Lichtplein (achter de Witte Dame), Emmasingel, Eindhoven

Armed with a chainsaw, a load of used scaffolding boards, and a fistful of nails, screws, and tools, the Swedish designer Anders Jakobsen, aka Lagombra, has built a sensational roller coaster for daring bikers. Constructed on the site, this rough, wooden construction will be the crowd puller on the Lichtplein behind De Witte Dame during the Eindhoven Summer of the Bicycle.

Anders Jackobson, born in Canada, studied at the Konstfack College University of Arts Crafts and Design in Stockholm. Contrary to the Netherlands, North Shore mountain biking is very hot in Canada, which is only understandable as the mountainous area with its forests and rock masses is considerable more rugged than the flat Dutch landscape. Confronted with areas that are too rough to cross over or through, the mountain bikers don’t hesitate to build ramps and bridges of rough wood to get access to the area.

Lagombra (which in Swedish means ‘good enough’) built the first North Shore bike track illegally in the woods behind his house. In 2004, the Riksutstillinger Institute in Norway invited him to build a bike track on a large square in Oslo. 
In Eindhoven, Lagombra’s starting point was for a change not the natural but the urban jungle, reason why he built his bike track on the Lichtplein among the former Philips buildings. And because sawed-down trees in the centre of a city will be missed more sorely than in the Swedish woods, the track was built of rough scaffolding material, which adds a new dimension to Lagombra’s work. 

The bike track is still on view up to and including July 27. We hereby challenge experienced mountain bikers and BMXers to come and master the track. Mind you, at your own risk, and as long as you’re wearing a helmet.