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The Tattoo
--- Making a Permanent Impression Since 1994 ---
June 4, 2001
Athletes ride into Lake Compounce
By Jennifer Plonski
Matt
Wilhelm spins on the back of his bike, then rides it upside down as the psyched
crowd whoops with excitement. Everyone cheers as he flings the wheel around him
in a circle and sticks his arms out like he’s flying.
"I’m
living the dream right now," he says.
Wilhelm,
a 22-year-old professional biker, did a one-man sneak peek of the X Trials at
Lake Compounce Friday afternoon, wowing the kids in the crowd with his
eye-popping tricks.
"You
can take on the world and do whatever you want," the Chicago native said.
Wilhelm’s
girlfriend of two years, Kathy Tyrrell, is his good luck charm, he said.
Want
the scoop on how he started out?
"I
used to go to these dirt jumps," Wilhelm said. "This guy wanted to
beat me up cause I scratched his sunglasses so I couldn’t go to the jumps
anymore."
Wilhelm
said he put some pegs on his bike and practiced tricks at home. He called it one
of the best decisions he’s ever made.
Matt
Lindenmuth, a 20-year-old professional inline skater from Philadelphia also
competing in the X Games, helped Wilhelm whip up support for the X Trials.
Lindenmuth
definitely supports helmets.
"Glory
is temporary, pain is forever," he said. "I want to skate ‘til I
die."
Last
month, Lindenmuth fell while attempting a trick at the X Trials in Grand
Prairie, Texas. He blacked out for a second or two, he said. "I saw the
chunk that came out of my helmet, and I really didn’t want to see that in my
skull," said Lindenmuth.
There’s
a rivalry flaring up right now between kid inline skaters, bikers, and
skateboarders, according to Lindenmuth, who said he doesn’t like the idea of
"I
just met Matt today, and I’ve already made another friend," Lindenmuth
said. "I don’t see any difference, I have eight wheels, he does it with
two. I don’t think kids understand we are all friends."
"We’re
all doing it for the same reason, cause we love to roll," said Lindenmuth.
"That’s our passion, that’s our drug."
Differences
or not, the kids at Lake Compounce Friday seemed uniformly impressed with
Wilhelm and Lindenmuth.
Kyle
Langlais, a Chippens Hill Middle School student, gave Lindenmuth his plush
orange M&M as a gift.
When
Wilhelm took a short break from his performance, ESPN spokeswoman Katie Moses
asked questions about past and upcoming X Trials and X Games. Anyone who
answered correctly won a prize. Later, they autographed shirts, hats, stickers
and more for the grateful fans.
When
Wilhelm got back onto the bike, he awed the audience with more amazing stunts.
Deborah
Stone, 18, of Stamford, offered to trade shirts with Wilhelm. But it wasn’t
the shirt she was interested in -- she said she thought Wilhelm was
"cool."
Kyle
Escher, 13, of Bristol, said Lindenmuth "is progressing the sport"
because he did a double back flip in Vert.
Justin
Dess, 13, another Chippens Hill student, summed it up.
"They’ll
try anything," he said.