Wideopenmag’s young gun Joel Anderson is at Loose Fest!
Having hit the ridiculously sized jumps and proved he can tough it out with the World’s best … we caught up with him for a chat.
So Joel, how the hell the did you end up at Loose Fest?
“F*ck you, get pumped” threw me in at the deep end. Everyone seemed to love it and it was seen by all the right people. Loose Riders started to help me after seeing my video through Nico Vink sharing it on Facebook. I started riding with Jasper Flashman and he put in a good word finally I met Nico in Chatel and we went for a ride and I asked if I could come along!
How did you feel with the invite came through?
I kind of forced the situation so there wasn’t actually an “official invite” but as soon as I knew I was 100% going I got pretty excited and then VERY nervous started having dreams about it and waking up thinking I’d crashed!
When you got to the venue and saw the jumps – what do you reckon? Can you give us an idea of what they’re like in real life?
There’s no denying they’re big jumps, 22 metres to the case pad 25 metres to the sweet spot. However Ride Creations (Nico Vink & Kristof Lenssens) building really is second to none everything just looks right so that takes some nerves away!
How did you go about getting started jumping them? How did you feel when you cleaned them?
We were all sat at the top with the World’s best and all trying run ins to work out speed. Reynolds dropped in and over cleared the first, Jasper straight in after also over clears it, I left the top and tapped the brakes just before the lip … I landed perfectly. I was thinking that I’d never have more speed than that so I went straight for the second and cleared it smooth then boosted the third and cleared that. It was sick, there was so much noise from the crowd and I had so much adrenaline I literally bounced to the bottom to tell Jasper and Sam what happened. It was met with massive high fives!
What’s the vibe like at the event? What are the other riders like? Good party?
Everyone is so chilled! No pressure, no time frame just go when it feels right. Everyone is so cool and it’s one of the sickest events I’ve been to.
What’s the plan for the rest of the event for you then?
KEEP GETTING LOOOOOOSE!
And after loose fest? What’s next?
Norway huckfest, 950 miles away and 3 countries!
