I credit at least 43% of the motivation for this trip to Steve Atkinson. He bugged me enough and did pretty much all of the travel arrangements so I basically could not say no to 10 days in Europe with 2 Aussies, the pair of Brooke Keam and Steve Atkinson.
Brooke and Steve originally set off from their native land of Australia several weeks before our team trip to Europe. They flew over and visited LA, Norcal, Vegas a few times and then embarked on a cross country drive in a fully loaded down deluxe model (they received an upgrade aha) rental car. Crazy Aussies. I opted for air travel but had a bad day flying standby so the closest to our meeting place (NYC) I could manage was Philly. I started at LAX at 4am PDT and landed in Philly at 1230pm EDT, then waited 2 hours for Aussies, then we drove another 2 back to NYC with another 2 hours because we were lost. Now thats how you start a trip son!
NYC to Paris to Desseldorf Germany, then a train to Koln for the BMX Worlds! Michael Steingraeber was an amazing host providing me and the Aussies a home base while in Germany. I cannot say thanks enough to Mike! and he even took me shopping for chocolate right away haha. I had so much fun riding with Dez, Michael Van Der Kroft, the Brazilian guys, and Alexis Desolneux at the LVR spot and hanging out with Adam K and Tom along with everyone else at the contest. The rain was so off and on I didnt ride so good but was enjoying the weekend with SO MANY BMX RIDERS EVERYWHERE ! Myself, Adam, Tom, Seppl, Alexis, and some others watched Pro Dirt Final go down and it was absolutely the most amazing bmx riding Ive ever seen. The homie BDosch rode so good and finished second!
The Pro flat final lineup was a little confusing but its a contest with judges and seeing over 50 pro riders has to be a tough job! Matthias destroyed lives and rode so good! Alex J and Dez both looked so good in final. Congrats to all, seems like next year maybe they will just do the entire contest under the bridge. Spent the last few nights chillen with Coco, saw Webbie, Anaps, RickyM, and a few others... so good!
We jumped on a train and for 74 Euro we travelled to Amsterdam (with return) connecting 3 trains. The Aussies booked lodging at a nearby hotel and I journeyed with Dez to his hometown of Haarlem, about 15-20 mins away via train. We hit up his indoor spot and its so so nice! The next day I was a tourist and walked all around Amsterdam with Dez, Van Der Kroft and their girlfriends. Such a sick place! Had a final session with the Brazilian guys, Dez, Michael, Dez brother, and Dez' mom even drive me to the train station! So nice!
Big shout out to Michael and his lady as well as Dez and his also. Mike S, the Aussies, and everyone else who was a part of my trip. Dakine and I are totally moving to Europe!
:)
