Steve Bunton

My name is Steve aka Flat Out Forty and I’m an exiled Kiwi living in Perth, Australia. I moved here in the mid 1990s for work and sport and just love it. When not riding bikes I’m either driving my two teenage sons between home, school, sport, music, friends’ houses, the movies, cafes, the supermarket, beach and my wife up the wall. To pay for all of  that I’m the Manager Director of an oil & gas engineering consultancy. Sport has been my life. I’ve been racing bikes since I was 5 years old with sojourns into rugby and rowing whilst at high school and through my 20s.

How did you start in Adventure Sports?

BMX was just getting going in New Zealand in the late 1970s when I was a 5 year old. I joined the local BMX club in its first year and by the time I was 10 I had raced all around the country along with my younger brother. My parents were actively involved with my Dad being the local club President. I started racing mountain bikes when I was a teenager as cross training for rowing and rugby. I was riding about 100km a week on my MTB to and from school and sports training and found that I quite enjoyed the extra competition of racing commuters when given the chance. MTB racing was becoming a proper sport in the late 1980s and I entered a local races for a bit of fun and thought I would give proper racing a go at some point later. Rowing took over until my late 30s when I picked up MTB racing again.

What inspires you?

My inspiration is simple, old guys beating young guys. I hate being beaten by younger people and I’ll train as a hard as I need to beat them.

Did you get any help along the way?

I didn’t really get any help when I got back into MTBing. I met Peter Selkrig at the Crocodile Trophy 5 years ago and he has been very helpful ever since.

So what's the craziest thing you've ever done?

Raced in a local MTB race in the Aravalis in India when I was actually supposed to be there on business J I has just taken a 6 month break from racing and training to focus on my business and turned up to this race on one of Delhi’s smoggiest days ever. The race was amazing, racing through poor villages, past goats, camels, a dying cow and through bushes so spikey the thorns go through the sidewalls and out the tread of the tyre. My lungs felt like they had smoked a packet of Malboros.

 

 

 

What's next?

Restoring a car with my teenage sons.

Any advice?

Get your partner and kids onboard with your ambitions otherwise it can be a tough road.

Why did you join Adventure Freak?

To see and learn how other people achieve.

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