The Athlete: MIKE METZGER
Episode: Barge to Barge Backflip | Premiere: March 19, 2007

Perry's Thoughts:
As everyone has, I have heard about Mike Metzger and his amazing riding talent for years. When I met him, I found that he wasn't what I pictured in my mind. He is a well-spoken, intelligent family man, and I took a liking to him immediately. Although Mike has probably done hundreds of backflips on his motorcycle, doing it from one floating barge to another was not going to be easy. Just getting the barges into place, at the exact distance they needed to be, took most of the day. When it finally came down to doing the jump, as I watched Mike head for the takeoff ramp, launch himself into the air, and backflip his motorcycle, I thought that it looked amazing. It wasn't until after he started coming down and was heading for the landing ramp that my inexperienced eye realized that he was going to land too far down the ramp. And as I watched his bike impact the ground and his body fall off the motorcycle like a rag doll, my heart stopped for a second. This is a show on which every day somebody can get hurt, but you try not to think about it until it happens. This was one of those days. I'm happy to say that Mike will be OK, and I'm sure we'll see him on a motorcycle again real soon.

Eli's Thoughts:
Mike Metzger has a long history in freestyle motocross and has definitely helped in its evolution, earning the nickname "Godfather" in the process. Mike was going to try something never done before: back-flipping from barge to barge, 75 feet in front of the Queen Mary in Long Beach, Calif. We met up with Mike on the ship and talked over the stunt he had planned. A really cool and well-spoken guy, he's no stranger to danger and was very calm about the stunt. We went on the barges and watched as JT and Jesse put his takeoff and landing ramps together — these guys were not messing around and had the whole thing completed in no time. For this jump there was no practice; this was a one-time jump, which added to the danger. When we got the barges in position, the crew set the anchors on all sides to be sure the barges wouldn't move; if there was any movement on the water, the ramps would change angle — any movement up on the takeoff would send Mike too high and any movement down would send him too far. For this reason, we waited until the water was as still as possible. Mike did a couple of run-ups to check the traction of the ramp, and then got ready to go. He went to it and when I saw him throw the backflip, I was like, "Wow! How cool is that!" But as he came to make the landing it was clear he was going too far. When he came down, his back tire hit nearly the bottom of the ramp, and when both wheels came down, it was on the flats, making Mike take the full brunt of the landing. He hit really hard and it was clear that he was not in good shape. His bike went sliding off the barge and Mike was pretty busted up. This was truly unfortunate and none of us like seeing athletes get hurt. It was an unsettling reminder that what action sports athletes do is truly dangerous, with very real and painful consequences. Mike is going to be OK; he has taken hits before and come back stronger than ever. As I said earlier, the name the "Godfather" doesn't come easy but no one deserves the title more than Mike Metzger.