The Pyramids of Giza glowed eerily in the background as 10,000 eager spectators filled stands in the sand, swaying to a cool, crooning soundtrack of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Anthony Kiedis. The crowd, too geared up to be put off by sudden dust storms kicked up by a steady wind, watched stagehands scurry to finish their work before the lights blared fiercely and the telltale revving of dirt bikes filled the air.

Flames shot from posts lining a makeshift ramp and fans cheered as the first biker soared high above the crowd. Others followed with daring tricks and flips during the first Red Bull X-Fighters Exhibition Tour in Giza on April 10. The exhibition, which featured four freestyle motocross (FMX) riders launching themselves into the air to the delight of onlookers, is the first of its kind in Egypt and the Middle East, say the event’s on-the-ground organizers at Hill and Knowlton. They are hoping the show’s turnout and sponsorship by major donors, including the Ministry of Tourism, will guarantee the city a much-coveted spot on next year’s X-Fighters competition tour, which is already underway for 2009. The first of five stops around the world was Mexico City, Mexico, in March. Riders will be trying their luck in the Canadian city of Calgary on May 30.

For motocross freestyler Nick de Wit, it doesn’t get any better than performing in front of the last remaining ancient wonder of the world. The South African, known as “Sick Nick” for his penchant for backflip stunts, says the sport is gaining a lot of popularity globally thanks to more young people getting involved in the FMX scene, which is also referred to as Moto-X. Though Egypt is a country full of football, handball and squash enthusiasts, de Wit says a competition here in 2010 could pave the way for a new generation of riders representing the African continent.

“Egypt’s cool. It’s a new city to freestyle motocross. I don’t think anyone here has really experienced it or had an event here,” says de Wit.

But that shouldn’t stop anyone from learning more about FMX as a sport, he says. “In the beginning, freestyle was just guys messing around on jumps, trying tricks. Now it’s been made into a sport with a world championship. It’s really, really competitive. It’s crazy, the stuff that is coming out now. You look on the internet and see people coming up with their own [stunts].”

Opening with a “switchblade” (see Trick Dictionary below), de Wit wowed watchers with a myriad of death-defying stunts that he admits are scary even for seasoned riders. Fellow tour riders Chris Birch from the United Kingdom, Morgan Karlson of Sweden and Jimmy Verburgh from Belgium didn’t disappoint either, landing several “whips” and “Superman” jumps, topped off by successive “tsunamis” and “rock solids”, with Karlson ending the show by launching Egypt’s iconic red, white and black flag 30 feet in the air on the back of a suped-up motorcycle. New fans cheered them on throughout the show, at one point chanting, “We want back flips!” in tandem with the announcer from local radio station Nile FM.

(Courtesy Red Bull X-Fighters) An X-Fighter soars over the Giza Pyramids during a practice run.

FMX evolved from the sport of motocross racing, where athletes race each other on enclosed indoor or outdoor tracks. Though motocross sounds tamer, the courses are undoubtedly challenging with hills, man-made jumps and tight turns that take a great deal of skill to navigate at speed. In contrast, FMX-ers are more worried about getting ‘big air.’

FMX competitions are typically divided into two events: the Big Air or Best Trick show and freestyle routines. The first involves performing a series of tricks using a ramp, jump or hill; judges score based on the riders’ landings and the difficulty of the tricks. The riders with the highest scores move on to the finals.

The freestyle competition combines elements from motocross, allowing bikers to test their skills on a course with a variety of jumps, hills and ramps. Here judges score the riders by looking at the combination of tricks, their difficulty and variation, as well as whether the rider lands them successfully.

Arguably Africa’s best FMX rider, de Wit says he got involved in dirt biking in his early teens. At age 17, de Wit made his debut in motocross racing, turning his attention to FMX jumping in 2002. De Wit is looking forward to a big year after sharing first place with countryman Alastair Sayer at the first round of the 2009 South African FMX Nationals in February. After winning several national contests, the Johannesburg native began plying his daredevil trade in international events, ranking fifth in the world, according to the International Freestyle Motocross series’ tour ranking system. He says his greatest riding moment to date was landing his first backflip.

According to de Wit, Cairenes last month only got a small taste of all the sport has to offer, from the spectacular highs of seeing new tricks to the major lows of injuries and big falls instead of big air. De Wit has had his own fair share of injuries, which include breaking his wrist and dislocating both his shoulder and knee. His ankles and feet have also taken a beating thanks to numerous sprains, but he says the rush is more than worth a few excruciating post-injury rides. De Wit, who trains at least three times a week, says keeping fit and focusing on landing the first jump, which in his opinion is the hardest, are his biggest goals.

The 27-year-old says he’s looking forward to the possibility of backflipping in front of the Great Sphinx next year, but before then his main concern is getting ready for events such as X-Fighters Madrid on July 16 and 17.

“This year’s been pretty good. So far, I’ve had a few good months of training, and I won one of the national championships in South Africa. Red Bull X-Fighters is the competition,” he says. “There are probably 100 riders globally that [are good enough to] compete in X-Fighters, and of those, there are only 14 spots they can take per event.”

The Red Bull X-Fighters tour held its first show in Spain eight years ago. The event was held in Valencia’s historic bullfighting arena, a deliberate attempt to highlight the competitive nature of the sport. US competitor “Mad” Mike Jones was the first to take home the X-Fighters trophy. Last year, the X-Fighters competed in the United States, Brazil, Mexico, Spain and Germany, finishing the season in Poland.

This year’s competition will likely be just as fierce, with 2008’s X-Fighter overall champion Mat Rebeaud of Switzerland proving hard to beat. Tour rookie Levi Sherwood might have something to say about it; the New Zealander took the top title at the tour’s first event in Mexico City on March 27 in front of a packed crowd of 43,000, beating Japan’s Eigo Sato, who came in second.

There are several FMX tournaments throughout the year including IFMXF. One of the best known is the Summer X-Games in the US, named for the extreme sports including FMX that it hosts. The FMX highlight of last year’s X-games in Los Angeles, California, was rider Jim DeChamp’s attempt at a front flip in the competition’s Best Trick category. His spectacular fall was viewed thousands of times on online video site, YouTube (www.youtube.com). This year’s competition will again be held in Los Angeles from July 20 to August 2. et

The Cliffhanger: The rider flies into the air, leaving the seat to catch the underside of the bike’s handlebars with his feet. With hands and body stretched out as far as possible, the trick mimics the body’s position when hanging on a cliff’s edge.

The Backflip: The rider completes a full rotation backward on his bike along the vertical axis. Not for the faint of heart.

The Heel-Clicker: The rider wraps his feet around his arms above the handlebars and clicks his heels together, while holding the grips.

The Switchblade: The rider juts both legs to the side of the bike mid-air during a No Foot Can-Can trick and kicks them apart in a scissor motion.

The Tsunami: The rider performs a handstand while holding the handle bars.

The Dead Body: The rider drives his legs through his arms over the handlebars. The move is complete when the rider straightens his body to look like a dead body.

The Lazy Flip: During a backflip, the rider leans back on the seat with his arms extended parallel to the bike as it rotates.

The Whip: The rider pushes the bike out at a right angle. It can be turned into a Whip Flip if done during a backflip.

The Superman Double Grab: The rider lets go of the bike and straightens his body out, “flying” just over the bike.

The Rock Solid: The rider pulls his hands completely to the sides during a Superman Double Grab.