Airborne motorbikes and bikinis mix it up on Venice Beach

VENICE BEACH, California: Bear-chested weightlifters, basketball players and bikini-clad beach babes all stopped what they were doing on Wednesday to watch Dany Torres and some of the world’s best freestyle motorcross riders take to the air on Venice Beach for a special Red Bull X-Fighters demonstration ahead of Saturday’s event in Glen Helen, California.

The oohs and ahhs could be heard up and down the world famous beach where the motorcycles flying up to 15 meters drew a spontaneous crowd of hundreds of curious onlookers.

Torres, the defending world champion, admitted with a smile that it was fun to see so many fans in bikinis watching the midday display set up on a temporary track between the beach known for hedonism and boardwalk at Venice Beach, which is sometimes known as “Muscle Beach” and was the scene for the film “White Men Can’t Jump”. “It’s amazing,” said Torres. “This is the first time I’ve ever jumped on a beach like this. It’s great to see so many people here. It’s different from an area, especially to see all the girls wearing only bikinis. It’s good for the eyes. But no it wasn’t a distraction. When you’re going up the ramp you’re only thinking of the trick. But after you’ve done the trick and you ride back to the start, that’s when you see all the girls in the bikinis.”

The ramp was set up near Ocean Front Walk, a beach-side promenade that features performers, fortune-tellers, artists and vendors. But they were all put in the shadows on Wednesday by the daredevils on their motorcycles. “I loved it, it was very entertaining,” said T’Lane Balue, a 26-year-old bartender and aspiring actress who was wearing only a blue biking and friendly smile while watching the action. “I’ve never seen this in person before so it was really cool to watch it live. It would be so cool to do it myself if I had the courage to do it.”