The Art of Expression and Danger
Remember Evel Knievel? Remember him crashing over the fountains of Caesar's Palace?Mike Metzger backflipped those same fountains just a few years ago. Within freestyle motocross, anything is possible.
Freestyle motocross took the taunting of Jeremy McGrath after a supercross win and Knievel's daring attitude to heights that no one ever thought would happen. Freestyle Motocross (commonly known as FMX) is the rage of the extreme sports world. It is the biggest part of ESPN's Summer X-Games and give the biggest chills and thrills of the event.
FMX riders, a mix of new riders, old motocross vets, and even now some FMX vets backflip, superman, and even frontflip their way to first place. The sport has always been evolving. Years ago, doing a backflip was Carey Hart's dream. Now, a backflip HAS to be part of your repertoire or you are not even going to the X-Games. Tricks such as the superman, where the rider grabs the side of his seat and extends his legs behind him like he is flying are the heart of any freestyle exhibition.
How about a new trick called the electric death which is flipping backward over the handlebars while keeping the left hand on the handlebars. Imagine that these tricks are going over jumps that range from 40 to 120 feet long and are going 20 feet or so into the air.
Every year the tricks evolve. Backflips have become double backflips. Cordovas (which is putting the feet under the handlebars and curving the rider's body upward) turned into the electric death.
X-Games 15, the biggest event in FMX, will host a Freestyle, Best Trick, Speed & Style (a mix of FMX and traditional Supercross), Best Whip (Throwing the bike sideways and landing normally) and Step Up (Seeing what rider and bike can go the highest) events from July 30 to August 2, 2009.
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