Austin Coleman pulling a
“downside whip” during practice
yesterday.
(Photo: Dew Tour)

[This article was written by our BMX correspondent Brendan Vail. Brendan is a promoter of local BMX events and the proprietor of Your-Inn.com.]

It’s that time of year again when the nation’s top BMX riders come to Portland to compete and add their color to the local bike scene. The Wendy’s Invitational/Dew Tour began Thursday and runs through Sunday at the Rose Quarter. The traveling tour started in 2005 and features the nation’s top competitors in BMX riding (as well as skateboarding, and freestyle motocross).

There are three BMX events at the Dew Tour; BMX Vert, BMX Dirt, and BMX Park.

In BMX Vert, top pros such as Jamie Bestwick and Chad Kagy compete against one another on a 12 foot tall half-pipe ramp performing a variety of aerial tricks.

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Tonight’s screening of the new movie, Freedom Riders, has local off-road riding advocates pumped up. The movie — which creators call “the Dogtown and Z Boys’ of mountain biking — chronicles the eight-year journey of a group of mountain bikers in Wyoming who established the first network of freeride trails in the lower 48 states to be officially sanctioned by the U.S. Forest Service.

Kris Schamp, local off-road advocate and communications director of the Northwest Trail Alliance, says the film is about how the culture of freeriders (riders who like jumps, and highly technical trails) is changing rapidly. “Riders and local advocacy/trail building groups nationwide have come to realize that they need to partner closely with land managers and agencies when designing, building and maintaining trails.”

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