It’s a battle of old school versus new school!
Kye Forte invited young upstart Joel Anderson to his secret training ground for two days of huge jumps and loose corners. Here’s what went down …
Story by Tom Caldwell
Made possible by Nukeproof and Kona
A valley full of big arse jumps.
It was Monday morning. We’d stocked up on Lucozade and Thai Sweet Chilli Sensations and we were heading into the depths of Cornwall to hunt down Kye Forte and a valley full of big arse jumps.
When we first rolled into the jump compound, Joel and myself both realised pretty quickly it would be a crazy (and sketchy as hell) day of big old jumps. We rolled onwards to find Kye was stood 15ft above the car to the right over what was a big, fast road gap. Little did we know was that this was just the start. The bikes were built up and the track was raked out ready for some big old hucks.
We’ll be back to nail that one.
Joel was sceptical at first but after a few cases from Kye and an essential scrub off the drop, all was well and the style was coming out. Half an hour after clearing it, Joel was so close to landing manual but kept sliding out down the bank to the right of the landing. We’ll be back to nail that one.
Then there’s that road gap, that thing is bloody nuts and has a huge knuckle on the landing for your back wheel to lovingly kiss on your first run. Straight into a left hander too – props to Kye for building that line. It’s no walk in the park. You definitely have to hold it wideopen the whole way down.
It’s metal and has a shit ton of kick
Bottom of the line and we’re at the FMX ramp. It’s metal and has a shit ton of kick. There were plenty of tricks thrown down here – Kye cracked out the old school cans and nac-nacs alongside the corked flip, Joel went as sideways as possible and tried the old classic Brendog nac, topped off with a sketchy flip train in which Joel over rotated and his bike landed in a bush.
“Kye cracked out the old school cans and nac-nacs alongside the corked flip, Joel went as sideways as possible and tried the old classic Brendog nac”
Knackered old road gaps
For the second day, we headed to Bora Woods – somewhere a little further south, and Kye’s local. As soon as we arrived we were bathed in a sea of bluebells and slidy corners. The morning was spent eyeing up “knackered old road gaps with no lip and no landing” as Kye says.
“Kye was throwing down his silky BMX style whilst I was pushing Joel to boost and tuck everything to the sky.”
We began finding all sorts of gaps hiding around the woods. Inevitably Kye was throwing down his silky BMX style whilst I was pushing Joel to boost and tuck everything to the sky. This did however end in Joel on the floor.
The first days of summer
We then headed to somewhere else in Devon. I’d tell you where if I knew but if you take a Northerner and plunge him into tiny, steep, Southern country roads, all sense of direction goes out of the window fairly quickly. It was a hell of a place though, with some of the best corners I’d seen. With the sun out, the boys were on form and the tracks were dry (ish) and it felt like one of the first days of summer.
Job done!
Job done and a belting few days with two south west killers. The nimble Operator put up with everything Joel could throw at it and could keep up with the stretched Limo that is Kye’s Nukeproof. Here’s to more daft sized jumps and more bluebell lined trails!
You can follow Tom Caldwell on Instagram here, Joel Anderson here, Kye Forte here.
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