Thursday, November 8

Mike Cinqmars' Entire Life

By MotoWorld.com Contributer

Mike Cinqmars has had a lot of time to think lately - so much time that he was free to spend almost an entire day with MotoWorld for interviews, tours and a little riding. Eight months after a horrific crash that broke his back, Cinqmars is slowly getting back into the groove. Recently, we visited Mike to go back to day one.

Mike Cinqmars wants nothing more than to get back in the form he was before his crash. In this interview, Mike discusses life, riding and how it all began.

MotoWorld: How did you get into motorcycles?

Mike Cinqmars: How I got into motocross was my dad always raced back in the day with his dad. They had a mini-bike club called the Varmints and they use to always take us out up here where I live now in Apple Valley and ever since then I've been riding. Ever since I was four or five years old I've been riding.

MW.com: What is it about motorcycles that you love?

MC: It takes everything off your mind you know? When you're riding you just concentrate on riding and having fun and you're not worried about anything else going on. You're just out there having fun. It's been in my blood ever since I was born and it's just something I want to do.

MW.com: Before you got into freestyle you raced motocross. Tell us about your racing career.

MC: I got my first good bike, a 1990 CR-80 when I was 13 and that's when I first started getting seriously into it. I started racing and doing that and I went all the way up to 125 Intermediate and stopped racing in 1996.

MW.com: How tough was the transition from racing into what you do now?

MC: I was actually going to quit riding and all that stuff. I was working for my dad sanding cars and painting cars and stuff and I just got tired of the racing scene. It was the same ole thing, going to the tracks all the time and just doing that whole deal. Then the free ride stuff came along and my buddy was going out to Pismo Beach one day and asked me if I wanted to come along and I was like "Yeah". I hooked up with some guys out there that were filming it and ever since then its just evolved to this.

MW.com: What was it like for you the first time you thought of a move and pulled it off?

MC: When we were out there riding and jumping, I was always the first guy to step up and do the bigger jumps, that's what I always liked about it. Even on the tracks racing and stuff I was always trying to find a new line and hit a jump bigger or whatever. So I was always more into jumping bigger and more technical stuff and ever since then its carried on to the house jump I've done and the stuff I've done for MTV and it kind of set me apart from everyone else in the free ride thing.

MW.com: What's the appeal of doing what you do?

MC: It's just more relaxed and you can do what you want to do and just have fun with it. It's not continuous pressure of going out and training and riding motos everyday and putting in that time. We go out and ride and have fun with our friends. Racing you've got to go to the gym and pound out in the gym and motoing and all that but we just go out and ride and have fun and just make up new stuff.

MW.com: For you what were some of the highlights of your career.

MC: The two highlights actually came in a row. First, I did my first MTV jump, which was the house jump and that was two days before I left to the first X-Games. I pulled the house jump off perfectly then I loaded my bike up and headed up to Frisco and then I got second at the X-Games. I got the silver medal and then from there the ball just kept rolling. I just kept doing more jumps for MTV and it just kind of blew up.

MW.com: Talk about the blow up of free riding. It started out as a bunch of guys doing what they love and then people got into it and it just kept getting bigger and bigger.

MC: Yeah, definitely. Getting into it was fun at the time but now it's more of a business and everyone is making a lot of money now. The top guys are making good money and you see that now it's more of a business. It's still fun but then again you've got an attitude that this is my job and this is what I've got to do.

MW.com: Was the transition from joy riding to business tough for you?

MC: It changed a little bit. There were times when I'd just get on my bike and ride and have fun. But now there's times when I get on my bike because I know I've got to go out and ride and keep my skills up because if not some other kid is going to come up and take what I got.

MW.com: What kind of student were you in school?

MC: I was an all right kid in school. I wasn't no A student or anything like that. I had a couple of D's maybe an F here or there (laughs). I went to Apple Valley high school for a couple of years and one day we went out shooting. I accidentally left my handgun under the seat and got kicked out of that school. So I got transferred over to a continuation school and graduated six months early. And from there I started getting into riding more and more.

MW.com: When you got involved in the freestyle stuff it seemed like it was a small community of guys knowing each other and trying to out do one another in a friendly, rivalry sort of way.

MC: Definitely, when we first got into it there were only a few guys, maybe eight or nine guys that were doing good but now there's new kids coming up and the sport's just blown up. I never thought it would be this big. I just tried to put my time in as much as I could and get what I could get out of it. Now that it's grown I just keep going and it's good.

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