feature - Woodyard trails - Grinnel Hill BMX

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Woodyard trails Grinnel Hill BMX Trip to the States

Andrew Thomson, Jack Smith, Damo Wilkinson and James Bentley, all locals from the Woodyard trails in Melbourn, set off on their BMX trip to San Diego, California on the 30th January for two weeks all with the intention of getting away from the English weather and the ambition to experience new BMX trails, skate parks and culture.

The idea of our trip to California all started out when we met two guys who had come over from the states to come and ride the Melbourn trails (Grinnel Hill BMX), Blaine and Braden. Who we actually came into contact with over social media app (Instagram) For those of you who don’t know it’s an application whereby you post photos up onto your account for others to see, like, comment and so on. Crazily enough we started seeing photos that they were posting up of their spots in California and to which they were seeing the photos we were posting up of our trails in Melbourn also. The Americans were really impressed with the photos we were putting up of our trails and we would occasionally comment on each others photos indicating our great desire to travel to each others spots, meet up and show them around. This became reality last summer when they ended up planning a trip to come and stay over here for a week filled of riding at our trails in Melbourn and a few other spots around the London area. Luckily they had picked one of the best weeks to come over weather-wise where we managed a near enough rain free week which enabled us to ride as much as possible. We had such a great week showing them about and within that week secured ourselves two really

Grinnel Hill BMX site, Melbourn

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good new friends. As the week came to an end before they flew back home to the States they asked us if we were interested in heading out to California to experience their BMX scene and offered us a place to stay and show us about. We took their offer into consideration and saved some money together to plan a trip over there. Without their offer of a place to stay we would definitely not have been able to afford two weeks over there so we were so grateful for that.

It had always been a dream to head over to America, mainly because of the perfect weather they have all year round whereas we have to deal with long, harsh winters where we obviously cannot ride much here in England. It really made sense for us to plan our trip over to San Diego in the neck of the winter to escape the bad weather and enjoy two weeks of amazing sunny weather. We flew out to California on the 30th January to meet Blaine and Braden who allowed us to stay at their place in San Marcos (just outside of San Diego) We had an absolutely amazing two weeks, experiencing their local trails, skate parks and street spots. It turned out that California had pretty much everything to offer for BMX in such a perfect climate. It really blew me away how big their BMX scene was over there and upon being out there on a BMX trip we also managed to visit a lot of California itself and experience the culture. I still think it’s incredible how we managed to make our dream to go over to America and meet loads of new people become a reality through having the trails at Melbourn and by meeting the Americans over a social media site. It just goes to show how important the internet is in this day and age and the possibilities it creates. We are still in contact with the Americans and are hoping on planning more trips out there in the future!

I would personally like to thank the Melbourn Parish Council on behalf of everyone from the Woodyard trails for everything that they have helped us out with, for example the metal container to store tools and equipment, water supply and tarpaulin. We couldn’t of done it without them!

The club is open annually April to September

Strictly for BMX use only, for ages 12 and older, members have the option of either becoming a seasonal member for £20 (April to September), or a day member (per session) for £5.

Our aim for the club is to promote an activity for the young community of Melbourn and surrounding areas to participate in, with the guidance of our committee and experts, in a safe and friendly environment. Members will have access to BMX coaching and expertise on site during club open days. For more details and to download your membership form today please visit; www.grinnelhillbmx.co.uk

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