It’s a good thing too, considering, at 6-foot-4, he rides a motorcycle so specialized it doesn’t even have a seat. But the ten-time national champion also knows that standing up tall on the pegs of his bike — while negotiating seemingly impossible obstacles — is what trials riding is all about.
Geoff became interested in motorcycles when he was 13 years old. Noticing his curiosity, his father, who used to trail ride on weekends, suggested a trials bike to learn on. “Trials riding teaches balance and control of the motorcycle,” Geoff explains. “Those skills transfer to all types of riding and make you a safer better rider.” So with money he had saved from mowing lawns, Geoff took his father’s advice and bought his first trials bike in 1984. The following year, he entered his first trials competition.
In the more than two decades since he started competing, Geoff has racked up a trophy case worth of titles, decorations, and trips to the podium. In addition to the 10 AMA U.S. National Trials wins, he has 73 National wins, six New England Trials Championships, and six El Trial de España honors. A 15-time member of the U.S. Trials Des Nations Team, Geoff was named AMA amateur athlete of the year in 2000. That same year (and again in 2006) he was named AMA Sports Athlete of the Year at least in part because of a riding style that’s been called “flamboyant,” “superior,” and “truly inspired.”
While Geoff maintains a razor-sharp competitive edge—he placed fourth overall in AMA Endurocross in 2008—the 38-year-old now focuses more on promoting his sport. He’s often traveling the country these days in his custom-made mobile demo rig to share his insane gift of trials with more people than ever before in exhibition performances. To top it off, in October, Geoff and his wife, Kerry, had a baby. Summing it all up, Geoff says simply, “Life is awesome right now.”
TRIALS OF YOUTH
When Aaron was born in Norwalk, Connecticut, in 1972, he seemed normal enough. Then he became interested in motorcycles. He was 13 years old.
“My dad used to trail ride with his buddies on weekends in Vermont. And when I started to get curious about the sport, dad said a trials bike would be great to learn on. So that’s how I got started,” Aaron says.
In competition, trials involves riding a stripped-down motorcycle (Aaron’s weighs just 150 pounds and features super-sticky Dunlap tires) through an obstacle course. “You’re scored on each trap, or section, of the course. If you get through it perfectly, keeping your feet on the pegs and standing up over all the rocks and waterfalls and logs or whatever they throw at you, then you get a zero. But every time your foot touches the ground, you get points,” Aaron explains. “So you’re always trying to ‘zero’ the sections.”
Fans note that trials combines the power of freestyle motocross with the precision of mountain biking and the trickery of BMX-style jibbing, and that top-level performances require a certain creative genius in addition to technical mastery. As a kid, Aaron couldn’t get enough of trials. “I liked the idea of riding over gnarly terrain,” he says, “and I was hooked.”
Aaron won the AMA (American Motorcyclist Association) National High School Championship in 1988, then moved up to the top class of U.S. trials competition. By the end of that rookie season, Aaron was standing strong in eighth place overall. Since then, titles and decorations began streaming in for Aaron, with highlights including: 73 career National wins; six New England Trials Championships; ten AMA U.S. Trials Championships; and six El Trial de España wins. A 15-time member of the U.S. Trials Des Nations Team, Aaron was named AMA amateur athlete of the year in 2000. He won the North American Motorcycle Union Observed Trials Championship in 2000 and 2004 and in 2003 he claimed the AMA Indoor National Championship. Over the years, his style has been described as “flamboyant,” “superior” and “truly inspired.”
ONWARD AND UPWARD
After more than 15 years of competing at the elite level, Aaron shows no sign of letting up on himself — or the competition. However, his focus has shifted.
“I used to focus primarily on the competitions — the national championship, competing for that title. But now I’ve kind of achieved my goals on the competition side, so I’m focusing on other things to showcase the sport,” he says.
Upon graduating from Ithaca College with a Bachelor of Arts in the mid-1990s, Aaron founded a company called ERE — Extreme Riding Entertainment. “I created it mainly because we were getting lots of interest to perform and do riding demonstrations. So I built a mobile demo rig and formed ERE. Now, ERE also produces its own videos and DVDs, has a website at ereonline.com, and sponsors a six-rider national competition team called Team ERE,” he says.
To that end, Aaron is always on the move nowadays — if not astride his Montesa 280F Pro model bike, then behind the wheel of a Freightliner Toterhome, hauling a Red Bull trailer that transforms into a trials playground wherever the Geoff Aaron X Show stops. Aaron is frequently joined on the road by his fiancé, Kerry, and their dog, Helmut.
“We’re the three amigos on the road, cranking down the highway in a 70-foot behemoth to a town near you,” jokes Aaron. “But seriously, I’m keeping myself as busy as I can — exhibitions, competitions, producing videos, doing anything and everything to help promote the sport while we’re still in this.”
After living in Ramona, California, for eight years, Aaron recently relocated to Bailey, Colorado, in part to be within better striking distance of more regions of the country. Besides, given Aaron’s new status as a 20-year trials veteran, he likes the freedom that exhibition performances afford. “That’s where the fun part comes in,” he says, “because you’re mixing trials obstacle skills with trick riding, like one-handed, feet-up donuts, huge nose-wheelies and 180-degree flip-turns — things you can’t do on any other type of bike,” he says, beaming.
Always pushing the limits, Aaron has been known to bunny-hop over his announcer during exhibitions. It’s a risky move, to be sure, not that Aaron takes it lightly. After all, he is a stand-up kind of guy.
