There are upside down whips and then there’s Jarryd McNeil. This was one of his upside down whips that lead to his second-straight Biggest Whip wins at that 2015 Monster Energy Cup. Photo by: Hoppenworld
Over the last five years, Freestyle Motocross [FMX] has seen a steady decline in popularity which has led to a decline in ways for FMX riders to make a living. While that’s happened, Travis Pastrana and his band of merry men have created another avenue for the best FMX riders to make a living doing what they love: Nitro Circus Live.
The premier FMX riders in the world like Pastrana, Adam Jones, Cam Sinclair, Blake “Bilko” Williams, Josh Sheehan, Beau Bamburg, Clinton Moore and this week’s “Inside Story”
Before the show in Portland, I decided to interview one of the most versatile FMX riders on the tour, Jarryd McNeil. The Australian has not only perfected a myriad of FMX skills, he has also raced his dirt bike at the highest levels of the sport. Jarryd has qualified at the Monster Energy Supercross series, the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship, Red Bull Straight Rhythm and is the reigning two-time Monster Energy Cup Dirt Shark Biggest Whip Champion. Not only that, he is also one of the coolest kids I’ve ever had the pleasure of talking to.
Check out what Jarryd had to say about the rockstar tour life on Nitro Circus Live, his recent Biggest Whip Championship defense at MEC and his future plans in Supercross and Motocross below.
Jarryd, I just was watching practice, and obviously a lot goes into these Nitro Circus shows, but can you elaborate a little on what goes into each event?
Basically, we’ve all been touring for the past five years so preparation just happens on the day of the events. We practice for each show before. Practice during the day of the event usually starts about four in the afternoon and we normally ride for about an hour to an hour and a half, just doing block segments, going through all the show plan and free practice. We practice our techniques and what tricks we want to do in the show. That’s pretty much as far as the preparation goes. We’re all brought onto the show for certain reasons. Each rider does different tricks and brings different things to the table, so basically in our spare time off-tour, we’re always practicing our parts for the show. When it comes showtime, we run through it again. Then it’s showtime.
Tonight will be my first Nitro Circus show, so I’m really excited but clueless as to what to expect. Is everything within a specific show 100% choreographed or is there a certain level of improv that makes each show a little different?
The majority of it on the FMX side is choreographed, just because at any given time there’s ten to twelve motorcycles flipping. There could be a guy doing a flip and another doing an upright trick, and you can’t really have any mistakes with that. Like, if [Josh Shehan] Sheeny decided he wanted to do a double back flip and someone else decided he wanted to do a front flip, it’s not going to work if you’re in a train. It’s choreographed and it works so well. We’ve been doing these shows for five years now, and it works really well. Pretty much everyone on the FMX side of Nitro Circus has been here since day one. We’ve all been riding together for a long time now and we all feel comfortable. When you’re flipping side-by-side within two feet or a foot from his handlebar, you have to have trust for that rider, and every rider feels comfortable with each other.
You guys are in the middle of a long, west coast string of shows right now. Do you guys all travel together from show to show?
Yep, yep we travel together.
A little rockstar party bus?
Yeah, so we’ll go from venue to venue on big sleeper buses. Pretty much what the rock and roll guys run from concert to concert: we do the same thing they do. There’s twelve bunks and they try to fill them up pretty good. There’s not quite twelve athletes—they usually keep open a few spare beds—just because some riders might come in and out. Basically we’ll go from venue to venue, but occasionally we’ll do a flight. If there’s a sixteen to twenty hour drive it’s easier for the busses to leave early and we’ll fly and meet them at the next stop. It’s pretty cool, though, and there’s all different groups. I’m on a bus with a lot of Giganta [Ramp] guys. I’m a little younger—I’m 24—and all the guys on the Giganta or tow rope side are all my age. I really like riding BMX, and we all get along. I get along with all the FMX guys, too, so it’s really cool going from city to city, venue to venue and country to country with guys you get along with.
I know you’ve done a little of everything. You’ve raced Supercross and Motocross at the highest levels, done big whip shows, FMX contests&mdsah;I mean you’ve done quite a bit. There’s obviously a different type of adrenaline rush heading into each discipline, but what are the butterflies like for a show like this when you’ve been doing it for five years?
You definitely get nervous at the start of a tour. It’s hard to say this year, because we’ve been touring so much. I was just talking to Cam Sinclair, and I think we’ve done fifty-two shows so far this year. It’s one of those things where you get butterflies at the start of the show as you get used to the ramps and get the feel for the show. There’s also the crowd and you wanting to put on the best show you can for them. That’s what really gives me butterflies—not necessarily the tricks I have to do, I mean, they do give me an adrenaline rush for sure, but the butterflies are more about making sure I’m on point, I stand out and I can get the crowd behind me. That’s what gives me the most butterflies.
Just a few weeks ago you left the Nitro Circus tour, headed to Las Vegas for the Monster Energy Cup and finished first in the Dirt Shark Biggest Whip contest for the second-straight year. How was that whole deal?
That was good. It was a busy schedule. It was like a fly in, fly out. We did a show in Montreal, Canada on Friday, left the venue at 11pm at night, got back to the hotel at 12am and never really slept because of the adrenaline pumping from the show. I finally slept, woke up at 3:45am and got on the plane at 6 am. I landed and had Luke Evans come down and pit for me and had my girlfriend drive my van up from California with all my bikes in it. She got my pit ready, and I literally walked off the plane, got in a car with Luke at 10 am, got to the venue at 10:30 and then practice started.
Rockstar status for the weekend. The only thing that was missing was the private jet.
Yeah, it was cool. I went straight from the car, got my gear on and went straight to practice. I’ve never done that in my life. I didn’t have to qualify this year, which was good. I came away with a win, hung out and watched a couple of the main races, and then went straight back to the hotel. I spent the night at the hotel, got up at 5:30 am. My girlfriend drove me back to the airport, and I flew straight to Detroit for the next stop of Nitro Circus—which was that afternoon. It was a fly in, fly out busy schedule&mdashprobably the busiest thing I’ve ever done in my career. It was fun to be able to mix that in to the middle of the tour and fun to be able to win an event like that.
Do you have any plans at going after some Monster Energy Supercross or some AMA Nationals?
Yeah, I’ll definitely race Washougal again. I’m making that a yearly thing. It’s cool to be able to come race in the US and qualify for a National. So many people have been asking me if I’m going to race A1, but I’ve kind of been hemming and hawing about it. Maybe, but I don’t know about this year. I need a good three to six month of riding on Supercross to get back to what I was when I quit. Motocross is different. You just hold it wide open out there.
When you were putting in the effort you were getting close to getting to that next level, but it’s obvious the whip contest and the Nitro Circus stuff pays the bills.
Yeah, the best I got was like a 23rd. That was my first pro race in America. It was sweep. My main goal was to qualify and it was sweet. That’s all my goals ever been and probably all it will ever be. Unless I took the time out to go and prepare myself to be a top racer. The last two years I’ve basically had one month to prepare myself and do some solid riding. That’s one week of arm pump, the second week where my skins falling off my hand, to the third week of my hand being okay, to the fourth week cracking a thirty-plus-two and then going to a national and just making the motos. I would love to do A1 or at least a West round. That and racing Washougal always looks good on the portfolio. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, be a professional racer.
Well, thanks for talking to us today, and have a good show tonight.
Thank you.
