Trip To Paradise – Jackson Goldstone
PHOTOS: HÉCTOR SAURA
Jackson has dreamt about riding at La Poma for a long time, and this year he was able to make it over for the Happy Ride Weekend. It was his first solo mission overseas, but we took care of him during the whole week, showing him the city of Barcelona and taking him to Dirt Jump paradise.
The trip happened really, really fast. I think I booked my flights the week before I left, and I was off all alone, with no parents! The flight by myself was a little weird, having nobody to talk to that I knew, but I slept a lot, so it didn’t bother me much.
The only other thing that I knew about the city of Barcelona was the famous seawalls’ street spot that I’ve seen on many BMX edits. It was really cool to be able to see the rest of the city and ride through the streets.
When we arrived at the square with hundreds of pigeons, I was confused and surprised but stoked at the same time because I knew we could get some cool photos. One man gave me some bird food and about three pigeons flew up on my arm. It was the weirdest feeling!
The weather was perfect all week, about 26 degrees outside, sunny, and blue skies. We would chill, go to the beach, or visit some stuff in the morning, and then head to La Poma in the afternoon and ride until dark.
I would say that La Poma has the greatest jumps on the planet. They are perfectly shaped and ride really well, you don’t have to pedal and you don’t have to break, so it doesn’t take a lot of effort to ride them.
I didn’t really have any expectations for the Happy Ride Weekend, all I really wanted to do was have a lot of fun, but landing the cork-720 first try, which I wasn’t planning to do, was the highlight of the trip.
I’m definitely hoping to come back next year because it’s an event that’s too much fun to miss out on.