Tonight (Thursday) is the first ticketed event at the new Wells Fargo Arena in downtown Des Moines and it will feature pro skateboarders, freestyle motorcyclists and B-M-X bikers performing death-defying jumps, feats and tricks. 26-year-old Chad Kagy is one of the featured bicycle moto-crossers, a self-described lunatic. Kagy, a California native, says the first half of the Tony Hawk Boom Boom Huck Jam is all choreographed. Kagy says “We’re all gonna’ be on the ramp at the same time doing stuff like what we call the triple stack. (B-M-X rider) Matt Hoffman will be ten feet in the air directly above me, going upside-down, with a skateboarder underneath me. There’s three people in the air at the same time with moto-cross guys jumping over the ends of the ramp. It’s a wild mayhem mess that works out great.” Kagy’s a professional B-M-Xer and has been competing on two wheels since he was ten years old. His favorite trick is something called the Superman Seat-grab. You go from a bike riding position where you’re sitting on the seat, you jump into the air, completely lay your body out with your feet behind you and your hands in front of you like Superman flying through the air horizontal to the ground. “And then I take one hand off of the handlebars and I’m holding onto the seat and I push the bike as far out in front of me as I can, with my body completely flat with the ground, and then pull it all back together and land on my wheels, hopefully.” Kagy says he doesn’t always land on his wheels and has gotten seriously hurt in this extreme sport. He says “Just under two years ago I broke my neck. I had that bolted back together, four screws and two plates. I’ve had 11 surgeries now. It’s just all part of the process. No matter what you do, you’re going to have mistakes. Unfortunately when you’re in our sport, you’re 20 feet over flat ground and when you have a mistake, you pay for it.” The show is slated for tonight at 7. For details, surf to “www.iowaeventscenter.com”.
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