Industry Insights | Ft. Patrick Evans 1

In this installment of Industry Insights, we talk to X Games gold medalist Patrick Evans about racing, his involvement with free riding, winning X Games gold on a Starq Varg, and his recent video, BANNED.

For the full interview, check out the Vital MX podcast right here. The audio version below includes more of Patrick's story. If you want the condensed written version, scroll down a bit further.

Jamie Guida – Vital MX: How did you get involved with dirt bikes?

Patrick Evans: My dad and Uncle rode. I was born in Maryland, and Budds Creek was one of their local tracks. Of course, you see your dad ride, and I ended up getting a bike. I had a Suzuki JR 50 when I was two, which I ran into a cinder block in a field and bent the forks. Later, I ran into a soccer net that I think my dad had to buy.

Vital MX: I read you grew up racing some with guys like Cooper Webb and Jordon Smith. How serious did you take racing?

Patrick: We raced locally every weekend, but I don't think we ever took it that seriously. We kept it pretty local. Cooper Webb was in an age group above me, but we'd be on the same gate sometimes. Jordon was in my class sometimes and was a group ahead of me at others, depending on the time of the year. My dad was pretty smart and would say, "We kind of know where you stand at the national level, so why spend all that money?" I look back and realize it was pretty smart.

Vital MX: You participated in the KTM Jr. Supercross event in Phoenix, Arizona, in 2006. From what I read, you got in trouble for doubling the triple.

Patrick: I guess you could say I've been dealing with political B.S. in the moto industry for a long time. It's kind of a crazy story. We had a jump at my house that was similar to the double of the triple, and we were prepared. I jumped the double in practice, and I remember one of the other parents yelling at their kid, "Why aren't you jumping it like that kid?" During the next practice, I looked out the corner of my eye and saw a 50 case the triple. He went really deep and basically faced the landing. He flew over the backside, and I thought, "There's no way I just saw that." Then, I came around, the red cross flag was out, and I said, "Oh my God! That was not a figment of my imagination." I came back to the pits, and someone said that I looked sketchy because my hand came off. I said, "Yeah, I was doing a one-handed and waving to the crowd." Ever since then, I don't think they're allowed to double. I was devastated and lying on the ground, crying. Travis Pastrana was trying to cheer me up, and I wanted nothing to do with it.

Vital MX: Talk about your dad's role in the industry. He was responsible for the Chevy Trucks deal at Factory Kawasaki and was James Stewart's agent at one time.

Patrick:  It's funny because now that I'm in the industry, he's completely out of it. I barely remember the Chevy trucks deal because I was super young. I definitely remember when he was working with James. That was cool because I was on a 50 and got to go down to James' house and ride with him. It was awesome. He also helped with JGR, but it was mostly on the contract side and wasn't really going to the races. He's been out of sport since Coy Gibbs passed away and is now doing stuff with drag racing.

Vital MX: It sounds like you got burnt out on racing around that time and took an interest in cinematography and photography. Tell us about that.

Patrick: Yeah, I also got into BMX for a while. I was near Greenville, North Carolina, where Dave Mirra's Warehouse was, and I liked riding park. With that, you start doing a bunch of video stuff because they go hand in hand, much like skateboarding and videography. Once I started doing video stuff, I thought maybe I didn't want to do action sports. I got burnt out and bored riding moto because I rode so much. I was riding in the backyard and winning a lot locally, and when you win it wasn't that big of a deal, but when I lost, I was bummed. I hated losing more than I liked winning, so I was kind of over it. So, I was doing video stuff and got regular jobs working with car dealerships. I realized a normal 9-5 sucked, so I was going to move to California and film dirt bike stuff. Once I was out in California, I started riding more because my buddy had an extra bike.

Vital MX: It sounds like you don't like complacency and are always looking for something new.

Patrick: You're right. Even with moto, I'm glad the electric thing happened because at the end of 2023, I had just won Red Bull Imagination, and I was feeling good on the bike, but had gotten bored again. When the electric thing came up, it was a nice re-spark and perfect.

Vital MX: How did you initially get into free riding? I can see how it would be appealing to you.

Patrick: I was never even allowed to ride trails. I remember once at the house, I was riding too fast on the pavement, and my dad yelled at me, "If you're going to be ripping around, do it on the track." So, I never got to free ride or trail ride. When I moved out here, I borrowed a bike, and the first place we went was Ocotillo Wells. I was thrown right into all the sick California free ride spots. I grew up watching Stone Spray Sandwich and the Great Ride Open on Fuel TV and thought free riding was the sickest.

Vital MX: How do you size up some of these huge jumps? I saw a video on your YouTube where you jumped 240 feet. I can't wrap my brain around that.

Patrick: I couldn't wrap my head around that one either. They said to hit it in fifth pinned and you'll be ok. Riding up to it, everything in your body tells you it's not a good idea. I thought, "There's no way I'll make it over there. What are you talking about?" You have to get ok with turning your brain off and trusting yourself.

Vital MX: You ride with a lot of gnarly guys. When you go out to ride and you're filming, how do you decide what is cool?  Something a viewer thinks is gnarly may be basic to your perception. 

Patrick: Everyone has their taste. I like steep shit. Big jumps are not my thing at all. I like watching people hit big, fat 200-foot-plus jumps. Colby Raha hitting massive stuff and Axel Hodges hitting massive 170' jumps in the dunes is cool to watch, but not my deal. It looks good and I've done big shit before, but I don't push myself to do that type of thing.

Vital MX: What did winning gold at the 2024 X-Games for Best Whip? X-Games is not what it used to be, but it must have been huge.

Patrick: You dream of an X-Games medal, but never think you'll get it. Then, I hadn't been riding for eight years, so it seemed impossible. During the two years leading up to that I was telling myself, "You could actually win if you get your shit together." It helped solidify my place, and you can't have an X-Games gold medal taken away. I look at it as something rad to have. I was never one to put that much care into having a medal because, in free riding, you're not supposed to care about that. It was never that important. Well, I don't know, maybe I'm being too punk rock.

Vital MX: You won on a Stark, which was uncommon then.

Patrick: That was a big risk. Every dude out there had the opportunity to ride the bike, but everyone was scared of it. The X-Games brought the bike in and spent seven years developing it to see what it could do. We finally had a breakthrough, and now they want to eliminate it. It makes no sense to me.

Vital MX: The X-Games has banned electric bikes from competition. How did you find out, and did anyone give a reason?

Patrick: I don't know. You hear rumors and people pointing fingers, but they got kicked out at the end of the day. It doesn't really matter why or who did it. I got a phone call when I was going to Florida for Day in the Dirt. I didn't think that would happen. I thought maybe it would have its own class or something. It was bizarre. 

Vital MX: This seems especially strange since the popularity of the X-Games has decreased, while the popularity of electric bikes has increased.

Patrick: There are kids everywhere on Sur-Rons and Super73s, and it is blowing up. Getting rid of the only thing hitting the younger demographic seems like a reckless decision. I would love to hear the conversation that went into the decision.

Vital MX: That leads us to your new YouTube video, BANNED. You're on a Starq Varg and ripping around doing some free riding.

Patrick: Ty Evans and I connected randomly last year, and he was down to film a part. Ty Evans is one of the most legendary skateboard filmmakers of all time. He did, "Yeah Right!" for Girl Skateboards and "We Are Blood." He's one of my favorite cinematographers, and I dreamed of doing something like Brain Farm's, "The Art of Flight." So, to be out here and I get to ride in it and edit it is like the culmination of a life's work.

Vital MX: I was told you edited and made all the color corrections on the video yourself.

Patrick: Yeah, I always try to edit my stuff myself. It's a really fun part of it. When I'm on the spin bike in the morning, I try to think about the music, what goes with it, and different ideas.

Vital MX: How has BANNED been received?

Patrick: It's been awesome. I got over the X-Games thing pretty quickly. It hasn't affected me much. I have a lot of stuff going on, and I'm stoked on the video. I'm also about to fly to Australia for the Freestyle Kings Tour, so new stuff and contests are always going on.