A_M _B_2015_02_03_

http://www.ambmag.com.au - 37

A

LONE STARIN AN

INVISIBLE SPORT

Janine Jungfels can jump her bike on top of a van and side

hop over your mother. She’s competed against the men to

win the highest honour for trials riders in Australia, and a

rainbow jersey is just a matter of time. Why is it then, that this

impressive 25-year-old may struggle to compete in 2015?

When I talk to Janine she’s sitting in her car outside the gym

in Brisbane where she trains a few times a week. She’s driven

there straight from her job on a revegetation project to revive

koala habitat in Brisbane’s green belt. Janine has spent her life

on Brisbane’s south side, and it was here that she first took up

trials riding when a family friend lent her his bike nearly ten

years ago. She was hooked in an instant.

‘I’ve always been really bad for challenges. I’m just super

determined to get things. I can’t leave it alone until I can do it,’

she says.

Trials is like that. It can take months to pick up even the most

basic skills, like getting up on the back wheel and hopping

forward, but the rewards are immense.

‘Once you start doing some techniques on a trials bike it’s

incredibly fun, and there’s so much cool riding you can do, so

it’s really enjoyable,’ she says.

TrAining for TriAlS

I’m lucky to catch Janine between training sessions. She rides

her trials bike at least four times a week, but usually more,

then maintains her endurance by mountain biking, sometimes

at night after work to fit it in. She does bouldering for forearm

and grip strength, to help with power moves on the trials

bike, then she spends a lot of time at the gym. For Janine, her

sponsorship at Brisbane’s World Gym is ‘crucial’. She’s started

Olympic lifting with a personal trainer twice a week. Most people

would think twice before challenging Janine to an arm wrestle.

WOrdS : IMOGen SMITh TWITTer : @IMOGenJSMITh

PhOTOS : LachLan ryan

THE TRIALS OF

JANINE JUNGFELS