Welcome to our regular ‘Walkabout’ column with Australia’s pro FMX rider
Steve Sommerfeld. Steve keeps himself busy as an athlete manager, motojournalist, FMX rider and Night of the Jumps judge and commentator - but
now he’ll also be travelling the world, bringing you the best possible blend
of travel blog meets FMX feature. 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 low-down on their FMX antics from all corners of the
globe!
Back on the road
We had barely unpacked our bags and
tasted our celebration beers with the
Bauersachs family, before we were
back on the road with the NOTJ crew.
With the Berlin event finished, it was
time for Krakow, Poland and then the
following week we were off to Tours,
France followed by Basel, Switzerland.
It felt like a whirlwind experience!
I then had a surprise inclusion to ride
at the Red Bull X-Fighters Jams in
Bahrain. It was my first visit to the
Middle East, somewhere I never
thought I would go, and certainly not to
ride a dirt bike!
But what should have been an
awesome experience, turned into a
near-disaster when my bags containing
all of my FMX gear never arrived. This
meant I was unable to ride the show
and I had nothing with me except
my laptop and the clothes on my
back. In the end, we decided I would
commentate the show in English, in
front of the Bahraini royal family. I
can only say that it was one hell of a
privilege and I’m glad I didn’t stuff it
up!!
For all the bad luck I had, and the
nights spent calling Turkish Airlines
at 3:00 am, I was so stoked to chill
with such a good group of guys from
FMX4Ever; Martin Koren, Chris Brock
and Nick De Wit. We even got to go
wakeboarding with Red Bull’s Elie and
Anke on our last day. Throwing some
Back Rolls on the Bahraini water totally
made up for all the stress beforehand.
My stressful times wouldn’t end there
however – with a recent Flip-crash
in the books, missing bags, and a
broken KTM, I was hoping my next trip
to Hamburg to film for a promotional
video would get me out of my ‘bad luck
rut’. Instead, it firmly stuck me in the rut
that I needed to click down and twist
the throttle to get out of. Night of the
Jumps had brought in Amadei Weiland,
a Guinness World Record holder in
Parkour and the idea was to film freerunning and MX through the streets
of Hamburg, all the while sticking to a
very tight timeline. Of course right at
the crucial moment my van decided to
nearly blow up. With smoke pouring
from the bonnet and the brakes failing,
I thought it was all over. To make a
long story short, after spending €1,100
trying to get it fixed, my van was
screwed. Eventually with a hire van,
we got the job done. Riding my KTM
250SX through the city, dodging police
and security was unreal!
The filming was a lot of fun, but the
drama surrounding it made it difficult.
Honestly though, sipping cold afterwork beers with a really awesome
crew on top of a roof looking out
over Hamburg’s port, I almost didn’t
care that the last month had gone to
sh*t! Despite all the small problems,
the bigger picture is we’re living an
awesome life, travelling around the
world and having the best time ever.
The lows really amplify the highs!!!
Oh, and I had to buy a new van. Yep,
it’s been an expensive start to our new
home! T