The 3-mile long tunnel. After walking about a mile into the darkness with a light from my bike, we started noticing graffiti that was marked with dates from the '70s and '80s. Then we heard some bats and ran back.
I know we've been teasing you with those Nike 6.0 Tunnel Jam vids for the past few weeks. Well, the comp just happened this past weekend, and it was indeed nuts. Team Nike 6.0 Global, consisting of Dennis Enarson, Garrett Reynolds, Maxime Charveron and Bjorn 'Bommel' Mager took the overall win, with Team DK Bicycles (Drew Bezanson, Brett Banasiewicz, Josh Cox, Anthony Watkinson) in second, Team Federal Bikes (Max Vincent, Ty Morrow, Dan Lacey, Mark Love) in third and Team Fly Bikes (Dylan Smith, Kevin Kalkoff, Daniel Penafiel, Stefan Lantschner) in the fourth place spot. I know it's a cliche thing to say, but everyone rode amazing.
The comp's format was a bit different from what we're all used to. Instead of individual riders getting scored and advancing to the finals, each rider's score went to an overall team score. Basically, that meant that each team had to contribute equally to the riding. It also meant that a few amazing riders, including Gav Shortall (Proper), Bas Keep (Hoffman) and Geoff Slattery (United) didn't advance to the finals. It was an interesting format to watch, and because the teams could session the course together during qualifying, the pressure was off and the sessions had less of a competitive vibe. I'm sure some people weren't excited with the outcome, but I liked the format and wouldn't mind seeing it more often in comps.
As for the course, it was utterly amazing. Constructed inside of an abandoned train tunnel in the South of England, the course was a mix of trails-inspired rhythm, trannied wall rides, sub boxes, driveways and corner pockets. Apparently, the owner of the tunnel uses it to store farming equipment, but has agreed to let the ramps stay so that the locals can ride them after this past weekend. So thumbs up to Nike 6.0 for building the course, and thumbs up to the tunnel owner for letting them stay.
Tunney
Dennis Enarson and Garrett Reynolds just after taking the win. Dennis blasted to the ceiling throughout the day and Garrett kept it tech with a smith to barspin up to manual across to barspin ice out on the driveway.
But I'm not done just yet. There were some individual awards to hand out at the end of the day, including best line (Dan Lacey, air to Ruben wall ride to gap 180 e-brake into a transition on the other side of the tunnel), Rider's Choice (Bas Keep, who rode the comp like it was a vert ramp) and best trick (Jason Phelan, lateral tailwhip air to grind on the driveway.)
Overall, it was an amazing comp. Props to all the teams that showed up, the gracious owner of the tunnel and Nike 6.0 for making me sit in an abandoned train tunnel for 10 hours on a rather sunny day in the South of England. I'm just kidding, I had fun. We'll have more photos and a video of the event in just a wee while. Keep checking back.
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Contributors
Brian Tunney
This is Brian. He lives in Jersey City, rides BMX bikes often and somehow ended up in the X Games a few times. Facebook him if needed.
Cody York
From Cleveland, Ohio, Cody was raised on a steady diet of backyard jumps and skateparks, and his photos have graced the pages of Ride BMX, BMX Plus!, Ride UK, and Dig magazines. Got something to share? cyorkphoto@me.com
Mark Noble
Mark is from the U.K., and has 28-plus years of experience in BMX. He has launched, published, edited and written for more BMX mags than you can shake a bike at. He also runs Deluxe BMX.
Nick Ferreira
Nick Ferreira is a BMXer, photographer and zine maker from Taunton, Mass. He has been extolling the merits of tucks and tabes in print and online for the better part of the past 10 years.
Pat Nugent
Patrick was born and raised on Long Island. The only outlet to BMX that he grew up knowing was racing. For a while, he got into all those weird forms of BMX, but eventually returned to the race scene. He enjoys shooting races and snaking practice laps.
Steve Crandall
Hails from Ithaca, N.Y., created FBM in '93, paints pictures of eggs, soup and pigeons in his spare time, throws down a mean tabletop.
