Funeral For a Friend
Posted by Landozine - 14/06/10 at 12:06:57 am
Last night saw the celebration of over half a decade of DIY BMX. After years of leading the hardcore BMX scene in Montreal, Ugly Assed Bikes is closing their doors. Liam Mulrooney, the park’s owner/operator and general all around badass explained that UAB was not closing because he had tired of working 24/7 and sinking thousands of his own dollars into the park; instead the park is closing because the building has changed hands and the new landlords have upped the rent to an impossible figure.
With the recent addition of ’Le Taz’ to Montreal’s indoor skatepark scene, UAB has come up against some stiff competition. Montreal already saw the demise of Orkus, one of the other local indoor parks last year and now with UAB going out of business Taz stands to be the only game in town. Liam didn’t seem too phased by the loss, in fact he planted several cryptic seeds about future projects and even slight glimmers of hope that the building may remain rentable, at least for the short term. Although Taz is a larger park with many more ramps and obstacles to offer it will never compare to Liam’s underground BMX paradise, a place where there are few (if any) rules, beers are welcome and encouraged, and once in a while you might find yourself shredding in front of a live band.
The funeral Jam was on all day, but we didn’t show up until after dark. We rode street all day in Montreal and for once actually rode spots instead of riding around like chickens with our heads cut off. Our first stop was the wallride school where Prashant was so psyched to ride that he took a cheese grater crash right out of the car.
Later on, we visited the red brick trannies downtown, made famous by Greg Flag in his last video edit. We expected a fun spot to session and instead found one of the gnarliest/most challenging spots ever. Greg is a machine. We had some fun and oogled some french girls before heading out once more to a sponge pyramid.
After riding street, we made it to UAB in time for the best trick contest. We had the pleasure of watching Louis Pepin do enormous 360 to fakies on the lip of the box jump, ridiculous 180s over the spine, and an ultra precise footjam on the top of the new quarter to wall.
It is a very sad thing that a place as awesome as UAB won’t be there next time its raining and we want to ride, the next time we’re stuck inside in december with our hands down our pants, the next time we want to have a session that goes until 3am… heck I have no idea what to do for new years 2010. But regardless of all this, I’m glad we had UAB and offer my thanks to Liam for the enormous amount of effort and commitment he has shown over all the years. UAB, much like Narnia will live on forever in our hearts and minds.
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As somebody who’s had some amazing times both in the Park & on the stage at UAB, Thanks for all the great Memories! Rockfight will remain one of the wildest events I’ve ever witnessed for a long time.
Comment by Gour — June 14, 2010 #
Mega big ups for everything Liam, especially making sure we had a place to ride when we showed up on days when you were closed and we were to stupid to check beforehand. Among that there were the other amazing highlights of riding, parties, jams, prizes, puking and good people.
Sorry I couldn’t make it, honestly.
Thanks for everything!
Comment by Rich Red — June 14, 2010 #
Thanks to Liam and everyone else who helped run the place for this long! You kick ass!!!!
Comment by Tommy — June 14, 2010 #
Liam,
You Rock Buddy!!! Thanks.
Comment by Roland — June 14, 2010 #
[...] read a piece on Capital about UAB closing its doors and it’s definitely the end of an era. I was lucky enough to ride it again [...]
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