The Beacon Bmx

Living in Austin the last three years, I’ve been on a mission to unlock the city’s secret spots.  With so many skaters and bikers here, there is never a shortage of new places to ride.  The problem is finding them.  Understandably, these unseen gems aren’t advertised.  Anyone who’s built a spot has dealt with the frustration of having their hard work toppled by some hooligan kid so it’s no coincidence these places are kept hidden.  I don’t mean to be cocky, but I’ll admit that I’ve become quite the iron chef of finding spots.  Sometimes finding the place is half the battle but thankfully video context clues, web forums, and Google maps have been a godsend.

With all that said, there has been one concrete wonder that’s eluded me for the last 2 years; The Alien Pod.  After watching S&M’s recent Blind in Texas video I made it a priority to find this place especially since I heard rumors of its days being numbered.  Two months later, after spending hours mindlessly searching skate forums I found 3 hints that helped triangulate its location.  I’ll spare you the trigonometry formulas I used, but there it was, hidden in the blurry pixels of Google Maps.

Intending to session the hell out of it, I got up early the next day and packed my bag with plenty of tools and water.  When I got there, this is what I found:

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The internet is a funny place, isn’t it? I was checking out another bike website recently when a web-quaintance (username: BPN) told me about a free bicycle swap meet that is held in Austin every month. What I mean is, I’m constantly surrounded by bikes and have lived in Austin for 3 years, but only on the internet would I learn about something that has been right under my nose this whole time.
I’m glad BPN told me about FrankenBike because it is a really fun concept. Something about digging through someone else’s parts bin has always made me feel like a kid in a candy store. Picture a place where cyclists of all types erect their ez-ups and gather to sell their second hand parts. The sun is shining, birds are chirping, kids are laughing and the old dudes are talking about how their bike used to be the shit. Sound like a good time? Well it is, especially when they let you BYOB.

This month it was held at Hammerhead Bikes but the location varies from month to month.  Check out their website for a schedule and more information.

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I spotted these on the Espn website.  While Bauer was vising Austin, Sandy Carson caught up with him and snapped these.  From the looks of the train tracks,  I would say he’s riding redbox trails.  The last photo in the series is an instant classic.