FISE (Freestyle International Sports Extreme) is Europe’s biggest freestyle sports event, riders from all over the world come to compete for a place on the podium which will earn them FMB points and a slice of the prize money.
Several of the top UK riders will cross the English Channel to Montpellier in the South of France to stake their claim for the top spot at the event. I traveled down with Blake and Ray Samson, Adam Williams and Danny Pace with the intention of riding and shooting at some spots on the way down.
We started off in Swansea with a 1200 mile journey facing us; the first stop was at Brighton where we picked up the van from DMR Bikes who were kind enough to lend it to us for the trip. We settled down for the night at 1 AM in the ‘Hotel Transit’ knowing we’d have to be awake at 5 AM to travel 100 miles to the ferry.
The sun was a welcome sight upon arrival to Calais in France after leaving an overcast UK so with optimistic thoughts about the trails ahead we set off in the DMR van. We headed towards Lyon as Ray and Blake promised ‘hillside’ trails however after getting lost in Lyon centre and a couple of phone calls later we discovered that they had been in fact been taken down.
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| The van ready for sleeping |
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| and all packed for travel |
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| There were several sights while driving down including 'The Longdrop Toilet' which was France's idea of a shower mixed with a toilet |
This being Adam’s 21st birthday we decided to go to the supermarket and buy some beers. We celebrated his birthday in the van as we traveled to trails near to Marseille where we slept. We woke up early to check out the trails and we were not disappointed, 2 big lines and a technical line with a big transfer meant there was plenty to ride. The trail builders JB and Gilbert rode with us and impressed us with style and tricks including a bike flip, 360 flip and bar spin and x-up combos.
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| We woke up early to check out the trails and we were not disappointed |
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| bike flip |
We slept in the Van/in a tent/on the floor in the night to get some much needed rest for the trip down to Montpellier in the morning. After stopping at McDonalds for breakfast and more importantly Wi-Fi we headed down to Montpellier for FISE where we were promised proper beds, proper food and a big slopestyle course.
Part 2 coming soon.
