Down Underground Series – Round 1
Read the report below from Shaun Jarvis for what went down in Perth recently…
Round one of the Colony Down Underground national flatland series went down in Perth Western Australia on the weekend of the 8th of November. It was one of the best weekends I’ve ever had in my life. I was overwhelmed with excitement when riders from Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Launceston all converged with the locals of Perth to ride flat. The concept of this series is awesome. Riders from all over Australia travelling to different cities and competing for a year end title. Competition will breed progression. But this series is more than just competitions. It’s also an opportunity to catch up with mates that you normally don’t get to see often, ride with new riders and promote flatland to others.
Thursday night was full of excitement with many trips to the airport to collect the eastern state riders.
Friday was a good day jamming at the Perth concert hall spot. We then headed up to Kings Park for some chillin and sightseeing. Then it was off to Hogs Breath Café for a good old man up steak dinner. After dinner and a few drinks a small jam took place out side the local Game Zone on the side walk. Good to push yourself on what can be done in such a small spot.
Saturday came too fast and it was off to the infamous Scarborough Beach multi level carpark to get the competition of the weekend under way. With a solid turn out stage one got started by way of a two hour jam session with the riders scored each other at the end. This allowed riders to be more relaxed and try harder tricks. After a break for lunch stage two got underway. This consisted of two, two minute runs. This meant that riders could show how dialled they can be in a competition format. I’m not going to write about what tricks were done by who, you will have to wait for the web footage to done. I will say however that Ben Moran was the talking point of most conversations. After the comp was all done it was off to the beach BBQ trophy presentation. Check the results to see who got what. From the beach every one was invited back to my home for the after party. All I can say is that it was big night with many liquids being consumed. If you weren’t there you missed out on some good times.
Sunday morning and it was a bit hard to rise but eventually I did. Today was all about hitting new spots and showing the out of towners a bit of Perth. First stop was Cottesloe Beach. Not much riding going on but lunch was more on the agenda. Then off to Fremantle. After seeing a random priest in full robe gear skateboarding we proceeded to hit a spot with a good vibe till Roni’s tyre blew and scared half of Fremantle. We then proceeded to roll through the streets to the beach spot for some good lazy style riding as most of us were still just coming good from Saturday nights merriment. That night after seeing the wonderful West Coast sunset it was a good old fashion pizza night, again at my house. Simple and functional.
With the arrival of Monday it was time to start getting people off to airports. The Brisbane crew were first of the rank with an early start. That left the rest of us to ride down at Hillary’s Marina. Some tourist gifts were purchased before it was time to get the Melbourne and Launceston riders to the airport.
With the leaving of the last of the Eastern State riders the amazing weekend came to a conclusion. Yes there was a competition that took place over the weekend but round one of the Colony Down Underground was more than just a competition. It was a gathering of flatland riders all sharing one common bond of having the most amount of fun on a bike possible.
I would like to send a big thankyou to Colony BMX for sponsoring the series. It’s great to see such a good Australian company supporting flatland in such a big way.
Thanks also go out to Backbone BMX as well as they really put a stack of product in for prizes. Rhysty is such a champion. The world needs more like him.
And lastly I would like to thank all the riders who showed up and rode and smiled and had such a blast of a time.
See you all in January for round two in Melbourne.
Shaun Jarvis.
The trophies up for grabs.
Ben Moran & Jason Parker.
Paul Chamberlin & Brett Dighton.
Rhys Mason & Aaron Bandy.
Yo yo !!
