Whenever there’s a Metal Pegs BMX jam you know it’s going to be a good turnout. Dan Hartley and the boys organised a full weekend of street chaos over the late May bank holiday, with two routes planned on two separate days. I could only make the first day – but that was more than enough. There was amazing riding all day, the weather held out, hundreds of street beers were drunk, and we had the classic Metal Pegs boom box at every spot too.

Words, photos and video by Robin Pearson

You hear about lots of ‘jams’ that in reality are actually just contests. Jams with prizes, jams with a podium… There’s none of that here! This was just a simple get together of somewhere in the region of 80 dudes, cruising the streets and riding for fun. Perfect.

The meet up point for this jam was Peckham Library, a kind of open plaza spot with a mellow rail, a few little stair sets and some bumps. The rail got sessioned pretty hard by a small crew, while others either rode the bumps or just chatted with old friends and got the first few beers down. We probably spent about two and a half hours there before heading out to a fun little spot in an estate down the road. When we showed up, people were shouting about a skatepark… It was a little courtyard with banks around the edge – pretty much a skatepark! Plenty of interesting, creative riding went down here, with the brick walls and banks seeing a few lines and the concrete table getting most of the action. The bin even had a look in.

Next up was a rail spot on the cycle path – both sides, both heavily sessioned. These rails were really short… Yet somehow some wild things went down. Chase’s 180 rail bonk was mad! Cruising on, we found ourselves at the big blue banks. A lot of people just chilled on the grass, Ben Gordon rode the double decker bike up the bank, and other people did some very good bike riding.

At the next spot, we had a bit of a crowd. This was a concrete hip, right in the middle of a housing estate that was probably a touch on the sketchy side. But at that point, so was everyone’s riding, so never mind.

Shout out to Metal Pegs for always getting everyone together. On to the next!