Riding on the edge

For Alexander and Andreas Niederer, it's the perfect playground.

Their east Manatee County backyard is littered with logs, tractor tires, concrete slabs and various wooden contraptions.

It takes such an environment for the Niederers to test their limits and, sometimes, to even question their sanity. They are world-class MotoTrials riders.

MotoTrials riders navigate an obstacle course on specially-built motorcycles and do their best not to touch the ground with their feet. Observers score the event, which is popular in the United Kingdom and Spain, with the riders being penalized for having to steady themselves by touching the ground. The motorcycles are designed to be ridden standing up with no seating.

“I force myself to find the most idiotic ride I can find,” the 22-year-old Alexander said of his practice time. “I don’t want to be scared. You need to have confidence.”

He then revved his bike engine to life and jumped it to the top of one of the wooden obstacles. He balanced the 160-pound bike precariously on a tiny ledge about eight feet in the air. Andreas, 20, was ready to take his turn. 

Andreas, a 2014 graduate of the State College of Florida Collegiate School, circled their makeshift course and tried to land the bike on the same ledge as his brother. He didn't make it.

With Andreas and his bike rolling in the dirt, Alexander looked down and shook his head.

“I could’ve told you that was going to happen, but I figured you would learn,” Alexander said to his brother.

In a sport, that focuses on precision rather than speed, Alexander and Andreas have spent the past 11 years continually stepping out of their comfort zone and pushing themselves to the limit.

That confidence and ability to take on the most daunting of obstacles has allowed the Niederers to climb through the MotoTrials ranks and put them in a position to compete for the title of the nation’s best rider. 

For the next month, the brothers will travel the country competing in a series of four events in the hopes of winning the MotoTrials National Championship Series. 

The series opened May 21-22 with the first two Eastern Rounds in Ocala. It also was the first time the series had made a stop in Florida since 2002. 

From there, Alexander and Andreas will move to the third and fourth Eastern Rounds in Sequatchie, Tenn., May 28-29 before completing two Western Rounds in Portland, Ore., June 18-19 and Canon City, Colo. June 25-26. 

During each day of the competition, Alexander and Andreas completed a series of 12 sections, which contain both natural and artificial challenges, including boulders, logs and slopes, three times. The 12 sections are connected by a trail loop, which can be anywhere between three and 12 miles long.

Colored markers are used to identify the different skill classes with more skilled competitors, such as Alexander and Andreas, completing more rigorous obstacles. 

Riders cannot practice the sections, but may inspect each section, without their bike, before being judged on their ride. Once all of the riders have examined the section, each rider will need to complete the section and then will receive a performance score. Riders have 90 seconds to finish a section. 

Scores range from 0 to 5 with the goal to receive as few points as possible in any given section. The scores from all eight rounds will be tallied and the riders with the lowest combined score in each classification will be crowned this year’s national champion. 

“You can’t win the championship the first day, but you can sure lose it,” Alexander said.

Alexander is currently ranked sixth in the professional class, which is the top level here in the United States, while Andreas is currently ranked fourth in the expert class, which is the class right below the professional class. 

“There’s a massive step in difficulty,” Alexander said of being a pro. “Most expert riders could ride professional, but in competition there’s a whole lot of pressure. 

“I get nervous, but in a good way,” Alexander said. “I love competing. There’s nothing I would rather do, but I do get jitters.”

Alexander and Andreas began riding when they were 11 and 9 years old, respectively, in their native Austria. 

Alexander’s best friend, Johannes Lingerer, rode and after struggling to keep up with his friend on his bicycle, Alexander decided to pick up the sport. 

It didn’t take long for Andreas to follow suit; but, unlike his brother, it took Andreas a while to get going when he received an electrical shock during one of his first rides. 

“That put me off for a week or two,” Andreas said. “It was a rough way to start, but it was purely a fluke.” 

The two brothers began sharing a MotoTrials bike, but it didn’t take long for them to realize that sharing simply wasn’t an option. 

Early on, MotoTrials was more of a hobby and something the Niederers did together for fun. Growing up in Austria, Alexander and Andreas split their time between MotoTrials, skiing, hockey and downhill mountain biking, but when the family moved to Florida in 2011, the brothers began focusing all of their attention on MotoTrials. 

“Now everything revolves around trials,” Andreas said. 

“There’s nothing I would rather do than get on the track,” Alexander added.  

The brothers travel across the country with their parents, Tom and Karen Niederer, competing in MotoTrials events. Additionally, the brothers also help run the family business, Trial Store USA, an online store that sells trials bikes and accessories. 

With only about four or five riders in the world making a solid living from MotoTrials, the Niederers are primarily focused on winning a national championship while hopefully learning valuable life lessons along the way. 

“I hope they learn that through hard work and persistence you can reach your goals; and that sportsmanship and friendships made through the sport are just as important as being on the podium,” Karen Niederer said.