Special BMX Edition of Listen to Ryan Clements!
Posted
on
on Wednesday, April 10, 2002
by Ryan
BMXicans Rule Orlando at Roots Jam 2002! Check this article out for answers to why in the world BMXers' pads stink to high heaven!
| Special BMX Edition of LISTEN TO RYAN CLEMENTS!
I was lying. I don't know why BMXers' pads smell so horribly. All I know is that when they're in the SPoT Pro Shop, you can smell them before you can see them. I mean, growing up, I used to skate a lot of vert, fully padded, and my pads never reeked anywhere near that bad.Schaefer, Derwenko, and I figured we'd go see what the hell these stinky-padded freaks were up to. So we took a drive to check out the Roots Jam 2002 at the Central Florida Fairgrounds in Orlando this past Sunday. Apparently, this Roots Jam is a pretty big deal as far as non-corporate BMX contests go. There were no flashy TV cameras, soda-pop logos, or Marines pull-up bars; their event is all about riding. It was rather comparable to Skatepark of Tampa events. And I like that.  There seemed to be a lot of camaraderie amongst the pedal-pushing profiling pranksters. As a skateboarder, seeing these madmen cheering each other on reminded me of being at a skateboarding event (except they were riding bicycles, whatever, minor detail). There was this one maniac that did a blunt to fakie (but they call it a fufanu or bubaca or something retarded like that - the names of their tricks is a whole other article) on a 10' vert wall above a 7' quarter-pipe. I literally covered my eyes when he tried to land it in fear of seeing the poor dude snap himself in half, but he actually made it and sort of rode away...gnarly. Underground Products is the end-all, be-all source of fund-raising, organizing, constructing, and operating the Roots Jam; it was a job well-done. Hassle-free, no charge parking. No admittance fee to watch (Wow!). And you can walk around with a beer in a cup if you so desire. In addition, I heard that the night-life was quite entertaining. All in all, definitely a cool get-together. Thanks for the good time and we'll see you again next year.Ryan |
