It was a battle with the weather for the Animal Relentless Bike Tour riders Blake Samson and Martyn Ashton this weekend as part of Mercedes massive stand at the Peterborough Truckfest. "Vito Sport invited us along and we used the event as a warm up before the Tour gets fully up to speed in a few weeks time. The crowds were huge and got really involved with the show - I think they liked us! The Mercedes stand was awesome - they had positioned us centrally with all their massive trucks surrounding the show, it looked pretty cool. On each day they had TV celebrities hang out and sign autographs. Kim Marsh and Ricky Whittel both had pictures taken with the Bike Tour crew!
It was really great to back on the road and riding for happy spectators. I really can't wait for the actual Tour to kick-off at Liverpool Hubfest on the 29th May. There is loads of new stuff this year, including some amazing prizes, new sponsors and some in between show activity that's going to be great fun." 

When I go to Europe I never know what to expect.  Sometimes you'll show up to a comp and the jumps will look like a million bucks and ride like the worst jumps you've ever seen.  Sometimes they will look horrible and be so much fun.  Vienna was a combination of both.  When I showed up the first thing that I saw was this giant Lincoln Log stack and it turned out to be a roll in.  It was built completely out of giant logs that were straight from the lumber mill.  Then I saw the jumps.  They were the most perfectly shaped landings I have ever seen in my life, squared to every corner and all the way to the ground.  The jumps made you forget you were in a parking lot.  The best part about these jumps though was that they rode amazing too.  They were pretty straightforward, very smooth and not very technical but that made for an amazing show.  The fact that everyone was so comfortable on the jumps allowed us to go wild.

In the end the only concern ended up to be the weather.  Crazy storm clouds would blow in at an instant and out as fast as they came.  They were able to cover the jumps completely and so when the weather changed back it was always go time.  That is always the most stressful way to do a comp because you sit in a tent for 2 hours, cold and wet, then suddenly its sunny and its time to strut your stuff in your finals run.  But that’s the way the cookie crumbles, sometimes so you've gotta deal with what you've got.  The wind was still a factor but luckily I got a solid run in for a fourth place.

Some crazy runs went down, some bad crashes, and some lucky saves.  I gotta note Andi Wittmen, Sam Pilgrim, and Martin Soderstrum, for throwing it down hard in the best trick.  That was sick to watch.  The crowd was amazing and the city was just as crazy.

I should have done more research on the buildings because when I got my mom a magnet at the airport, every single magnet had the building we were in front of on it!  I’m under the influence its a government building not unlike the white house.  Only in Europe would they allow a mountain bike comp to go on at a place of that nature.  Awesome!!

Goldman