A few days ago we published an impressive video of Janine Jungfels, the young Australian rider who casued a bit of a sensation at the Canberra worlds in 2009, finishing fourth (Janine “J9” Jungfels on her Silver Sky), despite being relatively unknown outside her home country. This video, filmed seven months ago, showed off Janie’s high level of technical ability and is quite simply the best trials video that we have ever seen of a female rider ! She makes it all look easy !
We interviewed the Koxx rider yesterday and she told us about herself and about her pans for 2011, which could have a big effect on the women’s circuit this year… Warning : J9 is back !
Interview :
First of all, can you introduce yourself ?
My name’s Janine Jungfels, but my nickname is “J9”. I’m 22 years old and live in Brisbane, Australia
When did you start riding trials and why ? Do other people in your family ride ? Quand as-tu commencé à faire du trial ? D’autres personnes font du trial dans ta famille ?
No, I am the only one in my family that rides bike trials. I started riding bike trials in 2005 because my family friend, Morgan Driessens started riding. He was given a 2001 221Ti Monty by his older brother and when I had a go I really enjoyed it, so I bought myself a trials bike.
You live in Brisbane, the capital of Queensland. The city is facing the worst floods that it has seen for over 100 years. How do you manage, living in the middle of this disaster ?
you’re in Brisbane, the Queensland’s capital faces the worst floods for a hundred and twenty years... how do you live this disaster ? My house will be ok, but many areas around me have been flooded. I think in total 80 suburbs have been flooded. I spent yesterday helping my dad pack up all of his belongings because his house along with all the houses in his street were flooded today. It’s crazy how much water there is ! I consider myself extremely lucky because my house is still dry. Thanks Cam, Morg, Reinhard, Christian and Andreas for giving us a hand. The highlight was a local man and his son canoeing through the park only a few meters from my dad’s house....Brisbane’s definitely the place to be if you’re into water sports.
Incredible… What do you do in life besides bike trial ?
I love riding and being outdoors so when I’m not riding trials I like to go wakeboarding with my friends or riding my CR125. I also enjoy riding my drz400 motard and my little Honda Z50. Morgan and his dad, Cam Driessens also own Z50’s and we often race each other just for fun.
Here’s a link to a video that we made !
Excellent ! Back to trials ; you ride in the elite category in Australia ?
Yes, in Australia I ride in the elite category, which is just below the Pro category. I finished third in the Nationals last year in Adelaide.
What is your best achievement to date ? You had a pretty good result in Canberra in 2009, finishing fourth !
Competing for Australia in Canberra 2009 was a great achievement for me. I got to watch all the world class riders compete and I also got to represent my country which was a great experience.
You’ev got some good news for us haven’t you ? You’re coming to Europe in 2011 to participate in World Cups and World Championships ?
Now that I have finished my studies and have saved some money, if everything goes to plan, I will be able to ride the international competitions in 2011 and hopefully some national rounds in Germany, Spain, France or Switzerland. Europe will be good for me to gain competition experience plus it will be great to be able to watch my favourite riders again.
What are your goals ?
I would like to get a podium position, but I have little international competition experience as I have only ridden two UCI competitions so we will see what happens.
Who are your sponsors ? Who will be helping you for the 2011 season ?
My current sponsors are Koxx, Expressive Bikes, Adidas eyewear & Aviation Weldinget Aerial7.
we saw that you liked the video of Kevin and Morgan on their Sky 2son Vimeo, will this be your next bike ? What do you think of it ?
Kevin and Morgan rode very well in that video. At the moment I am riding the Sky and will compete on that at Nationals in February. The geometry of the Sky2 is very similar to the Sky, which suits my riding style. I believe it will be a very good bike and am planning on upgrading to a Sky2 before I go to Europe.
The highest side hop I have done was 1.07m. I have bunnyhop-hooked 10 pallets with 1 pallet resting on the front of the pallet stack. I’m not really sure about the other moves because I don’t usually have a tape measure with me when I ride.
You also ride motorbikes a lot ? Do you Compete ?
Yes, I love riding motorbikes ! I am not good enough to compete, I just ride for fun I would really love to watch a motorbike trials world championship round while I am over in Europe. It would be awesome to see any of the top riders (Toni Bou, Adam Raga, Albert Cabestany) ride in the flesh.
When is your next video out ? We are big fans of your riding !
The weather has not been good for filming at the moment, but I hope to make a video soon. I have found a new riding spot that has some nice lines and Cam has built me a new setup for my frontyard that is made from steel, which is good for hook ups and pedal ups. Once we have some sunshine I will get some footage
Can you tell us a bit about the trials scene in Australia ? Are there many competitions ? Are there many other girls riding ?
The Bike Trials scene isn’t very big in Australia, especially compared to Europe. We have about four national rounds and one national championship (which is this February). There are about four to five state competitions. There are usually 15-25 competitors, but I am the only girl that competes in Australia.
Who do you ride with ?
Morg Driessens and I have been riding together each week since 2005. He is a top rider and I have learnt a lot off him. I also ride with the other trials riders in Brisbane and when I travel interstate I get to ride with Joe Brewer, Andrew Dickey and Nathan Mummery.
Can you tell us about your training ? Do you have a coach ? How many times a week to you train ?
Since the 2009 World Championships I have increased my training. I train 5 times a week – I do weights 2 times a week and ride 3 times a week. Cam Driessens is not only my family friend, but also my bike mechanic and coach. He knows a lot about both because he was a motorcycle mechanic for 20 years and also rode and coached motorcycle Trials when he was younger.
Thanks for your time Janine, we hope the water settles down soon and things get back to normal !
Thank you, I was happy to answer your questions !
Photos :
Photos by : Janine Jungfels, Danni Church, Mitch Ho, Cam Driessens
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