A BMX artist with a smashed-up body

Paul Langlands, Extreme BMX rider from New Zealand. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Paul Langlands has broken his bones 21 times, as well as suffered internal injuries and brain damage - but the Cambridge-born BMX star says he's living the dream.

Langlands is in Auckland this weekend for appearances at Big Boys Toys with fellow Kiwi Jed Mildon, who has been zig-zagging around the world in the high-powered BMX show Nitro Circus.

While Mildon is renowned as the first BMXer to land a triple backflip and the only one ever to land a quadruple flip on ramps, Langlands is one of the world's top long-distance dirt jumpers.

The 28-year-old got his start at age five when he got his first BMX bike and his parents helped him build a track on the family farm outside Cambridge.

Later, he trained and began working as an engineer until six years ago when he decided he'd had enough spending his days in a workshop. "Now my life is priceless," he said. "I travel the world doing what I love."

Even though he performs for audiences, don't call Langlands an entertainer. "I'm an artist," he says with quiet conviction. "I create something out of dirt, and I go and jump that."

Mildon, who is from Taupo, is also living the dream. After making BMX history for his triple in 2011 he spent nine months in 2015 preparing for and achieving a landed quadruple flip.

He's still the only BMXer to do that; fellow BMXer James Foster broke 10 ribs on the way to the record attempt at the same time as Mildon.

"But he went on to win X-Games gold this year, so he'd be pretty happy with that," said Mildon.

Last week, Mildon was in Saudi Arabia for Nitro Circus and the week before in South Africa. On Saturday and Sunday, both men will perform three times a day at the ASB Showgrounds.