What was meant to be a day off on our schedule, was another day of riding and exploring as we headed further south on the Vans x The Bloom tour. For today, the mission was to find some street spots which took us to a college campus in Fresno, California. Now that we were hitting the streets, we were in Linda’s world.
We managed to find a nice ledge for Linda to do a long pedal slide on but otherwise, the campus was fairly limited. The next stop took us to another school campus, but the ledge we found had a rail welded at the end, so it was time to find another spot. Street spots in Fresno aren’t placed closed by, so the next stop took us about 10 minutes down the road to a rail behind a Walmart. The hop-on was short but the drop was high for what Linda was originally comfortable with, but when it came down to business, it was one and done. It’s unbelievable how quickly the day went by because by the time the rail was done – which didn’t even take Linda long to do, we literally had about an hour or two left before the sun went down.
The last stop of the day took us to Mosqueda Bike Park, a massive concrete park designed just for bikes. Everyone was preparing to hop the fence, but a local staffer let us into the park that was typically closed on Sundays. Everything was so well built, from the ledges, transitions, and even the capsule. It was all incredibly smooth and fun but required an immense amount of peddling and speed to get around. When we got there, everyone started darting off in different directions. Angie had her eyes however on the capsule, and after the first run, she was hungry to go higher and faster. Perris dabbled with everything, but the jaw-dropping moment was the massive quarter to quarter wallride which she did with effortless style.
As the day drew to a close, it was time to pack up and head further south towards Palm Springs for the night. Funny story, we were almost stranded when the sprinter van didn’t turn over, I guess something had jiggled loose, but after a minor moment of panic, we were back on the road.
Linda joined us in the RV; the youngest rider on the crew, Linda had only started riding a few years ago, and is already being recognized for her hard work and talent. This was also Linda’s first time being outside of Europe, and now being surrounded by some of the best female BMX riders in the world. Despite the success at such a young age, it was upsetting to hear that even in today’s world, Linda was still dealing with the noise that Angie and I dealt with when we were younger, but now with the addition of social media too. Linda and Angie bonded over their shared experiences and Angie gave some solid advice on how to deal with negativity from strangers and even peers. Sometimes it just boils down to jealousy and the sooner you can realize that negative comments are coming from someone’s own insecurities, the 1-2 bad comments in a sea of positivity will have less control over you.
Save the Date!
Vans x The Bloom Jam @ Vans Off The Wall Skatepark
7471 Center Ave, Huntington Beach, CA 92647
March 16 2022 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Join us on Wednesday, March 16th from 5 – 8 pm and celebrate the last day of the trip with us. This event will be open to everyone and will include free food, drinks, giveaways, and more. Come out for the Cash for Tricks Jam and hang out with some of your favorite riders. The event will be live broadcasted on Brakeless TV for those who can’t make it.
Think you missed an update? Click here to see everything under Vans x The Bloom.
