The Simple Session in Tallinn, Estonia is one of the biggest BMX contests in the world and Belgium hasn’t ever been represented there. The Grounded crew decided they had to do something about that. They got in touch with the organisation, pointed out the fact and asked them politely to consider one of their team riders. The Simple Session people checked out the Grounded team and their eye fell on the young gun Willem Van Gansen. When Grounded pushed out the news and I saw Willem was riding the contest, I just had to come along! With about a week and a half to go until the contest it was quite a struggle to get everything sorted, but we managed to get there and I can tell you it was definitely worth it. What an adventure!
Read article
Every year KHSL, the harmony orchestra I play in, organises several events with the majority of them being annually reoccurring. One of these annual events is the KHSL Youth’s weekend. It all comes down to getting out to some random town on the first weekend of November, play music and entertain ourselves. It’s about changing the scenery so we can spend time together in another setting and it has made us a tight bunch of friends over the years. And I guess for young new musicians that had decided to join us a month earlier at the start of our musical year, it makes for a great atmosphere to get welcomed in. This year was no different.
Read article
“Oh shit, it’s cold in Belgium!” was the first thought that sprung to mind when I stepped of the bus we had just travelled in for about 12 hours. It was around 7 in the morning, it was really cold or it felt like that anyway. I hadn’t slept the whole night, had a terrible cold so had to blow my nose every 5 minutes and my shoulder hurt. Doesn’t sound that good, does it? I admit, I was glad to be back. I missed my internet connection and most of all I longed for my warm and cosy bed. But when I recall all the wild parties, drunk nights and amazing surf sessions, believe me, I can’t wait to go back.
Read article
The Eiffel Tower, the Notre Dame Cathedral, the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs-Elysées, Centre Georges Pompidou and the “Beaubourg” Neighbourhood, Sacre Coeur and Montmartre… If you flip open any tourist guide for Paris, these places will be on the top of the Must See-list every time. And guess what, I went to see ‘em all!
Read article
It’s been a couple of years now that I travel to Cologne with a bunch of friends for the BMX Masters. We usually leave with a couple of cars Thursday morning so we can ride a bit before the masses arrive, but this year I couldn’t make that departure. I only got Friday off so the only choice I had was to take the train Thursday evening after work and meet up with the rest of the group in Cologne. Usually travelling by train isn’t so bad. I do it all the time. And we have a direct Thalys line from Brussels to Cologne that if you book early even isn’t that expensive. Great! I couldn’t make the last Thalys though so I had to take four different smaller trains and in stead of a relaxed ride of about 3 hours, I jumped from one train on to the other for over five hours. But I did eventually get there and that really is al that mattered to me.
Read article
Literally the first pictures I took with my, back then, shiny new camera were shot at the Suzuki BMX Masters back in 2008. I had zeroed my savings account to buy all my gear and although I had ordered about a month or two before summer break hit, it took the shop until a week before the Masters to get everything and send it to me. Our national mail usually only takes a day or two to get a package delivered so I wasn’t to worried at first, but when after two days there was still no sign of my order, I called customer-service to try and track it. The only thing the guy on the phone could tell me, though, was: I’m sorry Sir, I have no idea where your package is right now. The file reads ‘In delivery’ since yesterday, so it has been in the main depot and is now on it’s way. If you haven’t got it yet it’ll probably be delivered very soon.
Read article
