Scottish professional street trials and mountain bike rider Danny MacAskill has years and years of practice from riding on perilous paths. In riding Scotland’s 900 meter (2,950-foot)-long Dubh Ridge, he puts that experience to the test.
In The Slabs, MacAskill makes his way down the remote rubble and rock on his Santa Cruz 5010, slowing down with care and attention when needed. Loch Coruisk is a stunning backdrop as it awaits his arrival below.
Mixing GoPros mounted on MacAskill’s helmet and a circling drone, the film was directed by Robbie Meade of Peny. The music, No Cars Go, is by Arcade Fire. MacAskill writes:
I am a big fan of rock climbing and have been inspired by the various men and woman who set new routes and test themselves on some amazing faces around the world so I set out to find some challenging Slab Rock routes on my home Island of Skye with an aim to ride them in a continuous line and test what was possible on my bike…
The footage is harrowing, but this kind of ride requires research, practice, and planning. MacAskill is clear about staying safe and smart in this article from Cycling Magazine:
“Some of the places I was planning to ride were very extreme in terms of what’s possible to ride your bike down and staying in control. Some of the lines I had in mind I wasn’t able to ride into because I would have probably been dead if I tried.
“It’s not like climbing with ropes. I am basically learning how to do this stuff but there is no safety involved – no rope. You make calculations as to what could happen if things go wrong, but it’s best maybe not to think about it too much, rather to think about the positives. There are some kind of slabs in there that have no runout at the bottom, once you go into them there is no way of stopping so you are fully trusting your brakes and tires,” he said.
Watch MacAskill’s Wee Day Out next. It includes lots of behind-the-scenes footage that reveals how challenging these stunts can be. Bonus:
• Brandon Semenuk’s unReal mountain bike ride in one 3 minute shot
• Rachel Atherton’s downhill mountain biking victory at Vallnord
• Frames of Mind: Tricks visualized by freestyle mountain biker Matt Jones
• Renegades of Bike Culture or How Mountain Biking Was Invent
via Reddit.
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