Prague is the most eXtreme city in Eastern Europe. According to local FMXer Martin Koren, the Mayor himself is a HUGE fan of FMX, BMX and Skateboarding. Not to mention Vin Diesel gave his eXtreme stamp of approval in H-Wood Blockbuster XXX.
I'm somewhere between amped up beyond reality and half zombified and hallucinating. I just arrived in the beautiful city of Prague, Czech Republic — which of course is where most of the first XXX movie starring Vin Diesel was filmed — and as it turns out, I'm the first dude here. Well, besides Chuck Carothers, who's been here perfecting his insane Harley Davidson backflips into Petr Pilat's foam pit. Speaking of, I just saw the most recent video of the Harley flip and he's got them dialed!
Anyhow, upon boarding the airplane in NYC I ran into some scraggly looking dude who I recognized, but I couldn't quite identify him. At first I honestly thought I was having a Kevin Federline sighting, but as it turns out it was none other than Utah FMX ripper Sean Nielson. I swear the dude looks EXACTLY like K Fed. Sean and I began talking on the flight and he informed me that this is his third year riding the Gladiator Games. According to Sean, this is by far one of Europe's biggest events and being that this is the tenth anniversary, it's rumored to be especially huge.
After getting dialed at the hotel, which is in the town center, event promoters Marek Rejman and Martin Koren (also one of Czech's best FMX riders) presented us with a packet with everything we need to know regarding the event and the city itself. I did a quick flip through it and there it was — the rider roster. I've never seen so many riders at one single event. Check this out...
Ryan Leyba
The Gladiator Games isn't just "another demo" and it's been rocking Prague for a decade, so it must be good! Here's the rider's handbook, complete with a miniture translation guide including the most used phrase of the weekend — prominte (I'm sorry!)
Jeremy "Twitch" Stenberg, Robbie Maddison, Mike Mason, Dustin Miller, Sean Nielson, Eigo Sato (Japan), Dany Torres (Spain), Massimo Bianconcini, Vanni Oddera (Italy), Marcelo Simoes (Brazil), Libor Podmol, Petr Pilat (Czech), Regan Sieg, Jeff Fehr (Canada), Jimmy Verburgh (Belgium), Nick Franklin (New Zealand) and the list goes on ... seriously there are more.
To top it off, there will be "Special Appearances" by Travis Pastrana, Chuck Carothers, Andy Bell, Jim DeChamp, Jolene Van Vugt, Jake Windham, Alvaro Dal Farra and more. This year's Gladiator Games is NOT messing around.
So I just wanted to check in and give you guys a taste of what you can expect come Saturday night. ESPN FMX will be along for the entire ride and bringing you the latest news, results, photos, vids and gossip from ground level, so be sure to check back throughout the week.
Over and out from the city that Vin Diesel reeked havoc on. For some reason I can't seem to get Ramstein out of my head as I peruse these Prague streets. BANG BANG!
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Contributors
Ryan Leyba
Leyba is a bitter, retired FMX rider who likes to sit in his cubicle and call the professionals of the sport wussies for not pulling 360s and double backflips. He claims he quit riding FMX before flips were even invented ... yeah, right.
Cliff Talley
Making FMX videos exciting is easy. Making them look good is not. Cliff Talley does both of these well and still manages to find enough time to piss off his neighbors with his Travis Barker-esque drum skills.
Chris Tedesco
You've seen his photos on the covers of Transworld, Racer X and more. You've also seen his tequila shooting skills at your local dive bar. Ladies, Chris is single and looking to mingle.
Grant "Goba" O'Brien
FMX in Australia wouldn't exist if it weren't for Goba. Well, maybe it would, but it wouldn't be nearly as cool. I don't know why, but we can't quit calling him gobalobadingdong — it just rolls off the tongue.
Tes Sewell
Tes is the dude who's always involved in everything that's going on in FMX. How he does it, we don't know, but that's the reason we hired him to share his plethora of FMX wisdom in the form of a monthly column.
