I wanted to get Timeless more involved with that event this year and make it out there in person. I decided to make a road trip out of it and try to ride a few parks along the way. There wasn’t much of an agenda aside from making sure we were there for the day of the jam. It’s a decent drive (13 hours-ish), so I planned for a couple extra days on the way out to be able to stop and ride some parks but doing so meant we would have to drive straight back on the way home.

Alex Fenning and I headed out from Kelowna early one morning and met up with Carson Donovan in Cochrane, Alberta and got a session in at the park there before staying the night in Calgary. The next day, we checked out a couple other Alberta skateparks before making our way further east to Saskatoon. Having made it to the destination a day before the jam, we had time to check out a few Saskatchewan parks before we ended up getting rained out later on in that afternoon. The jam itself was amazing! So stoked we were able to make it out there for it, already looking forward to next year.

I had hung out with Seamus Mckeon once when he and Logan (Derberry) visited Andrew in LA; but I didn’t think I knew him well enough that he and his family would let Andrew and I stay at his house the night before his knee surgery. As our Lyft pulled up to the house at 3 AM, we opened the door to the house and hoped that we were not greeted by a barrel of a gun. Fortunately the picture of a teenage Seamus on a BMX bike signalled we were in the right house as we proceeded to wander through the dark house to our rooms while trying not to feel like we broke in.

Other than our first night, Andrew and I came to Mooresville with no idea where we were staying or really what we were riding. Relying on the kindness and excitement that comes from being a part of the BMX community; Seamus, his family, Logan Derberry, Robbie Taylor, and the NC crew treated us like family.

The week was full of riding street, concrete parks, and ramps; but the highlights were Whip Snake and The Goat Pen. The Goat Pen (located on Seamus’s property) was built by Seamus and the NC crew. Every line, corner, pocket, angle, and transition is thought about with intention and embodies the spirit of passionate people coming together to create something amazing. Complete with an indoor mini and the Mongoose Satellite Dish, I wish we could have spent a couple more days riding there.

Whip Snake is another crazy spot and is the work of a guy with the financial resources and land to bring his creative vision to life. (Which includes a huge concrete skate park and multiple metal sculptures ranging in size from 3 foot to 50 foot tall.) Watching Robbie, Logan, and the locals ride that place at full speed and hitting gaps I’d never even think of was incredible.

We have all heard about southern hospitality and the community, camaraderie, & creative spirit within BMX; but these stories are constantly re-emerging because of the truths within them.