Freedrop and BMX sessions for the summer are now in full swing. The last few months have seen a flurry of activity both on stage and behind scenes. Keep an eye on our Calendar for all upcoming sessions!

The 9th Edition of the Festival Plein Air, organized by Groupe Espaces kicked off on the 14-16th May at Parc Jean-Drapeau in Montreal. A special thank you to Valerie Morel for helping to bring in TheAirBag for three days of adrenaline filled Freedrop and BMX demos.
Word: free·drop
Function: verb
Etymology: North American English with a twang of Scottish., from Anglo-Spanish, Latin freedroppus
Date: 21st century
1 : an act of raising a person to a great height and the subsequent release of gravitational potential energy as the person freely drops onto a giant airbag below, generally followed shortly after with exclamations such as “Yeah!!!”, “Awesome!”, “I wanna try that again!”.

Even the rain couldn’t keep the Freedroppers away. A different crowd also gathered during the weekend thanks to the brave efforts of our Element 51 BMX demo team. Olivier Fortin, Dillon Lloyd, Francis Dussault, Charles Deschampes to name but a few. Together they put on a great show, launching themselves from Big Blue (our BMX ramp) pushing their limits in the air and landing safely on TheAirBag. Wait? What’s that? Olivier is doing flairs at Le Taz after two sessions on TheAirBag? Go figure. There must be some link between real progression and TheAirBag…


For the first time, the Baie de Beauport in Quebec City also welcomed the Festival Plein Air on the 28th-30th May. The Baie de Beauport is a hub for kitesurfers and windsurfing not to mention the relaxed atmosphere on the beach. Managed by Gestev, the facilities are excellent for weekend warriors or an early morning session before work. With a cool breeze blowing ensuring the skies remained cloud free, the festival got off to a great start in Quebec.

Mont-Sainte-Anne, host to the UCI WorldCup Downhill 2010 this summer, welcomed TheAirBag on Saturday 12th June. Although it started out as a Freedrop session, the lure of Big Blue for riders flying past was too much to ignore. The afternoon transformed itself into a full-on bike session, with the now almost expected “I learned my first backflip today” from Pat. Yes, that’s what we’re about. First backflip attempts, perfecting existing tricks and just having a good time. All in the name of fun and progression and nothing less. You’ll always find Ben McHugh, TheAirBag Canada’s head honcho riding around, encouraging riders and trying to improve his own repertoire of tricks. Snowboarding is his main background and source of passion, skateboarding was his root, BMX is the new challenge!

TheAirBag will be back out at Mont-Sainte-Anne for the Worlds on the 3-5 September 2010. Check out our Event Calendar for all our upcoming events.
Next big session? – Element 51 BMX AirBag Session – 3rd July. Get on it!
