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    • Adrian Guggemos

    "I’d ride around and around the garden on it for hours on end, just burning laps and creating a dirt track in the grass."

    It all started for me on a little bicycle, when I was about four years old. I’d ride around and around the garden on it for hours on end, just burning laps and creating a dirt track in the grass. By the time I was six my lap included some steps to ride down, and I’d built jumps to get some air too, which led to me snapping the frame on my bike! That poor thing took a real beating.

    When I was seven years old in 2001, I had a new bike and my Dad and I cycled by our local Moto Trial Club (MSC Schorndorf) and stopped to check it out. I learned to ride a trial bike with an engine later that day as they were holding an open day. I knew right there and then that trial was for me!

    Trial is the base for every two wheeled sport. It´s so complex and versatile. To this day it doesn’t matter which bike I’m riding, I always feel in control and know how to react, thanks to my trial background.

    A competitive start

    In 2002 I rode my first trial competition and finished third. I even got third place in the championship that year, which was a great start. The following year I won the championship. From there on I rode in trial competitions and moved up to the 125cc division on a GASGAS TXT 125 Pro, in 2006. My first GASGAS!

    I had a new approach to trial, not just the typical ‘old school’ classic trial. I was always different and approached trial in a different way to everyone else. Back in the day, I had many naysayers, and in the beginning no one really saw my vision. But this didn’t put me off and I never stopped because that was my way. It was what I loved to do. It was my passion to do it differently. In the end, I knew it was the right thing to do.

    Away from competing in trial, I’d spend hours on my MTB. The crossover of skills from trial to MTB, and back again, really helped with my progression.

    The turning point

    I continued to compete in trial until I was 16 but there was always more to it for me than just the sections. I was always looking for jumps and liked to entertain people with wheelies and other stunts. I think most people thought that a trial bike wasn’t capable of jumping a freestyle ramp set-up, or that you could send big gaps and throw big whips on it. But it’s possible! I’d practice a lot of new stunts on my MTB first. They’re so much lighter and a lot safer to learn on. I’d master tricks on my MTB, then practice and master them on my trial bike, especially the flat land tricks.

    We started to film what I was doing, which began with jumping a big motocross tabletop. That was back in 2007. From there we started to film pretty much every time I rode and made short edits. I wasn’t really competing any more, it was all about making videos. I grew a big community, which I think helped trial in general.

    It was really fun putting the video edits together and in 2010 I was invited to the Red Bull Woodstrokes event organized by Julien Dupont. This was the first real freestyle trial event in the world, and it had a super sick course with huge wallrides and big ramp jumps. It was kind of like a freestyle motocross course with added technical trial features.

    "Trial is the base for every two wheeled sport. It´s so complex and versatile. To this day it doesn’t matter which bike I’m riding, I always feel in control and know how to react, thanks to my trial background."

    Taking the show on the road

    I was in my element at the Woodstrokes event, I knew that this was what I wanted to do with my life! I decided to stop riding traditional trial competitions completely and started to ride in freestyle trial shows across Europe. After a while I started to build my own ramps and created my own show so that I could perform on my own, travel where I liked, and began running it as a business for myself.

    My shows are three different sports mixed together to make one exciting show. I have the ‘classic’ trial obstacles with technical steps and sections. Then I ride a lot of flatland tricks from the stunt riding scene and finally the ramps to do tricks and backflips like the freestyle guys. I’ve been taking my show all over Europe and I’ve been a regular performer at huge events such as MotoGP, F1, DTM and soccer tournaments. My presence at these events has really helped to grow my social media channels.

    "The TXT GP is simply the best bike for me, there is nothing close to it."

    Going mainstream

     

    In 2016 I was invited to ride as a stunt double for Marvel in their European live action stunt show tour for six months, which was awesome. Shortly after that, I had my first viral video, which was a massive breakthrough for me. It was the first Moto Trust Game video that we filmed. It´s funny because we were actually filming another video and we had some free time, so I had the idea I could just do some tricks and show off my skills while integrating my brave girlfriend Anni.

    We filmed the clip within 10 minutes, and I put it together and uploaded it without thinking it would be any different to the other content I had made, but it went super viral! Like everybody saw it. Countless big channels reposted the video, I couldn`t even keep track on where it went but it got more than 100 million views in total, and those were the ones that I was tagged in!

    I was invited with my girlfriend onto “Germany’s Got Talent” in 2017 which also gave us a really good boost in followers. The video reached more than 60 million people on my Facebook post alone. It was crazy. At the end of 2017 I became a Red Bull athlete which was awesome. Since then, it’s just been a wild ride!

    And now…

    Being a GASGAS brand ambassador is huge for me and the line-up of bikes available to me is incredible. Motocross, enduro, eMTB and of course, trial bikes, perfect for a big kid like me! Plus, the trial bikes have always been on point! No other bike can give me the comfort and the confidence that I need to do my tricks. The TXT GP is simply the best bike for me, there is nothing close to it. It is the perfect bike for everything and it’s what I choose to ride my trial stunt shows on.

    Fortunately, I have a few different bikes to ride now, and this variety brings me so much joy. I’m splitting my time with all of the bikes and at the moment I’m spending most of my time on my EC 300 and the MC 450F, probably because they are new to me and I’m just having so much fun with them.

    It’s also been really cool to go back to my roots by riding the Trail Cross 7.0 and Enduro Cross 11.0. They’re both super fun to ride but also a great tool for keeping in shape and keeping my skills sharp as well. But there are also times where I spend almost all day on my TXT GP bike. To this day I still enjoy riding regular trial areas and connecting some nice technical back wheel lines just to keep the fun factor up.

    It’s so cool to now be a part of the GASGAS brand. My first trial bike was a GASGAS TXT 125 Pro, back in 2006. 15 years later, I’m still riding GASGAS bikes!

    Looking to the future, a trip to the USA is definitely in my plans! I have some nice video projects in the pipeline for over there, but until that happens my plan is to ride as much as possible and keep creating content here in Europe. Being able to ride with friends and having a good time is what I live for. It doesn’t matter if it’s trial, motocross or enduro or scoping out new lines or sending big gaps at the bike park on my eMTB. Just getting outside, challenging each other, getting on the gas and pushing to new levels, that´s the most fun for me.

    "Just getting outside, challenging each other, getting on the gas and pushing to new levels, that´s the most fun for me."

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