A peek back into 2011

2011 was a year full of ups and downs, weird weather, but mostly full of fun! From the awesome photo trips together with my buddy Michel Romen, to the chilled out summer rides with my local bike buds.

The year started off with a trip to La Palma. This island called 'La Isla Bonita' by some, but because that reminds me too much of Madonna, I'm going to keep calling the island by it's official, geological name.

We heard about a very technical trail at the very tip of the Island La Palma. Both being trialsriders we decided to check it out. This is what we came across a very technical dangerous but awesome trail. Michel really needed to use his trialsskills in these very tight bends.

The typical cold, Dutch weather was left behind and we flew off to the Canaries. I went on to this trip with my bud Michel Romen. The aim for this trip was to shoot some photos for BikeFreak magazine, a Dutch mountainbike magazine. We had a blast that week, and we came back with some very good photos. Some of which, are posted below:

Coming back from a place which had amazing trails, lots of sun, and a great atmosphere, the once fun trails in Holland became a bit.. boring. Mountain biking just wasn't the way it was before I left. So I was mostly riding my trials bike for a few weeks.

Then the opportunity to ride the new Cube Hanzz came along. This was a warm welcome back into mountain biking for me. I had this baby for the best part of a year, and I must say I enjoyed every minute riding it!

This bike took me everywhere, from the muddy home trails, to the dusty and smooth flowtracks in Willingen, up the climbs, and down the descents.

Michel and I left for two weeks, and traveled to Les Gets, France. On this trip we got the opportunity to ride the new 2012 LaPierre models. I tested some xc bikes, some enduro bikes, and some downhill/freeride bikes. Not only that, but I got to see one of my favorite riders out there, Steve Peat.

Once the LaPierre weekend was over, Michel and I prepared ourselves for the Pass'Portes du Soleil, a 80km long mtb ride throughout Switzerland and France.

Here are some pics I found on Michel' webpage:

On the last part of our Pass'Portes du Soleil ride we met a guy named Mike. We met in a chairlift which was taking us over one of the last ridges. It was like meeting an American version of us. He was wearing an All-Mountain helmet with goggles, and he was riding an Enduro bike. Michel and I couldn't believe how similar his riding style was to ours. He said he knew some trails nearby, so we decided to follow him.

We were all knackered after the Pass'Portes, but when Mike showed us the trail he had in mind, we got energized again. This trail was so different from the trails we were riding this past week. This trail was, with it's slippery and rocky surface, really challenging. This was way more fun compared to the wide, bikeparkish trails which were part of the Pass'Portes du Soleil. Mentally we wanted to shred this trail to bits, but we were way too tired to do that. We were just trying to hang on, and enjoy our way down.

Initially we planned to go off to Leogang , Austria. But because of the, excuse my French, shit weather in Leogang, we decided to prolong our stay in Les Gets.

Back home we started to reconstruct the old, and build some new trails in our local woods. Nothing big, nothing special, but just something we could flow down, with everyone who enjoyed coming there.

During the worldcup biketrials in Antwerpen I stayed at my mate Tibor's place for the weekend. We rode trials together, and I rode some BMX in his local skatepark.

Before I knew it, the next trip came along, this time we drove off to Colmar, France, where we checked in to a rather doubtful looking B&B. The place turned out to be okay though, and we shot some nice pictures as well. These photos where going to be used for the promotion of the EasyWasher, and Michel's upcoming book, BikeSkills.

Here's a funny photo which really shows how technical the trails were.

The last real bit of work was a shoot I did in Malmedy. I was asked to take some photos of the Uitgeest crew. I asked my girlfriend to tag along, and help me shoot some photos.

Here are some of the results:

I shot this pic during a photoshoot for Uitgeest Bikeshop

Around mid-December Michel's book finally got published. I was delighted to see that all the work he put in led to a great product. The book looked great!

That same day my 24' trialsbike arrived, I got out later that week to test it. I must say, Onza has done a great job!

As you can tell my 2011 was a bit hectic, but it was also very, very, very fun.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank some of the people who have made 2011 an awesome year for me,

Michel Romen
Dino Karadza
Tibor Stojakovic
Yvo Muris
Aggie van Berkum
Frank Goertz

All the riders I rode with this year

www.rideactive.nl
www.nodabs.nl
www.bikeskills.nl
www.bikefreak-magazine.nl
www.downhillsport.nl
www.fietsshopuitgeest.nl

Guus Bouwmans