2-Hip’s Meet the Street Contest

theshrew13

• October 22 2001
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I’ll begin this article by saying that the 2-Hip Meet the Street contests are about the experience, not the competition.It’s about a couple hundred people that ride BMX bikes getting together and getting rowdy. That being said, the 2001 2-Hip Meet the Street contest was a blast. But as usual, I seem to be getting ahead of myself, so let’s start at the beginning.

I showed up on Saturday morning at around 11am to a sea of BMX riders. There had to be at least 200 bikes laying around the small patch of concrete that 2-Hip was filling with some of the sketchiest ramps I’ve ever seen. Ramps were literally falling apart while people were riding them, and every time this happened, someone would run onto the course with a cordless drill to perform a temporary mend. The permit that the city of San Francisco gave 2-Hip only allowed them to bring the ramps in on the morning of the contest, so the course was being built while a mass of riders were trying to ride what ramps were already there. This led to mass confusion as well as mass collisions. So many riders confined to such a small area meant that bike-to-bike crashes happened constantly during practice. This included a scary moment when Bruce Crisman and Cameron Birdwell collided hard, leaving Bruce on the ground for a few seconds. Things became even sketchier when the box jump was set up, because from that point on, the only thing that the Ams wanted to do was jump the box, which prompted Kris Beecher to get on the mic and rename the contest the “2-Hip Meet the Box Jump.”

After a while, things began to settle down enough for the contest to begin. “Good” was the first class, and after that, “Great” got their chance to go. “Good” had 41 riders, “Great” had 35, and there were at least another 40 on the waiting list. Throughout the contest, Beecher and Ron Wilkerson were pleading with people to stay on the grass surrounding the makeshift park, but their pleas were to no avail, especially when it came to the SoCal hecklers section.

Speaking of heckling, this day was full of it. Whenever a rider rode up to the handrail but didn’t go for it, everyone would start booing–even one of the announcers. A little lighthearted heckling is fine, but to boo someone for not trying a handrail is pretty lame, especially when the announcer is doing it. I’m not sure who was on the mic at that time, but whoever it was, was not cool. Most of the heckling came from two groups on opposing sides of the wallride. The SoCal crew could be heard constantly throughout the day. Apparently they made the six hour drive to stand around and make fun of people rather than ride in the contest (this is also where I could be found most of the day, so I guess I can’t say too much!). Some of the heckling did get a little out of hand. The right side of the wallride was home to a certain NorCal bike company’s crew. These guys were completely out of control, breaking bottles, spray painting everything, and aiming aerosol blow torches at riders. Not cool. Funny, but not cool.

Oh yeah, there was a contest going on during all of this, too. The Pro class (Really Great) didn’t begin until after 5pm,, and it was getting really cold by this point. Fall might not be the best time to hold a contest in San Francisco; it gets dark early and San Francisco is cold enough as it is. But despite the sketchy course and the cold, all 22 Pros did their best. Some of the most notable tricks were:
Jimmy Levan’s huge downside footplants on the wallride.
Ty Hathaway did a vertical Smith stall-to-180 in on the wallride extension. I was thoroughly impressed by Ty’s riding all day; he’s definitely someone to look out for in the future.
Brian Boyco pulled an icepick on the extension that sat at the back of the hip, and I have to point out that he did it while wearing a pink helmet.
Adam Strieby came through with a brand new trick. He did a 360 X-up to downside tailwhip/decade on the box jump. It’s pretty hard to imagine, and I wish I had a sequence to show you (anyone that wouldn’t mind contributing some video footage of this give me a call). Adam then turned around and followed with a flip-whip. Insane.

When the contest was over, it was evident that everyone had had a good time, but they were all ready to leave. It was getting dark, and it was time to begin the evening’s festivities or the drive home, whichever it may have been.

We recieved the top ten finishers for the Amateur divisions last night. So here are the winners in all the divisions

Really Great (Pro)
1. Adam Strieby (Redline)
2. Bruce Crisman (Diamondback)
3. Jimmy Levan (Metal)
4. Rob Darden (S&M)
5. Ty Hathaway (Pacesetter Bike Shop)
6. Mike Krnaich
7. Troy McMurray (S&M)
8. Gary Young (Dirt Bros.)
9. Ryan Armstrong (2-Hip)
10. Mike Heinz tie
10. Ben Boyco tie

Great
1. Andre Murillo
2. Samar Corilo
3. David Camacho
4. Josh Pyle
5. Jake Honesto
6. Chris Masters
7. Eben Fischer (Tie)
7. Marcos Torres (Tie)
7. Chad Bautista (Tie)
10. Tim “Fuzzy” Bosstock

GOOD
1. Tony Campos
2. Jimmy Makin
3. Josh Bingham
4. Scott Richards
5. Michael Drummer
6. Wes Rowe (Tie)
6. Charles Landgren (Tie)
8. Tyson Fitzpatrick
9. Evan Khan
10. Greg Vermulen

The 2-Hip Meet the Street contest was sponsored by Red Bull, UGP, EVS, Little Devil, Etnies, Aera, Zoo York, Odyssey, Kink, Props, and of course 2-Hip.