Daredevil rocks Manila streets

MANILA, Philippines - There’s no street, whatever its condition, that Red Bull motorbike daredevil Julien Dupont won’t conquer in his quest to elevate his gravity-defying act to an art form. Dupont, 32, is a self-styled creative genius whose sport is motocross in an urban setting.

The French trial freestyle biker was in Manila last week to star in videos showing his amazing stunts in Manila streets and launch the Austrian carbonated version of Red Bull in cans. He did 360-degree turns with a wheel up, spun through crowds in a narrow street and scaled walls to jump on roofs of jeepneys in Intramuros while pedestrians wondered why in the world anyone would do such crazy antics. Red Bull is compiling Dupont’s “Ride the World” videos in a portfolio featuring its world-renowned Air Force team of skydivers, BASE jumpers, wingsuit fliers, paraglider pilots and motocross artists. Dupont’s “street trial” film was once cited as the fourth best video of the year in the YouTube Awards.

Red Bull field marketing manager Irina Kosobukina said the Austrian energy drink isn’t syrupy or as sugary as the Thai bottled beverage. The Austrian version was created in 1987 by Dietrich Mateschitz. Red Bull is the world’s largest selling energy drink with 4.5 billion cans sold a year and considered a premium product of Europe as a functional beverage that vitalizes body and mind.

Dupont said biking for Red Bull is like living a dream. “When I was one or two years old riding in our family car, my mother told me I used to motion with my hand like I was going over humps,” he said. “Even before then, my father took me on my first motorbike ride in a sack when I was six months old. I got on my first motorbike when I was 11 or 12. I became a professional rider and for six years, competed in the world championships. In 2000, I finished in the finals of the world juniors and ended up seventh. Then, I decided to do something more creative and challenging with my bike.”

Dupont said competing in world championships or even in the BMX event at the Olympics isn’t his thing. “In what I do, I must be extremely focused because it’s a dangerous sport,” he said. “I can’t think of what might happen to me if I fall or get injured. I can’t get scared because if I do, I lose focus. My personal trainer Sebastian Fauque keeps me in shape. I work out in the gym three hours for two days in a week. I generally eat what I like. But I must be physically and mentally in condition whenever I ride. My most serious biking-related injury was when I broke two vertebrae about four years ago.”

Dupont finished high school then carved out a career as a biker on the rough tracks around Lyon. He acknowledged that he always preferred to learn at the school of life than to learn life at school.

One of the most daring stunts Dupont has performed was riding a curved roof in Paris during a Red Bull event. Another was biking on the loop railings of a hanging bridge over water. In Barcelona, he once did a ride on a 12-meter wall going down. A mind-boggling stunt was executing a backflip over an artificial trailer.

 Dupont said his idol is Bruce Lee. “He introduced martial arts as a philosophy, a way of life,” said Dupont. “To him, martial arts wasn’t something you do to fight.” Dupont couldn’t name a guru in his sport probably because no one has mastered the craft like him. His favorite Formula 1 driver is Red Bull’s Mark Webber of Australia.

Dupont’s adulation for Lee is based on his adherence to the “parkour” philosophy or the physical discipline that focuses on efficient movement around obstacles, developed in France by David Belle. Dupont said there is no obstacle that cannot be overcome on his motorbike.

“The biggest crowd I performed for was 25,000 when I did a 25-minute show in Singapore,” said Dupont. “They created a special stage for the performance. What I like about biking on the streets is the adventure of it all – it’s like a live show which is unplanned. You face the elements, people, cars. You test your creativity. Climate isn’t a factor. I’ve biked in snow-capped mountains where at first, you’re cold but as you ride, you warm up. In Manila, it’s very hot and humid but when you’re riding and creating, you don’t think of the heat or humidity.”

Dupont said his sport is an art and he’s determined to make it mainstream. From Manila, he’s scheduled to perform in Germany and Austria before taking a brief rest in France where he lives with his girlfriend and their one-year-old son. Dupont said he’ll never encourage his son to take up his sport. All over his body, Dupont has tattoos that express his beliefs. One tattoo shows a crying star, his way of repudiating the “star system.” Another tattoo depicts his atheist conviction.   

Dupont said there are specialized motorbike schools in Europe where riders hone their skills. “This is high-level, creative, dangerous biking,” he said. “If there’s anyone interested to do this, my advice is to go to a specialized motorbike school.”