Chuck It In! BMX

Jumps, Travel, Yarns.

[chuckitinbmx]

Radness Under 23kg: A Guide

I’m not an expert on this, but with more than a few flights under my belt, I think I may have this travelling with a bike thing down to an art.  You can go for one of those behemoth Ogio bags, which is awesome if you’re mad sponno’ed and getting flown around the world, and getting shuttled to and from every airport, and you wanna be a prick and have your giant bag take up shitloads of room in the vehicle or place you’re staying. I never understood the problems pro guys had with their bike bags and getting charged excess bagagge, it’s pretty easy to have everything under 23kg. Maybe I just don’t live the lavish pro lifestyle enough.

My way isn't probably the ideal way for most people, and it’s not exactly luxurious, but it’s the best way if you need to adapt quickly, and stay easily mobile by being able to ride your bike normally while carrying everything you have with you.

All this should come in under 30kg total (23kg big bag, 7kg carry-on), with the freedom to carry everything whilst riding.

The Pack List: - Regular sized backpack  - Tramping pack (70 litres +) - Sleeping Bag - Bike (obviously) - Canvas bag to fit dismantled bike. Mine is designed to be loaded lying down, but carried upright like a satchel or shoulder bag.

Your regular backpack is for day to day use and as your carry-on bag when flying. A small amount of repacking will be required but it beats having a tool kit confiscated at airport security.

The tramping pack is for everything else. I can carry literally all of my possessions whilst riding, which is super handy if you need to get across a city in a hurry to catch a train, and being able to ride with both hands on the bars comes in damn handy sometimes.

As for the canvas bag, I got an upholsterer to knock one up to the dimensions of my bike minus the front wheel and bars. It’s easily fold-able, and tear resistant provided you don’t try and cram too much crap in.  It also can double as a ground cover/mattress when camping, it’s not super comfy but it was better than the cold grass at Farm Jam last year. I also recommend stealing the airline pillow from the long haul flight, so if you happen to be sleeping on the broken asphalt outside FBM HQ your head will only be sore in the morning from the hangover. 

Pack all your stuff into the tramping pack, with the bike bag and sleeping bag already in there, so there’s room to cram those in once you arrive at your destination.

Remove the sleeping bag and bike bag. Dismantle your bike, and insert the majority of what’s intact into the sleeping bag inside out. BMX bikes can handle quite a bit of abuse, but the sleeping bag is your padding essentially, just in case the baggage throwers get carried away. I find turning your seat around backwards helps keep it more stable when the bike is upside down. 

Chuck all your clothes in plastic bags (it sucks when they get wet on the luggage trolley, also Farm Jam last year) and strategically place those around the bike for padding, and so axles etc. don’t stab you in the hip when carrying. Insert your empty tramping pack in the bottom as a last line of defence, with just the bare essentials in your carry on. 

Once you arrive at your destination, unpack all your shit and chuck it in the tramping pack. It sucks repacking stuff sometimes, but it’s definitely easier to be able to ride with everything, rather than having to catch taxis who often don’t have room for bikes etc.

Put your sleeping bag in the bottom compartment, that way it’s easy to access, but also because by having the majority of the weight (clothes etc.) at the top of your pack, saves your back to no end. Smash your canvas bag in the bottom of the main compartment, and cram the rest in. Strap your day pack to the outside, and enjoy the freedom of being able to ride with all your possessions. 

Always take heaps of undies and socks, it’s all good rocking shirts a few days in a row if you’re riding, but the little luxury of fresh undergarments helps a bunch. 

Yeah, so that’s my method, it’s worked pretty good for me so far.

Anyone got some spare floor space?

[chuckitinbmx]

Chuck It In!: A Retrospective

Well this has taken far too long. In true S&F fashion I've been procrastinating.

Anyway, it would be a shame if Alex De Luen’s photos never saw the light of day. I wanted to potentially write up a legitimate article or lookbook but I find it weird enough writing about my own event as it is. Regardless, I hope everyone had an awesome time, even if hangovers stopped a few people from riding on Sunday after a huge party on Saturday. Everyone rode awesome and nobody was seriously injured.  Big thanks to Alex for the pics, I also stole a few from Cameron and a few people’s Instagrams and Facebooks to help pad it out.

Thanks: Alan for general running around and MCing Morgan, Henry, Philly C for the jam idea and throwing down on the bar tab. The flat for not falling apart, and flatmates and neighbours for not complaining Anyone who helped set up or prepped the jumps Mike at Triplesix and Craig at Level for the support and prizes. Oppo Sponsors, rain and hangovers.

Enjoy the photos, and hopefully we’ll see you at the next event. Chuck It In!

Cranswick and Team Gisborne, en route to the party.

The bike stack got out of hand. Mason (and the lucky lady he bought home) literally had to crawl through a tunnel in the 40 deep stack to get to bed. We all feared for their safety but it was so interlocked there was no chance it was falling over. Alan then jumped into the bed as well, sucking all romance out of the room and any chance of action for Mason. The good night’s sleep must have worked, as Mason was shredding all day.

Mass game of footdown, which Henry ended up taking out. I had to settle for second.

Gareth drove from Palmy, arrived at the flat at 4am, slept in the car, started drinking at 10am, passed out at 3pm, then awoke a few hours later and continued partying. Savage. He ended up pulling this bikeflip flyout, along with a flip bar complete with cig hanging from his mouth.

Jaden, Ben and Alex got into a heated race to G-Turn the long coping to coping box. Ben ended up pulling this first with a huge accidental ice chink to slider which was actually way cooler than pulling it clean.

Hugh boosting the second. Also this pic gives you a good look at how many dudes were cutting laps. So rad to see!

Logan is 12. He managed to get his 18″ bike over all the jumps, even throwing a few tricks. The future of C-Town is very bright.

Alan took a few goes to get this but was rad to see him upside down again!

Stoke is pingin’

Dre, taking shit waaaay too serious.

Huge shoutout to Troy and Connor for not partying on Saturday and instead spending hours in the rain building the side out of the last landing. Jumps were running prime all day thanks to those guys. Cheers lads!

Head digger, Rotokawa member and the most stylish MTB rider in NZ. Mason, Nosedive 3.

Gareth. No words.

Ben and Jaden battling for Flipwhip supremacy. They both took a good few slams each, but got the job done.

Angus, Kids Line Best Run winner.

Henry reluctantly handing over NZ BMX’s Ranfurly Shield. Hand stolen from Taupo many years ago, the now trophy and demi-god is awarded to the Flyout champion at each jam. Gareth obviously is much deserving of such a prestigious award.

Most Woods Award: Troy

Winners are grinners. Honourable mention goes to Bray for the cleanest frontflip ever, but Jaden and Ben ended up taking Best Trick honours on the day.

Cheers to anyone who turned up. We all had a blast. BMX in NZ > Elsewhere

-Joe

and if you haven’t seen the video, check it out here:

[chuckitinbmx]

Back at it.

Thought I’d start up one of these things again mainly for loose stories that may be too long winded for Facebook, or so I can come off opinionated and not seem like a bell end. Here for yarns.