UNIT BMX rider Kyle Baldock stamped his name in X Games folklore history over the weekend in Foz Do Iguaçu, Brazil, by becoming one of the few athletes ever to win two gold medals at the prestigious world-series action sports event. On his return to Aussie shores we sat down with the new X Game Dirt and Park champion to talk about his wins, the struggles he faced beforehand, and what he learned from riding against the best BMX riders on the planet.
Kyle, congratulations on the double gold haul at X Games Foz, what’s the secret behind the wins?
Ha, thanks, good question. I kind of relate it to my early days in BMX when you’d rock up to a comp with the shittiest bike and gear, you don’t really care, and you end up doing well because you’re just focused on your riding and not making excuses because everything’s not perfect. I think at X I just found that happy place, like when you start to expect everything has to be perfect, from the course to bike, etc, you start to lose what’s real and you blame every little thing that goes wrong with your equipment, when in reality all your competitors have to ride the same course and the winner is usually the person who removes himself from making excuses for the way he is riding and is 100 per cent in the zone and enjoying what he does best.
Heading into X Game Foz you were struggling with a wrist injury and the concussion you sustained at Simple Session, how did you cope?
During practice I was really struggling with the Park course until the last day; I couldn’t do anything, couldn’t physically trick the Box, just wasn’t dialing in the course. As for my wrists I just rode through it, although I did two runs in a row and landed a little flat and it smashed me, then I took a step back and remembered what my girl Honey told me before leaving for Brazil, which was to take the time to study what the other riders were doing and what tricks where, and ride smart instead of just trying to huck the biggest tricks on certain parts of the course, like I did in X Games L.A 2012. This time I didn’t make the same mistake and I also worked on changing my runs every time, which helped.
Then you backed it up in Dirt, talk us through that…
Right after finishing Park I got swamped with interviews for ESPN, which is part of the deal with winning gold, but it gave me little time to prepare for the Dirt contest next up. In my first run I did a Flip Bar No Hander over the first set, then a 450 Bar and a Seven No Hander at the end, and got an 88.33. Personally I thought this was my best run because I’d never done a Seven No Hander in competition before, and I was super stoked I pulled it first go, but it didn’t score that high. My next run I tried a different approach and it worked in my favour and scored a 92, and set the mood for the rest of my runs and the rest is history.
How was the Brazilian crowd?
The crowd filled the stands for Dirt more than any other sport and they went nuts at the end of every run. They want your helmet, gloves, signature, it was crazy! When I talked to ESPN I was like, ‘You have to bring back dirt in X GAMES forever!’
What was the reaction like after you won your second gold medal, and what did you learn from the event?
Everyone surrounded me after my final run in Dirt and rider’s I’ve looked up to for years were congratulating me and giving me props on my runs. It was so cool as I later found out the last person to win double gold at X Games was Kevin Robinson in 2006. The biggest thing I learned at this X Games was I need to work on my fitness more, spend more time swimming in the pool to build up my cardio. I was a lot better in Park this year compared to last, but it was so hot and a lot of riders really struggled. I know I can do all the tricks, but pumping in and out of the bowls is really hard on your legs and body so I want to make sure I’m on top of my fitness for future events to make sure I can pull all of my big tricks on tap.
When did the fact you won two gold medals sink in?
Everything happened so fast it didn’t hit me until I was doing an interview a while after the Dirt comp for ESPN. It’s like winning the first gold was amazing, then the second felt surreal, like a smack in the face; is this a dream? Getting those two gold medals helps you understand winning, gives you that deep belief in yourself you can do it again.
Interview courtesy of Unit. Take a look at our Unti range here:
