BMX
Fifteen years on and the formula is still simple
Former Ride UK editor Nathan Beddows on the lasting appeal of Estonia's Simple Session BMX contest.
This weekend sees the annual Simple Session event in Estonia. The legendary BMX and Skate contest is now onto its fifteenth instalment. It is a magnificent achievement that the event has survived and prospered through the years and is healthy as ever.
Quite simply Simple Session should be a permanent fixture on every pro riders dairy. Although the prize purse might not be as lucrative as the X Games or Dew Tour, it’s certainly safe to say that there’s something else about Simple Session that draws in so many of the world’s top BMX riders. There is a certain vibe about it that just makes it an excitingly unique contest.
Mark Webb, UK BMXer, back at the contest in 2009
© Nathan Beddows
Bas Keep, Nohander air transfer, Simple Session 10
© Nathan Beddows
…For many, it’s a BMX pilgrimage and they won’t care where they place or even if they ride at all…
With the event always being held in the early spring most riders will either be staying warm in their hotel rooms, eating pizza in Vapianos or wandering about the beautiful frozen city. Temperatures outdoors are still very much into the minus and there's still huge piles of snow everywhere.
Walking about in the dark is actually an extreme sport in itself. Tallinn has been known to catch a few riders off guard with its Baltic conditions, especially when they’ve just got off a plane from Cali thinking that a plaid shirt would be adequate.
The fans are what makes Simple Session so special
© Nathan Beddows
Fans clown around at Simple Session 11
© Nathan Beddows
Several hotels in Tallinn annually accommodate all the riders, skaters, media, team managers and fans; the receptions and hallways of which are clogged with people for the long weekend ahead. With shuttle buses going back and forth to the event throughout the day it’s up to the riders to make it to their practice session.
As the bus snakes its way through Tallinn you can make out a patchwork quilt of Estonian dwellings from underneath its white blanket. With so much of the capital being frozen in snow the city holds a fairy-tale like quality about it. Sometimes it’s also really impressive just to see how many people and bikes can fit into one single bus, honestly, its way more than you’d think possible.
Gabe Brooks, in 2012, bunny hopping 50 inches
© Nathan Beddows
Global appeal! SA's Greg Illingworth in 2013.
© Nathan Beddows
When the Finals kick off that’s when you’ll really hear the fans. That’s something that you don’t get to witness over the live-feed
Inside the competition hall some riders look nervous practicing on the freshly-painted wooden ramps. Most will know that the course they’re riding is bespoke built every year by BMX legend, Nate Wessel and his ramp-building team. For many, it’s a BMX pilgrimage and they won’t care where they place or even if they ride at all. It’s not about that; it’s simply about being there, in Estonia, at Simple Session.
Harry Main takes refuge from the cold in 2013
© Nathan Beddows
Risto Kalme, Simple Session's event organiser
© Nathan Beddows
Contest announcer, Darryl Nau’s familiar voice on the mic at the event will often be talking about “The Brotherhood of BMX” and this is what it’s all about. The entire weekend itself is like a roller-coaster ride; peaking through heights of amazing runs, new tricks and names shifting up and down the scoreboard.
When the Finals kick off that’s when you’ll really hear the fans. That’s something that you don’t get to witness over the live-feed: the sheer intensity of the noise and the heat given off by several thousand people all going bananas at once during a rider’s final run…and for the rider about to drop-in; a rush of excitement like no else. That “all eyes on me” feeling as each rider tries to come up with a new line or trick to grab the judges’ attention. Simple Session has a unique atmosphere all of its own.
Logan Martin flips the volcano at the 2014 event
© Nathan Beddows
The knowledgeable crowd know what they like
© Nathan Beddows
Yep, it’s a roller-coaster weekend with a simple formula that works year after year. The end result of so much planning, created by a team of people who never had the faintest idea that this project would still be going strong some fifteen years later.
You can see more of Nathan's work here. Tune in this Sunday for live coverage of Simple Session 2015. Watch on Red Bull Bike or via RedBull.TV from 5pm CEST in Europe, 4pm GMT and 8am PT/11am ET in the US.