For years now, Dane Searls has been regarded as one of the best big dirt jump riders in the world. Fresh off wins at both Cam White's Hillside Dirtjam, and the Big In Bavaria contest, Dane teamed up with Unit Clothing, to build what is the worlds biggest set of BMX dirt jumps, in an effort to see what is possible and how far he can take BMX dirt jumping.

The Giants of Dirt video features Dane working closely with Aussie Freestyle MX'er Matt Schubring to build jumps that would scare the crap out of dirt bikers with an engine, let alone someone on a pushie!

Check out Dane going large right here!

ZOO chat's to dane about The Giants Of Dirt...

So are those dirt jumps the biggest to be done on a BMX?
They’re definitely the biggest dirt jumps. The mega-ramp used at X Games at on the Nitro Circus Tours are bigger, but they’re both artificial set-ups made of plywood and steel. The Giants Of Dirt are the biggest dirt jumps in the world that we know of.

What were you thinking on your first test run?
“Shit, I hope I make it!” (laughs). Nah with those jumps you’ve just gotta go for it and not think about it too much. On the 50ft jump I crashed on I knew I didn’t have enough speed at the bottom of the take-off, but I couldn’t do anything about it. It just didn’t feel right in my guts, and it turns out my instinct was right!

How does someone get the balls to jump that big?
I don’t really know...As a kid I grew up trying to find bigger jumps to hit. Once you have confidence in a jump you can then progress to something bigger that scares you again. I guess I got comfortable jumping big jumps and tried to push them bigger and bigger. This is next-level shit now though. 

What’s the gnarliest stack/injuries you’ve had from bmx?
When I was 15 I was riding by myself at the Umina skatepark without a helmet and crashed really hard. Council workers found me knocked out lying in pool of blood and. I broke bones in my cheek, riped my chin, split an artery and bruised my brain. On the way to hospital I actually died a couple of times and had to be revived. I don’t know anything about it though, as I was out cold, and was for at least an hour.

Ohh that’s heavy! Just out of curiousity, do BMX riders get any groupies following you around?
Yeah, we do get a few but not as many as the motocross riders. Those guys pull groupies like you wouldn’t believe. The girls don’t even know what they look like under the helmet, but they just like the image and will drop their pants for them.

What’s your funniest groupie proposition/moment?
I’ve had plenty (laughs). The funniest was after the 2006 Red Bull Elevation competition in Canada. Me and a Red Bull promo girl had sex in the gondola on the way down the mountain, but the people in the gondolas ahead and behind us had a great view and cheered us on. I think she got fired from her job because of it, but it was the most fun 30-minute gondola ride I’ve ever had.

Hahahaha! Classic, mate. If you could rid the world of one thing, what would it be and why?
Terrorists. They’ve made life so hard when it comes to travelling internationally now. Every airport is full of paranoid security trying to make life tough for everyone. 

What’s the most evil thing you have ever done?
In 2006 we were in San Francisco for the Dew Tour and were black-out drunk. I pissed on my Unit BMX teammate Cam Pianta and his chick while they were sleeping. I woke up in the morning and they didn’t have any sheets on the bed and there was vomit all over the ground and I asked “where are your blankets?” And Pianta was like “We had to throw them out because you pissed all over us last night!”

Now that you’ve jumped these massive gaps, what are you going to jump next?
Well I haven’t finished with the Giants Of Dirt. We’re planning a second attempt at the 50ft and 60ft jumps during the last week of October, and Unit is planning a live webcast through Facebook and their website, which will be awesome. Once I’ve conquered the Giants Of Dirt, I want to get into long-distance jumping on a BMX. The current ramp-to-ramp record is 115ft, but no-one has ever really done dirt-to-dirt long-distance jumping before, and that’s something I plan to get into in the future.

So what did you think of Dane's epic jumps? leave your comments below.


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