The craziest thing I saw during that week in Whistler in 1985, was one of the Canadian guys on the race track. The races had ended for the day, it was early evening, and a bunch of us were hanging out near the track. I think it was the second and third berms of the track that made a big canyon between them. Seriously, the Whistler BMX track built for the Worlds looked more like one of today's boardercross tracks. It was huge, it had a major downhill drop, and was just a gnarly track for the day.
All week guys had been joking about jumping the massive canyon between the two berms. The way they had been laid out, it looked like a jump. Come in high on the second berm, swoop to the inside, then blast straight up the bottom half of the berm, across a huge gap, dropping several feet and land on the third berm. Then carve like hell to the left to stay on the track and slow down.
Now that was nearly 25 years ago, and I know well how the memory can stretch distances and raise heights. But I'd have to say the gap was at least 25 feet, and quite possibly 30. People had jumped that far on BMX bikes. If you look back through the archives, you'll find quite a few photos or videos of guys jumping 20 or 25 feet in the late '70's and early '80's. But the bikes were lighter, the frames weren't as strong, and riders didn't jump with the height they do now. And that berm to berm jump was crazy high. It was a canyon between those two berms, and you'd be fifteen feet up mid jump, probably more, at a time when riders rarely got their wheels more than five or six feet off the ground.
I don't know if beer was involved, but one of the Canadian guys decided to try it. And none of us believed him. He got up to the start, and rode down the track to the berm a couple times scoping out the line. The rest of us stood nearby and kept talking, not thinking he would actually try it. The sun toyed with the horizon and the rider kept rolling up to the edge of the berm and stopping, looking across the crazy gap. We gave up on him and started riding down the hill to the village. A little ways down, a yell came from up the hill, and we saw the crazy Canadian take off from the starting gate again. He didn't slow down. He launched off the berm in the fading light and just barely made the landing on the lower berm. He got all squirrelly, slipped his pedals and weaved a bit, but rode it out. None of us watching from below could believe it. This crazy Canadian guy we'd never heard of had just jumped the biggest jump any of us had ever seen, or even heard of. I don't know who the guy was, and I don't think he was even entered in the race or the freestyle contest. He was just some crazy Canadian rider who wanted to show all these out-of towners what a Canadian could do. And he did. He was the talk of Whistler village that night. Eddie Fiola and Chris Lashua had enough sense not to try that jump. Stu Thomsen and Greg Hill had enough sense not to try that jump. But some unknown Canadian made the gap, and left an impression on the rest of us. I think he got quite a few free beers that night. That was the reward for doing the biggest jump in BMX history in 1985.
Jumping feats that I personally saw later that compared to that were Fuzzy Hall jumping the canton at the first King of Dirt in Palmdale in 1987, Chris Moeller jumping the Cadillac lengthwise in Palm Springs off a two foot high launch ramp in about '91, Guys jumping Death Jump at Mission Trails in 1991, then Brian Foster, Dave Clymer and the crew jumping the Dover Cliff Jump in '93. There's footage of that Dover jump in S&M's 44 Something video.
Sometimes you go to a big event, and the top pros blow your mind with their riding. But over and over, I've seen some guy pop out of the woodwork and just tear it up and amaze everybody. The Canadian guy who jumped that crazy berm jump was one of the first of those guys. And I have no idea what his name was.
All week guys had been joking about jumping the massive canyon between the two berms. The way they had been laid out, it looked like a jump. Come in high on the second berm, swoop to the inside, then blast straight up the bottom half of the berm, across a huge gap, dropping several feet and land on the third berm. Then carve like hell to the left to stay on the track and slow down.
Now that was nearly 25 years ago, and I know well how the memory can stretch distances and raise heights. But I'd have to say the gap was at least 25 feet, and quite possibly 30. People had jumped that far on BMX bikes. If you look back through the archives, you'll find quite a few photos or videos of guys jumping 20 or 25 feet in the late '70's and early '80's. But the bikes were lighter, the frames weren't as strong, and riders didn't jump with the height they do now. And that berm to berm jump was crazy high. It was a canyon between those two berms, and you'd be fifteen feet up mid jump, probably more, at a time when riders rarely got their wheels more than five or six feet off the ground.
I don't know if beer was involved, but one of the Canadian guys decided to try it. And none of us believed him. He got up to the start, and rode down the track to the berm a couple times scoping out the line. The rest of us stood nearby and kept talking, not thinking he would actually try it. The sun toyed with the horizon and the rider kept rolling up to the edge of the berm and stopping, looking across the crazy gap. We gave up on him and started riding down the hill to the village. A little ways down, a yell came from up the hill, and we saw the crazy Canadian take off from the starting gate again. He didn't slow down. He launched off the berm in the fading light and just barely made the landing on the lower berm. He got all squirrelly, slipped his pedals and weaved a bit, but rode it out. None of us watching from below could believe it. This crazy Canadian guy we'd never heard of had just jumped the biggest jump any of us had ever seen, or even heard of. I don't know who the guy was, and I don't think he was even entered in the race or the freestyle contest. He was just some crazy Canadian rider who wanted to show all these out-of towners what a Canadian could do. And he did. He was the talk of Whistler village that night. Eddie Fiola and Chris Lashua had enough sense not to try that jump. Stu Thomsen and Greg Hill had enough sense not to try that jump. But some unknown Canadian made the gap, and left an impression on the rest of us. I think he got quite a few free beers that night. That was the reward for doing the biggest jump in BMX history in 1985.
Jumping feats that I personally saw later that compared to that were Fuzzy Hall jumping the canton at the first King of Dirt in Palmdale in 1987, Chris Moeller jumping the Cadillac lengthwise in Palm Springs off a two foot high launch ramp in about '91, Guys jumping Death Jump at Mission Trails in 1991, then Brian Foster, Dave Clymer and the crew jumping the Dover Cliff Jump in '93. There's footage of that Dover jump in S&M's 44 Something video.
Sometimes you go to a big event, and the top pros blow your mind with their riding. But over and over, I've seen some guy pop out of the woodwork and just tear it up and amaze everybody. The Canadian guy who jumped that crazy berm jump was one of the first of those guys. And I have no idea what his name was.
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