Jarryd McNeil: FMX Is The Most Brutal Sport On Earth

- Riding motorcycles in general is gnarly, freestyle motorcross is insane. - There are all you twist the throttle, you do this, you jump that bit, it's like, no, when we hit the ground, it's the inertia from your boots getting picking up momentum and then just slapping you into the ground. I think we are action sports and the motorcycle world, we are some of the best breed of humans on planet Earth. - I'm Slava Massa Keller. After over 25 years of broadcasting in the world of action sports, I have seen an over abundance of risk taking. - But risk has many faces. - It doesn't just live on the mountain or in the half. - It keeps the billion over the sky. - The land, the sea and a thousand places in between. - Embracing risk is like signing a contract with yourself. You have to put a piece of view off to the side and lay it all on the line in order to do what you love. And in this season, I'll be traveling the world to meet some of the most exceptional people on Earth who have signed that very contract, people who have built a personal relationship with risk, embody it and perform at the highest level. - Welcome to the Team Ignition Show. You are watching the Team Ignition Show with our guest, Jared McNeill. - I'm a professional freestyle motorcross rider. - It's not like racing. We fly through the sky. Basically, we're like gymnasts on motorcycles. With freestyle, things can go really bad, really quickly. - Hello friends. My guest today is one of the most respected human beings in freestyle motorcross. A young man, big man, a giant, if you will. - Big. - Jared McNeill. - Pleasure to be here, thanks for having me. - How you going, man? - Yeah, going good, man, how you going? - Pretty good, sorry. I sometimes, when I'm in Australia, I just can't help but try a little bit of an accent. - No, that's alright. Although you're trying to hit away the floor, I have to go that way. - About to. - We are, for those of you who are just tuning in here, we're in the middle of a forest. - Down back. - Are we in there? - No, we're not. - Okay. - Kona, we're out back. - We're out back. - We're out. - We are. - Yeah. - We're in Newcastle, out back, and we just got done riding dirt bikes together. - I'm not trying to torque you up, but I was very, very impressed. - I will, I'll torque you up. - No, that was impressive, man. Like, I was having phone calls with people before this. I'm like, have you ever seen him ride a bike? (laughs) 'Cause anyone know he's skills on a bike? What bike should I get him? But yeah, just to see you out there on the track, riding around, putting a smile on your face, and then eager to get your wheels off the ground. - Yeah. - There was one thing that was like, "Oh, do you think you can ride the track?" And then your second lap, you were already trying to jump the bike off the small lips and stuff and catch air. - I had a blast. - Cool. - I hadn't literally had in the dirt bike in almost two decades. - Do you remember the year you think it was? - 2004. - Wow. - Wow. - I had gotten into it for a little while. I'd say for about a year, and then I got high-sided at Paula. - Yep. - And I've slammed doing many things. Skateboarding, taking some really good whiplash, heel side checks on my snowboard, been pinned to the bottom of the ocean, surfing. But the violence with which that slam happened and also like the dirt is-- - It's hot. - The dirt is-- - The dirt is concrete. - The dirt is hard. And my whole body went numb, and everyone ran up to me and I'm like, and my also was like, (man grunting) waiting to get-- - Can you breath back? - The breath back, yeah. But it was the fear that I had on the back end of that, that suddenly I looked back at the track and everything looked different. - Yeah. - And it was like, I don't go to this school, actually. - Yep. - I'm going back to my old school. - Well, thinking of that, right? And redeeming yourself. How did it feel getting a phone call for this opportunity to come to Australia? - They went down the list, and then they saved dirt bikes for last year. How do you feel about riding dirt bikes? And I was like, I'm good, I'm good. I told them the story, I was really honest. But I also knew that if I was going to be in your hands, what better way? - Perfect. - And it was amazing. You know, I've been around the sport of freestyle motocross now because of X Games and my role as a commentator in action sports. For a little bit over, I don't know, 26, 27 years. And I think what you do, and what the sport has developed into, is just absolutely mind-boggling. - It stills blows my mind like, I'm at the top of my game in best whip and step up and things like that. As a top freestyle rider, but man, some of the guys that are doing tricks that I haven't done, I haven't attempted and just seeing how the sports progress is mind-blowing, just to think that what we see in Travis to a double flip and certain tricks throughout the career that we thought would never happen. And now they're doing triple back flips, double front flips, like back flips with a body variable when we just thought the back flip was cool and the body variable was cool, but then you put it together. - Yeah, by themselves. - You know, yeah, it's by themselves and you got some kid from Europe, David Ronaldo, just chucking that stuff like, those guys are the sports in saying. - For someone who's never seen FMX before, if you had to describe it to them, what is freestyle motocross? - I would say it's a crazy bunch of calculated motorcycle riders that love to fly through the air, doing tricks and putting a smile and making people happy. - If only it was that simple. - How is the culture of FMX different than motocross or supercross? Now your background was originally enracing, but culturally like same kits, but it's different energy. - It's crazy because I think freestyle motocross has kind of not turned into a bit of racing, but in a sense kind of the professionalism, like when you think about the guys that you were around, like in the first era, and I came, I did crusty demons in '08, and I was at the very last end of crusty demons, but crusty demons set the tone. - It was loose. - The blind egg and the metal militia, Twitch, there was like the good versus the evil, you have like the Travis Trump of the Nate Adams, and then you had the dark side, the Twitch, the Deegan, Ronnie Fice, you had those guys, and like it was good versus evil kind of, it was like a bit of punk rock, like crazy guys. - There was even a little bit of like a WWE, kind of wrestling energy. - They would get it each other. - Costumes. - Yeah, they did, Deegan had spikes on it, and there's been some guys, you know, Jackson Strong's tried the spikes here and there, and we've all tried little bits and pieces of the past, but like for me growing up, like looking at guys, like Travis Pastrana and Nate Adams, they always had clean cut bikes, like they didn't have cut down fenders and things like that, and it was like kind of the racist style, so like they kind of brought in the clean style in the freestyle that we kind of know now, and then I would say just like, you know, you've got your Josh Shien, Harry Binks and stuff like that, these guys are like animals in the gym, like they're like gnarly gym guys, real lean and musly, and like, so there's like a build that's very similar to a racing build now with that, so I think, but I think it's more, there's not some team telling you you have to do this and you have to try this way, and like this is how it's going to be, or this is the budget, it's like it's each to their own. You just kind of have a free canvas to do what you want, if you want to be successful in the sport, just buckle down and just put in the hard yards, and you can be successful, and freestyle motorcross riders are awesome, we're just outgoing people. For example, when you go, especially in Australia, like when you travel around, people are always like, come ride my spot, come ride my spot, where races are a little bit more like, I might ride with you next week, or I might train with you, but I don't want to get you to see my speed, like you know, but yeah, it's a different culture for sure, but I love freestyle motorcross it's sweet. Coming from my racing background, I wouldn't have it any other way, I would never take it back. - How did you first get in contact with a dirt bike? - I was about two and a half years old, I don't remember asking Dad, I can visually remember the first time I rode a bike down the driveway. I guess Dad tells me he brought home a Pewy 50 from an auction, like that he found at a farm auction, and got it all running in that, and I guess I wasn't super into it at the start, and then one day I'd come home from school, and I must have just been on one, and just been like, Dad, I want to ride, I want to ride. And yeah, next thing you know, we had a big roundabout out the front of our farmhouse, and Dad would just run down behind me, holding the bike up to like balance, fell over a few times, and yeah, the rest is history, just picked up dirt bikes from there. You're having an older brother, his mates all rode dirt bikes, growing up at a farm, we all ride dirt bikes, we have tractors, so it was a family thing, we went away racing on the weekends as a family, all of our friends were at the race track, so we had friends at school, but we had a massive community, we always camp with the same people, at each track that we'd go to, it was always just like good vibes, good people, learning as a young nine, eight, nine-year-old, how to work on a bike, right? It's probably one of the best tools I've ever been taught, is to how to fix a bike. Now I can fix my car, my tractor, my dirt bike, my bicycle, just these really important things that I think I learned as a young kid, traveling overseas to Indonesia, racing as a young kid, just seeing the world, just really, I think it has helped me growing up as a person, just a great sport to be in. Yeah. I imagine that you're racing mindset, and your freestyle mindset, while there are some commonalities, it's a bit different. Yeah. What was it like for you at the peak of being a racer? Like, what was it giving you? At that point, I think God race so long that I didn't know much better. I was just chasing championships, or chasing a podium finish, or chasing the next factory ride. Yeah, as a teenager. As a teenager, yeah, for sure. But honestly, I think being drawn to the freedom of freestyle, I think making a living from riding and not spending thousands of dollars racing was a big, big change in my life. Explain that a little bit more, but I think, because people don't, like when you say, "Well, it costs you money to race." Yeah, it's probably one of the most expensive sports in the world to do. Yeah, I mean, car racing, any form of motorsport racing is the most expensive sports you can do. A lot of sponsorships, when you're a junior or an amateur, you're not really getting paid to ride. It's all your parents' funding. We don't see paychecks like kids in America do. So for me, at that time, I was trying to race, turn pro, still pitting out of my dad's van with my dad, and then I had to mate the mechanic for me, who wasn't a real mechanic, but we did what we could do. And I was doing half-time free-style shows at Supercross, and then racing the races against the best riders in Australia. And then I was doing the half-time shows so I could make money to get to the next round. So just things like that kind of take a toll on you and kind of push you in a direction that maybe you didn't. I didn't think I was going to be a free-style rider. I just liked doing tricks. I just loved whipping. I loved doing tricks. I loved it in the tane, but I never thought I was going to be a free-style. I always thought I was going to be like the next chat-read. And I had a good running with my amateur career, very, very successful amateur, state and nationals, and was working towards that kind of a career. But things take a toll financially and just your life, and I took a different route of free-style motorcross. Don't regret it one bit, because everyone else that got money pushed into them from companies and manufacturers and parents, they're not doing any of this anymore. So for me, I'm still living the American dream for a start, which is I had the American flag on my wall when I was eight years old. I always wanted to be an American. I wanted to be there for racing. So it's like, now I live in America for doing free-style motorcross, and I get to do it the most relaxed lifestyle ever. Like if I was there racing right now, it would be so strict, everything is just like, you have a schedule like no other, because you have millions of dollars behind you and racing in that. I have my family behind me and sponsors, great amazing sponsors, but it's a little more freedom. It's just like, I don't have the pressure, only at events like X Games and stuff, but other than that, it's just such a good sport. It's a lot more relaxed sport, and you can kind of take it as it comes in, you can do it how you want to do it. - So that sort of, that freedom is what drew you-- - For sure. - To freestyle motor. - Yeah, I love the freedom of it. - And then with that freedom also comes a choice that you had to make to go to the place where it's really happening, which at the time especially, Southern California. I live in Southern California, you're a Southern Californian, but that's an intimidating prospect. I don't think people realize what it is to just rock up, to, you know, to make you let me like stuff guys. - Yeah, well they don't really, I will say America was tough. The boys didn't like when I came in. - Yeah, tell me about that. - I was 18 years old and I'm like, us Aussies are smart asses, and I think like sometimes Americans can take it like, like they can either like get the joke, or they don't get the joke. - They take it too serious. - And they take it too serious, and I came in as a cocky kid, but not cocky is in like, I'm better than you. It's just more like, I can do better than you. I think I can do better than you. I'm gonna try and do better than you. And like being a larykin, smart ass kind of funny dude, and maybe you're rubbed off on the wrong guys, the wrong way. So I had quite a, quite a struggle fitting in in California, for sure, just in the motorcycle scene. - Hmm. - Yeah, but honestly like, I went from a town of 9,000 people, no traffic lights, around about the stop signs and giveaways to the 91 freeway. (laughing) Like, I lived in your Belinda Orange County, Braia, like I walked off the plane into, the coolest place ever, Big Trucks. - But it's a lot. - And the cool stuff I'm like, didn't realize LA, didn't realize it, LA just kept going for hours. You know like Melvin, you like leave the city around in maybe half an hour, 40 minutes. LA, you just saw factories, houses, factories, houses. - Don't stop. - What is going on? - Yeah. - Where's the countryside? - What is inserting yourself into that scene? - Yeah. - 'Cause that, the mecca. - Mecca? - The mecca of freestyle motor cross. What did that do to push your riding level to get to the place where it was like, oh, this dude's one of us. - I think just proving yourself, right? The more medals you get at X Games, getting out and just riding with those guys, trying to get into their backyards to be around those people. And that really helps your career. And people want to help you out. Like, that's what's amazing too, right? You start showing that you have work ethic and you try hard and you, you may be good with sponsors or good with talking to people and that. Like it's just, things really can work out for you. - Who were some of those writers that, that took an interest in you? - I mean, honestly, yeah, Nate Adams. The best dude, the coolest guy. - Boy scout. - Oh dude, just always had time for, has time for everyone growing up. Never mistreated me. Never talked different to me. Never just was always an OG. And, you know, someone like that was, honestly, probably like, I mean, I did school projects on the guy, right? When everyone else is doing football players and stuff like that, I'm doing motor dudes like Nate. - Yeah, now you're with Nate. - And now I'm friends with Nate, like, you know. Yeah, met him at 15 years old at Bilko's house as a racer kid. And was jumping, just started jumping rants. And now he's one of my good mates in America. It's amazing, but yeah, just a good image. Like Travis was drawn to being, he came out to get on Nitro Circus and be around him, you know, looking up to him our whole life. And then to actually be able to, like, be around those two dudes. - Pretty sick. - It's sick. - Bilko and Cam Sinclair in Australia. Maddie McFarron were probably three really big names here that really taught me a lot of the ropes with how to do tricks, how to get shows, how to work with promoters, the money, like how to sell yourself to a promoter, the business side of things, right? You know, like, there's a lot of things that touch you too. A lot of people don't talk about what they make from sponsors or what they get from shows and stuff like that. So for me, being around those legends was like, it was perfect. Like, I've always been able to ask those guys, all of them, I annoy people from questions. I know that. - But it's also super power. - It's the best superpower in the world. And the curiosity, 100%, 100%. - Do you remember when you got the call, your first invite to X Games? - Yeah, I do. - Tell me about that. - Okay. For reference, you don't just get to say, hey, I'm coming to X Games. You got to get the invite. - Let's just put it like, I needed to get, I went from a show called "Crusty Demons", right? And there was a handful of us riders, Kamsinkler, Bilko, there was a handful of us that came from "Crusty" to "Nitro Circus" because Mike Porra, the owner of "Nitro Circus" was originally with "Crusty". When he moved over to "Travisers" with that group, we came with him as the Aussie riders. So I was put on as a rider, and I had to learn the flip. It's 2010, I just flipped to dirt on a small gap. I struggle with the flip, I still do. I not still do, but it's always been something that hasn't been my best trick, right? Back flips. I do 'em easy now and that's no problem, but they've always been in waves with it. Respect, friends passing away from those, lots of different things, right? So I'm told, hey, you want to be on "Nitro Circus", you got to flip. They take me, my bike to Queensland, I'm at this compound, I'm practicing, I'm doing flips, so I couldn't flip 75 to dirt. I could flip super kick at a dirt, I just couldn't get over the fact of flipping 75. Travis is trying to do some tandem back flip practice when the very first person sat on his bike to do the back flip in the show. And so Travis is there watching, obviously, knows that I'm going to be coming on tour if I flip. Well, I didn't flip. I couldn't sack up, even with Travis first round of there. The guy that everyone does everything for the first time, I couldn't do it. I just couldn't do it, I struggled at home and I've beat myself up for doing it, like not flipping, like for years. And Mike Poros said, hey mate, we can't have you on the tour. Like if you aren't flipping, where are you not on tour? Well, Travis was watching me practice and I was getting pretty backwards with turn downs and whips. And now, you know, I sat at the very first Nitro Circus show in Brisbane from the sidelines and watched it. Burn, hard, right? But I go home, I'm off tour. That's the end of my Nitro Circus career. I'm done. My best mate fills my spot. His name's Maddy Lewis. Maddy Lewis crashes the first night in Sydney, takes all the riders down in front and behind him. Obviously Maddy gets hurt, he's taken off tour. A guy called Joel Brown takes his spot for the Saturday night. Joel Brown crashes Saturday night. Jared McNeill gets a phone call Saturday night. Travis wants you back to do whips. Mike Poros has okayed it. Start driving to Sydney now. You've got to be there tomorrow afternoon. Dad and I got in the van. My bike was still on tour because Joel rode my bike. And I drove eight hours to Sydney. Got on tour, did whips, did my upright tricks as I would normally do, got back on tour. So I did the last night at Sydney, which leads into Melbourne. The Melbourne shows, I'm on for the Melbourne shows. It's my hometown area. A guy from X Games China. I don't know if you ever remember X Games China back in the day, it was more like a demo. It was more like just a sports show. - But it was X Games branded. So the guys from X Games were coming back through Melbourne to see the first having nitro circus tour to see what was going on. What's Travis created? So I'm there and Travis tells the guy, check this kit out for best sweat. Check him out, like watch him tonight. Check him out for best sweat. I never knew the back end, like Travis saying, watch what you know what I mean. - You didn't know he was looking out for you. - Didn't know he was looking out for me. And then that show goes by, the tour goes by. We finished the tour. And I think it was like June, in June. I'm at my parents were men. My dad was managing a dairy farm in Yara Wonga. When it was foggy morning and I get a phone call off Travis being like, hey, just a heads up buddy, you're going to get a phone call. Within, I think I don't remember the exact time frame was either the next couple of days or a week or something like that. X Games gives me a phone call and then sends me an email with an invite to my very first X Games July 2010. I came over with one of my best mates, Ryan. And Ryan O and we flew in the coolest thing ever. Big trucks, L.A.X., Orange County, peak, peak. - Peak X Games. - But peak prime, California time. Like, and I'm not a party by any means. I've never been a party. But the backyard parties were like the craziest, the craziest movie stuff you've ever seen. Like the culture, the atmosphere, the writers. Like, there's just freestyle writers everywhere. Like, this is the mecca. It was the coolest thing ever. Got to go to my first X Games, my 19th birthday. On my 19th birthday was my first X Games and I got a silver medal. Like just. What was it like being on that stage, being that kid from the small 9,000 person town to suddenly on the biggest stage of the sport on the planet? - What's weird is like the nerves, I was nervous, but like I didn't have. I don't know if I had expectations. I just wanted to compete at X Games and do well. It's best I could. - But it changed your life. - It has changed my life. Like, if I didn't do well that first year, I don't think I would be sitting here having this conversation with you. - Yeah, the rest is history, bro. - I love that behind the scenes. It says a lot about Travis that he was quietly watching and held up in that door for you. I think freestyle motocross, I have so much respect for it as a sport because you can practice and learn in a lot of other sports with foam pits and you have foam pits in freestyle. However, the stakes are the highest in your sport when it comes time to throw it to dirt. When you haven't done it at a certain point, you got to throw it to. I don't even like calling it dirt, let's call it cement. You're throwing it to cement. What's that process like of. You get the vision of a new trick, and then you're like, "Oh, now I gotta learn it." - I mean, dude, let's just go back to the backflip, for example. For example, my struggle with the backflip, like I think there was many, many, many days where I was in my foam pit, you know, like freestyle motocross, we work hard. We are the hardest action sports workers because not only we do physical stuff off the bike to keep fit and healthy, we ride the bike to keep fit and healthy. We have to have properties to be able to practice and train. We have to have equipment and all these things. We have to build and manufacture things to be able to do our job. But we are the only people to know how to build the stuff. - Yeah. - 'Cause we're like this, you can order a super kicker on Amazon. - No, it's more like, it's more like either we're welding it and fabricating it ourselves, which I do. Or we have to get somebody like Matt McCaw or somebody, somebody in the industry that has built them. It's not easy, it's one of the hardest sports. We, you know, it's all, a lot of it's self-funded. Obviously, even just taking paychecks from sponsors, we're putting it 100% back into our sport. - Yeah, it's honestly a very brutal sport, but I think it helps you, it molds you, it makes you who you are. But, you know, it is, it's a dangerous sport. A lot goes into freestyle motor cross, but we have to have phone pits. We have to have these training facilities to do it as safe as possible, right? Like, if we didn't have these airbag landings or phone pits to take something to do it is a struggle. For me, like, I mean, I've walked out of the bush, my compound in Daniloquin, Denny, down south, my phone pit was out in the bush. I don't know how many of those eucalyptus trees in anger that I completely just snapped off the ground. Just in anger, a frustration at my own frustration about why can you not commit to this today? Go do it in the phone pit. All right, you've done it 10 times in the phone pit. Perfect, just go do it to do it. And it's not that easy. Let's put it this way, in freestyle motor cross, there's no like halfway point, right? You ain't stopping, you ain't turning around, you ain't going back to your wheels. It's either you've likely walked away, how, who knows how, 'cause normally you don't, or you're in hospital. Yeah, you're in hospital. There's no, you know, and like freestyle motor cross, we're jumping further, higher, longer with a really heavy thing. A heavy motorcycle, and we have heavier gear on. A lot of people don't realize, they're all your twists of throttle, you do this, you jump that, but it's like no, when we hit the ground, it's the inertia from your boots, getting picking up momentum, and then just slapping you into the ground. All your head, once you get that momentum going, that weight is getting transferred faster at the ground. So it takes a lot more of a toll on your body, riding freestyle motor cross, because you're falling from further at higher, narrowly of speeds, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying it's narrowly than motor cross racing, because I've had the worst injuries from motor cross. Power broke my back at power. I like, I've broke my back racing, done it in the phone, doing freestyle. So like, it's just as narrowly, but just riding motorcycles in general, is narrowly freestyle motor cross is insane. Even more so. You've had some bad injuries. Yeah. One that sticks out is 2017 at X Games. What happened? Your hip. Yeah, just hurt my hip. Quarter pipe, where you go off the ramp, 19 foot ramp, land on like a 24 foot landing that's dirt. You 180 the bike, try and get this high as you possibly can in the air. That was, I'm used to best whip, used to step up, done really well at that. Quarter pipe was a new thing in 2017, first year of X Games. We're all jacked up. We're all eager to prove ourselves. We all want to come home with that number one trophy to show that, you know, the first ever X Games Quarter pipe, who's the man? And like I say, probably just send it a little too hard, hey boys. And overcooked it, overcooked the whip part on it. And I couldn't correct it back. Once that thing starts over whipping, you're basically falling, you've peaked out so you're falling at that point, right? And just over corrected the whip and landed a little bit crooked, which yanked my left hand off the handlebar, I think it was, and just ragged all me into the ground, ended up there. Just took my hip, wasn't pretty. I didn't think we'd ever end up doing this. What were farmers, back in the day? Being a mother, it's always there that something could go wrong. And you can't do about much about it because he's doing what he loves to do. And you just have to just let him go and do what he's love doing, really. I've been there when a couple of his big accidents have happened, one in particular was in Canberra. And that one scared. He under-rotated a whip, a flip, and the bike hit him in the back. And he was ambulance out of there, though I'm thinking about taking his kidney and his spleen out. Like it was pretty serious. And a doctor come and talk to him on the side about it and said that this probably could be the end of what he does. The doctor agreed that they would monitor him through the night. If he's, I think it's pretty sure if his blood pressure dropped, they would be straight and we would not question it. Anyhow, he didn't. He's a bad patient in hospital. You wouldn't want to be a nurse, doctor, you really wouldn't. He's terrible. Booked himself out and come home to us. He had lost, he was 57 kilos ring and wet. He was 51 in that week. He looked just a scallop, just terrible. Anyhow, he come home and he was waking up, sweat, and then bloody night, pained. Like we had a neighbor that was a boxer, like a fitness sort of thing. He sort of got him on the right track. A nitro rung him about doing the show in Cinnies that he couldn't do it. I think the next one was Melbourne, which was either a week later or two weeks later. He said, "I'll see how I go for that." They were talking 12 months before he'd get back on the bike. Doctors, they rung him about Melbourne. I think that was three shows in three days or two shows in three days. He said, "All right, I'll come down and try and practice." Well, he hadn't been on the bikes around yet. He went down there. He didn't do extreme Jared, like, you know, but he got through the first show. I didn't think it was a real good idea at the time, but I knew how he'd done many years. Heading a concrete wall wide open, getting knocked out for like five minutes and asking you misses how to make a ham and cheese sandwich for two weeks, when it says what it is, is mind blowing and that's where my level of head injury got. You know what I mean? Head injuries are probably the worst you can possibly have. Yeah. You just listed a whole bunch of things that most people in the general population will never experience and you've experienced all of them. Yeah. The logical question is why? What drives you to continue even past that? I mean, even after you dislocated your hip on the hip jump, you might be, most people will be like, "Well, I'm never gonna hit a hip again." Yeah. Instead, "I'm not gonna lie." You built yourself up. I did, I did. I'm not gonna lie. That's probably been my least favorite discipline to do since I did it. I'm not worried, you know, like two years ago, they stopped inviting me for quarter play. And it's probably the best I've done in other sports 'cause I'm not worried about that the whole weekend. Right. I mean, it's a brutal sport, but I don't know much different. Like, not that I don't know much different 'cause I know better, but I don't think any better because it's, I'm living the American dream. I've traveled the whole entire world riding a motorcycle. I've been to every continent on this earth besides Antarctica riding a motorcycle. Just, it's a community, right? I'm just drawn to this community of great people. No matter where I've traveled around the world, our friends are all saying the same things. We're all on the same page. We all just wanna ride dirt bikes or we all just wanna be left alone and have fun and freedom of riding a dirt bike and it doesn't matter what country you in. It can be the poorest country in the world. I think we are action sports and the motorcycle world. We are some of the best breed of humans on planet earth. We're just outgoing people. We just thrive at Drenland. We know what living is. We know how to live. Like, if you have a motorcycle like today, did it not feel free? - It felt incredibly free. - Like it, like today. Like you could just go out and go ride in the bush and go and see a place out there that no man is walk to. Like, we go out into the desert to these really cool, unique places that no one's ever been on foot. 'Cause we've just rode out bikes out into the desert. I think it's an amazing culture to be a part of. I love it, I love every bit of it. - All that being said, the steaks are incredibly high. I mean, my favorite thing is the joy that I see that riders have after landing something amazing whether it's a big whip or a trick that you. - You never feel that, like me dropping my bike and just being like, "F, yeah, this is the best day at all." - And that looks to me like it's a chemical that can't be manufactured. You could only experience that by doing all the things that you've described it takes to sit and be in that moment in your body. At the same time, to be in this community means you have to have a relationship with great loss. - Yep, 100%. - Like you've lost incredible people in your life pursuing the same thing. What is it like to walk through that with this high, high that you're chasing? And then also like the grief that you've had to battle and the loss. - Why don't you? - Yeah, yeah, it's not fun. I think the only way you could possibly see a positive to that is knowing that guy had so much. Such a great time. That person had such a great time was living the best life possible riding a motorcycle. Going out the way you'd want to go out, riding a bike or doing something adrenaline pumping and I think that's how we kind of have to look at it as like our mates have gone out doing what they love doing. But I mean, I've had mates also that weren't in the sport that had been lost in other ways too. And I think that also takes a toll just on your life, right? Like everyone's like dirt bikes, dirt bikes, a dangerous blah, blah, blah. Yes, I've had many dudes die from riding dirt bikes. I've had many dudes paralyzed from riding dirt bikes. I've also had many dudes take their own lives, lose their own lives, get hit by cars. I know it's one of those things like we are on this earth, anything can happen at any time. And yes, it's a very dangerous sport. Yes, we are calculated, but things can go wrong. We can have mechanical malfunctions. We can have brainfights where we make a mistake and we're not thinking properly. We can have a bad day and we shouldn't be riding a bike. The paycheck is important and things go wrong. Having a family takes a toll on you, having kids and a wife and makes you think differently. You've got two now. Yeah, I have two kids. How old are they? One and four. And now my son's riding dirt bikes and it's like, I wanted to do it too, right? I wanted to live my life. If he wants to, if he doesn't want to, then that's fine. But if he wants to live a life that I've lived, I'm gonna give him the tools to do it. So I'm like, oh, don't get me wrong, I am scared. Like, I've seen friends lose their kids to this sport. And I've seen friends, my friends be lost to this sport. And it's not that we're like, you know, I think about Paul, one of my mates, Paul Smith all the time. I've got him tattooed on my leg. Rona, Eric Rona from Nitro Circus, bass jumper. You know, there's certain guys that are around that are maybe in different sports that you lose. And like, you know, after Rona passed, do I want to do a skydiver again? No, I have no intentions to go do skydiving again. It was a mistake, he's a professional, but like, I choose what I choose to battle with, right? It's a constant mental game. It's a constant battle, don't get me wrong. You have a bad crash and you're like, ah, is it worth it? You know, I broke my back two times now. Sometimes it gives me weird feelings. I'm like, oh, should I get that checked out? Or, ah, just turn the blind eye to it. Should be right, keep riding. Just the hardest thing in life is the mental games. And it's all about how you can control your brain, how you can switch off when you're riding, how you can switch off. You know, we watch a video before we do Nitro Circus shows of all our lost friends. And like, then you've got to go out and ride. And like, that takes a toll to turn that to be like, sad in the moment and then be just like, boom, business. Let's go. There's a lot involved. It's just mental game. That's crazy, by the way, to hear that you watch that video of those who've fallen before you got to do the show. Yeah. What does that do for you? Gives me goosebumps. Say that. It doesn't-- it doesn't scam me. It doesn't make me not want to go out right then and there and do it. And honestly, sometimes makes you like, all right, like, you know, fuck doing this for you, boys. Let's go. How has fatherhood and being a husband adjusted your approach to how you do things now? I will say I am kind of a bit more of a reserved rider. I think about things a little more. For example, I went to Travis's house in 2011. The only time I've actually ever been there, one on only time. And Travis got this '06 YZ252 stroke, which my suspension didn't fit because the updated the model. And Travis is like, mind you, I flipped, but I haven't flipped 75 in 2011. So I'm still going to be in the kicker, right? So Travis is like, hey, man, welcome to my house. You want to do a double flip on the model spoiler at the back? Oh my, Travis. I need to do 75. Man, my suspension ain't fitting in this bike. I'm sorry, but I love you, mate, but I'm not doing this for the TV show right now. To him, that was probably like, what? Everyone else does it. Everyone else just lines up to do this. When people talk about going to his house and being like, I'm not going to do the thing. I'm not doing that. And then he does his little mind games here. Now, I'm not doing it, and I didn't do it. And so things like that, I feel like I've been a smart rider and only had to do things that I feel comfortable doing. And the whip has been such a big part of that. And I've helped, I think I've also helped mold the whip game to not only not to be like, oh, I did a bigger whip in that, because guys have had bigger and smaller whips and we've all had bigger and smaller whips. But I've always had something to bring to the table all the time. I've always been able to compete at a high level. I've been able to help guide other Australians or other people from around the world to come to America and try and make it as a career. I think I've really inspired a lot of kids to try and make a career out of doing best whip amongst other legends that have grown up doing this sport with me and help create the best whip scene. And that's awesome. Like the powerful lesson being do you. I love the fact that there's double front flips and double back variations. I love the fact that the whip has remained a constant. - Oh, it has. - What is it about that trick? First of all, describe it. 'Cause it's almost like an optical illusion, a contortionist, but it's this thing that like-- - Doesn't make sense. - It doesn't make sense. And I think because it should just keep going, or it should never stop halfway and go back. - But because of that, all of that optical dance that's taking place, it's the biggest crowd pleaser. People have never had to, have never ridden a bike before be like, that's crazy. - There's two events at X Games, step up and best whip. I've been very successful at both. I'd say step up is very easy to watch. You hit the bar, you're out, school, high jump, same, very relatable, right? Best whip is in the motor world, not to the general public, but to the motor world, it's very relatable. Because you can jump a jump like you did today, getting air off the ground. But could you imagine just reaching back real quick and doing something or you're sitting on the bike out there and I heard you say, I can't just picture myself pulling back right now on this thing. And that was your word, you're like, I can't imagine doing it. And you're like, I was sitting there being like, what do you mean? - Yeah, what, I don't want to see that. - Yeah, so it's, I mean, it's a, it's-- - But the whip is unique, it's very unique. So when you're racing a motor cross track and hitting a table top and you're whipping or you're scrubbing, right? And if you're really good at it, the people in the crowd gravitate to that jump and they watch you. And I was, I loved showing off. I'd be winning races and cranking big whips and people were like, they were sick. Oh, you did good on the race too. Or like, dude, you just like jump the hundred feet past that dude off of a table top to flat ground and you've got the whole grandstand just going all the way over just to watch me launch past dudes and like whip it and do things like that. And it's like, you start to like notice that people love watching that and like, it starts like becoming your thing, right? - Yeah. - With redirecting your bike in the air. - I mean, the whip is amazing because it looks like you're gonna land backwards every time. And you've got all this flair, right? And then you hit the gas and somehow another. The bike rides itself and people are like, "Ahh!" And that never gets old. And you're known for it. - Yep. But that's not your only trick. What are some of your other favorite tricks? - Favorite tricks. - And explain them. - Probably the coolest trick I do and no one else does it, which is even cooler. And it's like a signature trick for me now, which is the one hand take off to no hand whip. So I can take off, do the whip and land with one hand the whole time. So I don't even need to have a left hand. Or I can go off the lip with one hand, crank a whip and then do no hands, grab back on and land. And so for me, it's like, I love doing whips. - Whip variation. - Whip variations, whip no hand is whipped out and knack knacks like I'm a graph knack. And all school one is super fun. But I do one of those where I take the same side leg and hand off. So the bike's whipped out and I'm just doing like a rock star to think off the side like the bike's one hand with one hand and one foot. That's a signature trick for me. But there's a trick called the McTwist. It's basically, I don't know if you've heard of like, kiss of death, rule, there's like twists. You're basically doing a handstand, your feet are vertically above your head. - And the bike's vertically. - Yep, and your bike's looped out vertical. So I do one of those, but the way I go into it, I call it a McTwist. A guy touching on a fellow rider that's passed away, Jim McNeil. Jim McNeil's a legend in the sport. You probably got to announce him at the next game. - I knew him. - And you knew him, so I'm getting goosebumps. Probably one of the coolest dudes I ever met. I got to meet him in New Zealand on crusty demons. And he used to do a trick very similar. It didn't really have a name, but it was a twisted up ruler. - Right. - And so I started doing this trick and it was very similar. My own variation of it, but I called it the McTwist because I was like, Jim McNeil used to do it. - And for context, you come up feet first, right? - No, no, it's still the same. You still, your feet are still coming over the back of your head. - Still over the back of your head. - But it's the body's all contortioned. - Oh, and twist it. - Like a twist it up as the feet are going up. - Right. - And then as the feet get peaked out, they twist again. - Like this. - Yeah, and then it comes back in a twist. - Nice. - So it's like a bunch of twists. And he did it and I thought it was very fitting to call it the McTwist, which is actually a skateboard trick, come to find out. - Yes, it is. - The fun. - Yeah. - So, what is a skater is-- - McGill. - McGill. - He's also been to my property with Steve Cap. - No way. - Yeah. - With Steve Cavalero. - That's pretty cool. - Both of those dudes. - Yeah. - That's funny when I tell a skater. Oh, yes, Steve Cap's rode at my place. - Shout out to Steve Cavalero. - Right. - Yeah. - Bones for Gede Legend, who also is mean on a dirt bike still. - Yeah, he is, he's mean. I don't even know how he rides. - And I think, I think McGill rides too, right? - Yeah, yeah, yeah. He rode my back yard as well. There are two legends in the sport. But yeah, going back to, to tricks, I have my own variations. Seat grab whip, getting whipped out and doing a Superman seat grab. When everyone's flying straight doing tricks, I like to be sideways doing a trick. - Nice. - Because people realize that, like when I go to a show, like nitro circus, people like to, you're the best rider, I'm like, but did you see all the other flip tricks? And I'm like, no, you were the most entertaining. You did the coolest stuff. You did nose wheelies everywhere, and wheelies everywhere. And you popped off your bike here, and you were sideways there. Like you were just different. - What was the first thing I said to you today after you came off for doing the laps? I was like, oh, that little long step up to the nose wheelies. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. You were like, yeah, the one to the nose. Yeah, exactly, just stuff like that. Exactly. - But that stuff just shows, it shows like, just joy and flair. - Yeah, it does. - Like, look how control I'm in. - Exactly. - Also, if things go wrong, it's bad, but you can kind of understand it. - Yeah. - And so I was watching you today, it was like, that's cool. - Right, thank you. - And that's why the crowd feels the same way. - The crowd needs to know it was wild. (laughing) - They were losing it. - You can go bird. - You can go bird. - Yeah. Sunsetting. - Yep. - What does the sunset of Jared McNeil's career look like? If you could script it. What does the magic light look like in how you-- - When you come to my house in California, which I really hope you do, we'll get some bikes out, we'll have some fun. I think it's something that's got to happen, but I think it's me sitting on my back deck, looking at Saddleback Mountain in the distance, Orange County behind that, two and a half thousand feet, watching the California Sunset. That's what I'm happy. - Reflecting on the journey. - Me and my family watching the kids play in the backyard, looking over my course, everything that I've achieved. - I don't think you retire anytime soon. - No, not anytime soon. - That's a beautiful thing. I wish that everybody could be as joyful and passionate in the thing that they do for a living as you. It's contagious. Like I've been around a lot of high-performing athletes, only a handful realize the joy. - That's probably my biggest downfall, is I'm very, very passionate about my sport and how the people handle the sport, a freestyle motor cross. And I'm in a position right now that I'm one of the guys that can voice his opinion and help the next future of freestyle motor cross riders, all right? So I've had a lot of run-ins, very, very vocal, but it's not for me. It's not saving my ass. It's saving the future of my sport. We've seen Traverse the China on the Jay Leno show. Where's all that gone? Where's all those things gone? Like things that we never got the opportunity to live through. And I want to at least set the next group of riders up. They could walk in my shoes, be a humble Jared McNeil guy that moved to America or came to California from somewhere else and is living the dream. Like I just want my future of freestyle motor cross riders to at least get to experience that feeling. Like I've made, I've got 16 medals, I've got nine golds. I have my, I've heard of moving equipment. Like that's all I want in my life is Traverse. I have my own Tractors. I just hope the next generation of riders can get paychecks like I did, can get sponsorships like I did, can compete like I did. - To live the dream. - That's all I want. That's all I want. Yeah. - Thank you, brother. - Yeah. - That's really it at the end of the day. It's like what can you leave behind? - Yeah. - And you're doing a great job. - Trying. Haven't finished yet. - Yeah. - There's no doubt in my mind that you have enjoyed this conversation. So do me a favor, hit the subscribe button so that you can tune into even more incredible conversations on the team ignition show. Next time on the team ignition show. - Hoppah focus is required to do what we do. We don't have that hoppah focus. That's where it becomes really dangerous. - Racing and aerobatic pilot, Emma McDonald's. (engine revving) [MUSIC]