Tunnel Vision
Monday 5 October 2009 | By jamie
Earlier this year Phil Young called the office asking if Proper was down to ride in a Nike Jam.....I guess some companies have their misgivings about Nike and certainly we're not founder members of the Nike 6.0 fan club, however, not long after Phil's call we had some news that would forever change Nike's position in the minds of a handful of riders in this area.
It turns out that Phil and his crew had been looking for a venue and we knew somewhere that just might foot the bill. A few weeks later and Nike had not only agreed to build a course in 'The Tunnel' but they'd employed our friend Piers to design the course and actually agreed to the vast majority of his outrageous ideas. Then everything went quiet for months and months. And months. I guess there are legal things that I don't understand (and don't want to) when you are Nike and you are holding a contest in a disused railway tunnel in rural Hampshire.
5 or 6 weeks ago building finally began and under the watchful eye of Rich Holland (aka Badger) most of the unemployed, unemployable, or exceptionably keen BMXers we know started cutting transitions.......amongst them were team riders Shaun Jinks and Dan Figg, video guy Tonash, Ben's flat mates and most of the SGT locals. They worked weekends, camped, smoked kilos, and tested Badger's patience to the limit until something amazing happened.....they finished in time for the contest......just. There are still a couple imperfections to work out but for the most part everything worked......even the Berm/Capsule devise over the door. The course was meant to be different and it is......Piers wanted to make use of the walls, have a million lines, and put in a couple of unique features. The tunnel demanded everything be built in a line and Jeff (the owner) demanded (in a good way) that a van be able to drive right through the middle. All of this demanded that the jam be kept a bit hush hush like and spectators be kept to a minimum. Everyone was a rider, builder, industry person, judge, TM, TV etc. I'm sorry that not everyone got to witness the madness but you can't put bleachers round the edge of a course built in a tunnel.
Regardless of what happened at the actual jam we were on to a winner - there is finally a decent indoor park to ride in the South and with the exception of fuel for the generator it's free.....and it's amazing.....and there is a bunch of more 'street' obstacles at the other end of the course that you wouldn't have seen yet.
More on the actual jam and the results later.