UGP Kills It With Another Successful "Roots Jam"

When pro BMXer, Sean Albright, first started working at Skatepark of Tampa, the existing staff had questions about some riders that came to the Park and would ask, "Hey Sean, you know that one kid that rides a bike that..." Sean would reply, "You know, I don’t personally know every kid that comes here that rides a bike." And the conversation would continue, "Oh, he’s not one of your buddies?" "No, he’s not my buddy," Sean would say. But whether he liked it or not, we still insisted that every BMXer was Sean’s "buddy." It got so bad that we even fabricated a non-existent group that we aptly titled the ‘BMX Buddy Network.’ Check this out, because I really did write about Roots Jam…

UGP Kills It With Another Successful "Roots Jam" May 14, 2003 By Ryan Clements Crappy photo, courtesy of Xian, where you can’t even see the ramp that this bar is on top of. You’ll have to just take my word on how gnarly it was. Damn, Xian really sucks at catching the perspective of a street course with a camera. This x-up transfer gimmick was off about 8’ of vert and drifting about 10’ across. This is the only legitimate photo that Xian sent me. Here’s the proof that it’s cooler to party than it is to ride in a contest. Sean Albright getting ‘engine style.’ Ah, Roots Jam 2003...I’ll call it the Tampa Pro of BMX. It’s laid back, a ton of pros come out, you’re lucky if you can see the entire course, the obstacles are unique as hell, there is some serious ripping going down, and the list goes on. UGP organizes and runs the whole shindig with a cool group of guys all following the lead of Ronnie B. All in all, it’s a great event that shows that the true spirit of riding is alive and well and that BMXers are out there having a great time. In addition, it was nice to actually be part of the event. See, Skatepark of Tampa donated its mobile street-course for all of the buddies to ride while not competing. Damn they did some damage to the ramps! No wonder skateboarders are always complaining that bikes are ruining the street spots! I had a great time watching the ripping, but even more fun people-watching. Here are a few things that I noticed about BXMers while spending the day at Roots Jam 2003: They must have recently found studded belts, because everyone has one 99.9% of BMXers are punkers There is like one black professional BMXer He’s punk, too He’s also a ‘street’ rider (Weird combination) Black socks and shorts are the rule, not the exception They think that those big-ass, wide-gauge earrings are cool They have hot girlfriends The names of the tricks are absolutely retarded, but you knew already that because I wrote about it last year It must be a rule to be tattooed, because there was some serious ink being displayed They have pros like Sean Albright and Luis Pinzon that are ‘too cool’ to enter contests, but instead choose to hang out all weekend and get wasted The filmers/photographers are dorks, just like in skateboarding Thanks to Xian at www.flatstatebmx.4t.com for the photos By the way, I was able to cruise right in with my beer in hand, so I’ll definitely be back next year. Ryan