Mark Webb’s mind tricks

"Tell the readers I’m powered by a tin of Relentless and a HobNob biscuit!"

Chris Woodage meets BMX man Mark Webb

Known for his relentless drive to try new tricks and pull off the impossible, it comes as no surprise that Mark ‘BMX’ Webb has broken as many bones as he’s won contests. Is he completely mad? Chris Woodage journeys into his mind to find out.

It’s just past midday when I pull up outside Mark’s place. He comes out of his front door stripped to the waist. I notice he’s had a few more tattoos done and is rocking brand-new jet-black hair - last time I saw him, it was bleached blonde. He’s already started breakfast: a giant pack of Doritos, tomato dip and a fizzy drink. The guy’s well built, strong as an ox and has no body fat despite living mostly on a diet of junk.

Junk food and talent

“Come in,” he says, “just gotta watch this and we’ll get going.” He puts a copy of Hot Rod in the DVD player. I’m thinking he just wants to show me a scene or two. My mistake. The whole film and many laughs later, we’re two bags of Doritos down before we even begin loading the van. “Feel the weight of that,” says Mark, passing me his bike, “it’s only twenty one pounds!” A super light bike, junk food and absolutely no regard for his own safety - that’s how he does it, I think to myself. That and a massive amount of talent.

The love of the bike

Twenty-two-year-old Mark Webb is a real character. He’s outspoken and cocky yet likeable all the same. If he likes you, he’ll be your best mate; piss him off and he’ll make sure to let you know. But what really defines Mark is BMX. He loves it. He eats, sleeps and breathes the thing. Mildly autistic? ADHD? Crazy? He’s probably all of the above but he’s also one hell of a bike rider.

"But what really defines Mark is BMX"

Here’s a brief summary of Webb’s most recent achievements. He was the only English rider to be invited to ride street in the X Games last year, an invite that is extended to only ten riders worldwide. He’s been the Braun European Spine Ramp Champion three times running, he’s won all the major European and British street comps and has a trick list as long as both of Mr Tickles’ arms. Daniel Dhers, the Dew Tour gold medallist, calls him “the best rider in the world”. This year his plans are to get to America - and dominate.

How it all began…

All this hasn’t come easy for Mark. Coming from Leigh Park, one of the roughest estates in Portsmouth, he’s had it

"Mark had to become a man when many his age were still being kids"

stacked up against him. Brought up by his mum alongside his two small sisters, Mark had to become a man when many his age were still being kids. He left school with no qualifications and barely able to read and write - something he has now rectified with a lot of hard work and the help of his girlfriend, Holly.

Whilst most of his counterparts were getting into drugs and stealing cars, Mark found BMX. “I started hanging out down at Southsea,” he tells me. “I met a guy called John Pratt, I was fourteen and riding a 16-inch bike that I was far too big for. I was that typically annoying kid down the skate park asking all the older riders to do a back flip or something. John started lending me BMX videos. I was hooked. I’d just sit and watch them all day wanting to be like the riders I was watching.” It’s ironic that a few years later, the riders in those videos are looking to Mark for inspiration.

Some BMXers are pretty reserved when riding day to day, saving the big tricks for the final in a competition. But not Mark, he’s an all-or-nothing, no-half-measures kind of guy. He has won pretty much every major contest in Europe but will go for broke on a daily basis too. I guess that’s why he’s so good - and why his injuries are so bad.

How about twisting an ankle so badly that the shinbone gets twisted and it snaps too? Mark did this at a backyard jam attempting a 720 bar spin that left him off his bike for six months.

“That injury made me grow up. It made me contemplate my life and what I was all about. I thought I’d never ride again."

Then, of course, there’s last year at the BMX Masters in Germany when he snapped his arm clean in two just above the wrist doing a 900 that he didn’t need to because, get this, he’d already won. I remember that one well because he shook it in front of my face. It looked like he had two wrist joints. When the medics asked him if he had passed out, he replied, “The only time I pass out, mate, is when my cock’s gone floppy.”

In recovery

At the moment, Mark is recovering from his latest injury, a broken back. “I’d just built a bigger jump box at the park in Southsea and I wanted to try and do the biggest front flip I’d ever done,” he says. “I got half way round and bailed, landing on my arse from about ten feet up. I knew I’d broken my back as soon as I’d landed.” The doctors were contemplating an operation on his L1 vertebrae, something that could have put him off his bike for at least a year. Luckily, the break wasn’t threatening the spinal chord so they let it heal by itself. Mark is due to get the OK to ride from the hospital in the next few days. “It feels good,” he says. “I should be all right, I’ll try to be careful.”

Mind tricks

“So what makes your mind tick?” I ask. “I like winning and hate washing up,” he snaps back. “No, but really Mark,” I insist. “I don’t know,” he replies. “I just like riding my bike and with riding comes progression. If you can do a 360 whip, you’re gonna try and do a 360 double whip. If you can do a double, you’re gonna try a triple.

“What do I tell the readers?” “Just tell them that before I ride, I see that green code like on The Matrix! Tell them when the code goes crazy, that’s when I unleash a banger. Tell the readers I’m powered by a tin of Relentless and a HobNob biscuit!”“So no muscle memory techniques or imagining the trick in your mind before you ride?” “Here’s what I do: I just figure out what I need to do then I go out there and do it.”

"I guess I just like winning too much"

Crash Landing

There’s no doubt that a great deal of the tricks now done on BMX and motocross bikes are aided by the invention of foam pits and resi ramps. These both come from the world of gymnastics and enable a rider to try tricks previously impossible to learn without life-threatening crashes. Landing in foam is a hell of a lot easier than landing on dirt or concrete. Riders now learn a trick in foam, then take it to the resi ramp (that provides a soft but manageable landing) before taking it to a real ramp. Mark himself spends a lot of time training in the foam pit at Adrenaline Alley Skate Park, in Corby, practicing moves in relative safety.

So what’s the next banger? “Dunno,” he shrugs, “Maybe a double fronty.” “A double tailwhip front flip, perhaps?” “Who knows, I’ll see what comes into my head.”

With his back on the mend and an unquenchable appetite for the new, the daring and the potentially limb breaking, what’s in store next? “I want to do as many comps as I can and try and get to America if I can afford it,” Mark begins. “But I’ve been off work with injuries too long. Maybe I should play it safe and be content with second.” And then he adds: “But that’s just not me, I guess I just like winning too much.”