Riders Lounge Podcast - Freeride / Freestyle Motocross and Action Sports

I feel like Covid-19 has been the rehearsal for a lot of athletes, in any sport, to show them what their lives will look like after they make the decision to retire. And like most athletes, who find out they’re good at something at a young age, they have been focused on that one particular sport their entire lives to become – the best. You can’t be the best, and be studying full time, or working a...

Jayo Archer is on the toughest journey in Freestyle Motocross, working on the Triple Backflip!   You may or may not have heard much about Jayo. He’s kept a fairly low profile, which is surprising for the things he has achieved already so far! From building his own ramp to try the Triple, the adjustments, trying to work out the exit angles where the ramp is almost vertical, looking for more he...

Hi and welcome to the Riders Lounge Podcast, I’m Steve Sommerfeld your host for today’s online chat with another of Freestyle Motocross’ top riders and who has actually just picked up his 5th Brazilian FMX Championship, all the way from Sao Paolo in Brazil, it’s Fred Kyrillos. While we still are in a holding pattern of no events, I’m stoked Fred was able to put the tools down and jump on for a cha...

Matt Buyten needs specific weight training on his neck muscles simply to stand up straight with the huge haul of X Games Gold, Silver and Bronze medals he's picked up over the years in Moto Step Up. Even though the X Games website says he has 7 medals - in fact, he has 12 medals from all of the X Games events!  See, sometimes the internet can get things wrong. But competing against the bigges...

Before having millions of YouTube views like today, Sebastian Westberg had a meteoric rise to the top echelons of FMX after winning the chance to ride at Red Bull X-Fighters as the first "Novillero" with a Fan Vote in 2016 in Madrid, Spain.    But one day before the event, he broke his leg in the foam pit training on a Flair 540!  Somehow he slipped his foot into his boot and compet...

Undoubtedly one of the greatest ever Freestyle Motocross riders, Levi Sherwood stunned the FMX world when he won at his first ever appearance of the 2009 Red Bull X-Fighters event in Mexico City.  Levi then stunned the world when he retired from competition only 10 years later in 2019, at the age of 28, when he was seemingly at the peak of his career.    After a huge 2017 season, wi...

There has been so much going on since the last FMX news update, my head has been spinning! And I’m really stoked on the future of the sport, even if there is plenty of doom and gloom going around at the moment.  It sucks that as riders, there are no events, it sucks as fans that we have to wait another year to see our favourite riders come to a town near us. There are of course, many more pro...

Fungi as I have always known him as, was one of the elder statesmen of the Australian Freestyle Motocross movement!   Jeremy Furniss broke out from the WA scene and was featured in the early FreeriderMX Magazines where of course most of us found out about anyone back in the old days and he had quite a good career riding FMX shows. The combo-king grew up at a pretty incredible surfing spot whe...

With the X Games Real Moto 2020 series all wrapped up, I caught up with one of the contestants who in my mind, had the best looking video I've seen out of every season so far!  The production value was unbeatable.   Corey Creed together with filmmaker Allan Hardy created their own Hollywood Stunt Driver version of a Real Moto video, with Corey Creed probably better in line to pick up an...

This episode is dedicated to Tomas Brat, a young FMX rider from Czechia.  My thoughts go out to his family and friends, a young rider taken too soon.  In this episode, we have the results of the X Games Real Moto competition - from the Judges (with Mike Mason, Twitch and Jimmy Hill) and also the Fan Vote on Colby Raha, Corey Creed, Jacko Strong, Vicki Golden, Josh Hill and Cody Webb. &nb...

In this special Podcast episode, I review the all new X Games Real Moto video clips, because so much went into every clip, it's not hard to miss some aspects to it! This year, the star-studded rider line-up included Vicki Golden, Colby Raha, Josh Hill, Jacko Strong, Cody Webb and Corey Creed. I really wish the videos were longer than 1 minute 30 seconds, but that's what makes this series even bett...

James Trincucci has taken a completely different path into Freestyle Motocross than most!   From a Trials champion venturing into riding the infamous Erzberg with absolutely no prior Enduro experience, you now won't be surprised to hear that once meeting the Italian guys from DaBoot, James just decided to jump a ramp and see how it goes. Half Italian, half Manx, James' journey has seen him co...

One of the pioneers of Freestyle Motocross, Doug Parsons has not only helped push the sport through his riding prowess and time in the hills.   But Parsons was an integral part in evolving the sport with the first ever Quarter Pipe build which is now a huge draw card for X Games at the moment. However, building ramps is only a small part of the story.   Doug Parsons was behind the huge '...

Davide Rossi may be one of the nicest guys in FMX, but as soon as that helmet goes on, the full-blown competitor inside comes out.  No matter if he's competing in the World Championships at NIGHT of the JUMPs, Nitro World Games or against his good friend and almost neighbour, Leo Fini. Davide is one of the next generation riders who appears to simply pick up new tricks with relative ease. &nb...

After his 2nd or 3rd coffee for the morning and while relaxing before riding at Petr Pilat's jam in the Czech Republic, I caught up with the Italian Stallion, Massimo Bianconcini who has been around the traps for so long in FMX and at 41 years of age, is still going hard!   Having spent most of his career battling at the NIGHT of the JUMPs World Championships, it was after talking with L...

Welcome to the first FMX News wrap-up Podcast! In this episode, we look at the events which are still happening in 2020 from NIGHT of the JUMPs, X Games rumours, Red Bull X-Fighters Rumours and Petr Pilat's Jam. The start of the silly season of new bikes being released is upon us.  Still waiting on Honda! And more gossip in the middle. All new Merch Store is available now.  Look awesome...

Adam Jones is one of the longest serving Freestyle Motocross competition riders in the world.  Jones has been at the top of the game for so long, with X Games Gold, IFMXF World Championship round wins, a Red Bull X-Fighters round win, Dew Tour Champion and inventing tricks like it's a piece of cake. We find out what the toll of pushing the Sport of FMX has taken on him, and how long he will c...

One of Germany's best riders, Hannes has had some huge ups and downs through injury.  Not one to shy away from trying massive tricks in the foam pit, I wanted to see what it takes for him to take these new tricks from Foam to Dirt and how to then put it all into one run and win a World Championship round. We didn't have much time to get this interview done, the wind is always hard to negotiat...

Talk about endurance in the Moto Industry, Clint Esposito has been around for 20 years in FMX, and has seen and done almost everything from riding shows, running his own team, helping to build the Amateur FMX competition scene in America, learning backflips at Travis Pastrana's house and then moving into Comedy after retirement and now hosts Movie Premieres for some of the coolest MX Videos going...

Check in for Part 2, with the Professor from Germany, Fabian Bauersachs.   Going all the way back to riding at Red Bull X-Fighters, Learning the Backflip, Where FMX is going and how hard it is to be a World Championship Judge. Really getting into the nitty gritty! With a box of Tannenzaepfle and some Tannenzaepfle Alcohol Free beers, I went to see Fabian in his recently redesigned backyard to...

Part 1 of a 2 part interview with Fabian Bauersachs. Fabian is one of the original FMX riders from Europe, becoming involved in FMX from the very start and riding against the legends of the sport from the early 2000's. Now one of the World Championship judges, Fabian is still involved in FMX and he explains how agonisingly close he came to winning the IFMXF World Championship in 2003.   With...

What better time to get an interview than on a Saturday night at 2:00am after 2 huge nights of competition at NIGHT of the JUMPs, with the Captain of the Freestyle of Nations World Team, Jamie Squibb.   We covered some ground, from being the Captain and trying to inspire the likes of former World Champion Javier Villgeas and the Triple Flipping phenom of Josh Sheehan, to running his own shows...

It was awesome to catch up with the Spaniard, Marc Pinyol who has not been scared to push FMX and even inventing his own Body Varial, the Inside Roll.     We caught up for a quick chat after his siesta in Berlin at NIGHT of the JUMPs, before we had to get back to work.  Well, actually he had to sign a lot of autographs and I went to catering.   All new Merch Store is...

Never wanting to sit still, Antonio Navas has forged his own path in Freestyle MX from Rider, to Team Manager, MX/FMX Track operator, Promoter of his own shows, all the while helping riders around him to push their own limits and achieve their dreams also.   One of the nice guys in FMX, it was a pleasure to sit down with Navas, especially as this was the very first interview and he knew full...

What a way to open the very first Riders Lounge Podcast, than having a Unicorn join the show, Josh Sheehan.  Having won X Games Gold, Red Bull X-Fighters Tour and the only man to land the Triple Backflip, Sheeny goes through the Highs and Lows of his career with stories you have probably never even heard before. All new Merch Store is available now.  Look awesome with Designs that we wou...