Video: Hillbilly Style - Firearms and Dirt Jumps

Fabio Schäfer and Jannik Hammes in the middle of nowhere.

Hillbillies. Most people picture gun-toting rednecks, with questionable wardrobes when hearing that word. The two Germans Jannik Hammes and Fabio Schäfer brought their mullet wigs (and their mountain bikes) so they could experience life as an american hillbilly during their trip to the United States.

The sound of exploding glass and gun shots rings in our ears. Jannik adjusts his fake moustache and eyes the next target. This time a worn out toy doll explodes into a million little pieces. I guess we are living the stereotype hillbilly lifestyle: Weird haircuts and general stupidity galore. I am struggling with my greasy fake mullet while stuffing my next clip with 20 dollars worth of bullets. We are in the middle of nowhere, literally blowing up our money.

Wannabe hillbilly Jannik Hammes is out of ammo.

Shooting guns in the desert.

A casual observer might mistake us for real Americans, but we are just two knuckleheads from Germany, messing around with guns borrowed from bike legend, Bobby Root. A few more bottles and cans fall victim to our marksman-skills before all our ammunition is used up. By the way, it was a little more difficult to purchase the bullets at the local chain store than we thought. The clerk refused to sell directly to us so we had our buddy Bobby buy them for us. We aren´t sure If this was due our mullet wigs or the fact that we weren´t actual american citizens. Anyway, we feel real manly and definitely like real american hillbillies after our shooting experience while driving back to Bobbies house in his gigantic pick up truck.

Jannik Hammes 360 tabletop.

Fabio Schäfer does a whip right before the rain starts.

Our newly inflated egos come crashing down hard once we reach Bobby's compound. His gigantic watch dog starts circling the car and looks at us rather menacing. I am sure he only wants to say hello to his family but I don't feel like leaving the truck just yet. Once Bobbie´s wife, Sara ushers the dog back inside the house we leave the car slowly. We feel a little cowardly, but that beast his (name is Tia) was bred to kill bears and his head is the size of a medicine ball. On top of that, Tia is almost blind which makes him even more suspicious. Having a dog like that makes perfect sense in Bobbies neighbourhood though: there are "no trespassing, perpetrators will be shot“ signs all over the place and a few years ago the police apparently found four dead bodies inside a house just down the road...

We try to not worry about possible dangers lurking in this neck of the woods though, we are here to have fun after all. Plus, if we want to be real hillbillies, danger is what we live for, right?

Hillybilly dirt jump. Rider: Fabio Schäfer.

Jannik Hammes nofoot can-can.

In comparison to what's going on around us, riding our bikes seems like a rather safe activity. There are four dirt jumps waiting in Bobby's back yard, Unfortunately, they need a little work before we can get going and Bobby's little excavator has some hydraulic problems, so we need to fix them up with our shovels. We don´t have the time (or energy) to finish all four jumps, so the final step up will have to do. We came half way across the globe to ride our bikes, not to do extensive landscaping. The rest of the day is spent between dirt jumping, Mexican food and hanging out next to the ventilator in our room.

There are plenty of spots in the area besides Bobbies backyard, next on our list is a three day trip to Ocotillo Wells. We bring one of Bobbies wooden ramps along, so all we need to do is find some landings.

Dust Storms and a Near Death Experience

Bobbie decides to bring along his wife's dune buggy, which we will pull behind the truck. He will also bring the motor home, which he drives like a madman down the mountain pass towards Palm desert. There is evidence of past car crashes on every corner of that dangerous mountain road, but that doesn't phase Bobbie in the least. I guess it is just another thing we need to adjust to as wannabe hillbillies.

Lost in the desert because of an overheated engine.

This guy has some amazing desert toys.

Senseless trail scouting in Ocotillo Wells.

We reach the parking lot in Ocotillo Wells in expectation of epic dirt jumps, but where is Bobby and his motor home? Judging from his reckless driving, he should have been here long before us. Since there is no cell phone reception, we drive back to the main road to see what's up. There we find the motor home at the side of the road, the engine completely overheated. That thing isn't going anywhere. Bobby calls a friend who pulls it to the next town. The rest of the day is spent waiting in a garage full of off road vehicles waiting for the motor home to get fixed up while a sand storm is building outside.

That night, the locals show us how their version of a good time, which is a combination of alcohol and burnouts. It takes our new friends about 20 minutes to ruin the tires of a truck, a motorized trike, a motorcycle and even their family van. The local tire dealers must be very wealthy indeed. The next morning Bobby drops us off in the desert so we can scout for some jump spots. We wander around the desert moonscape for a few hours. It is more difficult to find a proper spot that previously thought. Some good landings miss the proper roll in and vice versa. Finally we find the perfect combo. Time to get back to the pick up so we can get our wooden kicker. After unloading all our equipment it is time to dig. The landing needs to be adjusted quite a bit so that all the angles are right. It takes about 3 hours and one bottle of sun screen before we can start riding. Unfortunately, we realize quickly that the ground is way too soft to get any speed for kicker. I guess we just wasted three hours for an un-rideable spot. We are getting a little sick of sand storms, malfunctioning motor homes and days without riding bikes.

Time for plan B. We talk to some people in San Diego who give us the coordinates to some good dirt jumps in the area. We spent our final day in the desert shooting some scenic shots with Bobby Root in the surrounding canyons before one of Bobbies buddies offers us a little canyon tour in his Jeep. Sounds like a great hillbilly idea! The car doesn't have any seatbelts or other safety features, what could go wrong?

Did you ever watch those YouTube videos, where people drive their truck up steep mountains before the car starts rolling backwards? We feel like we are about to experience something similar, except that the non-existing safety belt means we would be crushed under the car. Who cares, let´s do this. The whole ride is a continuous near death experience. We drive up several inclines that most people couldn't ride down on their bikes. At one point, the engine fails and we start rolling backwards It kicks back in at the last moment. We are not sure if we will live to see another day, but somehow we make it back in one piece. The car is making funny noises on the way back and right when he is about to pull into the drive way the left front wheel falls off. It turns out the front axle is broken. Good thing that didn't happen a few minutes earlier, otherwise I probably wouldn't sit here writing this story.

San Diego and Woodward West

Time to head to San Diego. We are feeling confident that we will finally put our dirt bikes to use. Our friends pick us up at a fast food joint and we head to a little spot right next to the high way. The trails are steep, technical bmx trails. The locals are friendly and seem very interested in the bike scene in Germany. After we are done riding they show us some more spots in the area. We end up at the home spot of Red Bull Rampage underdog Wil White and in a crazy back yard spot. One of the locals named Jaques invites us over to his trails and even lets us stay at his house. What an awesome guy. The next day he sends us on our way to even more riding locations around San Diego.

There are some nice jumps in the Balboa Park, San Diego. Rider: Jannik Hammes.

360 tabletop in Balboa Park, San Diego.


We end up at Balboa Park right in the city. The park is full of joggers, squirrels and botanic gardens, but also contains a few big bike jump lines hidden away in the bushes. It is a bit surreal for European eyes to see a spot like that right in the middle of a city in a busy public park. The jumps are clearly built for full suspension bikes, but we still have fun on our hardtails. Our last stop is a spontaneous stop at Woodward West. It is about a four hour drive to get there and we aren't sure if they let us in without previous reservation, but we decide to go for it anyway.

Fabio Schäfer and Jannik Hammes in front of their motel close to Woodward West.

Tuck nohander over the resi jump in Woodward West. Rider: Fabio Schäfer.

After one night in a sketchy Motel, we get in touch with Woodward´s Mountainbike director, Jake Kinney. He gives us the go ahead so it is riding time! Woodward is clearly one of the highlights of our trip. It feels unreal to ride the spot that most people only know from videos or from playing „Tony Hawk“ on their game console. Another mark on my personal "things to do before I die“ list for sure. After we are done riding, Jake invites us to another secret spot where we have little barbecue. This day couldn't have been better.

We only have a few days left, so it is time to head back to Palm Desert to drop off our rental.

Last Dirt Session and the Obligatory Tattoo

Our last two days are spent riding Bobbys back yard and checking out Palm Desert. Jannik and me have a little tradition of getting a tattoo during our road trips, so we spend our last day looking for a tattoo parlour. Our return flight takes 30 hours - yes, we messed up our booking, but we head home with our mission accomplished: We passed as decent hillbillies, complete with mullets, guns and brain dead stunts that almost cost us our lives. We also had a good time riding our bikes, so this road trip had everything we could ask for.

Welcome to a hillbilly property.