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If you've been to an ACT Jam in the last few years there will be no denying, it is one hell of a time!

ACT Jam 2019 went down a couple of weeks ago and we are blown away with how it all went down this year. If you were there, you know already!

This is the biggest year so far and we feel that it's already shaping up to be bigger next year..

A big year deserves a big recap, so we're breaking these down into days.

Want a recap of what went down on day one of ACT Jam 2019? As well as some things you didn't know happened?

Keep reading..

This year marks the seventh year since it's reincarnation from the OG ACT Jams that happened from 2001 - 2005 and this year we were able to join forces with BentSpoke Brewery, who came on board as a major sponsor to help to give away a whopping $8k prize money.

This sort of prize money wasn't all BentSpoke's doing though, we had a lot of help from the Australian BMX industry kicking in to help pay BMXers who kicked ass riding.

If you don't know by now to support the brands that support ACT Jam (and hence Australian BMX), then this is a reminder!

The weeks leading up to the jam:

This year we had crew from all over the world spending time in town, enjoying what the Canberra BMX scene has to offer. There was plenty of BMX sessions going down at spots across Canberra by a varied crew of BMX riders. It was cool to have trail riders rolling around the streets - and vice versa.

There was also copious amounts of coffee being sucked down at our humble BMX shop by a bunch of legends.

It was cool to have so many BMX riders in town, there was a real energy in the air and a lot of positive vibes. 

Kris Fox was lighting up Belco bowl on the first day of the jam. Jack Gruber photo.

ACT Jam 2019 stop 1: Belconnen:

There was no doubt going to be some heavy BMX action on day one of the ACT jam. For those who don't know, above Back Bone BMX shop in Belconnen is Lakeside Tattoo parlour, who this year was a sponsor of the jam and stepped up in a big way by freeing their schedule and offering walk in ACT Jam and BMX tattoos to those willing!

Pat Freyne is now a lifer.. Photo: Jack Gruber

The bowl at Belconnen was damn near shut down by the Fast & Loose crew. Jason Watts, Kris Fox, Cody Pollard were blasting and I'm sure I saw Corey Walsh do an air that swung around half of the bowl - I know for certain at one stage he took off 15 feet from the left of the channel and still aired over it.. considering the bowl is round, 12 foot tall, with pool coping, that's as gnarly as it gets.

Corey Walsh voted best rider - Belco bowl for ACT Jam 2019

Guaranteed Corey Walsh swung this table around from far left of frame and will be landing outside of the right frame of this photo. Photo Jack Gruber.

The snake run was destroyed by many, but a stand out was no doubt Boyd Hilder. Boyd has that 'hard stuff done effortlessly' thing going on; he did triple truckdrivers, x-up whips and everything else in the BMX trick list with a smile on his face. Full blown ripper.

Boyd Hilder voted best rider - Belco snake run for ACT Jam 2019 

You'd be psyched to be that nosed in just straight jumping.. Boyd Hilder, cannonball. Photo: Jack Gruber.

 The street course was the last thing to be shut down on the first day of ACT Jam 2019, special mentions to Jack O'Reilly who battled and conquered a nollie tooth hanger the big down ledge, Jacman Hinns who did a bunch of hard moves including an oppo barspin to ice down the rail, and Cal Eggington who rode the bowl like a savage, the snake run, and then busted moves on the street section.

The night and street section belonged to Lewis Mills though, who tore apart the rail both, going both up and down it. Bar-crooks-bar down and up-rail 180 whip were just a couple of bangers from the Fiending shredder from Sydney.

Lewis Mills voted best rider - Belco street for ACT Jam 2019.  

Lewis Mills up the rail and 180 whipping off the end of it! Photo: Jack Gruber

Pat Freyne balanced.. Photo: Jack Gruber

 Belco Post-Jam: 

 It didn't just end at the final trick of the official jam and that's what makes ACT Jam so good; it's three days of real deal BMX mayhem. At one point I was set to leave at around 8.30pm (the official jam finished at 7pm) and as I was driving out, I couldn't help but see a huge mass of ACT Jammers crowded around the deep bowl.

I parked my car and walked up  to find Sean Thompson, Cal Eggington and Brazilian Cauan Madona (who missed the official jam completely) going back-to-back for some of the gnarliest riding of the whole night. I'm fairly certain Madona knows no fear, because he didn't have any issue pumping out a shoulder high double whip among other things that had the crowd going bananas. Madona knows very little English, but I sure hope he understood by the screaming, swearing and jumping up-and-down from the crowd that his presence at the jam was highly appreciated that night.

It was an amazing way to encapsulate just what the ACT Jam is; full blown freestylin' for the love of it.

And we still had Tuggeranong and BentSpoke to go!

Cody Pollard on full blast. Photo: Jack Gruber.

The party kept going and the show went on for two more days..

I'm still jazzed just thinking about it, and there is so much to go through that we'll release part two and part three of the jam separately.. So keep an eye out!

- Tyson

We had some killer footage from that epic trip we did out west last year, so why leave it dormant? This was a fun trip, so many memories.

If you're stoked on good times and rad bowl footage, then look no further and jump into the vid below!

Some of the Cult Crew were lurking in and around Canberra leading up to this year's ACT Jam and the legendary Veesh threw down and made this killer video from their time here. I will say this though; Veesh has got a crazy work ethic. No matter what's going down he is there capturing it for you to enjoy, doing a damn good job at it too!

It was three days of BMX pandemonium here for this year's ACT Jam, there is still a hefty story coming up that I'm writing so we'll keep this one brief and let your eyeballs enjoy the goodness from the Cult Crew.

One last thing for this post - big thanks to the Cult dudes Jason Watts, Veesh, Benn Pigot, Pat Freyne, Preston Okert, Kyle Fletcher and of course this year's KOTA Corey Walsh for making it out and destroying!

- Tyson

ACT jam 2019 is official! 7 years in a row and this one is a doozy.. BentSpoke Brewery are bringing the noise, officially presenting the ACT jam with a major sponsorship for 2019, making the total prize pool $8000!

If you've been to ACT jam before, you already know how good it is, but if you haven't, then strap yourself in for three days of the best BMX you can handle, with some epic times in between..

This year we're talking bands, food trucks and a few more surprises that we'll keep you in the loop about.. You can't give it all away just yet, just know that if you AIN'T coming, you're kooking it!

EVENT BREAK DOWN:

Thursday 25th April: Belconnen skatepark 5 – 8pm
Friday 26th April: Tuggeranong skatepark 5 – 8pm
Saturday 27th April: BentSpoke Cannery (Mitchell ACT) 12 – 10pm

Yes, you read that right, the final stop is going to be at the legendary Canberra beer froffers BentSpoke Brewery's head quarters, complete with a rad ramp setup and stoke a plenty - pouring the tastiest beer around just metres from where it's made - you don't get fresher lines than that!

See ya here!

*IMPORTANT RIDER INFO - PLEASE READ*

Riders MUST be current members of BMX Australia for Freestyle, memberships will be checked at each stop with no exceptions and you WILL NOT go into the running for prize money if you aren't a current member.
4 month memberships are available here: https://bmxaustralia.com.au/membership/freestyle-4-month/

No doubt you've seen this increddddible 17+ minute long rip snorter of a video from the Cult crew by now, but if you haven't, now is the time to really sit back and absorb some seriously, seriously, amazing riding in our own backyard. Corey Walsh and Dan Foley were able to travel across the Pacific with BMX filmer and all-round legend Veesh, to meet up with our bro (and long time Back Bone team rider) Benn Pigot, as well as newly appointed Cult team rider (and also Back Bone team rider) Jason Watts. 

The dudes spent some time in Melbourne and Sydney, as well as a bunch of time in here in Canberra, destroying the place in the best way they know how, on a BMX bike. Plenty of the trails in this vid, as well as a heavy dose of Canberra skateparks.

The Cult crew also put on a hell of a show with a jam at Belconnen skatepark one of the days they were here, I shot some photos for that, which you can see below. 

If this video doesn't get you stoked on what Cult is doing, as well as what the Australian BMX scene has to offer, then you might be doing the wrong thing!

- Tyson

Benn Pigot doing it proper. Photo: Tyson Jones-Peni

Corey Walsh, Zac Miner and Jason Watts hangin'. Photo: Tyson Jones-Peni

Dan Foley is as smooth as it gets, with style to match. Photo: Tyson Jones-Peni

The dude Jason Watts is runnin' it right now.. His part in the Cult Down Under video is bonkers. Photo: Tyson Jones-Peni 

What the heck!?

Our good friend and royal rat Troy Harradine just dropped a ripper of a web video, absolutely destroying Canberra skateparks, street spots and beyond. The whole video is exciting to watch, awesome to see such creative riding and even more impressive is Troy's ability to capture a lot of this footage solo. 

Troy has always been a big part of the Canberra BMX scene and it's guys like him who make us stoked to have a BMX shop.

Make sure you hit play and share this around if Australian BMX is your thing - epic. 

Despite what a few people (who mainly live outside of Canberra) will say, Canberra has got plenty to offer and I will 100% testify to the fact that riding BMX is one of best things to do in Canberra.

The Canberra BMX scene is awesome for many reasons, one of them being we have a plethora of skateparks and spots that make it a serious destination for riding. 

This summer in Canberra, we're organising some jams at a few of these parks so BMXers from Canberra and beyond can get together for a ride and enjoy the long days and sunshine.

If you've read the 11 reasons why riding BMX will make you a better person article I wrote last year, you'll know that many of the reasons will be ticked off if you attend any, or all, of the jams. Friendship, adventure and fun, to name a few..

Jam details

Woden skatepark: 11/1/2019, 6pm onwards, 40 Launceston St Phillip ACT

Belconnen skatepark: 18/1/2019, 6pm onwards, 77 Emu Bank Belconnen ACT

Tuggeranong skatepark: 25/1/2019, 6pm onwards, 25 Bartlet Pl Greenway ACT

All jams are ride at your own risk and are a way unifying the scene and getting riders stoked for an epic year of BMX ahead.

See you there!

- Tyson

What a time of BMX pandemonium the ACT jam is; thanks to filmer extraordinaire James Fox we've got you a heck of an early Christmas present for you. 13 minutes of badassery from riders all over the world who descended on Canberra for this year's ACT jam. If you don't make it to next year's, you'll be missing out! 

Hope you enjoy, and from all of us at Back Bone BMX, we hope you have an epic holidays! 

Tyson has a real flair for podcasting.. haha. Will Kerr Photo.

This has been a long time coming for Zac Miner and myself and we are stoked. Many conversations and in-depth discussions were had between the two of us over the last year or so, that had us thinking it be great to share the conversations, as well as expand on them with other people, both like-minded and otherwise. 

The result is this, the Penny Mining Podcast. 

We are four episodes deep at the moment and our plan is to have interesting conversations with interesting people weekly, about BMX and everything in between. 

Hope you enjoy!

- Tyson

Zac Miner ripping an invert and taking over the podcast world with Tyson!