Coming Home Jam Wrap-up...

One week ago today riders from Portland, Vancouver, Grants Pass, Yamhill, Beaverton, Carlton, McMinnville, The Dalles and more, gathered at on Skatepark in Forest Grove for a good time. When I arrived there had to be well over 50 people lining the decks of the park and it blew me away. By mid day there were well over a hundred riders with their kids, girlfriends or parents. To my amazement the Jumps area of the park was also in full swing, a super bumpy six pack that seemed to bring smiles and zero complains about their condition. It was almost surreal to me to see this idea my friend, the city planners and myself had all culminating into such a great place for the modern day family.

The day really blew me away and I think it is one of the things that not only made my trip home memorable, but my whole life as a member of the Northwest more meaningful. I would be lying if I tried to deny the overwhelming rush of emotion I had when the day was said and done. As I drove home the awesomeness that is OUR BMX Scene all came into focus and I wished more people would take initiative to make everyone come together. We are only as strong as our bond, and I think after last weekend, our bond is stronger than ever. Thanks to one and all for coming out and blessing me with the best compliment I could get, "Today was so fun, you doing this again next year?"

I would love to, now I just have to figure out how to top it.-bdubbs was here.

Click below to actually read more!

Skid Contest Winner: Adam Londry. Fron the word go, I knew this kid was going to win it. He had that look in his eye's and with every contestant dropping like flies and the rest cheering him on he did it. The final go he put everything he had into it and boom. He got a good pop and sent his bike and collapsed in pure exhaustion. I couldn't have asked for a better first event.

Longest Manual Winner (Hosted by Ari): Vince Kroff/ Shawn McIntosh Vince took it by the rules, around the park and out and around the sidewalk. Shawn dropped in before another go by Vince and took his sidewalk route. Towards the end Shawn hopped into the Hang-5 and Vince continued on his heels. Vince hooked a dude up with his prize and another memorable moment was made.

Long Jump: Scott Cyphers, Honorable mentions: Ryan Sher, clearing even further than last year. Vince for coming within 5 feet with a 360. Caleb Rueker, Huge No-Foot can son! Justin Inman, style for almost a mile.

Best Trick On/Over the Large Volcano: Sher Foot-jammed so f-ing steep on Scott's front tire. Scott ehn ducked down so Thadeus could get a hand plant on his back done. Thad did take it quite a few times before doing the deed. Honorable mention was Hucke with his Can Can Lookback Jam. That tricked looks nuts, so good! Thad took the win and the prizes with the hand plant.

Rail Jam: It was a long hard fight between Travis Gardner and Shawn McIntosh. Travis, Crank Arm Slid down the rail, double up to hanger, smith feeble hardway down the ledge, over smithed and on and on. Dude had a lot of moves. In the end he was almost getting a crank arm slide up the rail. Had he done that he would have sealed the deal against Shawn. But Shawn fired out a double up to huge pop-out hardway. It was pretty dialed and all the judges agreed to give him the win.

Best Trick to Flat: This was the final event of the day. Everyone expected Casey Martin to take it, but by the time the event came around he and his bike were busted up and he had gone home. So 3 gladiators of flat stepped up and took to only obvious route to flat. From the small planter quarter over the planter and to deep FLAT. Thad talked it over with his council and was the first to decide to go for it. He launched and landed a little back heavy causing him to take of a foot. He call it, "Not Pulled."

The second go he talked his buddy Scott Cyphers into giving it a tandem launch. They both go side by side and pull it. It was not without some destruction though. Scott destroyed what looked like his new cranks and both of them were feeling the gap. That didn't stop Thad from giving it another go to lay down a tree clipping x-up death gap. I think I heard something yelled about busted wrists and it made sense, haha.

The jam was to last about 40 minutes to give others time to build up the needed insanity to go for it. There was one last gladiator to step up and it was Kyle Harris. He was talked into trying to 360 the gap. He gave it a good looking over and then decided to give it a go. The crowd went nuts with anticipation. Kyle took the slowest run up to the gap and un-corked the highest and slowest 360. He exploded on landing from such a great height. I think I heard, "HODER!" yelled from the crowd. It was great.

In the end I gave Kyle the Crank setup prize for trying the craziest thing down the gap and agreed to give the other 2 guys cranks too. They had made this gap everything I could have hoped for when I came up with it and it was the perfect ender to the long day.

posted by pdxbmx @ 10:55 AM