Posts Tagged ‘BMX’

The Japanese national team have set up a BAGJUMP in Cardrona, New Zealand which is allowing valuable training for themselves, the German, Canadian, American and Kiwi snowboarders in the run-up to the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games in 2010.

“It’s a good opportunity to get the feeling on the take-off, get control in the air and being confident to land on my feet every time!“ Stefan Gimpl, pro-snowboarder.

This 15m x 15m multi-chambered airbag is giving riders the opportunity to practice new freestyle moves and double tricks. It is a revolutionary way to push the limits of extreme sports.

The BAGJUMP is the most cool invention ever and is not restricted to snowboarders. It can be used for  snowboard, ski, freeclimb, mountainbike, BMX, freefall, slackline, parcour, skateboard BigAir, SMX and pretty well anything else you can think of.

Imagine – instead of anticipating every bone in your body being smashed or at least bruised when trying to master a new trick – with the BAGJUMP you can practice ever more impossible tricks because you know that your landing will be on a soft absorbing cloud!

It allows jumps up to 50 meters (164ft) and off-center landings and it even has an adjustable landing softness. It looks such fun!

The material is strong and very resiliant – witness this video with BMXs using the BAGJUMP

“… being able to try new tricks for big air contests with the assurance of the BAGJUMP I’m more concentrated on my take off and airtime” Georg Engel, pro-biker

Thank you to Bagjump for the videos.

Because of the high-tech design, developed by pro-snowboarders and stuntmen, there is no way you can break through the bag onto the ground or bounce  off it like on a trampoline.

As well as being a training aid it is also a fun-device for all freestyle orientated athletes of ANY skill level and for this reason resorts, sports centres and campus’ around the world are beginning to invest in them.

Air bag training is the wave of the future for high level action sports athletes attempting to raise the standard in a controlled environment and national teams from around the world are lining up to get training on air bags in an effort to prepare for the Olympics.

Last week we wrote about mountain biking and the varieties of mountain biking that have developed – including downhill, freeride, trial/street and finally XC. Undoubtedly extreme but our question today is whether BMX eclipses the freeride and trial/street riding of mountain bikes as the most extreme form of the sport.

We will let you decide for yourselves but there is no doubt about it – BMX has become very extreme.

The development of BMX bikes came from kids on the west coast in the 1970s wanting to emulate what their older brothers were doing on their motor cross bikes when they only had a Sting Ray to use. The sport blossomed and its development is best described in the video below from RiChArDOsZ

Times have moved on and the old Sting Ray has been replaced by purpose built BMX bikes.  In 2008, for the first time, there was BMX bike racing at the Olympic games held in Beijing, China.

It’s the Xperience09 Weekend at Tynemouth, North Tyneside on the weekend of the 24th and 25th October – the second time round for this competition. Thousands of extreme sport enthusiasts and spectators from across Europe are expected to gather there.

A weekend of extreme sports… what more could you possibly want?! There will be BMX, in-line skating, surfing and snow sports on offer. Even better, if you’re just planning on going along as a spectator you will be able to join in on the action and hone your skills by learning new tricks from the pros.

Team Extreme, the organisers of the event, have been in the business for 20 years and know everything there is to know about extreme sports. They will not disappoint with this event.

The serious part of the event is the surfing. This is the UKPSA North East Open, part of the Triple Crown of Surfing.  Dozens of surfers from around the world will be there to compete for prize money and tour points in the icy North Sea at Longsands Beach, including the current men and women open champions, Sam Lamiroy and Caroline Perret

The North East can provide some of the best quality waves in the country, though the swell unfortunately only lasts for a short period of time. However, surfers are known to accept challenges anywhere and as  Dave Reed of UK Pro Surf says, “We had a fantastic event last year at Tynemouth.  To be associated with all the other activities raised the profile of not just surfing but all extreme sports  and we look forward to returning to Xperience09!”

But, this is not just a surfing weekend – it is an EXTREME SPORTS weekend too. Some of the best UK snowboarders and skiers will be there demonstrating their skills as they catch some serious air on the specially built ramps and if you fancy giving something a go, you will be able to try the snow tubing ramp for free.

For avid BMXers and skateboarders, Team Extreme will be offering coaching sessions and a massive Big Top will also feature a half pipe and skatepark. There will also be a smaller skatepark for younger participants hoping to fine tune their skills at a tender age.

In addition there will be live music, DJ’s, urban art and the country’s leading beatboxers including Bellatrix – the Queen of Beatboxing (c4mc4st):

Xperience’09 is set to be bigger and better this year…

For more information visit www.xperience-festival.com The full schedule will be confirmed shortly.

We were lucky enough to be in the mountains again this weekend with some great snow to be found in the mountains above the Val d’Allos – as we watched the pistes from our chairlift we saw something new – something bobbing its way down the steepest of mountains and going at break neck speed – not a snowboarder, not a skier – wait a minute that thing has handle bars and yet it is on a snowboard – it was, we discovered later, a snowscoot – the result of marrying a snowboard with a BMX.

What incredible fun it looks – you are able to experience the same sensations of snowboarding, riding a scooter and riding a BMX all at the same time. The snowscoot is the brainchild of Frenchman Frank Pitou who in the mid 1990s developed the concept of riding down a mountain on a scooter.

The first video from 8ogcrew below will demonstrate what we are talking about in a better fashion than our humble words can describe – thank goodness for Youtube. It shows the great manoeuverability of the snowscoot – how you can jump, slalom, race and scoot in any conditions.

Yes thats right, any conditions – smoothly bashed pistes to powder fresh snow and the steeper the mountain the better. The snowscoot consists of two skis, the front one being the same width as a snowboard but not much more than 35cms in length, and it is this ski which gives you the ability to turn so very sharply. The back board is narrower, being no more than the width of a monoski, but it is of course longer – the whole snowscoot being approximately 1.60 metres and weighing in at 9 to 13 kgs ( 20 to 30 pounds).

We only saw one of these snowscoots the whole weekend so it is not like we are going to be swept off the mountains by this latest toy but if it does take off – like snowboarding did 15 years ago – then you can expect to see a few more.

The countdown is on – just 2 days to go before the ABA’s BMX Grand Nationals start at the Expo Square in Tulsa, Oklahoma and what a superb weekend it promises to be. Folk are real excited about the track that has been built and the weekend promises to be full of thrills and spills as the world’s best descend on OK.

Below is a schedule of the event – note in particular the race of Champions on Friday 28th and the Grand Nationals the following day. Further you should not miss out on the exhibition pro spectacular on the Friday evening.

There’s gonna be a lot of people down there so why not presign for your event – go online to www.ababmx.com and you will find all the information you need, it will save you a lot of time and frustration.

Finally a word of advice – take a lock and cable – a stolen bike is gonna ruin your fun, you’ll be mighty pissed off but every year it happens.

Below the schedule of events is a video from GMOSTL of some of the action from the 14x event in 2007 – more of the same.

2008 Schedule – ABA Grands

Thank you to madnessiscool for this little bit of early morning madness.