Words by Anthony. Video by Justin.

Enjoy The Trick 2010 Summer Jam

- August 7, 2010, Creston Elementary School, Portland OR

When the rain stops in Portland, right around June I guess, momentum starts to build among the Enjoy The Trick crew to organize the annual summer flatland jam. Being new to the scene and Portland in general, this was my first chance to see first hand how a small community of flatland riders in the NW routinely pull off some of the coolest events. The 2010 Summer Jam did not disappoint.

The jam is always more of a BMX gathering than a flatland jam and the great support from Portland’s street riders as well as non-riding spectators make the jam that much better. To top it off this summer, the crew obtained product from adidas, Tips Plus, Primo, Lotek and FlatlandFuel to give away. Even Chris from Brickhouse bikes gave out DVDs and stickers to many grateful recipients. As if that’s not enough, Joe always prints jam shirts for all the riders, flat and street. Come for the jam, leave with a bunch of goods. Not a bad deal.

The weather cooperated nearly the entire day. Overcast, occasionally sunny and a little muggy, but all-in-all a fine day to ride. A few riders showed up a bit early to sweep and prep the area, around 11:30 the bulk of the ETT crew rolled in looking a bit haggard (English James, I’m looking at you). There was a little pre-jam celebrating on Friday night so the boys headed off just as quick as they showed up to eat, rehydrate and grab some groceries for the BBQ.

Riders of all types began trickling in and the jam area was getting worked early with Justin, Anthony, Joe and Chris warming it up. The rest of the flat crew came back from lunch and Patrick, Mark, Brett and even James got in on the action, with Patrick especially hitting it hard, charging his combos with speed. Justin was working hard on his no-handed hithchiker link and Joe and Chris were flowing through the jam area with gliding tricks. Anthony laid down the gauntlet with a few cleanly pulled double decades, to which Mark answered back with a perverted to mega spin to perverted. Nailed. Brett brought out his unbike so that got everyone’s attention with tons of high speed hang five turbines (Jeremy would also later bring his one-wheeler out and OWN the unbike contest with all kinds of no handed turbining variations).

Rue and family rolled in to complete the Seattle delegation. The jam area was getting pretty full. We were starting to wonder where the Eugene crew was when Joe got an ominous text from Jeremy saying that they had stopped at a hospital in Albany, with Cash apparently having “heart attack” like symptoms. Long story short, Cash was OK. Apparently Jeremy’s graphic description of an injury was enough to send Cash into a spin. The doctors would say it was a sudden drop in blood pressure. Sonny showed up first, then, with a bit of surprise, Jeremy and Cash rolled in and promptly got in on the riding. The Eugene flat crew was in full representation and by the looks of it they have been practicing a lot!

By this time the school yard was pretty full with a good group of street riders and flatlanders all doing their thing in the same area. The street guys were killing it with rails, nose manuals and a few lines that were straight up crazy: bunny-hop > barspin > manual > whopper! Another cool thing to see was Plywood Hood Mike Daily coming by on his old school CW doing undertakers. Classic.

Right around mid afternoon, James fired up the BBQ and provided hamburgers and hot dogs to all who wanted, and right around this time we kicked off the bunnyhop contest. We had previously said that all riders could enter, but only flat bikes could be used. We chucked that rule out the window and the street guys went to work easily clearing 24 inches, 30 inches and 36 inches before riders started hitting the bar. Everyone cleared 3 feet, but the bump up to 3 feet 3 inches knocked everyone out. With a slight decrease down to 37.5 inches, the shootout was on and a winner was found with Nick Coughlin clearing the bar cleanly and going home with a pack of goodies.

Next up was to pass out the prize for best slam. Since everyone amazingly stayed upright and no real amounts of blood was shed, the obvious choice was to give the award to Cash for actually spending part of the day in the hospital. Best Trick went to Patrick for cleanly pulling his mega back-packer link (with speed). Hardest rider of the jam was an easy choice, and went to Brett. It happens every weekend at the church lot and it happened at the jam. He hit it hard all day. At one point I looked over and saw him wringing out his sweatband like he’d just dunked it in a bowl of water. Must be those fancy Spry parts.

The siren song of the Lucky Lab was calling so the flatlanders headed over to get their fill of hopped beverages and pizza and reflect on the day. Pints and pitchers flowed in large amounts and went straight to my head. A very kind soul drove me home, but by all reports the party was just getting started. Another story for another day. For me, it was a great end to another great Enjoy The Trick Summer Jam.