Is There Life After Youth?

Is There Life After Youth? 27
Bjorn
Eulink
_
The golden warrior,
40 years old,
definitely a true
old school soldier.
He was born in
Oldenzaal, East
Holland, and started
to ride in the 80’s,
when bikes’ quality
was poor and would
easily break. By
exploring Rap music
and Breakdancing
during his youth,
he thought while
spinning on his
back, there was more
he could do, so he
got a skateboard,
and there was no way
back. After that,
an old Batavus made
out of spare parts
donated by one of
his best friends.
Bjorn was fortunate enough to grow up
in Oldenzaal, home to one of the oldest
skateparks in Holland, built in the 70’s.
Riding there on a daily basis with his
friends was a must, despite the security
guard that didn’t allow bikes on the
snakerun and the broken parts, that would
make him wait for days until the arrival
of new spare parts. Motivated by exploring
and learning new things, he definitely found
his escape from boredom and incapability of
being sat down for a minute. He connected
to the BMX world and local scene through
the dutch zine Fat BMX.
Fast forward 20+ years, Bjorn is proud
of the small Dutch BMX scene and still
loves BMX like day one, even though he is
currently heavily into origami and he would
have been a secret agro ninja if there was
no bike. He lives in Driebergen, has a
girlfriend and is self-employed, working
as an illustrator from time to time,
collecting and selling records and if there
is less work, he renovates and decorates
houses. He tries to ride once a week at
the local indoor park, but his beloved
bowl in Utrechts’ Griftpark will always
be his local spot: “riding my bike after
a day full of grown up stuff clears my
mind”, says Bjorn, who still takes his bike
everywhere in order to meet like minded
people and visit and explore new places.
“It gives you always something new”
Bjorn, Amsterdam, 2013.