6 minutes of exhilaration. My heart was in my mouth watching this clip

Check out this three year old's bike tricks!. Woohoo!

Wonder if she was inspired by Danny ?

Help ma boab! My heart was in my mouth watching that. I’ve no head for heights so I found it quite scary but what skill he showed, almost picking his way down at times. Amazing.

What I should have said is that I bet Danny MacAskill has done a recce. I doubt he just carries his bike up any old mountainous slab and jumps on the bike and comes down again.

He may be a thrillseeker but he is no fool.

With regard to my comments about puritanism, yes, I probably do overreact to some of the stuff on Gransnet. There is a lot of excessive (in my view) risk aversion.

Sorry for the typos. Phone ?

^ My comment was about mountaineers and other extreme sport people needing to be just a few millimeters from tragedy and death, or they feel life is just not worth living. And that is sad.^

I don’t agree that it’s sad. It’s not being my choice or yours doesn’t mean it’s a wrong or sad choice for someone else.

If you’ve watched other Danny McCaskell films or even just the one at the start of this thread it will become obvious that he’s not one of those anyway. Anyone who takes a film crew along with him probably has carefully worked out the safety issues. Also just watch him! Most of it wasn’t that dangerous when done with his skill. His comments and wows at the end or about the entertainment value for others.

I don’t think what Danny does is more dangerous than what acrobats in circuses do.

Baggs

And there's the puritanical rub: no exhilerating fun allowed!

come on Baggs- that is silly. I am a sporty person and love skiing and snowboarding, and speed, adrenalin.

These guys however take it to the extreme- with extreme risks. They are usually OK, with huge support teams and sponsors, etc. And yes they rarely come badly a cropper at this level. but they serve as role models for a lot of other youngsters who just do not have the correct equipment and experience.

Totally agree about having fun, going fast, feeling the wind past your ears and your heart beating faster- but these guys have huge following and emulators.

My comment was about mountaineers and other extreme sport people needing to be just a few millimeters from tragedy and death, or they feel life is just not worth living. And that is sad. No need for those 'puritanical fun killer' comments for sure.

It's interesting that most mountain rescue workers are volunteers and they volunteer because they like mountaineering as well and know that it's worth doing because life is about more than always avoiding risk.

Not that most mountaineering is dangerous anyway. Risky at times, yes, but so are far more ordinary things that even risk-shy people do all the time.

I'm with you Jane10 - it is interesting that we spend hundreds of years developing ways to keep ourselves safe (sanitation, antibiotics etc.) and yet some people are still drawn to danger as if by a magnet.

I am all for people having a bit of exhilaration, as long as they do not expect others to risk their lives picking up the pieces for them when it all goes pear-shaped - I often think this about mountaineers.

There are far more responsible ways to develop safety equipment

But it's because of the need for extra safety measures needed in extreme sports that they're discovered in the first place! Read up on when, why and who invented seat belts, crash helmets, eye goggles and air bags. They're in common everyday usage now but they were developed because someone risked their safety for fun and someone else stepped up to make them safer. And we all benefited.

Oh My Goodness! Stunning.

That was amazing, GNW, and yes, beautifully filmed. Talk about feel the fear and do it anyway...

And there's the puritanical rub: no exhilerating fun allowed!

Oh, I don’t know EV. I've cycled down slopes as steep as some of that though not as crazy looking or as scary below. When I say cycled it’s a case of standing on the pedals with fingers on the brakes the whole time. It’s fun!

And the last time was in 2019.

Live a little! ?

I wouldn't have thought that it's every day that cyclists suddenly decide to cycle down the sides of a cliff edge

There are far more responsible ways to develop safety equipment.

Without dare devils, no mountain climbed, no ocean sailed, no under sea creatures discovered, no jungle explored, no Atlantic flight, no man on the moon

Absolutely brilliant post, thank you Cherrytree for saying that. It's the risk takers that help us to develop new safety equipment that eventually filters down to everyday use that we all benefit from; seat belts, harnesses, crash helmets, air bags: all of these were initially developed for safety measures in "extreme" sports that are now used in every day life.

You've missed Fleur20's point, EV. Danny MacAskill's cycling exploits have made a big difference to bike safety. Doing the stuff he does has showed up where improvements in bike manufacture needed to be made – balance, weight distribution, length of wheel base for difference needs, better tyres and brakng systems, etc., etc.

That matters to ordinary everyday cyclists.

It's not a necessary discovery though is it ?

Without dare devils,
no mountain climbed, no ocean sailed, no under sea creatures discovered, no jungle explored, no Atlantic flight, no man on the moon.

It'll all end in tears ! I don't rate these dare-devil tactics.

I was hugely impressed.

biba70

100% agree with Jane10 here- I find it really sad, and this is the case with so many sports, extreme biking, extreme skiing, extreme snowboardin, extreme parapenting, etc, etc- that there are so many young people (usually young men) who feel, that unless they are constantly on the edge of death- life is not worth living.

And these videos encourage this- with oft tragic results.
And they go around because we watch them and share them - and it becomes a business, with adverts, sponsors, etc.

Oft tragic results, like road accidents caused by vehicles that nealry all of us drive.

Only I'd hazard a guess it's a LOT more in the case of road accidents/deaths than all the others associated with "extreme" sports put together.

People in glass houses flinging rocks again.

Fleur20, yup. Thanks for that, Danny.

Wow. Whatta guy. Such fitness, control and skill.

Daniel "Danny" MacAskill is a Scottish trials cyclist, from Dunvegan on the Isle of Skye. He works professionally as a street trials / Mountain bike rider for Santa Cruz Bicycles. In April 2009, he released a five-minute street trials video to YouTube, filmed by his flatmate Dave Sowerby... lots of other videos on YouTube.. Danny is TOTALLY professional and has done lots to promote and improve safety for all cyclists.