Stunt biker Danny MacAskill performs his most dangerous tricks yet to help out paralysed pal

AS A man who flips over rusty iron railings, rides his bike up a wall and makes a living finding loopholes in the laws of gravity, Danny MacAskill doesn’t scare easily.

But when the YouTube stunt bike star took on his latest video challenge, he found himself facing the most terrifying moments of his career as he had to teeter across a narrow rail bridge 60ft above a swollen river and then hurtle into a concrete tube for a loop-the-loop which could be the most dangerous trick he has ever performed.

But not even those antics, or the madcap reverse wheelie backwards down a windy country road he had to do next, could stop the Skye-born superstar taking his work to the next level - because he was doing it all to help out a friend who had been paralysed.

Danny was invited to complete the filming of the new video Road Bike Party 2 by mountain bike cult hero Martyn Ashton, who broke his back in an accident half way through making the film, leaving him wheelchair bound for life.

He called in 28-year-old Danny to help finish the video, a sequel to a clip he did last year which had 9.5 million views on YouTube, and the young Scot jumped at the chance to work with him, even if it meant taking on the most extreme challenges to date.

And he admits that being so close to Martyn and other fellow riders who have suffered horrific injuries in the saddle, does make him think about the dangers of his daredevil job.

“Martyn was filming the video when he had a bad accident at Silverstone and injured his back leaving him in a wheelchair.

“A few days later he got in touch, and asked me if I could help finish the film. Martyn is one of my inspirations, and has been in every mountain biking magazine I have owned since I started riding a bike, so it was a no-brainer for me, and a real honour to work with him to get it done.

“It was great to help him out. I just wish it was under different circumstances, but I know that continuing with the project was a real focus for him during his time in hospital.

“Things like this do bring things into perspective. Earlier this year, a friend of mine, Michael Bonney suffered a broken neck leaving him paralysed, and another friend severed a nerve between his spine and right shoulder so it does make you sad and makes you think because a lot of it just comes down to luck how you land.”

Danny has become one of the best known two-wheeled stars in the world in the last four years, since he first wowed the world with his stunt video Inspired Bicycles, showcasing breathtaking and original tricks, jumps and techniques such as riding up a tree, balancing on railings, bunny-hopping over fences and leaping between buildings.

He was quickly signed up by big name sponsors such as Red Bull, who produced his follow up videos such as Way Back Home and Imaginate, released earlier this year.

So far, more than 80 million people have watched his clips online, and he has become the world’s first household name of trials riding.

And when he was drafted in as a late addition to the Road Bike line up, the first thing Danny had to get used to was using a different bike.

Instead of the normal trials bike specially set up for the kind of aerobatic insanity he is famous for, he used the kind of stiff road bike normally seen in races such as the Tour De France.

And in true freesport style, Danny found himself presented with his ride just minutes before his first trick - crossing the River Wye bridge with no safety net, harness or practice run.

His challenge was to cross the disused rail bridge, 60ft above the swollen river near Monmouth in south Wales.

“It was the very first time I’d ridden this bike, and I was given it in the car park and then had to walk it along a path, so the very first time I got on it, was up on the metal bridge.

“There was definitely risk involved because it was quite windy but the river was in spate, so falling into the river would have been fine.

“We had exit points planned further down the river, but the main worry was that it was twenty feet down onto the bridge itself from the rail, and I am on a carbon road bike which I had never ridden before, so I was a little bit nervous which you can see in the riding as I look stiff. I’d never have imagined I’d have been doing something like that.”

Although according to Danny, it was the next task that was the most dangerous.

He was tasked with riding a loop the loop round a massive concrete hoop outside the National Cycling Centre velodrome in Manchester. Although he has done those Hot Wheels style tricks before, it was under very controlled and much safer airbag filled conditions for the Imaginate shoot at the Kelvin Hall.

“For me the hardest and biggest thing to do was definitely the loop in Manchester. I had a big crash the second time I tried it. I’d be really pleased to do something like that on my own videos on a  trial bike, but this was doing it on a road bike for Martyn, who had thought about it himself before his accident.

“There was no chance of doing a practice run, you just have to hit it at full speed every time.

“The second time I drove too far into the loop and crashed over the handlebars, I hurt my sternum but I was lucky to be able to keep trying it till I got it.”

The influential figure is no stranger to injury himself - in the lead up to making Imaginate, a toy box inspired adventure filmed on a set at the Kelvin Hall - he had to go through back surgery for one of the many injuries he incurred in the line of duty.

And as well as working to help his former childhood hero turned colleague and pal Martyn complete this new video, Danny has worked hard to help others.

Earlier this year when pal Michael Bonney was left tetraplegic after a terrible crash, Danny auctioned off his Inspired bike from Imaginate on eBay, and raised £5500 to help with Michael’s care.

And through his manager Tarek Rasouli, who is himself confined to a wheelchair, he hopes to do work in the future for the charity Wings for Life, run by sponsors Red Bull.

He added: “My manager Tarek is also in a wheelchair from a bike accident, and he is an ambassador with Wings for Life, and while I’ve not done a lot with them in the past, I definitely want to do more with them because they do amazing work with people who have had spinal cord injuries.

“The risks are always there in life, and it really makes you think.”

For more information on Danny, visit www.dannymacaskill.com or www.redbull.com/uk

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