Pure Adrenaline

Daring athletes compete for glory as the ESPN X Games return to Philadelphia Aug. 10-19.

By: Daniel Shearer

Photo by Bakke/Shazamm/ESPN

In-line skater Matt Lindenmuth during practice.

   No other in-line skater had ever landed a double backflip on a "vert" ramp. Matt Lindenmuth secured his place in the Guinness Book of World Records in May 2001, when he landed the gutsy move at a skating competition in Los Angeles.
   Later that year, surrounded by more than 20,000 people at the ESPN X Games, the 20-year-old Kutztown resident found himself swimming in a sea of adrenaline at the expansive First Union Center in Philadelphia.
   "They killed the lights and had this huge intro for all of the top-10 athletes coming into the finals, just like they introduce the team at a Sixers game," Mr. Lindenmuth says. "It just blew me away. That’s when I had to step back for a second. Thousands of people just roaring inside that arena, it’s so loud. It sent chills through me. Then I had to quickly get my head back into skating."
   Launched in 1995, the event is the granddaddy of all extreme sports competitions, certainly a career-defining moment for anyone lucky enough to make it through preliminaries. Combining the ambiance of a rock concert, three-ring circus and pro-sporting extravaganza, the X Games returns for its second year in Philadelphia Aug. 10-19. More than 350 athletes will participate in aggressive in-line skating competitions, Bicycle Stunt Riding, Downhill BMX, Moto X, Skateboarding, Wakeboarding and Speed Climbing.

Above, Cory Nastazio during the dirt portion of the 2001 X Games Bicycle Stunt competition; below, Todd Walkowiak catches air in the Bicycle Stunt Dirt event.

Photos by Bakke/Shazamm/ESPN

   Since beginning a career as a professional in-line skater in 1995, Mr. Lindenmuth has become a veteran X Games participant, with six games to his credit as a vert competitor. The event takes place on the same ramp used by skateboarders, a 20-foot half-pipe, on which women and men compete side-by-side for the most challenging and technically flawless execution of two 45-second runs. With his trademark "double back" under his belt, Mr. Lindenmuth hoped 2001 would be a milestone. Those dreams faded after he attempted the new trick twice, falling on each attempt.
   "The trick won last year," Mr. Lindenmuth says, noting he finished dead last in finals. "I’m hoping for some revenge. I’ve gotta come back and outsmart it this year. Mentally, I just couldn’t relax. I think that was part of the problem."
   Since then, French skater Taig Khris has added the double back to his own repertoire. Mr. Lindenmuth also will have to contend this year with Fabiola da Silva, last year’s top-ranked woman on the vert line-up, as well as the Japanese brothers Takeshi and Eito Yasutoko.
   "Actually, this year I’m working on adding a full twist, so it’s a double backflip with a 360 degree rotation," Mr. Lindenmuth says. "That’s still coming along. We’ll see if I have it ready in time for X Games, fast approaching."
   Contrary to the notion that X-Gamers are pure daredevils, Mr. Lindenmuth spent months working with gymnastics coaches at Camp Woodward, near State College, before attempting a double backflip. The camp is also the location for the downhill BMX portion of this year’s X Games.
   "That’s one of the reasons I spend a lot of time up there, because they’ve come up with some pretty awesome facilities to learn things," Mr. Lindenmuth says. "Five or six years ago, you just had to muster up the nerve to do it on a real ramp. If you fell, you had to deal with pain.
   "Because Woodward started as an Olympic gymnastics camp, they have some background in using foam pits, and they started to develop training facilities for us, where we could learn without beating the crap out of ourselves."
   Still, Mr. Lindenmuth has no illusions about the fact that his profession carries significant risks.
   "I try my hardest not to really think about it," he says. "It might be naive, but I totally ignore everything that teachers and guidance counselors have ever told me about thinking of consequences, and I just kind of block those thoughts all out. It’s hard to escape it at some point, because everybody’s telling you how dangerous it is.

Above, a biker at the 2001 X Games Moto X Big Air competition in Philadelphia; below, aggressive in-line skaters practice for the 2001 X Games.

Photos by Bakke/Shazamm/ESPN

   "I’ve seen people hurt seriously, not necessarily on Rollerblades, but I have friends from all the (extreme) sports. Recently, there’s been a friend who was paralyzed riding his bike. You gotta think about it. It’s part of the sport, but it’s also part of the great adrenaline rush that keeps you going. But it really comes down to the amount of time you put into it. Most of the stuff we do is pretty calculated. I feel comfortable doing the tricks that I do. If I didn’t feel comfortable, I wouldn’t be throwing the stuff."
   Fueled by appearances from skateboarding icons — most notably Tony Hawk, now as much a household name as any athlete in extreme sports — the skateboarding portion of the X Games have traditionally attracted much of the hype. Returning for another go this year, Philadelphia native Kerry Getz landed a gold last year in street skating, pulling tricks over and around park benches, stairs and other obstacles. Mr. Getz also brought home a silver in park skating, in which athletes compete on jumps, ledges and handrails designed specifically for skating. Tony Hawk will be in Philly this year as well, but only as a commentator.
   Recent years also have produced a blossoming interest in the Moto X portion of the games, which pit motorcycle riders against each other in three categories: Big Air, Step Up and Freestyle. Each of the events feature jumps of breathtaking size, with riders rated on each attempt for various combinations of height, style and difficulty.
   One such biker, Ronnie Faisst, grew up in Mays Landing, N.J., near Atlantic City, before moving to Corona, Calif., in 1997 to break into freestyle riding, which became part of the X Games in 1999. In Philadelphia, Mr. Faisst plans to launch his 250 cc dirt bike across a gap of roughly 80 feet, sometimes 30 feet in the air or more, throwing his body over the handle bars for his martial-arts-like signature move, "the Shao-lin," returning to a seated position before landing.

Photo by Bakke/Shazamm/ESPN

Above, Carey Hart takes a wicked spill in the Moto X Big Air competition.

   "Most of it is controlled by body position," Mr. Faisst says. "If your front end’s too high in the air, you can use the throttle to pick it up, but it’s not really a big adjustment. You can hit the rear brakes to drop the front end down, but that’s just backup. You should be able to adjust your bike with your body."
   Mr. Faisst’s first X Games appearance came at San Francisco in 2000, where he missed finals placement in freestyle and came in seventh in Step Up, an event similar in concept to high jumping or pole vaulting, except on motorcycles. In 2001, he suffered a shoulder injury and was unable to compete in the X Games.
   "I’ve been hurt throughout the years plenty of times, knock on wood, but I’ve been healthy lately," Mr. Faisst says. "I’ve broken my ankles, each of them at different times. I’ve broken both wrists, my right one three times, left one three times. I’ve separated both my shoulders, had hyper-extended knees, torn ligaments, tons of sprains, hematomas from hitting my legs on the bars, big gnarly bruises where you can’t walk for months.
   "Every time that I’ve been hurt, I always just wanted to get healthy so I could ride again. I think that’s how most of us are. I love riding my bike. That’s it. Bottom line. This is what I’ve always wanted to do since I was 8 years old. It makes me happier than anything in the world, being able to travel the world with my friends, do what I love and make a living at it. I can’t stop, you know. The only way I probably would stop is if I couldn’t do it anymore. Other than that, I’m 25 and plan on riding for another 10 years, just trying to get better. That’s my goal — to progress every year."
The 2002 ESPN X Games take place at four locations: Skateboard Street, on the west side of City Hall,
near 15th Street, Philadelphia, Aug. 10, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.; Camp Woodward, 30 miles east of State College,
Aug. 10, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., Aug. 11, 9:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.; Wakeboarding on the Schulykill River, Kelly Drive
at the Grant Memorial, north of Boathouse Row, Philadelphia, Aug. 12, noon-3:30 p.m., Aug. 13, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.;
and at the First Union Complex, Broad Street and Pattison Avenue, Philadelphia, Aug. 15, 11 a.m.-8:30
p.m., Aug. 16, 10 a.m.-9 p.m., Aug. 17, 10 a.m.-9 p.m., Aug. 18, 10 a.m.-8:15 p.m., Aug. 19, 10 a.m.-8:30 p.m.
Free admission for all events. Tickets not required. Seating on a first-come basis. Limited parking. Public
transportation strongly recommended. Dates and times subject to change. For information, call the X Games hotline:
(267) 256-3032. On the Web: expn.go.com