The BS3 crew from Bristol collaborated with the Metal Pegs from London to organise a street jam. The route was intended to be around the mean streets of the city, but the weather had other ideas. Come the morning of the jam, Plan B had to be put into effect.

Meeting at the M32 skate spot Saturday morning, it quickly became apparent that, despite encouraging a few to stay indoors and hence lowering the numbers, the rain didn’t matter much: the M32 spot has everything that you could ever want to ride, and more, all in the dingy settings of a motorway flyover where you can do pretty much anything you want.

The BS3 had been busy the few nights before, setting up a few additional obstacles such as fly off ramps and a few extra rails. By the morning, a sound system had been obtained and the playlist taken care of (Mike’s non-stop ‘easily accessible’ hip-hop, and a bit of metal). As the jam got going, a good number of riders turned out, despite the total piss poor weather (probably about 50 heads in total).

Along with the Metal Pegs lads who had travelled by train from London on the Friday night, other riders from the local region turned up, as well as a few from up t’north and farer out. A good number of Bristol riders were also in attendance, and demonstrated their craft upon the various street riding obstacles.

Emerson displayed some wizardry, using his pegs in multiple, perplexing ways. Ry-bizzle was riding fast and going high. Dom was downing tins and doing spins. Snake and Yog and others were having it constantly.

After a long session of riding on the rails, ledges and weirder objects at the M32 spot, a long jump contest was quickly pulled together. Long jump contestants paid a quid each to hurl themselves over small flat bank fly off placed increasingly further away from an even smaller flat bank landing. The winner won the fees collected from those who took part, along with a can of Tennants Super. Meanwhile, the BS3 boys looked after those in attendance with fresh vegetable samosas bought from the Sweet Mart down the road and by providing drinking water. An enthusiastic bmxer dad in attendance also spent the day carrying a large water melon around, dishing out chunks at various points.

Then everybody went out into the pissing rain to ride for thirty minutes to another dry spot. This time it was a huge flat bank with a concrete sub-box on top, conveniently positioned under another motorway flyover. To the organisers’ surprise, there was a substantial waterfall of water cascading down half of the setup. This did not deter the riders. While some drank and smoked, the others hurled themselves up the flat bank and tested out the super slidey, wet sub-box on top. Memorable here was Tim’s (aka ‘Not Erik’) icepick to 270 in, perfectly executed. The Unknown Parasites and North East England would be proud.

Others span and threw themselves around on the slippery, wet bank, struggling to stop and sliding out as they careered back towards the crowd. Also memorable was a mythical Bristolian game of magnets and coins spontaneously starting up and entertaining us for an hour or so. Despite sitting around and riding with wet clothes, the atmosphere was merry and spirits were high. As the riding then began to quieten down, people started to organise themselves for a night out around Bristol city centre. Everyone met up at The Full Moon bar and celebrated the jam. It got pretty messy. Some left early because the concept of time lost all meaning. Others danced and tested their luck with the local Bristolian lasses.

On the Sunday, the jam was then picked up again. This time, we met at the infamous Dean Lane, where we tested ourselves with the downhill course. Then we all went to some more classic Bristol street spots, such as Lloyd’s hip. Riders seemed pleased to go to such a magical and well-know spot. Here, Skinner floated a few spins over the perfect hip. AKA Not Erik was on it again. As the numbers began to thin out as people began to travel back home, the rest who stayed on continued to ride around the city to spots selected for the jam the day before. Finally, another local DIY skate spot was hit up, where the final beers and smokes of the jam weekend were finished off. The rain did not matter. If anything, it just meant everybody had to be a little more creative.

Big ups to the BS3 badmen for putting on the show. And to everyone else for turning up, contributing, and having a good time. One of the best weekends. Keep an eye out for future collaborations between BS3 and Metal Pegs, as well as jam video which you can watch below. And, always, support independent BMX.