that I didn't really enjoy in the least. After a quick piss & loiter in the entrace, we had negotiated the secret password for entry & we were in. My initial impressions were "yeah that looks cool" "Ooow I like that bit!" "yeah that's all good" & "nice mini" I was thinking a good session was going to be on the cards...

As more & more RADBMXer's filtered in & the Xmas Jam kicked off, it was like going back in a time warp to 'BACK IN THE DAY' central! I mean riders with their very own style!? - Front Brakes! - seatposts! one & all enjoying their riding & having a great time.

We mainly sessioned the mini for a good while which was nice, skatelite, fast but the coping was a bit 'proud' for my liking if I care to split hairs ;-) Ray was all over the park like a nitrous fueled duracel bunny in what seemed like one continuous 5 hour run! Boy got stamina indeedy ;-) I rode around the park & checked out the 'new' spine mini setup which was evil & would probably take me a good few sessions to get to grips with so I opted out on this occasion. Alex, CBCL & Mason Smith seemed to have no such 'issues' with it & they continued to rip it up good! I enjoyed going backwards a lot, 50/50's down the escalator. the spine with a flat bank on one side deal was good for a mess about & Milks & I came up with some cheeky little numbers on that. The mini got most of my efforts & I made some nice litttle bits on it. Milkey made some disaster stuff & was trying some wheel jam type nose picks on the sub on the back of the mini & also some sweeeet footplant tailwhips on the flat bank & almost to fakie too ;-) Ray was more or less just a blur of spinning & tapping in a 'Tas' stylee & was blowing minds with some of his 'Icantevensaythattrickletalonedoit' signature moves, he pulled one of the smoothest 540's on the mini I have EVER witnessed too (which was probably wrong way too) :-)

After a few hours my left thigh started to cramp so I stepped down for a break. I took a big tin of Roses chocs with me as a small token of Crimbo spirit & so I went on a pilgrimage around the park dishing out choc's to all in attendance & managed to get rid of half the tin. Everyone was having a good time & I don't think there was a bad vibe in the house :-)

Milks & I went for a mooch upstairs to look at all the old skool hardware that people had lovingly assembled & there was some rather impressive bikes to behold.

I think one guy (pkradman?) got most of the prizes for his efforts & also one the raffle too! How lucky!? After the draw & prizes were all dished out we decided to go do a bit more riding which continued until the ‘park ranger’ decided it was time we all went home. We said our goodbyes, loaded up the bikes & charged on home.

I met some good people, saw some old friends again & enjoyed some good riding at the RADBMX Xmas Party Bash & would say it’s the best doo I’ve attended in a good long while, just like the good old days.

Roll on next time...


Thanks to Mikey for the pics.