Fun stunt biking video

[PotomacCyclist]

@dkel 129948 wrote:

These arguments against stunt riding remind me a great deal of comments I get at work about bike commuting in general: “it’s too dangerous to ride in the street,” or “it’s too dangerous to ride in the dark,” or “it’s crazy to ride when it’s below freezing.” At some point, I tend to lose patience with these comments, and have to say to the people making them that they don’t have any experience to draw on when coming to these conclusions, and that’s the reason it seems so dangerous to them. The professionals who make extreme videos have talent and experience beyond what any one of us on this forum has; passing judgment on the way they go about assessing risk in their profession seems naive and unfounded. Accidents do happen—to everyone—and it can be tragic when that happens, but risk is these peoples’ stock-in-trade, and they are better equipped to overcome their risk than any of us can understand.

As I pointed out, those are completely different situations. Also, different situations between his earlier videos and the current one.

[jabberwocky]

@PotomacCyclist 129975 wrote:

I don’t feel like I need to be the “alternative voice.” I’m just posting what I think about this particular video, and how I think it’s much different from his previous videos.

How so? His previous videos have been chock full of dangerous stuff. This one has more exposure maybe (riding stuff high in the air), but in terms of “likely to cripple or injure him”, its not the high stuff thats the issue. Its the flips and tricks, because those are where he’s likely to land on his head if he screws up (and for the most part, its the head or neck injuries that kill and cripple people).

I don’t really get the focus on him and comparisons to commuting and such. Yeah, for normal people, the kind of stuff Danny MacAskill gets up to is ridiculously dangerous. Hes freakishly talented and obviously into pushing the limits in dramatic ways. He may pay a high price (ala Martyn Ashton), but its worth noting that most trials riders seem to have long careers, and we have plenty of data in the realm of skateboarding/rollerblading/bmxing that says the vast majority of these guys don’t end up dead or in a wheelchair (and trust me, some of the shit bmxers and skateboarders get up to would probably give Danny pause).

Some of this discussion is like someone watching evel knievel jumping schoolbusses and then start droning on about motorcycle safety. You are missing the point. :p

[Tania]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]10265[/ATTACH]

[dkel]

@PotomacCyclist 129976 wrote:

As I pointed out, those are completely different situations.

Precisely so. As are the types of riders that engage in them, hence the vastly different standard for risk assessment in each.

@PotomacCyclist 129976 wrote:

Also, different situations between his earlier videos and the current one.

Also true. Considering that he proved in an earlier video that he can ride his bike along a tightrope, his riding along a comparatively wide roof ledge in the latest video seems almost commonplace.

[mstone]

@dkel 129948 wrote:

but risk is these peoples’ stock-in-trade, and they are better equipped to overcome their risk than any of us can understand.

But you are acknowledging that it’s inherently risky? Maybe they can keep beating the odds, maybe they can’t. But to argue that the activities aren’t risky seems a little weird. It’s like stunt performers in the movies: they’re professionals, they use a lot of safety equipment, and they still get hurt/killed at a higher rate than other actors. I’m not saying that they can’t do it, but I think it’s disingenuous to see something that dangerous and pretend that through the magic of film it’s not a really risky thing to do–especially since that’s the entire reason people are watching. And it’s just absurd to say that riding a bike in regular day to day use is basically the same thing.

[dkel]

@mstone 130004 wrote:

But you are acknowledging that it’s inherently risky? Maybe they can keep beating the odds, maybe they can’t. But to argue that the activities aren’t risky seems a little weird. It’s like stunt performers in the movies: they’re professionals, they use a lot of safety equipment, and they still get hurt/killed at a higher rate than other actors. I’m not saying that they can’t do it, but I think it’s disingenuous to see something that dangerous and pretend that through the magic of film it’s not a really risky thing to do–especially since that’s the entire reason people are watching. And it’s just absurd to say that riding a bike in regular day to day use is basically the same thing.

I’ve never tried to argue that there’s no risk in these stunts, nor that they exhibit the same level of risk as my daily commute.

[PotomacCyclist]

@jabberwocky 129984 wrote:

How so? His previous videos have been chock full of dangerous stuff. This one has more exposure maybe (riding stuff high in the air), but in terms of “likely to cripple or injure him”, its not the high stuff thats the issue. Its the flips and tricks, because those are where he’s likely to land on his head if he screws up (and for the most part, its the head or neck injuries that kill and cripple people).

I don’t really get the focus on him and comparisons to commuting and such. Yeah, for normal people, the kind of stuff Danny MacAskill gets up to is ridiculously dangerous. Hes freakishly talented and obviously into pushing the limits in dramatic ways. He may pay a high price (ala Martyn Ashton), but its worth noting that most trials riders seem to have long careers, and we have plenty of data in the realm of skateboarding/rollerblading/bmxing that says the vast majority of these guys don’t end up dead or in a wheelchair (and trust me, some of the shit bmxers and skateboarders get up to would probably give Danny pause).

Some of this discussion is like someone watching evel knievel jumping schoolbusses and then start droning on about motorcycle safety. You are missing the point. :p

I didn’t bring up the comparison to commuting. Other people did, while saying that they were tired of complaints about the dangers of commuting. I merely pointed out, in response to those complaints, that the risk level between the bike stunt videos and bike commuting is not even in the same league. Personally, most of my riding the past two years has been on CaBi/bikeshare, where the nationwide risk of death has proven to be zero (over a total number of 25 million trips or more, at this point). Non-cyclists could warn about the supposed dangers of riding bikeshare, but I can readily point out that a car driver is actually far more likely to die on the roads than someone on bikeshare.

I should also clarify that the reason I am commenting about this particular video is precisely because I have followed his other videos. I just think there was more to him than just Russian roulette on a bike. That’s why I don’t really comment on the cliff-riding videos or downhill racers that much, because that’s basically all it is — bike Russian roulette. I’m commenting on this video because I am/was a fan of MacAskill. The other dangerous videos and stunts, I don’t really pay much attention to, other than an occasional glance and I don’t think about it that much. I know all of that is dangerous but I don’t focus on that because that’s all it is. They can do what they want (except for those street racers who speed through crowded public alleys and roads, and endanger pedestrians and other cyclists). So can Danny but I take more of an interest in him because of his previous videos and because he has done much more than just play Russian roulette on a bike. I think it would be a creative loss if MacAskill took himself out of action permanently. To tell you the truth, I really wouldn’t notice if and when the cliff-riding people or the downhill racers crash. I figure it’s inevitable, they know what they are doing, they are adults and they are doing it voluntarily. (If those people are breaking any local laws, well, that’s a matter for local authorities. They can handle it. I don’t spend much time fretting about that side of things either.)

I also compare him to Ashton because Ashton didn’t get injured while making one of his videos. He got injured doing a stunt high in the air for some live event. If he had done the skillful tricks that he did in his videos, he probably wouldn’t have been paralyzed and he could continue to make videos and ride his bike (not counting the more recent video of him placed on a bike by his friends). Likewise, MacAskill will get injured doing his other stunts (and maybe that will catch up to him soon anyway) but he is far less likely to die from those stunts than from falling off a rooftop. As I pointed out already, yes, he is skilled but these guys do fall frequently. We know this from the behind-the-scenes videos. This isn’t just me speculating. He and Red Bull have posted several of these outtakes. It doesn’t matter that he is skilled. He falls, a lot. In the other stunts, he gets injured if he falls. In the rooftop rides, if he falls, he dies. That’s the difference. And from this fan’s perspective, I don’t see much that is impressive skill-wise in that rooftop riding, especially compared to his other rides and stunts.

[Tim Kelley]

More:

https://www.facebook.com/bikemap/videos/10153245991277647/?fref=nf

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