The Sugar Beet Bike Park in Brighton, Colorado finally got its much given dedication and opening celebration. The park, driven through the process by Logan Holland and conceptualized and designed by Plus Size BMX, had its day in the sun with music, BBQ, clinics and some big tricks. Just the way a park should.
With torrential rains all over Colorado’s front range, a blue hole formed over downtown Denver just in time for some wild riding. Plus Size BMX along with TRVE Brewing hosted an improvised sidewalk jam for visiting SE Bikes Team riders. Kris Fox, Pat “Big Daddy” Laughlin, Josh Clemens and Ross Lanier got up close and personal with fans and pedestrians alike on the sidewalk of South Broadway for a quick “up-box” jam. Locals came out to join the fun as well, with Colorado local DJ Brandt showing everyone that he too could rip it up on a 20″ bike.
Later the crew moved on to the Denver Skate Park and were treated to a fantastic sunset and some sick tricks. Not a bad night for Friday the 13th!
The 2013 Colorado Freeride Festival was held the weekend of July 27th in Winter Park, Colorado and the event appeared to be a huge success. The Trestle Bike Park crew along with FMB rider Kelly McGarry built a course that featured huge hits and technical features. The progression of tricks the competitors worked through, as finals approached, was unbelievable. Big crowds, big air and lots of fun highlighted a great event.
It’s crazy how a day can turn out. I had the opportunity to go up to Vail and shoot the 2013 Winter Mountain Games for Plus Size BMX. I was so excited to go and shoot great riders going off of a huge ramp, pulling amazing tricks on snow no less. What a cool thing to shoot.
The main event was going to feature a giant ball of fire after each athlete went off of the jump. Cool right? Not so cool for trying to nail low light exposures. I have been very reluctant to jump into the big remote strobe world. I like to move around when I shoot and move my lighting as well, not being tied to a static light source. To say that my approach was different then the other photographers covering the event is an understatement. The lights-stands and strobes that were set up looked like a glade more suited for tree skiing. I got nervous pretty fast. I had decided to travel light due to potentially snowy, wet conditions. I had even elected to leave the light stand, that I do occasionally carry, in the car. There were going to be lights for the event that should work with my highly sensitive very fancy camera.
That proved to be wishful thinking and I was beginning to scramble. The event was about to begin, I could not seem to synch-up with any light from the many other strobes and the images that I was getting were junk. A great photographer once told me that creating images that are different is a good thing. I agree under some circumstance but this was not one of them. I recalled a term used by another of my favorite photographers, the Voice-Activated Light-stand or VAL. I had an epiphany.
My Father had come with me. He had a great day of skiing and had received a spare press pass as my assistant. Little did he know that he was going to be called into duty. I dug through my bag grabbed an extra flash, messed with my camera settings, gave a two minute lecture on what I wanted him to do and the event was underway. It worked! My Father or assistant or VAL proved to be awesome and I got some pretty interesting images of a really great event.
I don’t usually create such wordy posts here. I like to let the images speak for themselves but…..It sure is interesting how a day can turn out.
Results of the 2013 Winter Mountain Games Best Trick Bike:
1st Garrett Robertson
2nd Chris Van Dine
3rd DJ Brandt
4th Zach Lewis
5th Tanner Leslie
6th Eric Johnson
7th Alan Mandel
Unfortunately, Dominic Megalli was injured during the practice session and was unable to compete.
On a great Colorado bluebird day in January a fantastic group of riders headed to Windsor’s Eastman Park to ride bikes. Nice.
On a weird day in Colorado that had mid-day temps in the 60’s then snow by afternoon a young Texas stud put on quite a show at Valmont Bike Park in Boulder. Not to be deterred by gusting winds, Plus Size BMX & Black Market Bikes rider Clayton Shank no-handered, whipped and flipped off the best of what this park has to offer. Near empty on a beautiful Monday in January, the few that were on hand got to see some phenomenal riding by this young man.
Big Tex or Mr. Clayton, as my 6 year old calls him, holds a special place in our hearts. He is Elsa’s de facto private bike instructor and according to her is “the man”. I couldn’t ask for a better role model.
Enjoy a collection of recent images of Big Tex from this past weekend. Hard to believe it’s January. Got to love Colorado!
Yesterday I stopped by Barnum North Bike Park in Denver and hooked up with my friend Clayton Shank for some an awesome dirt jump session. Clayton is a fantastic up and coming rider with big plans for the future.
Clayton is fortunate to be supported in his love of riding from some great companies. Black Market Bikes, Plus Size BMX, the Fix Bike Shop, IXS Sports Division, VP Pedals, Novik Gloves and Evo Hemp all see something special in Clayton. Once you see this kid do his thing you will know why.
Clayton’s goals for next season reach almost as high as his signature “whips”. Road trips to compete across the county and a coveted top 10 in the inaugural season of Colorado’s own Outlaws of Dirt series are just the beginning of what Mr. Clayton has set his sights on.
Good Luck Clayton.
I had to post an update on the progress of one of the front range’s newest bike parks. Saturday was the first day that Brighton Jumpsot was sort of open. RIders got to test all of the features and burn in jump lines on what will soon be one of the hottest places for riders of all abilities to work their skills.
Logan Holland, the guys from Plus Size BMX, Gromspot and all of the local volunteers have done a fantastic job creating a jumping masterpiece.
Just before Halloween at Longmont’s Sandstone Bike Park, a group of riders came together for an extraordinary event that featured tricks, treats, costumes and crashes. The riders showed their skills and pushed their limits. The “call-out” format, which was MC’d by Longmont’s own Mike Murfitt Jr. had contestants on their toes and digging deep into their individuals bags of tricks. For those that are not familiar, a “call-out” involves a specific trick to be done on a specific feature of Sandstone’s incredibly varied terrain. The contest finale was a treacherous event in one of the larger bowls where all of the riders entered at once, attempted to avoid collisions and crowned the winner as the last to put a foot down.
Sponsors included Plus Size BMX, Joe’s Bike Shop, Outlaws of Dirt and Kink & Sunday Bikes. Needless to say the day was a spectacle and spooktacular good time.
The Friends of Barnum North Bike Park, Plus Size BMX, Gromspot, the City of Denver, BikeDenver.org and Winter Park Resorts held an fantastic event on a cloudy and then rainy Saturday this October. The event featured great riding, free hotdogs and a wonderful raffle where Denver’s own Mayor Michael Hancock presented a lucky winner with a new bike. The “friends” maintain the park as volunteers headed up by Nick Solonincka, of Salvagetti’s Bike Shop and park designer Phil Rowe. Thanks to all that showed up and too bad it rained so hard.
