Axell Hodges and Jackson Strong, Moto X Innovators and Multiple X Games Gold Medalists – UNLEASHED Podcast E409

Enjoy a personal conversation with two heroes of Moto X! Listen closely as we get the inside scoop from Axell Hodges and Jackson Strong during a special live episode of the sports and pop culture podcast UNLEASHED with The Dingo, Danny, and Brittney.

UNLEASHED broadcasts live from X Games Ventura 2024 with two of the most prolific FMX athletes on the circuit. Hailing from Australia, Jackson Strong owns the record for most X Games gold medals in a single Moto X discipline. His trick innovations, such as the world’s first dirt bike front flip, are the stuff of legend, and he expanded his X Games medal count by getting his eighth gold medal in Moto X Best Trick after this podcast. Joining him on the show, California’s Axell Hodges commands the most significant social following in the FMX world with his trilogy of ‘Slayground’ videos clocking over 14 million views. Hodges returns to X Games after a severely broken femur and shares his resilient mindset on the eve of his return with the three podcast hosts – only on UNLEASHED!

Press the play button (and hit Like) on the new episode of UNLEASHED with The Dingo, Danny, and Brittney.

Subscribe and stay tuned for more UNLEASHED episodes. Regular editions of the show are recorded live inside Studio M at Monster Energy headquarters in Corona, California, and published bi-weekly. Also, follow @monsterenergy for updates.

Transcript

0:03

You now. And we're not joking. We're back. We're back. I want to say that line again. Axel. Dude. Dude, you're back on the bike. Yep. How's it feel? Come a little closer. It's feeling good. I'm definitely a little bit sore, but I'm just stoked to be back on my dirt bike riding and, just working on my leg, riding every day I can, and getting stronger every day. So it was a clean, famous snap. It wasn't a clean. I crashed an Glamis ditch. My bike landed in the sand and just blew my femur to like 20 pieces. So how do they get that back together? They put a rod down in through my hip and then, screwed in three screws down by my knee and one in my hip. And they get you up walking the next day. That's wild. Yeah. Well, you weren't you weren't. You were on crutches, though. We've been we traveled around a little bit and you were kind of crunching there. Yeah. I had a walker and then graduated to crutches. And then I've just been limping. Limping ever since. so how, how are you feeling back on the bike? Have you done practice yet? Yeah, I did one. I'm just riding quarter pipe this year. Oh, decent on the quarter pipe. I've been riding a lot with Tyler. He's got a nice big landing that we practice on. And. Yep, it's good for training. Easy on my leg. And, I feel good on quarter. I've been trying some new things, but this quarter tomorrow, tomorrow at like, 215. Yeah. Nice. Nice. Hopefully we don't get wind. We were lucky last year and we've been pretty lucky this year. I think we had a bit of wind last night. Jacko, how are you? Yeah, hanging in there, hanging to the left. Hanging to the left. And. Yeah. Going good. Had a I mean, I might have next best trick this year. I had a practice on the day before yesterday and one this morning and feeling not too bad. It's, you can feel as good as you want in practice and best tricked out. And it comes down to the crunch time comes down to that last the couple of seconds on the not too safe, whole year's worth of work will come crumbling down. Or if you can get it together. But yeah, it's it's, nearly time to go roll the dice. I think we're 615 tonight, and, when you do the best trick practices, like lead up, do you do some of the best tricks in those practice, or you kind of wait for the mean time and wait for the mean time? I work up to it a little bit. So this year I'm doing a funny combo. So I went and punched a whole lot of funnies out and just tried to get current there. That's kind of half the trick. Yeah. And then, yeah, just get it. Get as good as I can. The trick I'm doing is kind of to the point where it's too hard. It takes all of my six IQ to get it done on the night, so I don't want to waste any today. Yeah. There's nothing like, worse than, like, lacing something in practice right before I know if you liked it, you might as well have everyone watching, you know? didn't you already? Did you open? Did you? I saw a video footage of already doing your front flip. Yeah, I did a bunch of brownies today, the other day and today and got current with them on the Ram. Used the bike. It's kind of hard when you travel from overseas and you. You're not on the same bike that you're always on. You change all the parts over, but everything feels kind of a tiny little bit different. But, it's just it's part of the part of the game we play. But yeah, I did a bunch of friends. I'm ready to do a combo with it tonight. Hopefully. Fingers crossed. I guess I'm always traveling with snowboard bags, but how do you ship a bike overseas? Like, what do you take it apart? Yeah, I play take like 50 kilos, 52.210 pounds upon. Okay. And he just put it in like seven different things or what. you know, eight, three different bags. Three different bags. Yeah, yeah. So it, Yeah, it's the only way to do it. It's, Yeah. You're better off doing that than you are sending your parts early and then not getting the lead up time on you. Same suspension, same same bars and everything. My stuff's normally pretty flowed out by the time I get here from practice and crashing. So it's. I'm kind of used to all the Ben stuff I have right now, so I don't want to put anything else on. So I guess there's an elephant in the room and we'll just we'll hit it. last night was best weapon. There were, electric bikes and regular bikes, I guess. I guess people are talking. It's a I think that's a big talking comment. It's probably one for Axel, but my thing is, it's, it definitely changes the game on the on an electric bike, you definitely have a competitive advantage. So next year when we see everyone on an electric bike, or will there be two classes? I'm going to go ahead and say that there's going to be two classes. That's just me. What do you think, Axel? Well, I hope so. Those things seem pretty damn badass. You saw Patrick last night. Throw the biggest whip ever on it. And, yeah, that thing just work a little bit different. I definitely do think it's a different class, but we just got to get through this first year and see how they stack up. And. Yeah, why do I get a flip? We'll say though, because the maybe it was a big weight to like, we've got to get there's got to be some more people in the off season get on them. And right maybe Patrick fucking just send the biggest sweep of all time I don't know. I mean yeah, right. It's definitely, it's an advantage if you're on a gas bike and you're in front wheels going to dip out and you would be no. So to win that big, so are there is, the electric versus the gas. Is it heavier at all. Like what is the difference of like the actual form of the bike or like how they, have you tried both? I haven't ridden one, but I think they're a little heavier. But the instant torque and everything, how the motor works. Here's the thing, is this it feels lighter just from all that, like tall things, like a Tesla, but the dirt bike. So I think the the biggest thing to on a, on a, dirt bike you're in say you're in second gear doing a whip the Giro. So if you're in the air and you guys and you, rev the throttle, it's going to lift the front wheel up. But you're limited to that rev range of what second gear has to, to the to the gear ratio of second gear. But when you're on it, something with no transmission, you've got endless amount of time to lift. You can really move the bike around because you going, it's like a snowmobile when I ride snowmobiles. And that worked out for you. Pretty good. Bike failure. You could gas, you can do a backflip on a snowmobile without even pulling or doing a whole lot. You can let the sled pull you around because because you're going from 20, 20km an hour, ten miles an hour to to 100 the speed. So it's that gyro just keeps, keeps the gift that keeps on giving. For those of you that don't know, many years ago, they had snowmobiling in, in Aspen and, Jacko had never ridden a snowmobile, and they decided I rode it a little bit, which you brought it. I went to Minnesota and it was too cold, I didn't, I I've never experienced cold like that. And, they had that. There was a runaway sled that ended up in the crowd that, was not good for. It was not good. No sled. Yeah. It wasn't good. It wasn't good news in the media. So it kind of. But it was a rocky moment. This sled landed the flip right with. Now we kind of got separated. Okay. But if you sled, if the snow finishes the separation and like you did it the landed. Yeah. Yeah I wouldn't say stomped it. Yeah. But you got most of what you wanted to do. Done it kind of. I kind of waved when it took off. How scary is that? I mean, because obviously I feel like a sled has got a couple hundred pounds bigger, right? It's just kind of more awkward to move than a mount. Where? Somewhere. Yeah. And again, there's no gears if you want. Right. I think I did. Yeah, a motorcycle and a sled. It's like when you lose grip I guess even on both. How scary is that? Yeah, it's not fun. Like at least the dirt bikes, you know, a couple hundred pounds chasing you and you can kind of kind of it that cartwheel. So you can try now run it by the sled. If it lands on, it's on, it's, a little track guy and takes off. You can't. Usain Bolt couldn't even get away from that thing. I mean, you having that. Good luck. And then the snowball didn't go through the air bag. Yeah, I'm kind of. No, he's not my thing. Because I just wanted to have a party at Aspen and it didn't work out. Yeah. That's me. Me too. I really hope X-Games brings back some moto sports to winter. Excuse. We miss you guys there also. We do, we do miss you guys. Jack. Oh, dang. You look so relaxed. Last year you were, Are you are you way more common than you had some friends here last year? They're a little out of control. Yeah, but the boys are from home. Last year I was a little stressed about looking after them after the event, but everything panned out and we all made it back to Australia. So I'll get stress here in a couple hours and these fingernails will get a little bit. Is that what you do? You chew on your fingernails. No I don't, I just sit here and get nervous. Are you, I know that the transition from the ramp to the dirt was something that in the beginning was, I don't know, maybe, you know, frowned upon or it looked like it was cheating a little. but after last year and seeing these crashes, do you feel like these ramps now are the safe way to go for the future moving forward? Or do you think it should, you know, end up back on dirt? It's still not safe. Like if you laid it on there, you're eating it hard. Yeah, it's not safe. It's kind of no, it's uncharted, but it is still a little bit like you can still get pretty messed up on there. But I think that the bigger the Rams get, the the more the landings got to accommodate to it. And that's like the future of the sport going forwards is getting bigger ramps. So people can do do more things. And without the landing the match it it just can't happen. So that's the only way. I grew up on dirt and did accidents when it was all a concrete dirt landing and so for the next generation coming in, some people can say that the the crazy landing is going to be softer, but the Rams twice as big. So it's no, no less gnarly. Yeah. All right. We're going to show some clips here Axel run us through. Can you see that screen right there. Yep. We're dropping some clips right here of, both of you guys. I think we have a trick tip here. Is that what you're doing? What do you. Who? You. What do you teach it? Oh, how to hit the quarter pipe? I think it's what's what do you think's the average speed of you going into that? I hear you eat well. Previous years I've been hitting it in second gear. And this year we've been changing up some gearing and cooking up a gear and kind of coming in more lugged and getting deeper in the power of the bike. So third gear and some re gearing and we just try to come into that thing, pan it and see how high you can go. So you've been you've been in these battles now for for some time. Is it, is it is there a point to where you guys are going to have to stop going higher, or where's the bar end here? I think now we're just so maxed out on the 18ft quarter pipe. That's how big the ramp is that we're hitting right now. So I see it in the next maybe year or two switching to a bigger ramp that way we're not coming into the thing, but it's such a tight radius. And now out of the thing we can come in and hit it smoother. And I think that'll get us to go higher and more safely, too. What about tricks like I've seen you do loops on the sink? How could that be, though? You know, like, yeah, we're done. We reached that bar. Let's move on and let's move to tricks. Is that something that can happen? it could it just such a big risk factor doing tricks on the quarter pipe because you're going straight up and straight down and you wouldn't really want to slam on that thing doing a gnarly trick off of it. I don't know. It just kind of up to the riders to see if anyone's got the balls to start doing big tricks off of it. Are you the only one doing tricks off it? I alley-oop to I know Corey created an alley-oop and then I think Colby's done like a knock knock off of it. Yeah, but I remember when we first started in it to McNeal was doing seat grabs off of it. That was pretty cool, but right, right. Not too many tricks off the quarter pipe. It's more of just higher. Yeah. All right, Jacko, we got some footage of you. I think this footage is you. Maybe back home. Any moment. Oh, yeah. That's funny. Same thing. Trick of the way, talking through a front flip. So this was. This was only shot, like, a week ago or so. The boys punch it out quick because I had some. I was, busy there for a while, but the, Yeah, it's funny. Funny to do it at my house. It's always scary doing to do it off the big ramp, because the consequences are pretty big. But can you explain the consequences of people? People know because there's a massive difference. And if you want a front flipping a backflip on a fire truck, hope it's not going to be good. The, yeah, backflip. Everything kind of wants to work the way the bike setup is. You got the pad ready to the ramp. Everything wants to work but a front flip. Everything's kind of working against you. You're pushing shit up here with a pointy stick, and it's, Yeah, I don't know. It's it's. I've been doing it for a long time, and it doesn't seem to get much easier for me. It's still super scary and super hard. And you think I would had it worked out by now. But I still feel like it's an absolute and all out there trying to do it. one question for you. A big part of it is like, are you hitting the front brakes too, going off? as soon as I leave, I use it again. The back to the gyro, use gyro the front wheel to lock up, and that knocks the noise down and then back wheel and let it let the thing spin around. Yeah. So not not on the ramp. Accidentally done it on the ramp before, but it actually makes it work. Okay, so not on the ramp. Once you hit the air, you kind of go into it. Yeah. Yeah. Like a split second only. Okay. What do you think the difference is? You know, last year I think it was I don't know what it's called, but it's where he rolls around the bike. The bike just kind of stays there. What's the difference between the difficulty and rolling around the bike and flipping the bike? And, yeah, that's the judges score that. That's a cool trick. definitely a tricky one to do. yeah, I that one goal last year, I ended up second. If I was judging, it was from a sad point of view. I would probably like to see it from flip combo do better. There's a lot more moving parts in the trick, but again, it's judge sports and everyone's doing something cool, so I wouldn't want to be in the judges position. Yeah it's tough. I mean it is cool to watch, but I just remember call low to doing those tricks. 20 years ago. 15 years ago. Right. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's the way the sport's evolving now. It's like double flips and front flips and that's like. Like where it's going. Berrios really cool. But I just don't think they quite stack up to the difficulty that's in inside all of the other double flips and right combos. How's how's your how's the flying going. So one of the dumbest things I ever did, was not a lot of time, but, my dad, at our house out in the country is, I don't know, five hours away from Jacko. So Jacko ended up flying into a little airport, and, this tiny little plane and his big plane lands. So my dad and I'm like, oh, that's Jacko. That wasn't Jacko. Are these tiny little two seater lands? We're stuffing my bag into the back of this plane as my dad's like, are you sure this is a good idea? And then we take off and fly back to Jacko's house and, land on his property. we were filming at that time. I was doing the monster crib thing, so we did, like, a cribs thing at your house, and, Jacko showed me some stunt moves, so some of the moves he showed me where, you fly, and then the engine kills, and then you tumble around and fall to the ground, and not the ground is still here. You're still there. You don't fall to the ground. probably one of the best things I've ever done. And then I ended up throwing up everywhere. But I still up in the. In the plane. No, no, no, not in the plane. Now I got it. I know you were good. Yeah, I got out, I got out. but you you are of, a pretty expert flight these days. How's that going? Yeah, I just finished, I build a new plane, so it's took me like I spent about 5000 hours over the last four years. And just lots of late nights in the shed. And I've finally finished it about two months ago and just started doing the test flying. But when I when I build it, I build everything. I didn't spare any expense of time or effort on anything except the engine. I got the engine off, because when I start, I started like four years ago, and you kind of need the engine to build the plane around. So I bought one off Facebook Marketplace. That point was it not? well, it actually came out of it. I actually bought it from the police. It came from a drug running plane that was coming into Australia. The police seized the plane and they caught the plane up and then sell it at an auction. Someone bought it, didn't know what it was, and I thought, hell, yeah. Like I'm I at 540, get that thing and put it in. And then, I learned more about it by the time I finished it that I thought that engine might might not be that good. And I, I did I did need it to build the plane around. And then I did some test flying the other day, and it the engine was, really letting me down. It was super, super slow. So I just ordered a new one, and that's going in when I get home. So I'm pretty excited about that. And then I'm flying in Asia in, in August. let's see, I've got to finish getting through your test phase one, which is 25 hours when I get I've got like a month to do that at home. And then, and then. Yeah, Tunisia and the Gold Coast and pretty excited. It's it's super fun. And so I could do it. Dirt bike in the sky. You can. Yeah. What kind of, moves are you going to try in this air show? I don't know. I've got to get current in it again. I've played some shows. I did similar playing a year ago, a little over a year ago, and I did, play with two friends at home. We did formation aerobatics, where you do fly right next to each other and do flips and stuff, and that's super fun flying when you're up there by yourself. It's it's fun, but you can't can't you come back there and there's nothing to talk about with your friends when you're up there with other guys. It's very it comes down to, oh shit, you know, you hit me and it's just all that banter and excitement afterwards. Did you see the footage of Trevor Jacobs where he, filmed himself crashing into a hill? Yeah, yeah, that's probably not the brightest thing to do. He just got out a he did six. He did six months, up north. He just got out. I actually tried to visit him, and I went to the wrong prison. Yeah. Did you know anyone else in there? The, family reunion, Yeah. Trevor's a good guy. But in aviation, there's a lot of things that are written in blood over the years. And there's a lot of things that are, like, emergency services, things like that. Whereas what he did was cool and funny. But to go and do it with permits first probably would have been ideal. So you're not wasting anyone's time. And I just get scared. If you had an actual plane crash up there and you're landing in the States, you're thinking, you know, you don't want the boy who cried wolf. So what he did, Brittany, is, is. And for those of you that know, he, he he again is an extreme sport as Trevor Jacobs and very, you know, calculated, and into flying. He filmed himself. He put, GoPros all around the plane and then basically turned the key of the plane off, but said it died and then jumped out and parachuted out of the plane and then watched the plane, fly into the mountain and it crashed. And then basically but he filmed the whole thing and then put it on YouTube. And then basically it came out that it was set up the whole time, because why would you. Right. And then the aviation people came after him. The video went crazy viral. He was facing up to 20 years in jail, and, and he served six months. He did six months. He got a slap on the wrist. He was a kid that did something stupid, you know, like always carrying a bottle of beer brand. After that experience. so was it the video that got him? Yeah, but that's what his dad said. Bingo. He said likes on YouTube. Good. I said yeah, if you. On T-shirts. Yeah. No. Trevor is a really nice guy. It's just one of those things I think was just, didn't really think about the consequences when you could have. I should have, yeah. Axl, he got married this year. Yeah. Marrying you? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I'm surprised that happens. Yeah. Let's correct. okay. Danny, is your plus one now, too. That's nice. I was working on my plus one last I heard you got in there. How did you. How did you swindle? I just was like, you know, I may be in the area. dingo says he doesn't have a guest yet. And then I kind of saw a little panic in her face. you know, but, yeah, it is nice, but that bond is has all, like, Chad vibes. Asher saying. And, yeah, Danny does own a house in Italy, so. Yeah. And then he invited us over there. I know, so I started with, my, even trade my wedding gift. Is this. So do I need two beds or are we just bunking in? We're bunking in, baby. Yeah. You excited? Yeah. Very excited. Yeah. I remember when she first came onto the scene and I was like, wow. Like she was on the road with us. She was doing the NASCAR stuff. She's in the bus. And I was like, there's no way she's lost her way. Like traveling around with us. Oh, but she, she's she's one of the good ones. Yeah. And since day one, I never knew that we were going to get married. And seven years, six years later, now we get married and, can be much happier. You put her through the wringer, remember? we don't we won't fully go into it, but it X games Japan, you know I will. Yeah. I walked into the lobby. She was just sitting in the lobby. Yeah. X2X games Japan was played something we're on Covid so we're on the bubble. And then they just decided to give all the athletes 30 packs of Budweiser beers. I drank a lot of beers that weekend. She was of that stoked. That was a crazy experience getting in. Well, you there right now? They're in bubble. Yeah. You were there. Bubble. Yeah. It was just us. That was us. Yeah, that was a crazy trip. It was. It was 2022. So you're still. We're still in the middle of Covid. I feel like we get this like licensing. Do we get this deal done. And basically the government gets this deal, Ross, that we can go do X games there. And then they basically bubbled us in the stadium at the hotel. So we weren't allowed to go anywhere but the hotel and the stadium, and we're in this like weird bubble that, was and then even the stadium that they, the people in the arena weren't allowed to be. It was, oh yeah, the athlete lounge is full of beer. We're playing beer Olympics in the full athlete lounge. Right, everyone? All the kids are at Beer Olympics. Yeah. Playing one beer live. Johnny was like commentating the beer, flipping cup. It was pouring rain the first day. Cells. Nothing to do. So they ended up just getting the. The next day they took all the beer out of the athletes. Yeah. Jocelyn was passed out on a beanbag going, that was pretty sick. That was a cool trip. Did you go? Did they do it this year? I think they did it last year. I didn't go back to Japan. Yeah, I don't think they won. That was. Yeah, that was I was and done. Yeah. I really didn't get out because I went straight from there to Switzerland and I had the government escort walk me through, but I didn't have I had everything approved, but I didn't have my, I didn't have my Covid test. So not even the government. The government was saying I'm good. The flight attendant, the lady that checks you is like, you don't have a Covid test. You're not getting on this plane. I'm like, what am I, what am I? I'm stuck here. She's like, well, you need a Covid test to get on the plane. And I'm like, no, but I'm approved. I have all this. And I just went and it had to be within, I think 60 or 90 days. And I just went through my email and randomly I was like, like, I got one, but like I live, like literally where to get to keep me there. And, yeah, that was that was a funny trip. Yeah. Guys. Britney, anything in the chat? there's a lot stuff in the chat. Was just letting you guys simmer in. yeah. Well, one question is, Axel, how are you feeling? well. Well, let's do your plane. When they asked, Andy Holic, who asked all these great questions, would planes ever come to X-Games? No, I definitely not. I don't think it'd be cool to do it. Fly over and do an. Yeah. Wouldn't it? Okay, so, Axel, how are you feeling up against Iroha this year? I'm feeling decent. Yeah. As we were talking about earlier, he's on the e-bike, and that's something we've never had to go up against and you never really know how it's comp time, so we'll see tomorrow. Hopefully I can, get up there in the mix, but I'm just going to go out, have fun and stoked to be back at X games. And then it says, you, you boys both build your own dirt sets from time to time. What is your favorite piece of heavy equipment? I like working in my skid steer. It's just like you're in a little tractor shovel thing here. You can move dirt around and it's pretty easy and fun and still trying to learn my dozer. So I got skating. Right now I'm an excavator guy. I think there's only so much you can see and skid steer and get banged around or a load or at least an excavator. You just sit there and stay. Yeah, yeah. Check. Oh, one of the world's biggest trucks. The world's biggest truck. Dump truck. it is, it is, I believe, you know, is it a big dump truck or a normal sized dump truck? It's pretty large. It is bigger than normal, but dump trucks, Jack, I grew up on above average. It's, Yeah, it's a 50 ton, 50 ton truck. Jack. Oh. Grew up. He's a sixth generation farmer and grew up on 33,000 acres. Wow. Just picture that for a second. Have you been to every acre? Yes. Are you flown over every acre? Yeah, yeah, I've been everywhere. Have you? Yeah, I skipped to it. He's gone. What? Yeah. You. What happened? She got eaten. Why was she laughing this time? Do I show? You know, not. She disappeared off and Japan X games last year. I came home and because she went everywhere with me, came home and she wasn't there, and I literally was. Every night at tide, I called it for about 12 months, and she hasn't come back. So I'm just hoping that she went off to create some baby kangaroos. Check her raise the kangaroo since she was as big as the monster can. There she. Yeah, I bottle fed three times a night for six months, and then she was hit by a truck. Yeah, I know, I've. I've kissed her. Yeah. How how cuddly is a kangaroo? Extremely. Especially when they're small. When they're joeys. Yeah. That's baby kangaroo. They're super cuddly and they always want to get it. Like, if you sit down low, they think that it's like an instinct. Instinctively, they think that's a pouch. And she just. When she was little, she'd just jump inside your body and just talked about him in a hurry. And she's staying there all day. What about full grown cuddle? Yeah, she's nice too. Yeah. Good cuddle. how are you guys feeling about the layout this year? You, like, lay out a little better? Yeah. I wasn't here last year. So that first time being here and. Oh, hey, welcome back to Covid to being back at X games with the crowd. so the last time we did X games, last time you did, actually, it was at your house. Yeah, that was a trip. Hey, I mean, we never really stopped, did we? No, I mean, you got that property, right? I got that property right when Covid started. And then ever since, we just kind of hit out there, we started buying equipment and building tracks and jobs, and then it turned into what it is now. And when the world shut down, X games came to us and needed some facilities. Me and then Pat Gacy's backyard as well. So that's kind of cool. I mean, Pat got to have the X games in their backyards, and, that was a really cool. Yeah, man. I mean, the being able to do it at Pat's house, it's been one year, so. All right baby. Love you Pat. Nobody bracelet on it. I don't wear it every day, but it actually sits next to my bed. So I brought it back out for X games. And, we actually got a really cool surprise today. who's one of his favorite artist? it's going to be a really cool moment we have today over at Main Stage here at X games. Yeah, that was the, we did we did two X games at your house. That was fun, too. It was fun. It was a lot of work. That was mid-July, and we're on top of writing. We had to get the whole property set up too, so it was fun. But it was a lot of work and just being prepared for writing and having the event that was going on since been hurt. Have you, have you boost some stuff around? Are you are you working on like a I got her and then I didn't really go out there much. I just laid up in my couch for a while, and then as soon as I started getting more mobile, I went out there and started changing around some jumps, but just kind of in its awkward stage of reversing some. Johnson. We got some work to do, so probably finish it all up when it starts going off and the weather starts getting good and it's not so hot and dusty out there, is there? a new psycho in the works? Yeah, I want to build. I want to do Saigon for here soon. I'm just waiting. I got a big shed building, shop building. I want to put it up there and kind of build some stuff out. And then I got some things I want to do to the property before filming, and just trying to get it done with the county and stuff. This. See all of our dirt bike jumps and it's hard to get permits. Yeah all that. So we just been my dad's been battling with I'm trying to get permits so I bet, I bet I bet the neighbors love your dad. Yeah, I love them. How, how did you get started? Because you've had a nontraditional career, but it's almost been, like, the biggest, kind of most successful on, like, your social following is in the millions. You have giant celebrities like Drake that follow you and repost your stuff. and you kind of with a guy that, you know, was wheeling around the street, kind of, you know, like jumping into nose wheelies. And he kind of changed, I think the face of it definitely where, you know, it's you got the core freestyle and then you had this kind of new era that you kind of created on your own. With that came a came the quarter pipe. It was just like something as a kid you, like, kind of manifested or was just just something that came along the way that. Well, my older brother, zero dirt Bikes. So I immediately grew up just wanting to be like them. And McGrath. I grew up with Jeremy McGrath. He lived a mile down the road, so we became friends with him and he'd always take me riding when I was little. And I just love Jeremy McGrath. I wanted to be him growing up, so I grew up riding. I broke my femur when I was five, so my mom is pretty over dirt biking so I could only I grew up in my younger years, is riding in my backyard on my 110 and I don't know, I've just always ridden my dirt bike and had fun and never really had a set plan. Like I watch jacked up guys like him growing up, and I never really wanted to be a freestyle rider because what they do is so gnarly. And what you do, are you looking? But it's not like, I don't know, I just kept riding and I like big jumps and it just kind of social media came around and I don't know, I think I just got lucky. I just ride my dirt bike and film stuff and it ended up working out pretty good. You did. It's so weird to me that they didn't give you the world record when you actually, with the practice, you was set up to do the world record. How many years ago was that? The Guinness Book? For you? Four years ago. Set up. You did practice riding. How far was that jump? Yeah, I did my this joke was 396ft tall. And then and then he landed it. He landed it. But the Guinness people were there that day or something. Yeah. I don't think the official Guinness people were there. And that wasn't the world record jumping at the moment. I was so trying to go farther. I wanted to get into that 400ft mark, and the next day I came off the day and just pulled out like I would on a normal jump. But I was in that going 106. The front came up. I ended up crashing and break my ankle and sprain another one. And that was that super, super interesting watching that and like looking back on it now, I think that when you and after skydiving fun doing that kind of stuff when you freefall from a plane like terminal velocity of humans about 120 miles an hour. So if you're going 110 miles an hour, if you go the if you and, if you were in 150 miles an hour, I feel that you'd get the same distance because the wind drags so high once you get up there. So it'd be interesting when you get back at it. I've got some. I got some ideas for you. Yeah. Got some suits. That was. Yeah, that was something I didn't know that you got to grease up the bike, the wind and all that. Yeah, yeah. It's insane. Think you're doing 100 miles an hour in Dubai on a on a road bike and stand up on the right knee pads. You. Oh, yeah. It's insane. The keys going slower or waiting for, like, a tailwind. Right. But that help, that would help. But then it's too inconsistent because you'd have to have the exact same tailwind every time from the same direction. And that meant no, mother nature doesn't care about dirt bikes as much as we do. You'd be surprised if you did it. Like in actually, maybe just had like a nice big window. Yeah. What about fans? Giant fans? Yeah. Yeah, you could like that. It'd help. But there's ways around it to reduce the drag on the bike to make it go better. That would be a better way to do it. And and then you got brought into this world through Metal Militia. How did you how did you link how did that come about? he came on an Australian tour back when I was in my very younger years. I started on Krusty tour when I was, 13, 14, and, Dierks was there, and then I wanted to come to the US not long afterwards, and he took me in and help, help me with everything. Built my career for me. So he's very, very grateful for that. I've been very good friends ever since. How did you did you do a Bilko? Didn't Bilko, like, sneak into one of the shows you snuck backstage, and that's how we made everything they made. They figured out what color the wristbands were. They made fake wristbands? No, I think that I, this was, like, early internet days, so I was just got on to. I knew Moto at the time as well and kind of helped me get into writing. And then so I had the, the people from across these email, and then every day before and after school, I'd just send them videos of what I was doing, and eventually they got sick of me and let me write a show. That's how it goes. Yeah. And then it's become almost like a father figure to you. Yeah. He's been, Yeah, just a close friend over the years and helped me out so much. He's got so much wisdom. He's, He's a smart. He's very intelligent person. You can see how he's he's bringing, hiding up and for hiding out. So far, he's knows the choices to make. He knows when to hold and when to follow him. Walk. Why and when to run. And, I think it's good to get all that knowledge. Yeah. I mean, Danny met Brian in his, What era would that be? The one that you can't remember? Yeah. Thousand and three, 2004, maybe. Yeah, we did collab grenade metal, malicious stuff. And I remember one day, I can't really tell that story. but it's crazy that he was able to go from being that bad boy, literally, like he was. He was he was. Yeah, he was he was a rock star. Those guys. It was crazy. Back then, that era of like Metzger, Deegan, Carrie Hart doing that first backflip like that was out kind of first hanging out with those guys. And at that time they were like legit rock stars. and it's it's cool to see Brian come so far. And with these kids, Hayley's obviously done really well. Made her way to NASCAR Xfinity Series and then and then hated. I mean, hate is one year away from probably winning a title. Maybe. Right. What do you think, Axel? I mean, he's looking pretty good this year and outdoors right now, so hopefully he can keep the bar on. And, I think he's got a good shot at it. He's got that dog. Him. He's he's grabbing shit on it and making it look good too. So yeah, I love the attitude he brings. yeah. Let's, Jet Lawrence. I'm like, not the biggest fan. He's Australia, but that doesn't mean I have to, like, say I love him. He's obviously the best guy on the block right now. But he did an interview, on a podcast, and, the Gypsy podcast. And I just didn't like the way he portrayed himself. Like it was talking about not having the right fans and the sport not being big enough, and that they should pay Drake to come in. If Drake would come and show up, the sport would be big. And I'm like, dude, 30,000 people show up every week to watch you guys racing. You're the biggest part of action sports. And I just felt that I get it. He's young, but like I just like, I don't know, I guess I took that a little wrong and I'm sure he'll he'll grow out of it and grow into it as a, as a young champion. And it's no doubt, man like the kids, the best car on the bike and probably going to be the best bar on the bike for a long time, like I don't, I don't see anyone beating him, but I just, I don't know, I, I guess you guys don't need to comment on that, but, yeah, I think when you're young you just say like I've done. So I look back at so many interviews that I did when I was younger, and there's so much cringe in there. And I still do high school every time I watch myself that I'm talking about. But, the I think for him, like when, when you're younger, you just his stuff flows out that he doesn't really mean. And hopefully he's good, he's super talented on a dirt bike. And I think that that's kind of what's important for him right now. He's going to be a heavy hit it for a while. Yeah, the sport I mean he's elevated the sport. And then with Hayden as well, there's this thing that's like I think I think drop your phone mate. Yeah I think there's times when it goes, you know, it goes like this. It's like every industry in sport you have superstars. Every dog has its day. Yeah. And then they die off and they go to bring the young kids up. So yeah, that'll make it into the next 2 to 5 years. When Hayden gets up in the mix, I think he's going to be up with it to battle out there. And I'm really excited to watch that that go down. It's going to be like bring supercross back to the old days when it was like Carmichael shooting raid after frying. Oh, I don't like most error of when there was those guys that were not head and shoulders above everyone else, but they were like the contenders each weekend. And Stewart was the most exciting guy to ride because he would just pin it. He's either going to win or he's going to die. Yeah, yeah. Any questions? Brett? yeah. Let's see here. Well, first I want to ask, so what do you have any. And I love asking this to the athletes before you guys go out and perform. What are your like pre rituals. Something that you're doing to prepare for tonight or is there anything specific that you do every time what you got. Not really. I just try to like the day of a competition, eat and drink a lot of water and just stretch. I'm getting older now. My body. Yeah, catching up to me in modo years right now. So yeah, it's very important to keep stretching and just keep the body feeling as good as I can. And when you were healing from your injury, did you like what was your, like, what are the ways that, like, your recoveries? Did you do hyperbaric chamber? Like, what were you done? I was riding a lot of mountain bikes, just kind of trying to paddle and get my strength back in my leg. But for recovery, I got a infrared sauna at my house and ice baths, and then I just foam roll a lot and go to every once in a while, and he'll dig his elbow into my leg. And I'll regret going there afterwards because it hurts a lot. But still, I'm just trying to. This thing is a sore, so I've just got to keep it loose and stretching and yeah. What do you got for your, your show try and before it, before the event. I find it hard to, I make sure I try and eat early in the day, because as the day goes on, it gets closer. I get kind of nervous, and I'm not not hungry. And then if you don't have the there are fuel in your body. It makes it hard to concentrate. So I make sure I try and get a good feed in plenty of weight before the event. And then, yeah, that's about it. That's it. Well, all right, so we have a question. Street motocross. Is that a possibility? I'm hitting street jumps, ditches, steps, things like that. I mean, it's cool for videos, but for a contest, I don't really. If anything, it wouldn't be that cool to jump down ten stairs in a little park. But that's a fair, guys. That's true. and then the question about a dirt bike that would, bar spins and tail whips, would you guys ride that magic and tell it backflip on a dirt bike? It's been done before. They've had like a bad spin bike back in the day. I think Travis had one for some time, but it's just not, not a dirt bike. Yeah, I feel that it's dirt bike. Should be a dirt bike, right? It's not an electric bike. No, I'm not, I'm not a that that's just a funny error right now because we're going into it and no one knows how it's going to pan out yet. And I think that we are going to have to have classes or something done because there is going to be a lot we'll say this year, you know, if someone comes in with pavement, someone has to come in a head and shoulders above everyone else. And if caught is the same, you know, if I can go a lot higher than everyone else because the bike's got a lot more power and the way it works well, there will have to be be something done. Otherwise everyone's going to be on a on the exact same bike. And then it's hard for, not fair brand sponsors. You know, people have to have to have relationships with the manufacturers throughout the year to, to, do other events and, and it's going to upset a lot of people. So I think that it's yeah, it's it's a tricky one. But also, do you think it's like it's it's almost subjective to the rider, like the capabilities on a dirt bike versus an electric bike. So you can't necessarily like I would think that, you know, maybe your two capabilities are different in general. So having someone who's naturally on a dirt bike also try that. And then you would be the judge of that. Yeah, I think so. I think like what Pat did, like the electric bike obviously fits his style and he's good on it. And he rode it incredibly well and put anyone else, everyone else on the road, an electric bike he would have won best with still. So yeah. And that's Yeah, I think it just comes back to is there going to be classes or hazards? Yeah. It has. How do you skin the cat. Yeah. How do you skin a cat I mean we skin to God always. We skin the goat Jamaica. No, no we just we ate a goat. We. Oh yeah. Right. We skinned it. Yeah. We killed, we ate. It's all right. Okay, I ate it's testicle. Yeah. They were actually really good. They tasted like it was a very, like, earthy moment. It's like, just did you cook them or just. Yeah. Yeah we did. Yeah. Well, it was the locals that, like, really helped do all the cleaning of it. Yeah. And then the trade was like, I need to go get you. You getting a napkin and cleaning then goes cheese immediately they cut him off, started a fire and then cooked him right there while they were still cleaning it. That's heavy. Yeah, well, that's if you guys want to talk about it after the show. Let me not be tough. What are you up to tonight? You're leaving us? I'm going. I'm hosting a UFC viewing party at, in Vegas. How's it? How's it feel being the retired ten time UFC ring goal of the year? Ten times out of ten, two, five, six. I don't know. I've lost count. I don't know. Wow. That's a title I would love to get, you know, no, it feels good. I thought it, I think in the first couple of months, like when it, when these big events like UFC 303, when I'm not there, I get like, a little like, you know, like fear of missing out type thing. But then when I go and I host a party and I can go home and I can eat and I can drink and I can, like, make more money than I was making working the show. It's like, okay, this is kind of a new vibe, but I'm so busy doing everything else now, and art is becoming, you know, a forefront, which is what I wanted to do. And I'm getting really big projects that I can commit time and energy into doing them. And, you know, it's good, but you're not going to the fight. Well, have you been back to the fights? I haven't been back. I keep I get these viewing parties so I never wears it out. You can drop it a peppermint hippo. Can I go? Yes. Yes you can, daddy. Maybe on your own tomorrow. What do you mean? I mean, I already bought a ticket. I'll come back. I'll be back. I know I was going to try to, so I fly out right after this. And I was going to try to, like, do the appearance and then fly back tomorrow for this. But it's a lot, so I'll be gone tomorrow. It's a bummer too. It's going to be the Conor McGregor fight I think was I think that it was over. gosh, I don't think so. You know, I actually designed the shirt, that was supposed to drop this weekend and when when the fight canceled, I obviously I, you know, I email UFC, I'm like, hey, are my shirts still dropping? They're like, no, but we will want them. So they are going I mean, their plan is to do that. So that's how. All right. We got ten minutes left. Guys. What are you working on? Axel, what's coming up? What's in the near future for you in the near future for me is just getting back to being Axel and ride my dirt bike and having fun. I took six months off, and these are kind of the beginning months. I'm just looking forward to ride my dirt bike. I'm going to do some Monster Energy shows. I'm going to Silverstone, Moto GP. The GP races are fun, Yeah. Well, you just over at one. Were you in charge in Barcelona? That was like my first show back. It's got that look in the mirror. Yeah. Same. Yeah. It's so fun. There's so many people there. And to see how the Moto GP guys and get to go on the grid and it's bikes, it's such a part of monster culture like Moto GP is, we're embedded in that way more than F1. Yeah, yeah that's cool. And your dad was there too right? Yeah. My dad I can't shake that. It is every road I saw when you were driving up there, I think there was a video posted. Dad's driving, you're in the front seat. And then Gabby and the dog, it just tucked into the back of the van. Yeah, he's wide open and it's X-Games time. He's like a whole new dude. I just let him go and try to stay away. Jack? Oh, what do you got? What do you got planned? What's going on? You don't know if any relatives? Yeah, I saw yeah. So you base jump off the, one of the buildings on the Gold Coast recently? Yeah, that was pretty fun. I got to, like, call up to do that, and, Yeah, it was sick. It was pretty weird going in. I've done some base jumping down in Panama of buildings before. That was legal. And it's, Panama is pretty low. It's pretty lawless place. And then I was thinking, when we got to Gold Coast, I was thinking, there's no way we're going to. I still didn't think it was going to happen. The morning off, I was like, styling regulations are so tight. It's very regulated country. And and got to the hotel and they're like, yep, it's, level 71. Just hit the button and go up, get up there and there's just a ladder to climb on top of the building. And we went, yeah, it was so much fun. So what's the biggest and smallest building you base jump. that's the biggest building, that thing, I think it was like 700 or 800ft or something. It was high. And then the smallest one, gentleman conquest Intel. Because a lot of them aren't exactly legal. Okay. All right. Does your fiancee just freak out when you do this? She's pretty, she's pretty green to the whole thing. Yeah, she pack your chute. You know, she's just, like, double checking. No, no, she thinks I'm, She thinks I'm an idiot. Just many nights when we're on holidays, I'll always sneak a base rig into the bag and we'll get there. And she's like, what's that doing there? And then. Oh, yeah, the bomb goes off in the middle of the night and then disappear for a few hours, like a superhero, or a secret agent. Either one. Yeah, yeah, that's what I tell myself. Where some of you want to base jump. Could you make sure both is rock? It's not, I think it's not. No. Cliff there. So he probably got his whole backside. I don't know. I've done it like a building in Australia legally is a pretty big take off. I think you did it. Yeah. There you go. Yeah. With the legal. Yeah, I've done quite a few, but yeah, I've done a legal one. And, yeah, I didn't, I was just everything's fun base jumping. There's so many good things. They're building a lot of power towers to the property at the moment, and they're, 80m, 240ft tall. So they're going up right now. So I'm excited to get home and jump off of them, and that's enough to get the chute open. Yeah, it's just enough. Yeah, enough. you can do it. You do what's called a static climb, where you tie the little parachute that brings the big parachute at. You can do that down to 100ft up, down about 140ft at that. And that's pretty low. Like everything just opens and then you're landing. that's going to be pretty frickin scary. Yeah. Oh, that's all right. It's, Yeah. It's what? Yeah. What? You know, like, as long as you, you know, you've done you do you diligence packing the thing that you got everything in there. Good. And you didn't forget anything. Yeah. Don't have any like you can if you mess up, it's not good. So you got to just it's like a one chance thing. You're not still wingsuit guy. You know, I never wingsuit it. Yeah. That's. That seems stupid. I don't have the, I'm not very good skydiver. And you've got to be very, like a very current good skydiver to do that. And I just haven't got the time to to go and do that. And you've got to. There's so many fun things in the world. You've got to pick where you put your, where you put your energy, I guess. So how do you how does it work? So when you when you're going and, you know, you when you have a plan to do your base jumping and then you do it, are you when you land, are you good on that high for a little bit? Are you already planning on where. What else? Reckless and crazy you can do. Like how does that in your brain are you ever settled with like, oh, okay, I did that. That was the highest, you know, building. Let's go higher. Like, yeah, the low is scarier. The higher it is, the more because then you have more time to put more time. If something goes wrong, you can try and like if your parachute opened up backwards or something, you got time to try and yeah, get away from the the, the object. But yeah, I don't know. It's never content. It's fun. It's just fun. Yeah. One of those is having a good time. It's fun too. It's not fun. Wow. Have you ever been skydiving? Yeah. With Trevor. Jake, it's. It's. I was stuck to him. What? Yeah. Good thing he'd have GoPros everywhere. That would have been up there. You know, RFID stickers there. Any flag you are? Yeah. I was a fucking idiot. No, I got it. One is good, I went twice, I've done it once. And I'm also kind of scared of, like, railings and random heights. And I remember booking this skydiving trip and then I, like, went out on this, like, seven storey railing and looked down at the ground and almost fainted. Yeah. And then I did really well. But the plane ride up is where it gets scary. It's like, oh, I feel like that's what, like on a wall would feel like like everyone sitting in the plane, like, you know, planes getting higher, higher, higher door opens, people doors down. But that's the best part. Like bowling for me. I don't like the part where you're you're coming down. Oh, see, I like that part. I think it's like, so crazy and chaotic. And then as soon as the it goes up, you're just like, all right. It's like quiet. And I think that that's what I felt like. The best part was super fun. I find to like people think, oh, you went with Trevor Jacobs. That's crazy. And then when people want to, if I take someone for a fly, they like, I'm not flying with you. And then I think, like, you get an acquaintance. Fine. You don't even know the guy that picking up the front, that shit hits the fan. You want someone who knows how to deal with 100% I. That's why I feel comfortable with you guys. You guys are all so calculated. What you do, you go on doing the gnarliest stuff. Yeah. And I know that you guys know what you're doing, and that makes me feel like I'm all right. Like, yes, shit does go wrong. But I do feel safe with you. Yeah, yeah. I don't try this at home. They're trained professionals. Let him get his new plan. Murderface. He's like, oh, that. That motor was working really slow. You're like, oh my God. Well, we've also seen that plane in parts, right? I remember we did an interview and you were like, oh, is that the shoving? Like shoving this like nose clean part? He's trying to get in an Uber. He's like, it's not going to work. I'm going to call another Uber. Yeah I couldn't I had to get to him. Take part. See it's good it worked out there guys. Anything you're excited to see this year apart from like what you're competing in the BMX dirt is going to like stick so big and seeing the best jump and that first jump they are sending it. Yeah. So that contest is wild last year and you don't know who's going to win. It's not like there's a clear frontrunner. Yeah. Our wheel is always looking pretty good for the best track that Grady Baker. That'll be all the kids are done. Gnarly tracks. yeah BMX is going to be sick but I'm a big guy this year. I've been looking forward to that. And yeah, just excited to see how I've run. Guys, I want to see I'm going to see my guy do good, but he's coming out of injuries. however you guys, you guys. Yeah, yeah, I think we're all rooting for that guy sitting right here. You can't say that if you're struggling. Can't we? Can't you? If it goes, it goes on here. I mean, you're not rooting. Oh, yeah. Well, that made something else too. Yeah. Wow, wow. Oh, I think that I know it's pretty. Enjoy this peppermint spirit. Where's your peppermint hippo? Bad hippo. If you're in Las Vegas, enjoy the show. Drop in, enjoy this. Thank you. I'm so sad that I'm missing it. I'm pissed at you guys. This is signing off from X-Games day two. We are on YouTube all day, Twitch, all day live, ESPN, ABC. Check your local listings and guides and we will see you tomorrow. Who you. How?