Welcome to the new, regular ‘Walkabout’ column with Australia’s pro FMX
rider Steve Sommerfeld. Steve keeps himself busy as an athlete manager,
moto-journalist, FMX rider and Night of the Jumps judge and commentator,
but now he will also be traversing his way around the world, bringing you the
best possible blend of travel blog meets FMX feature, and anything crazy
in-between. He’ll be living out of a suitcase for the foreseeable future with his
wife Rachael, and together they have made their way to Europe for 2014/15
to see how long they can last. FreestyleXtreme will be bringing you the lowdown on their FMX antics from all corners of the globe!
Gone Walkabout
with Steve Sommerfeld
Packed my bags and flown the coop!
So it all started in February, with the decision to
come to Europe for a couple of months to work
with Night of the Jumps (NOTJ) in a judging role.
My wife Rachael and I thought it was a great idea,
but the problem was that I was booked to go trail
riding through the jungles of Indonesia with my
friend Andrie two weeks before we would leave
Australia. Another problem was that I was fit and
healthy to compete at the New Zealand Farm Jam
FMX comp for my 4th year!
With packing and moving being a logistical
nightmare, we were on our way before we knew
it! First stop was NOTJ in Berlin, Germany. I soon
found out I was not judging like I thought I would
be, but actually commentating the Live Stream!
Not a bad job change though and the only practise
I needed was to keep talking! After Berlin, the next
good fortune came when NOTJ gave me one of
the spare KTM 2-strokes they had in storage and
gave Rachael and I the keys to a new Mercedes
Vito. We travelled around Europe all of April,
filming the Road2Nations YouTube series with all
the NOTJ riders! After this, we were hooked and
ready to stay in Europe!
FMX in the rain – Welcome to the UK!
This month has been huge. Getting to ride with
Jamie Squibb in his woods in Exeter, England was
something I had been dreaming about for a while.
If you’ve seen the dirt jumps at Squibby’s house
on YouTube, you’ll know why! Unfortunately I
wouldn’t get to touch the dirt hits this time… once
September rolls around it’s the start of the wet
season. I thought Squibby was joking when he
said we wouldn’t normally be able to ride FMX
again until March the following year – turns out he
was deadly serious!
Taking the fight back to Mother Nature for this
winter however, Jamie has built himself one of
the coolest FMX ramp set-ups ever; a completely
wet-weather section with concrete and mesh on
the run-up, mesh on the ramp, a landing with Resimat and carpet over the top and then concrete all
the way back to the start.
This meant we could still train, even though it
bucketed down for 3 weeks - I even learned some
new Flip tricks in the rain! Before that week I
would have said it was impossible to ride in those
conditions!
with
his
“ RidingExeter,Jamie Squibb insomething
woods in
England was
I had been dreaming about for a while
”
Night of the Jumps commentary – Shenzhen,
China
The NOTJ Chinese stop was looming quick on the
calendar and I had to get back to Germany to fly
out. A cool 17-hour drive from the UK in my 1996
VW Transporter and we arrived back just in time!
Shenzhen is a new city for many of the riders and
crew to visit and its claim to fame is being the IT
and electronics capital of China! Almost every
single shopping mall and back-alley storefront was
trying to sell either cheap iPhones or very goodlooking knock-off “Samsnugs”.
Eventually I stumbled across a Chinese massage
parlour, where it was only €5 for a full body
massage or €3.50 for my own personal favourite:
an hour-long foot massage, during which you can
sip on your €0.50 beer and really relax! Before too
long I had half the crew and most of the riders
there, every chance they got!
If you ever head East, make your way to
Shenzhen. It’s one of the cleanest cities I’ve seen
in the Orient, and definitely worth a look for all of
your electronics shopping. It’s also only a stone’s
throw away from the more tourist areas of Hong
Kong or Macau! T
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