Dirty Squirrel BMX news

Hey all, I've been on holiday for the past week down in Devon. It was ace. I'm so behind on current events. In one go I find out Jims messed up his knee, BCBMX is back & belton got a bit wrecked.

I would say that I'll update more often but, I'm probably not. On Sat I'm moving off to Uni and then getting to know people, places etc that will take up time. My room doesn't have a phone line yet so when I get there I'll have to call in BT, NTL or someone over to sort a broadband connection. The flat's quite basic. Though when everything's sorted this site will be my top priority of things to do. So if nothing is being posted for the next month [tops] please don't moan.

Stown Sk8prk is great. Its not finished but the plans that they've got look wicked. At the moment there's a wide drive way with 3 parts which are separated by grind rails, 2 big flat banks with a quarter to sub in the middle, a real nice hip to a quarter with a wall behind. Stuff that is still to be built includes a 4ft mini, 6ft mini with spine & a jump box. I can imagine that Epic wont be as packed in the winter as it was last year.

The parks still in it's preview week so if you sign up for the membership you can ride for free til Friday.

With the 20 it's best if your going to be going quite a lot, in time you will save back your membership but with the pound one its better if you won't be going that much. I've opted for that one because im moving to Ipswich.

Yes, this site does deserve a decent picture and everything else update but stuff seems to be going a bit slow. I still have to see Neil to give him a cd-rw so I can get the pictures off him. When I get the pictures there will be a picture update and most of the rider profiles as well.

Me, Chicken, CAl & Jack went to Stratford today. It was way too hot for us to be riding but it was good anyway. After a long train journey we finally got there. This is an ace free outdoor park [spine/mini combo, jump box, vert and various other stuff]. Some more pictures were taken here so when I drop them in the loop they will get back to me sometime and more pictures for all.

Just a bit of quick light hearted news. I woke up and was at the trails in the morning today.

Today was ace. Wake up super late into the afternoon. Go to trails and ride for a bit. Then a bbq with all the typical food. And then later on ride the trails in the dark with a few firelighters lighting your way down the line. [if you have trails this is a must thing to try]

Got some photos today from Sunday, theres some cool photos in the pack. Neils scanning the negative in so there'll be a picture update in a few days with that and a bit of the night-time riding action.

In the meantime heres some interesting photography/art & design websites you might like. Bmx & Non-bmx specific;

I figured it out. I had to go back to Photoshop. The jpegs were in a CMYK format and not in a RGB. That's why they didn't work. They should work now.

Hey all. I sprayed my forks green [they look crap, im going to repaint them sometime], also I'm rid of that crap mag wheel. Got a nice chromey rim with a nice clicky cassette hub on it. It feels soooo much nicer to ride now. I have my pegs on as well because I'm in a street session type of mood. Might stunt the streets 2morrow.

Other news Jim went up to Sheffield tonight with a few others [not sure exactly whos going though]. Their all staying with bowlhead and will be stunting up there til Monday. Have a good time lads.

Yesterday me, Brown1, Jim and Chicken went to Epic. It was the first time I'd been there for a while and I had 1st hand experience at the new 1st box. It's shocking I thought. seems like you slow down when you land. Generally it was a good ride even though it was too hot.

Later on we rode Halesowen. Jim rode on his street stuntin byke, no brakes 2 pegs. Stopped off at the scrolls a rail and the infamous sommers square in the middle of Halesowen. The new benches there that have been in the Halesowen News soooooo much, are crap. How could they cost so much.

Lately It's been sunny then pissing it down with rain then sunny etc for ages so we've being doing some digging down the trails for a while. That's all the news for a while really.

I found out just I lost my helmet [10pm]. So I go down trails to look for it torch in hand. Got pissed of that I couldn't find it and that I still have a mag wheel on so I kicked a tree. I ride back home with 36:16 gearing. Was fooking knackered cus it felt like I was going nowhere fast. Phone Brown1 and ask him if he knows where it is. He has it. Aparently some anoying ghetto kids nicked it and he had to get it back. I'm glad because I would have never been able to replicate where the stickers were lol.

Howdy all. First off if any of us locals catch any one putting poo in our bin we'll fookin kill you. Someones done it and it fookin stinks by the start ramp. We'll be keeping our eye on you Guinness, not pointing any fingers though.

On Saturday it was the first proper riding I've done since I fell off. It was a good day till I lost some spokes from my back wheel. I'm not goin to try bar spins again for a while. Now I have a 4 spoke plastic mag wheel on, I hate it. It's too light and feels horrible to ride.

Yesterday we had a few vistors down Belton. A few Bearwood locals and the Spinney as well as me, Jim, Brown1, Rik, Chicken & Farmboy Dave. Was a good day.

Tonights the private view of my end of year exhibiton at Dudley College. If I've given you an invite I hope to see you there but if not its open at the Broadway till next Wednesday from 10 - 8. If your an art fag you'll love it. I finally made a dvd but I wasnt able to project the video over my work but there's a computer showing it instead.

Show your support for Decoy trails. A link on BCBMX to a pettion to stop them from being knocked down. Go there now!

Trails was great today. Since I still have the back of an eighty year old I did quite a lot of filming on mine and chickens camera. We had the usual there including me, Jim, Brown1, Rick, Chicken & Farmboy as well as a few added extra appearences by Lee Hathaway, Kung, Martin Murray, Graeme Hardie, Andy & Matt. After the down pour the trails soon dryed out and most could get back to riding. Mainly most people were riding our big set. Jim & Chicken rode the 4th hip for the first time today with Chicken making some funny noises as he rode it. Quite amusing.

My backs slightly better now but still fooking hurts. Won't be riding for a while now. Kinda spoilt my plans of a fun packed week of trails. Bastard.

Brown1 & Jim did some diging today. More jumps to add to the collection. Trails are looking sweet now.

Good news, I got on to the graphic design degree course at Suffolk college. They told me at the interview. It's in the middle of Ipswich basically. I'll have to move there in September or so, so will the bmx. They have a public skatepark, looks ok. Jump box, minis & other various stuff. If anyone has any information on any bmx scene or other parks etc, please let me know.

I basically just finished my BTEC graphic design course at college today. All left for me to do is put up an exhibition after the holiday. My theme for my exhibit is going to be bmx. I've done some bmx work stuff at college [including this website], print graphics & some photography. I had an idea of filming loads of riding & shit on my video camera. Burn it on a dvd, and then project it over all of my work at the exhibition. I've being looking forward to the holiday for ages to film and ride because I've been working solid for ages. Last day, it fooking rains. I wanna ride :[

Weathers being great the past few days so I've been riding quite a bit and apart from that I've been in a rush to finish my college work. My college exhibitions soon, I hope to see you all there.

I love trails. Rode Belton most of today. It has been real fun. Dan finally jumped the 3rd in his line which was good but Mike fell off the 4th, which was bad....

Long line 3rd was altered so it's nicer to jump now and after long line second the next on the left has been jumped aswell as the the rollers and next double to follow that. They look like they ride nice.

Me, Brown1 & Chicken all had cameras with us while we rode so a good few pictures shall be up within a day or so. Mine with be a few days because I'll need to get them developed but the others were on digitals so whenever they email me the pics they'll be up.

Firstly, this is a shoutout to Brown1. Hope you get better & recover quickly etc. The trails aren't the same without ya.

After what it seems like months of rain our trails have finally dryed up for a nice bit of riding. Although we're getting all of this white stuff falling off the trees so it makes all the jumps look white, and it all goes in your mouth while you ride so it puts you off a bit. Skelding, Rich Barlow, Ginge as well as Dan & Josh were here this evening. First off it was the big set. Some smooth riding with a few no-footers and tables thrown in here and there on the fourth hip. I took a few photos of this on my SLR so in the next day or so i'll get them developed for your viewing pleasure. After this with a few minutes left before it getting dark we moved into the woods for a ride on the other jumps. A good bit of riding in the end.

Browny gave me some of the contents of his digital camera so, a couple of pictures on the pictures page of Yuta & Skelding and a new video clip of Brown1 & Jim at trails.

Epic was packed out today. Loads of skaters and many other people just waiting around for NOFX to turn up. Some had been there since 10 in the morning. The funny thing is the band didn't even show up. Some of the people looked so pissed off when they found out. When it was anounced that the band wasn't coming within about half an hour the park seemed to empty quite quickly.

Epic are Having a punk day at the skatepark tomorrow [Sunday 9th May] because of NOFX playing there before their gig at academy. This means dressing up like something from the 80s and lots of music while you ride. Here's what they have to say;

'PUNK AND DISORDERLY To celebrate the planned appearance of the legendary NOFX at EPIC in the afternoon, Sun May 9 is officially 'Punk Day' at EPIC and we're running a comp. To see who can get kitted up in the baddest punk rock outfit. That means spikey hair, leather jackets, shades, ripped jeans, safety pins and big boots - just borrow it all off ya Dad. Prizes for the best look and attitude, plus we'll be playing punk, hardcore, and ska all day ! See ya there punx ! Check www.fatwreck.com for NOFX audio and pics or www.birmingham-academy.com to buy tickets for the evening show.'

Check epicskateparks.com for opening times etc. I might see you there if your going because I want to go. Not sure if I'll dress up, but who knows. I might.

No real updates of late because of lots of rain. Digin down the trails has been one of the main things that I've done, which is unusual because I'm known for trying to get out of the digin scene.

S-Town Street session tonight. It was nothing amazing but was good because it was the first time I'd rode in a while. Here's a couple of pictures I could salvage from my camera.

Since it rained the trails wern't at best so we didn't ride them apart from the kiddy's line which was dryish.. Instead Sky came down, thought the same, so gave me and Nick a lift up to Romsley ramps with him. It was an enjoyable session with plenty of crashes and bails. I was concentrating on pedal grinds on one of the quarters while Nick did footplants and disasters. In the meantime Sky was racing around at lightspeed trying footplant whips on the backwall of the quarter. All in all a good nights riding.

What a week. Lots of riding trails. Yesterday it was a great day for riding trails. Most of us locals were down there as well as 2 skeldings and 2 foreign vistors from Japan. They were Teisuke Morimoto & Yuta Kurise. They came over here for the bike show. Yuta had an accident at the show when he tryed a backflip [not sure but he may have cracked a rib] but he still showed some impressive riding at the trails. Big set 4th was riding. Skelding & Yuta were just flying off it. I wasn't there then [stuck at college]. But the pictures browny took on his camera were really cool. When I get them off him I put them up on the site. Teisuke makes MTB videos in Japan.Their site is www.tkcproduction.com . You may have to download a translator to view it. They gave us a couple of copies of their first dvd called 'Outwardbound'. There is a chance we might be in their 2nd one.

Sorry, apologies to all. I only just got my mac back. It should be in the next few days the updates will be back to normal. I made the back-up disks with all my stuff on about 3 weeks ago just before I sent my mac off. There isn't all the files on the disks so there isn't all of the updates from before and I've lost some pictures from the pictures page etc. Again, so in the next few days it'll be all back to normal.

Bike show starts today at the NEC. If your going I hope you have a good time, see loads of class riding, spend your money on stuff etc. I guess afterwards you'll be heading towards your loacal trails to get in a few hours of riding. Some minor rain overnight. Shouldn't affect trails too much.

Ride video premiere tonight at the Rainbow pub, Digbeth, Birmingham. All starts around 8pm I think. Check BCBMX for more details. If I can get a lift up there I'll see ya but if not have a good time, get wasted or what ever. Laterz

Stown street session yesterday. Bank to sub, Ridgewood and pipe were ridden. Pictures were taken so expect a visual update soon.

Theres a video clip on the video page.I just threw together a few clips. It's 1.1mb in a quicktime format. Get plugin or player from www.apple.com/quicktime if you don't have it already. Since geocities is still where I put all the shit im not sure how much data transfer it has. If it runs out the site won't be able to be viewed until the next hour, but a page will come up telling you this if it happens. I'm hoping to get a .com soon so if I do there will be more video stuff.

S-Town street session tonight. It was a good laugh. Me, Jim, Brown1, Homer, Lee Hathaway, Chicken, Farmboy and Guinness were there. We rode all the S-Town usual spots. Tis was good.

Winters finally moving away a bit, I rode quite a bit today. About 2 Me and Jim head up towards B/Wood. When we got up there Stown, P5 and the B/Wood locals where there to name a few [after about, it seems like ages but I finally saw Kenny so I could pay him off for the gyro I had off him]. It was a real good ride, even with doubts about the weather halfway through.

Later on some of us met up at belton trails. Some digin and loads of laughs, can't wait til summer.

Heading into the night me, Jim & a Brown1 digin robot went into Halesowen for a bit of street riding. It seemed like a wallride type night. A few wallrides wer riden. Titex and another car park had some curved walls, the pointless somer square and other minor things wer riden.

Some teething problems with this news text box. If it's not centred don't worry. At the moment if it's on Macs its ok and Pcs it's on the right but if I try and change it, it'll be on the left for Macs and will be centered for Pc. Just ignore it if it's in the wrong place.

Some pictures on the pictures page. A few better ones from the old site. No galleries yet. Don't have enough pictures.

Welcome to the new Dirty Squirrel BMX website. It's not finished but who cares. Same features as before but just with a new look. Feel free to browse through the site though some links may not be there yet. Since I've been making this site for ages it seems some of the ideas didn't work out so I just put it up like this. At the moment it looks a bit like BCBMX [well not much but sorry Homer any way] but later on I change it to give Dirty Squirrel its unique identity.