UNIT all-round two-wheeled action sports legend Andreu Lacondeguy recently spent a month Down Under shredding trails, stomping dirt hits on both moto, mountain bike and BMX, surfing, partying, and basically just having the time of his life! Now back in his hometown of Barcelona, Spain, we caught up with the wild man to chat about some of the experiences that stand out in his mind from what he calls “A trip of a lifetime!”
Farm Jam, I showed up there with my filmer Nick Pescetto, we’d never been to New Zealand before, and first thing I see is the farm, the jumps on the freeride FMX course and a Yamaha YZ250 waiting for me. From that moment on it was three days of fun riding moto, MTB and BMX up to six hours a day with all the other riders, yeah that was one of my favourite parts of the trip right there!
Freeride jumps, that was definitely a little scary at the beginning because I’d never hit jumps like those before and the bike I was riding had stock suspension and one that I wasn’t used too. I had a few close moments, but I think out of all the events the freeride session was one of my favourite parts of Farm Jam because it was new to me and it was so good riding with all the guys hitting those big dirt hits, so sick!
The BMX Jam at Farm Jam was another favourite because 10-minutes before the comp started I wasn’t going to ride, but someone gave me a bike and I was super-chilled after finishing FMX and MTB so I just cruised the trails not doing many big tricks, but just watching everybody throw down and being a part of those crazy trains was so fun. I hadn’t ridden BMX for a long time before that session and it felt so good to be out there riding with the crew.
Three disciplines, I’ve done it before at Masters Of Dirt shows, but there you only do two moto, BMX, and MTB runs and you’re done, like only 10 jumps per night. At Farm Jam I was riding six hours straight without a break, competing in moto then MTB then BMX, and I was for sure tired at the end of the day and had a few dizzy spells after my BMX runs, but it was so sick!
Queenstown, NZ, I’d heard a lot of good things about Queenstown before going there and as soon as we hit the town I was amazed by the location, mountains, people, burgers, lake, sick trails, some of the best dirt jumps I’ve ever seen. Riders coming from all over the world to ride Red Bull Roast It, and after a week I didn’t want to leave.
Red Bull Roast It was so sick, showing up to those jumps I didn’t even have my BMX with me so I was just borrowing bikes from everyone and sessioning the trails every afternoon with the riders was super fun, priceless!
BBQ’s at the Red Bull house was another highlight, like we were staying in this insane mansion on top of the hill looking over the lake watching sunsets, drinking beer, after full days of riding. Yeah that was a favourite part of my trip knowing that after riding all day you’d be hanging on that deck with a good bunch of mates with the BBQ cranked. I cooked a little but I’m not much of a chef!
Airports were a big part of our trip. Flying from Barcelona in Spain to Australia and then to New Zealand we crossed the globe, and throw in three bikes, dirt-bike parts, clothes for a month, helmets, camera gear, packs, it gets expensive man! We had some trouble with customs in New Zealand because we were going there for a holiday, but also for a comp, so we didn’t know what to say, but somehow we managed to talk our way through it all, crazy times!
Different types of riding, like I think this trip is the first time I’ve ridden everything I’d ride back home, from BMX and MTB dirt jumps, downhill trails and freeride jumps, enduro, moto, FMX, freeride FMX, all in one trip is so sick, and why I think this has been one of my best trips ever man!
We surfed a little bit in Oz and checked out the Quicksilver Pro while there, which was great. We managed to get a few hours in the surf over a few days, and we sucked, it was crazy hard man, especially when there are a hundred people in the water around you! But yeah we loved it man, best trip ever, and we’ll be back again next year for sure! Ends.
Source: http://www.unit.com/united-states/blog/2013/4/5/andreu-lacondeguy-my-highlights-downunder/
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