At the end of the 90s, I worked in a bike shop in Hawaii. When I wasn't replacing brake pads, adjusting derailleurs or taking time off to go surfing, I passed the time with trial tricks in the car park outside the shop or with speed manuals. I only discovered this fun for myself in Hawaii, because the roads are incredibly steep. The volcano Mauna Loa is to blame.
It is over 4000 metres high and forms the island into a giant-sized traffic cone. When I was freeriding high up in the mountain forests, I had to roll back down the volcano afterwards. Quite a drag, unless you're hurtling back to the beach at full throttle on the rear wheel. This speed variant of wheelie riding fascinated me. It was like surfing - surfing on tarmac!
You yank on the handlebars, lean backwards, fold your knees in and out to keep your balance and hurtle down the motorway at 50 to 60 kilometres an hour. Over time, I got so good that I could even manage tight bends, overtake cars and surf down the whole motorway like a monster wave of tarmac. Apparently word had got around, because one day a group of men stumbled into the bike shop and enquired about the "crazy dude" who does the fastest wheelies. My work colleague at the counter immediately grinned and pointed a finger at me. The guys seemed arrogant and said in a commanding tone: "Show us the goods!" - Show us the best! They kept repeating this sentence, they seemed to be under time pressure and were talking about their film project: New World Disorder.
It didn't mean anything to me, no wonder, after all they were only just filming the first part of the video series that would later become so famous. So I played circus horse, did tricks, hopped on lava rocks, balanced on the front wheel - but they weren't interested in any of that. They wanted to see my speed wheelies. When I whizzed past them at almost 100 km/h on my bright red Cannondale Super V, they were thrilled, disappeared and turned up again weeks later, this time with a camera crew. They even brought their own bike for me to use: a Kona Stinky Dee-Lux, as the Canadian bike label was the film sponsor.
When New World Disorder premiered in autumn 2001, the whole bike scene was in a tizzy. The film hit like a bomb. New World Disorder turned the bikers in the video into stars and made me the wheelie king. When I think back today, I'm glad that the guys from Freeride Entertainment stumbled into the bike shop. Because that was the start of my career as a freeride pro. Of course, it wasn't all a bed of roses. I had to learn what makes the industry tick and quickly realised that things are tough in professional sport. There were too many people with ego problems and hardly any inhibitions about putting their elbows out. It was often too much for me. Nevertheless:
I'm happy to have experienced it all! - Bobby Root
