Danny MacAskill’s got style and grace so controlled, it almost looks odd against the flamboyant backdrop of San Francisco.
The mountain biker has become famous for turning any urban terrain into his own park. That started when he was a grommet tearing around the Isle of Skye on his first bike, and it’s what he’s up to in this Red Bull edit.
MacAskill’s rare acuity for bunny hops, manuals, and nose rides lets him turn any location with a bench and a retaining wall into a playground. And with his ridiculous low-speed and track stand control, he almost never comes off his line.
He honed those skills when he was quite young. In an interview, MacAskill described a childhood that prefigured his career to a striking degree of fidelity.
“I was always quite an active, or maybe more hyperactive, kid. I’d be climbing the trees in my garden, climbing all over my house, jumping off the highest walls I could. I kind of took that energy to my bike when I was young,” MacAskill said. “My friends and I used to cycle around the island and to school. I used to have, like, a course on my way home: all different curbs and banks and driveways.
“I’d just be jumping off everything I could find, racing my friends home. It was good fun,” he concluded.
Experience is important for the risks MacAskill takes. Those include multiple stunts where losing his balance means death or grievous injury.
It doesn’t hurt for circus tricks either, like riding across a tennis net.
(Yes, you can watch him risk it for the biscuit, and just goof off, in the clip.)
The main thing that went through my mind while I watched the Scotsman demolish Golden Gate City on a bike: “Only Danny MacAskill.”
Of course, nobody’s perfect and he’s got a sense of humor. Enjoy some spills along with the thrills.
