I was talking with a friend the other day Jimmy Martin. He said that he spent a weekend at Mike Metzger’s home and found out what a proper practice facility can do for you. For those of you who are not familiar with Mike Metzger, he is one of the worlds best motocross freestyle riders. Back flips ,no handed, look backs and alike. This brings to mind how does one learn these tricks without getting hurt. In Mikes case it is the foam pit. A large pit filled with blocks of foam rubber. My friend Jimmy told me he had not ridden a motocross bike much. Jimmy said that he was able to do a back flip after few tries. Good coaching from a trained pro helped. Metz is a great guy who loves to share with others. Gary and I ran into him at the Xtremeys a few years back. He was great. He grabbed a Twangled sticker and put it on his trophy and held it up for us to video tape ( you can find the footage in the xtras section of our DVD Star Twangled Banner). Jimmies story got me thinking about my practice facility for personal watercraft.
As a Jet ski freestyle rider, it is not the landing area that is the challenge its the ramp. We need waves. Because we do not live on a big enough body of water to have natural waves, we need the help of boats. Two for a double up wave which is the best ramp for learning the back flip. One boat is fine for barrel rolls and upright air. For my snowmobile friends its a large shovel (build a ramp). My motocross buddies use a backhoe. Wooden ramps for skate sports and bicycles. I can tell you the better the facility the better the results. What’s your practice facility look like? Send us a picture and we will post it in our gallery.
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