Freestyle dirt bike riders how to#
Metzger was there to talk us through how to jump stuff and he kind of just taught us a little bit. So the next contest we were able to get in and qualify. We went there with our bikes to see if we could ride, but we didn't really sign up or have any proof that we could do it. I think it was the same time Twitch started. It was pretty nerve wracking because I did not have a lot of experience with new jumps and things like that. It was the big Las Vegas "jump in the bowl and jump out and jump over". My first contest I ever entered was in '99. So how early did you actually start your freestyle career? I used to race BMX bikes and that's how I got into the dirt bike tricks, before it became a sport really. We just kind of did it for fun in the desert. For them to race and support all of us doing that would be way more money than we could afford. My family didn't really have a lot of money to afford four bikes for four kids - my mom and dad had four boys. So did you progress into racing really early? His wrists just couldn't take it anymore, otherwise he probably still would. It's kind of weird not to see him ride a dirt bike or a quad anymore.
What was it that made your dad want to get you guys on a dirt bike that early? So he was 3½, almost 4 and I was almost 2½. My dad built training wheels for a Z50 and took the shifter off, left it in first gear and I rode around the back yard for like four hours.ĭid your older brother, John, ride before you? We caught up with him in a rare quiet moment away from Salon Krush in Scottsdale, Ariz.ĮSPN.com: Do you remember the first time that you actually rode a dirt bike?ĭistler: I was too young.
These were young, easy-going individuals who were often characterized by the California freeriding set as the "Ramp Kids."ĭistler put in some impressive performances in his early years, but almost seven years ago he abruptly left the motocross world to explore an atypical avenue of employment as a hairstylist. Robert Distler, along with his older brother John, was one of a wave of freestyle motocross riders who came out of Arizona in the late 1990s.