It’s fair season again and the city of Placerville is leading the charge this weekend with four packed days (June 13 to 17) of carnival rides, games, funnel cakes, livestock, and lots of live music options. A huge boost for the local economy and its surrounding areas, the El Dorado County Fair always delivers with a lively daily calendar.
Highlights this year include a Funnel Cake Eating Contest, Kids Big Wheel Races, Bubblegum Blowing Contest, a Wild About Monkeys & Friends animal show featuring live monkeys, Game Shows, Spinning Demonstrations, along with lots of activities in the Home Arts Building. Additionally, there will be an Interactive Family Education Zone, Kids’ Crafting, Free Train Rides, Sheep to Shawl Demonstrations, Master Food Preservers Free Tastings, Photography and Art Exhibitions, Mineral and Gems Displays, Quilt Showcases, Handicrafts, Needlework & Sewing, and Baked Goods Displays (to name but a few).
For those not in the know, the first County Fair on Placerville Dr. took place in 1939. Similarly, the first recorded Fair in El Dorado County was held in 1859 in Coloma. Until 1939, the Fair was held at various locations including Coloma, Diamond Springs and downtown Placerville.
Aside from its many distractions and attractions, also on the docket at this year’s gathering is the wonderful and awe-inspiring FMX (Freestyle Motocross) Ramp-Age Stunt Show on opening day. The presentation features 3 professional X-Games riders – Adam Jones, Javier Villegas, and Kohl Denny – all big names in the scene who deliver an amazing show replete with back-flips, big airs, and tricks sure to please any and all fair-goers.
We sat down with Adam Jones, the group’s fearless and tireless leader, to get the 411 on the show and much more.
Capital Chaos TV: Who taught you how to ride and when did you feel you were ready to compete?
Adam Jones: My dad raced cars, but was not good on bikes at all. My brother was younger than me and rode a little. My mother didn’t ride at all and neither did my friends. My dad brought home an old piece of junk motorbike one day. I started riding it around our big driveway and soon fell in love with it. He later bought me a much better bike and then we started going to the racetrack which I also fell in love with. The people at the track on the weekends soon became my group of friends. It wasn’t like my dad rode motorbikes or I had this mentor that taught me. We all learned eventually at the racetrack and I was hooked from a young age. As soon as I got on two wheels, I wanted nothing else.
Capital Chaos TV: How did you muster the guts to do your first full flip?
Adam Jones: I rode freestyle for a little bit first. When I started riding freestyle, there actually were no flips. I was a pretty skilled rider at that point and pretty good at freestyle as well. We all came to terms with the fact that the back-flip was here to stay and wasn’t going to be a passing trend and eventually got on board. I think most of us probably weren’t that excited about it at first because it looked terrifying. If you weren’t the guy out there innovating, it looked like the scariest thing in the world. When I finally wrapped my head around the idea, I started to learn how to do back-flips on bicycles into a foam pit. It took me a really long time to just learn how to lean back off a lift. In dirt bike racing, which is what I grew up doing, you never lean back off a lift. You were always central or forward. You definitely didn’t lean back the same way you do when you do a flip. It was a completely new thing to learn and took me quite a while to learn on a BMX bike. Once I figured it out, we moved up to motorbikes. I actually went to Travis Pastrana’s place one time and spent a day jumping into his pit and learning how to back-flip a dirt bike. It wasn’t until a year later before I even took it to dirt with no more back-flip foam pit attempts in between. Finally I said to myself, “Screw it. Let’s get the ramp. We’re going out and we’re doing it.” I pulled it off, but it took me about a year to get to the point where I was comfortable and no longer scared. It’s a pretty commonplace thing to do in FMX, but it was definitely a process to get there.
Capital Chaos TV: It seems like there are much better safeguards to keep riders healthy such as landing pads and inflatables. Are you seeing less and less accidents because of these measures?
Adam Jones: Yeah. The airbags are a big progression for the sport. They also cause some crashes sometimes as well. If you have a really big air and you’re going to land upside down or in a really bad way, they definitely save you. If you land a little bit weird, the airbag bounce will send you off-kilter and sometimes off and onto the flat ground. They saved a lot of riders, but there are also a lot of times you’ll crash because of one. The benefit is still net positive, though. They’ve saved thousands of lives although the number of lives lost or injured is also getting up there. Airbags make the traveling freestyle scene a little more manageable than the big and heavy metal landings we used to ride on which were extremely dangerous.
Capital Chaos TV: Who are some of your favorites in the freestyle game?
Adam Jones: Levi Sherwood was always sick although he’s been retired now for a couple of years. Levi had exceptional extension in the air and his tricks always looked good. You would never see him pull something off unless it was as clean as can possibly be. Stunts like that were a completely different thing. I grew up in the racing world and was a massive Jeremy McGrath fan. He had the smoothest and cleanest riding style. He won everything. He was also humble in victory and a true champion. Travis Pastrana used to show up at some of my races and we were fairly close to each other. Everybody around our area always looked up to Travis who is also a very humble and friendly guy. He really pushed the limits of action sports. If you were a racer or freestyler back in early 2000’s or late ’90s, everybody was a massive Pastrana fan. He was an icon for his style and his achievements alone.
Capital Chaos TV: How many riders are on your FMX roster? Do you allow them to do non-FMX events?
Adam Jones: It depends. During my FMX Ramp-Age shows, I usually have three to four riders. The guys are free to do whatever they want. I’ve been a rider for for quite a few years and I’ve participated at a lot of events. One big issue I always had with event promoters was them trying to dictate what I could and couldn’t do during my show. This is how I make money and put food on my table. I am in charge. Nowadays as a rider and show promoter, it’s my job to assemble a bunch of guys I like to work and ride with. Everybody on our team just needs to do whatever it is they do best to make their living riding dirt bikes. If a rider I use consistently is busy on a given weekend, I dig in my large pool of riders and find another guy for the event. There’s a lot of guys out there to choose from who I know personally because I’ve been around the sport for so long. However, there are absolutely no restrictions for any of my riders when it comes to riding other events. They can do whatever the hell they want.
The FMX Ramp-Age Stunt Show takes place at the El Dorado County Fair located at 100 Placerville Drive on Placerville. The show starts at 6pm in the grandstand. All ages are welcome. A separate ticket is required for admission. Advance tickets for fair are available at https://eldoradocountyfair.org.
(Capital Chaos TV)