Promoter and riders say the Nitro National Pro Hillclimb is the biggest in the country.
More than 230 riders, some from out of state, have come to the North American Hillclimbers Association event in Columbus.
"Sometimes, like, I pick my line, and then you kind of got to turn off your brain to like, almost like shut down all of the negative thoughts like what could go wrong," said Jake Anstett, defending champion in Columbus. "You just have to kind of focus on all the positives and not think that anything's gonna go wrong, regardless if like you questioned it or not. You have to put it out of your mind or else you're not going to try to go fast. You'll chop right at that point where you think it could go wrong."
The event also includes freestyle motocross with riders from Octane Addictions.
"I'm just focusing on what I have to do right," said Adam Jones, freestyle motocross rider. "You can't lose focus. I can't be daydreaming thinking about my drive yesterday or anything like that. I'm completely focused on the task at hand, which is learning the tricks that I have decided to do before I get the job."
"Either you do or don't do it," said Brian McCarty, also a freestyle motocross rider. "Til you do, you never know the inevitable about and all that stuff so you don't know. Oh man. Get done you want to chug a beer after. By going to the bar and you're like yeah we did something great today."
"So you're gonna live we were just told by everybody else on the east coast we are officially the biggest motorcycle hillclimb in the United States," said Tyler Johnson, hillclimb promoter. "So we've done that, so we're kind of excited about that. So, New York used to be a little bit bigger and attendance-wise, and, and obviously riders. Sounds like everybody in the pits is saying this is the biggest hill climb in the United States."
Johnson estimated the crowd as among the biggest for the event on a Friday night.
The event includes fireworks on Saturday night and the hillclimb runs until 11:30 p.m.
