Countless hours of practice and
training go into figuring out something
as rudimentary as taking a hand off.
But at the end of the day, very few
people in the crowd will notice the
difference.
Moving onto the ‘spirit’ of Nitro
Circus, what is it that drives you?
As the ringleader of a traveling action
sports “circus”, I know our success
and longevity has a direct correlation
with our ability to find new ways to
scare ourselves. It’s our job to wow
the audience with newer and bigger
stunts at every show. Luckily for us,
there isn’t a shortage of athletes
that are willing to throw down for the
cause.
You do have a crazy cast of willing
characters.
Nitro Circus has some of the most
creative and ballsy individuals in
the world, not afraid to fly couches,
coolers or Barbie jeeps. Playing rockpaper-scissors for who gets to ride in
the wheelbarrow over a 55-foot gap,
flipping a motocross bike with four
people on it, playing human “golf”
with a zorb ball as the hole or blowing
up enough pyro to impress a red neck
on fourth of July is all in a night’s
work. But where do we go from here?
Indeed, where do you go from
here?
This year, I wanted to take a step
forward as well as a step back. In
the early 2000s freestyle started to
legitimize itself as a sport. It was no
longer about play-riding in the hills,
it was about who could do the best
tricks. This was a sad development
for a guy who grew up watching the
top racers freeriding; Jeremy McGrath
and Jeff Emig railing the sand berms
of Glamis, Doug Henry floating a
natural tabletop at Castillo Ranch,
Robbie Reynard throwing massive
Whips in Oklahoma or Mickey
Diamond jumping huge gaps at
Beaumont. It all looked like heaven.
It sounds like the old school videos
had a huge impact on you and the
way you go about evolving the Nitro
Circus empire?
I hate to sound so old, but when I was
a kid, every time a new Terrafirma,
Crusty Demons of Dirt or Moto XXX
VHS came out, it was like Christmas
- only better! This realisation really hit
me on a recent trip to New Zealand.
56 | FreestyleXtreme.com
We were touring the country in a bus
with the rest of the Nitro Circus crew
and took the day off to stop at the
Franklin Farm. Nick Franklin is one
of the best freestylers in the world
and I had heard so much about his
compound. The entire drive up to his
house was terrain that makes Castillo
Ranch look lame (and that’s not easy
to do). Amazing grass hills, steeper
than anything I had seen before, but
all of them rolled enough to ride and
jump. Not a rock in sight.
As we pulled up to Franklin Farm I
had to laugh. On the only flat piece of
land in the entire country is a five-acre
park, full of standard issue jumps and
a foam pit. Now, Nick is one of my
favourite people on tour and his park
is absolutely amazing, but I couldn’t
help but think that competition has
taken a part of this sport’s soul.
So what was your next move in
order to change that?
I set out to find that passion and film
the lifestyle that was so inspiring
to me as a kid. With a little bit of
kick-start motivation after seeing the
Godfrey Clan building their own jump
and all trying Triple Flips on mountain
bikes the same day, I decided it was
time to recapture that spirit. We would
make a film and highlight the “Action
Figures” that embody the lifestyle of
our sports foundations. It had been
a while since we made a film that I
was excited about. This was to be a
film that pushed the top action sports
athletes in the world to get creative
again.
How did you go about selling this
new idea?
Unfortunately, with no real idea
of what we would be able to
accomplish, I had nothing to pitch
but a pipe dream and fantasies of
the unknown. Everyone was well
aware that the market for action
sports videos died with the rise of
social media and instant accessibility.
Everyone was looking at it from a
business standpoint and tried to
convince me we needed to do it as a
documentary or a full-length “movie”
for it to be a success. But the film
I wanted to make wasn’t going to
win any awards and my definition
of success did not align with theirs.
I wanted to make an awesome film
that I was proud of. A film that a small
group of core enthusiasts have u
£ The RZR UTV flying over
Travis’ dads house!