Dez Maarsen – Battle in the Rockies Interview

Intro/Interview: Effraim.
Photos: Supplied by Dez.

After the epic Battle in the Rockies video contest I felt it only right that I get in touch with each of the winners to get their thoughts firstly on the video contest, and on the up and coming BITR contest! Beginning with Dez Maarsen!

Firstly, congratulations on winning one of the flights to Colorado for the Battle in the Rockies. What was your initial reaction to the news?
I was super stoked and shocked! Especially since I wasn’t going in the first place. I was really hoping to go to the US this year and now I’ll be going to Colorado Spring in November. Super excited!

How much work went into your entry?
A lot of mental and physical hours! I wanted to put my best tricks together in one combo and it had to stay in time. A lot of tries I was all ready out of time. So I had to do my switches faster. Also I wanted to have a nice flow and trick order. I tried several days over the period to pull this combo. Most of these days it was more then an hour of repeating to pull the combo until I was to tired. I even got a nasty injury during the procces. The day (Tuesday before the deadline) I had to pull the combo I finally did it for the first time!

If you had to pick another entry besides yours, who would you have picked & why?
There where so many great entries! The last day I was hitting refresh so many times to see who else submitted an entry. I would have picked Moto, because he put all his hard moves together, showed a lot of different techniques and filled completely the whole minute with his combo up till the second!

The video contest seems the most cost effective way to involve riders across the globe in a contest, do you see this type of event growing in flatland?
This video challenge was really progressive! It was a great change for all type of riders to show the best they have in a competitive way. And ofcourse there was a great reward! It would be nice to see more of this. A few years ago Ground Tactics and Global-Flat Battles helped to give riders that can’t travel to competitions a great platform to show their riding and push them self. But at the physical event you always meet new people, hanging out with friends, see live new tricks and there is always a great vibe. That’s a really important thing for me about riding! So if this type of video contest will help riders to travel to contest I hope we gonna see more of it!

Were you harder on yourself composing a video combo entry than you might be for a live contest entry?
Yes I can say I was harder on myself for this video combo. It was a great challange to show some of my best tricks that I have quit dailed, but haven’t been able to pull concitance in a live contest. Also you where competing with the best riders in the world that all had 1 minute to show there best stuff! I’m pretty competitive and I wanted to win this ticket really bad! I set my boundries high for this combo and just stayed patiënt and positive that i would pull it. This was the first time for me to do this kind of thing so I really wanted to challenge myself.

What can we expect from you in Colorado?
A big smile and I’m gonna give it all I got! There is still a little more then two months left so I’m gonna train hard! Winning this ticket has given my motivation a big boost!

Any final shoutouts?
Respect to all the riders that send in an entry! Maximum respect to James McGraw for organizing this whole contest with the video contest! Can’t wait till the event!
Special thanks to my girlfriend for being an amazing support! And a shoutout to my riding buddies, family and sponsors!

Thanks Dez! Fun catching up with you, see you at Battle in the Rockies! Watch Dez’s entry again below!

Battle in the Rockies – Video Challenge from Dez Maarsen on Vimeo.

5 thoughts on “Dez Maarsen – Battle in the Rockies Interview

  1. HALF HIKER FULL KICK FLIP TO SIDE PACKER !!!!!!!!!!! WHAT A MENTAL WAY TO START THE COMBO !!!!!! BACKWARDS SPINNING -CROSS HAND / CROSS FOOT ELE ROLL STRAIGHT TO X FOOT SIDE PACKER TO REACH OVER FULL BAR TO SWITCH HAND STEAM !!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHH !!!!!!!!!!!!! STEAM FULL KICK FLIP TO HALF PACKER !!!!!!!! RRRRRRRAAAAAFFFFFIIIIIIICCCCC !!!!!!!!!!!!! JUST LIKE BAM , BAM , BAM , BAM , AS SCOTT O BRIEN WOULD SAY !!!!!!!!! THIS WAS A HAMMER OF A COMBO !!!!!!!!! WATCHED THIS MANY TIMES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! RAD COMBO !!!!!!!! I CANT WAIT TO WATCH THE BATTLE OF THE ROCKIES CONTEST !!!!!!!!!!!!!

  2. MAAAAANNNNN , I WISH I WAS GOING BIG E , BUT NO IM A BROKE BMXER !!!!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I WILL BE WATCHING IT AFTER WORK THOUGH !!!!!!!!!!!

  3. Pingback: Flatmatters Battle in the Rockies Interview - Dez Maarsen

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