FreestyleXtreme Magazine Issue 9 | Page 70

Take us through a typical day on the
US and European tours where you’re
doing almost a show a night. That
must be pretty full on.
Yeah it’s intense. The US tour was 14
shows in 19 days and we’re living on a
12-sleeper bus almost every night. You
share a changing room with everyone
and by the time everyone opens their
gear bags the place stinks, then after
a show you nude up and shower in a
changing room like a football team.
Then you get on a bus and people
don’t shut the door properly when
they go do the loo, there’s no personal
space and you end up with some
grubby BMXer practically spooning
you all night while you try to sleep.
We’ll pull up at the next stadium, and
once the first person’s awake everyone
is. The next job is to try and find out
where catering is and not get lost in
a new stadium, then it’s back to the
bus, grab your sh*t and head to the
changing rooms again. As much as it
sounds like complaining, it’s a sh*tload better than a 9 to 5 job!
What’s been the craziest thing
you’ve seen on tour?
I think watching Travis being Travis
and doing a Double Flip to BackWhacker with Sheeny during this year’s
Australian Regional Tour was right up
there. I thought his spine had gone
through his brain, but then he picked
up a mountain bike and did a front-flip
in the final train. Trav’s a mad dog.
Speaking of Sheeny, what are your
thoughts on his Triple Backflip?

“There’s no

personal
space and you
end up with
some grubby
BMXer
practically
spooning you
all night
while you try
to sleep”
I think it’s f**king stupid. From that
height, if you don’t get the landing
right, the impact is catastrophic. And
if you don’t rotate enough… let’s not
even go there.
I was worried about it but Sheeny is
so calculated and confident. On the
video you can see as he comes out of
the second flip, he spots his landing,
gets his weight over the front and sets
it down perfectly. As soon as I saw it
I didn’t know why I was so worried;
Josh wouldn’t do something unless
he knew 100% that he had it figured
out and could ride away from it. He
wouldn’t have just done it for a chick in
the crowd.

So what does the future hold for
you?
I’m in a unique position where I’ve got
my career from my younger life, where
I got my apprenticeship as a diesel
fitter to fall back on. I’ve been working
the last three years at my old man’s
business, but I get so frustrated after
a couple of months that I need to go
riding again. At the moment I have
a great opportunity to keep making
money travelling the world and doing
tricks on my terms and I can’t throw
that away.
Unfortunately the old man is 63 and
wants to retire, but I’m not ready to
step into the business yet.
I’ll ride for a couple more years but I’m
pretty keen to give race cars a go. I
race karts against Travis on tour and I
flog him and he hates it. He’s going to
let me race his rally car in Florida soon,
but he’s already told me if I beat his lap
time he’ll kill me!
Well you’ve gotta give it a good
nudge anyway! Thanks for the chat,
mate. Good to catch up.
Thanks pal, speak to ya soon. T
/bilko22
@BilkoFMX
@BilkoFMX

£ Bilko on his way to
the Speed and Style
final at X Games 2015

© MATT MORNING / ESPN IMAGES

£ A big fan favourite on
the tour, Bilko always
finds time to give back
and sign some T’s!

I don’t think it’ll be repeated. The setup, height, the homework, time, effort
and risk are just too much. It’ll never
be done in a contest.

70 | FreestyleXtreme.com