Danny Macaskill has been treating us to mind blowing trials riding videos via You Tube for a while now. Every time I see one, I get totally inspired. The other day I took my otherwise usesless backyard and started making my own humble trials riding course. It’s a start anyway, and it’s spurred on by videos like these. I dream of being able to ride out of the 180 on just my back wheel or huck up onto a parkbench back, stall and continue on. I”m 40 so i’m not counting on getting there, but I’m not giving up either.
Anyway, here is a tribute post to a rider with phenomenal skill. Though I will say, I cringe when I see him going for pure drop height. Save the knees Danny. Take it from someone who knows. You’ll still want to be able to do it at 40. Trust me. Style and technical trumps vertical anyday.
Even though this is a site about bikes, it’s still my site and so my personal interests have a habit of coming into it from time to time. This is one of those times.
I have a soft spot for animation and graphic data presentation in general. This video on Red riding hood, including the music, is simply too cool.
I just talked with the owner of Ernie’s Cycle Shop in Westbrook Maine about a class she was preparing to give to some Girl Scouts. As the conversation turned to safety and helmets and such, I offered that I tell students that I have no problem with stunt riding and I do it myself. To which she replied, “Do you know what we are doing on the ski slopes now? We have a winter downhill series!”
Oh my god! This is too cool!
Winter Bike
This is the best cycling news i’ve heard since it dropped below freezing. I can hardly believe it. Fellow nutballs hurling themselves down a slalom course on the snow on bikes. Think of the flips, the lack of brakes and traction, the ear to ear grins.
I have to see this.
And if you want to see some photos from last year or learn more, check out these photos or this video.
From a safety standpoint, this is video is probably best described as how not to ride, but in terms of sheer enthusiasm and connecting with the joy of creating and riding a human powered vehicle, it is a video of how to ride better. Simply put, these guys love their bikes and have built fantastic machines, plus a song and a following. It shows the passion that bikes and independence can bring out.
What you should also know is that the originator of this group, Tyrone Stevenson, is also quoted in an article about this as wanting to win a Nobel Peace Prize. From someone living in Oakland, California, that’s reason for hope right there.
My hat is off to these guys.
If you want a more local version of the power that bikes can tap into with youth, check out the Community Bicycle Center in Biddeford, ME.
It’s an amazing example of what a few great adults can do with a lot of really great youth, using bikes as the medium. Bikes are vehicles of change.
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