Photo Story: Fred Austruy’s First Day Riding with Friends, after Two Months of Lockdown

With two very strict lockdown months in France because of the COVID-19 virus, including not being allowed to go out more than one hour per day within a 1-kilometer area around one’s home, you can just imagine how difficult that was for someone whose passion is nature, freedom and outdoor sports! May 11th was the beginning of a new step, after this very long period; French people started enjoying more freedom and riders were also allowed to get back to their favourite spots!
Today Fred Austruy, professional French rider, shares with us his first riding session following lockdown.

Monday May 11th / 9am: Enduro Session

I arrived at my friend’s, ‘Petit Louis’, whom I had not seen for 2 months. I was so happy to be able to share a super moment of riding with him.
When you share your passions with other MTB fans, it is simply awesome, and personally, I think it adds intensity to your session in terms of motivation, cohesion and fun!

Fred, Maxime and Quentin Ride together after long time stay at home

Fred is happy to ride with a big bike and find these sensations !!

Monday May 11th / 1pm: Foam Pit Riding

Just before the lockdown and the COVID-19, I had just finished designing this foam pit on private land, and I had only ridden it once. I had really worked hard with my friends to create this training structure, and we were very frustrated not to be able to use it! At last, we were going to be able to take advantage of it!

Fred gets some air in superman seat grab !!

Monday May 11th / 4pm: Freestyle Time Session

And after this great Foam Pit session and the Tricks we practiced, with our reflexes on soft and securing surface coming back, let’s turn to serious matters to try a few tricks on real jumps!

Big Superman for Fred! Good feeling and perfect sensation with his Dirt Jump Bike

See you soon for new adventures, good ride and have fun to all Riders.

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FredAustruy
Member since Jun 17, 2015
9 articles

4 Comments

Dogl0rd (May 31, 2020 at 16:07)

What kind of health insurance gives you the confidence to send it so hard??? Haha nice riding les gars!

slimjimbikes (Jun 1, 2020 at 2:33)

They have socialised healthcare in France.

resurrection-cycle-products (Jun 1, 2020 at 8:24)

Hey @Dogl0rd Despite the amount of time off the trails, you gotta remember that guys like Fred Austruy are professional riders and never truly forget what or how to do these tricks :-) In addition, many of the guys like fellow Frenchman Richard Fert, have biiiiiiiiiiiiig ramps in their back gardens (literally, in their back gardens) with a huge drop-in, maybe a tow-rope and a foam-pit or permanent resi-ramp, so they're never rrreeeaallly off the bike much. and as @JaiB1 correctly points out, they also have a Public Healthcare system like here in the UK (Though I'm not sure if anyone is actively wanting to go there, with the amount of COVID right now) But the top and tail of it, is that these guys are Pro's, and even riding at 50%, that's a lot more Rad than mere mortals like me can achieve.
Happy ridin folks!

Dogl0rd (Jun 1, 2020 at 9:12)

@resurrection-cycle-products: wasn't trying to go deep, but appreciate the response! Merely trying to say I'm too afraid to go big and get hurt and lose my job lol. Props to these guys