Zo probeerde ik om het in time aan Festival van de Band van Jamaïca te maken Vette om bij het oosten één dagenrit te vangen maar de dingen werkten niet eenvoudig uit. Op de manier van Negril aan Ochi werd ik gedwongen om een einde te maken en de voorremmen op Vannette te herstellen. Ik heb wat probleem vindend de delen voor het gehad en wij moesten uit de kans voordeel halen om de reparaties gedaan te krijgen alvorens wij op om het even welke verdere reizen over lange afstand verdergingen. De remmen waren met behoefte aan reparatie en zodat namen wij een halve dagonderbreking in Mobay bij de autowerktuigkundigen. Dit blies uit de rest van mijn reisplannen en wij beëindigden omhoog aankomend in Ocho Rios aan laat in de dag voor om het even welke het berijden met de bemanning in Baai Robins. Wij beslisten in plaats daarvan de dag bij het Bos van de Bloem door te brengen Cranbrook dat maar waarschijnlijk niet helemaal zo veel pret zoals berg biking voor minstens papa absoluut ontzagwekkend was. Wij nochtans maakten het over aan Oracabessa in St Mary en besteed de dag in James Bond Beach voor de 1st Jaarlijkse Fiets langs aangezette Bash van Jamaïca SMORBA, de Heilige Mary van de Vereniging van de Fiets van de Weg. SMORBA is a niet voor winstorganisatie wordt aangesloten die aan IMBA dat is actief bezig geweest met de bouw van en het handhaven van bicycling kansen voor lokale ingezetenen van Kust van het Noorden van Jamaïca famed.
SMORBA wordt gesteund door de Sporten van het Eiland, een niet langs gesponsorde winstorganisatie De Buitenpost van het eiland welke James Bond Beach complex samen met een aantal grote eigenschappen op het eiland leidt, en hun doel hun te bevorderen is De Werken van Bicycling programma ten gunste van de gebiedsjeugd. The Jamaica Fat Tyre Festival has been held in Negril over the past 8+ years and was primarily an off-road event limited to participation of 3 to 5 Jamaicans and a larger number of international competitors. This years goal was to open the event up for more community participation and the number of races days was paired down in favor of cycling activities for locals such as the ramp for kids to jump on, the big dirt jumps pictured below we’re reserved for professional dirt jumpers who put on a show and the highlight of the day had to be the Rambolympics.
The Rambolympics were staged to show the ingenious usage of bicycles in Jamaican society. A bicycle can be much more than a form of recreation in an impoverished nation like Jamaica and in many cases it can be the sole form of transportation for a person and even an entire family. Watching Jamaicans ride their bicycle to work in the morning one can never expect what to see being carried away in a basket or dangling from the handlebars in a grocers bag as the move about their day. The Rambolympics were broken down into three events, the most popular event was a skill test to see how a rider dealt with carrying odd objects that you may find a Jamaican carrying on their bike each day. The ride was three laps around the oval track with the rider being required to pick up a large cumbersome item on each lap. The first lap a rider had to carry and empty Red Stripe case around the field and proceed to the empty gas cylinder so common in kitchens around Jamaica. The Red Stripe Case and the empty gas can seemed difficult enough for most riders but it was the final piece that gook most of them out. The number of Jamaicans seen walking around with a weed whacker can only be surpassed by the number of Jamaicans you see walking around with a machete. Carrying one on a bicycle in the streets of Jamaica is a whole different trick and riding with a weedwhacker, an empty gas gan and a case of Red Stripe makes for some damn good fun for everyone. This was without doubt the most fun and most popular event with everyone enjoying watching the locals spank the international professionals in every event except of course the pro dirt jumping.
Jamaicans are very resourceful people and they seemed to be more adept at carrying odd loads on their bicycles when compared to their “farrin” competitors. The “white boy” riders from America and Canada were not prepared for the sweltering heat and excitement of the days events and you can see it in their faces. The Jamaican riders are more at home in the tremendous heat and better able to deal with the physical activities of the Rambo race. I predicted a Jamaican youth would win and I was right. The young man being covered with flour below was the winner of not only the most favored event but he also won the most challenging event when he took the “5 Mile Rambo Race around Oracabessa” which is a three lap loop through the city center ending back at James Bond Beach. IN Jamaica it is a tradition to cover a person in flour in their birthday. This was a pretty hot day and it was obvious the sun was taking its toll on the vacationers who had already ridden for 2 or 3 days each.
There was a lot of bike riding going on throughout the day and some of the most action was at the dirt jumps with professional riders from around the world showing off their talents to the local youth. Of course the local kids were just waiting for the pro riders to crash on some of the big air jumps they pulled but everyone had a good time and the kids were super stoked to see these pros do their thing. Professional Riders Cam McCaul and Kyle Ebbet did some superman style dirt jumps and the residents of Oracabessa loved it.
The Rambolympics and the Rambo Race around Oracabessa were big fun for the older riders but I think many of the youth actually had more fun riding bikes on the ramp and participating in the bunny hop contest. Jamaicans are very competitive people and each of them was looking to win the Red Bull bunny hop challenge. The goal was to bunny hop your bike over the bamboo rail set on top of stacked cases of Red Bull. I think they got up to 5 cases before everyone started missing them.
SMORBA is working to teach local youth on how to own and operate their own mountain bike guide services and JamaicaMAX.com is going to help. If you want to do some mountain bike riding in Jamaica or take a Jamaica mountain bike tour then contact us so we can arrange a mountain biking trip in Jamaica for you and your group for a small donation to SMORBA. What they actually need is some equipment such as used mountain bikes and cycling gear to outfit local youth and begin their training. If you donate a Jamaican youth a quality mountain bike then JamaicaMAX will deduct 50% of the value of the equipment from your tour costs. For more information about SMORBA and what they do visit their website at http://www.smorba.com or look for our upcoming article featuring more details on their program.
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