Bikester Magazine EN Summer 2021

It was on! The judges were merciless in the first round and had brutally
punished him for a minor mistake. If Daniel Tünte still wanted to become
German Champion, his final run needed to be absolutely flawless. For 60
action-packed seconds he flew over the course without showing any sign
of pressure. He soared over gaps upside down, he spun and sometimes
the bike spun without him. In the end, everything came together, and
Daniel became the first official German BMX Freestyle Champion. One
and a half years later though, the same athlete pedals off into the sunset
on a new gravel bike. Instead of pads, he wears Lycra, and the rides now
last much longer than a single minute. So, what happened?
BMX looks like a sport for adrenaline junkies who enjoy falling. Is that
true?
If you want to learn the most spectacular tricks, you‘ve got to be a bit crazy. But
falling is a small part of it – you wear protective gear and learn how to fall safely.
What did your training look like during your BMX career?
There were no club structures in BMX for a long time. Improving always just
meant learning the next trick or hitting new jumps. That‘s how it was for ten years
of my professional career, but then BMX Freestyle became an Olympic discipline.
This led to the development of club structures, a national squad was set up, and I
got in on the ground floor.
And then you became German Champion?
Yes, in March 2019, that was the first German championship under the World
Cycling Federation‘s rules. I was over the moon to win, and I‘m still the reigning
German Champion. But in the end, it was just a contest where I could stand on
the top of a podium.
When you won, were you training a lot?
Before I was in the national squad, I just went BMX riding when I wanted to. If I
didn‘t feel like it for a week, I just didn‘t do it. I didn‘t do any compensatory sports
either. But when I started with the squad, I began training more to improve my
BMX performance. I started strength training with weights three times a week and
endurance training on the ergometer (stationary bike) twice a week. Of course, I
still rode my BMX, too. It changed very quickly and became a completely different
sport for me, losing some of its fun. I ended up training every single day in 2019.
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