WORK O’CLOCK

Beyond galavanting around the city to enrich our cultural encyclopaedias and grow our knowledge of far flung lands, we did have to bare witness to a lot of BMX riding.

A lot of BMX riding.

Kicking off what would be seven whole days of unbelievable park riding was FISE. Now in its twentieth year and more international than ever, this year’s final stop of the World Series was nestled in amongst trees and towering tenements in the south of Chengdu.

Heavy hitting park riders appear to have tripled in the last few years, along with the trick list. I’m not sure what a flip double whip translates to in Venezuelan or French, but ‘The Helicopter’ is now a par for the course, and a lot of riders are producing!

Saying this, not all are in desperate need of getting loose upside down to make their mark. A lot of dudes were rewarded highly for some creative course use and original lines, which goes to show the judging model and judges themselves are certainly giving notice to the subtleties some riders add into their runs. Examples of this? Pat Casey and Declan Brooks – they stood out as really showing the rest of the field how to get around the course in style.

“Pat Casey and Declan Brooks stood out as really showing the rest of the field how to get around the course in style.”

The roster of female riders seems to be ever growing too, and this time with the event being held in Asia it was great to see Japan’s Minato Like click some great looking turndowns and no handers. Korea’s Mini Park got some strong visits to the course under her belt, too. With Minato from Japan clocking a respectable 4th overall, and Park coming in 6th, they both proved consistency plays the ultimate role at any comp.

The top spots were filled by the usual suspects. The style and flow of Nevada local Angie Marino secured her third place and podium spot, boosting the hips and dipping toboggans like no one else on the day. German ripper (and prodigy of tech machine Tobias Wicke) Lara Lessman safely placed second with some solid lines, a truck driver and a rarely-seen barspin crankflip. Hannah Roberts swooped in to win, throwing Flairs, Truckdrivers and hitting almost all the ramps on offer.

Waiting outside the hotel lobby, collecting a fleet of bright yellow hire bikes we waited on Inaki Mazza, a young Argentinian rider. Recently added to the Superstar team roster (remember them?) Iki is one to look out for, trust me. Also joining us and leading the spot hunt around the unfinished sections of motorway was Van Homan. The man needs no introduction, and the streets weren’t ready for the session that was about to go down. (They actually weren’t ready, we only found 2 spots on a solid hunt.)

The few spots that we did find proved to be great fun – a double kinker attached to an access ramp was hammered home pretty easily by Van, while Iki made real good use of the high ledge to the right, sending a nollie bars and way clicked turndown onto the ramp. Each attempt made by each dude saw more crowds draw in, closer and closer while others carried on with their lunch and daily lives.

“We pedalled on through the hot and hazy streets, cranking along cracked brittle concrete beside enormous pillars supporting beige dashes of unfinished highways.”

Running the spot dry of ‘safe’ options we pedalled on through the hot and hazy streets, cranking along cracked brittle concrete beside enormous pillars supporting beige dashes of unfinished highways.

A buzz and murmur escalated as we drew closer to buckled steel fences, overgrown with weeds and plants. Beyond this, a street market revealed itself. Locals huddled and crouched around low tables, grazing on hot pots and noodles under the shade of makeshift awnings which nearly touched across the narrow walkways.

These are the moments that are simple and beautiful, the times you can’t plan. We didn’t rush through and instead let our minds switch from spot hunting mode to a more serene observational mode of thinking.

Piles of feathers littered steps and doorways, as if a series of ruthless pillow fights had been waged just hours before, and just opposite, the next contestants were caged up awaiting their fate. A compact menagerie of ducks, cocks and rabbits.

“These are the moments that are simple and beautiful, the times you can’t plan…”

The market turned to lanes, lanes to streets and our convoy eventually spilled out into a wide and wild road five lanes wide.

One more spot offered itself up to us, an accidental quarter made of subsided grass bank, a decent nibble but worthy only of a minute or two cardiovascular exertion. Iki shot the Bs and with that, the street mission began to wind down.

Our glossy hotel catching the afternoon light twinkled in the distance, a washed out cityscape enhanced by the contemporary beacon home to our modern comforts. There we retire and make preparations for an evening of buffet treats, and some surprisingly good sushi.

URBAN WORLDS

The three days that lay ahead would turn out to be some of the most surprising of the trip. As part of its first official toe dip into freestyle BMX the UCI created a new animal – the UCI Urban Worlds, a brand new platform of three very different cycling disciplines that would see each other in action at the same event for the first time.

It took place in a once placid and well landscaped public gardens with everything from towering rock faces to flower beds and boat lakes to the odd water feature even Charlie Dimmock would be proud of.

The whole of this quaint and idyllic oasis in the heart of Chengdu was purposefully transformed: random tyres, felled trees and pieces out of a real life tetris game saw the Trials contingent catered to, while bridges, random rock gardens and some ramps that resembled something you would have made out the front of your house in the early days kept the Cyclocross crew happy. The park course for Freestyle BMX was a rearrangement of the ever familiar black trannies used at FISE but also a concrete practice bowl had been purpose built for the event, just… because.

Like many of the bigger BMX events out there, practice was rife with numerous riders going over and under, swerving on flat to avoid head on collisions, wary of the classic T-bone.

“The UK flag got a little dirty after Coleborn went over the bars in a pretty savage T-bone with Jack Clark…”

We had all of that and then some, with a bunch of riders getting worked more than others. The UK flag got a little dirty after Coleborn went superman over the bars and jerked his knee in a pretty savage T-bone with Jack Clark. Sandoval and Konstantin Andreev of Russia performed a beautiful under over on the Box, 9 points to both sides there.

Fortunately there weren’t too many more full on clashes and as qualis and finals started, the course was locked down for destruction one rider at a time.

It goes without saying the level of riding was crazy high. This time, everyone competing was gunning for points to secure positions for future events – not only for the Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires next year, but also to put in a solid first effort for what is the first of many UCI events to tally up team points for Freestyle BMX’s introduction to the Olympic platform, Tokyo 2020.

There are big changes going on behind the scenes in BMX currently, with teams being created and the support behind them expanding in an effort to be ready for 2020, it’s exciting and it’s only going to help grow the sport. Despite the divisive nature of it all, the riding that happens at the events is awesome and the people doing it are the same as me and you.

Chengdu, ChengDONE.

Drummond out.