chilean suicide bike racing

[garcia]

this could equally be in "sport" or "film" but it is of general human interest so "world" it is.

i've always kinda wondered what it would be like to do something like this, now i know without having to do it.

http://www.balls.ie/2011/03/02/camera-work-of-the-year/

[ursus arctos]

chilean suicide bike racing

Bloody mental, innit?

[hobbes]

chilean suicide bike racing

That's insane. The 3rd one that pops up at the end is very good too.

[Mumpo]

chilean suicide bike racing

Trying to think of a British town which could host that kind of thing. Er... Howarth?

[Bored Of Education]

chilean suicide bike racing

[Bored Of Education]

chilean suicide bike racing

You could do it from the top of the hills in Bath possibly. I am just deciding whether to show this to Bored Jr, a keen BMXer who showed off his new trick of airing three kids lying down on a skate ramp the other day.

I love the dog in the middle but thought the sound had been turned off as if it is me all you would have heard is WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooo
aaaaaaaaaa aahhhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
SSSSsHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTtttttttttt ttttttt AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH FFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUU CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk all the way down

[ursus arctos]

chilean suicide bike racing

A thousand times more mad, and tragic.

[Taylor]

chilean suicide bike racing

Mumpo wrote:

Trying to think of a British town which could host that kind of thing. Er... Howarth?

I'm thinking Lincoln.

[hobbes]

chilean suicide bike racing

Durham?

[Guest]

chilean suicide bike racing

Clovelly would be best.

[ad hoc]

chilean suicide bike racing

Sheffield

[Guest]

chilean suicide bike racing

[evilC]

chilean suicide bike racing

Holy f***ing s***, dude! That is absolutely insane!

The thing I couldn't get over (apart from the million and one mad obstacles) was how long it lasted! I kept on expecting it to stop, but it just went on and on.

I almost can't believe the riders don't suffer from some kind of altitude-change effects due to the overall size of the vertical drop. Certainly, England wouldn't have anything to match that. Maybe somewhere in Wales? The more obvious places to do it would be in the Alps, Pyrenees or in Scandinavia somewhere.

Wow! I'm just blown away by that!

Barndoorio - is that Padstow? That race would last about 15 seconds! :-)

(edit: No - I see now that it's Clovelly. D'oh! Must learn to roll the mouse pointer over things! Still - it'd be over in a flash there.)

[WOM]

chilean suicide bike racing

We had a real nutcase art director who quit and moved to Colorado to pursue his downhill mountain bike racing career. His videos are a lot like the one up top, but through forests and over muddy rocks and shit. Not as frightening, though.

[Incandenza]

chilean suicide bike racing

ursus arctos wrote:

A thousand times more mad, and tragic.

Yes, but thankfully no one was killed. A local morning news program in LA teased that video before going to commercial by describing him as "an agitated driver." FFS. I don't ever remember hearing an attempted murderer described as only "agitated" before.

In the race video, I wish we could have seen what the guy looked like. It looks like he's wearing a suit--would have loved to have seen a photo of him on his bike.

[Incandenza]

chilean suicide bike racing

BTW, the race is the Valparaiso Cerro Abajo in Chile. Here is a video from this year's race: http://vimeo.com/20228599

[mafu]

chilean suicide bike racing

is having a dog in the way mandatory?

[WOM]

chilean suicide bike racing

That'd be one point in Clovelly's favour.

[via vicaria]

chilean suicide bike racing

Woah. I can safely say that if attempting that, I'd have been off the bike at the first turn.

Though there does seem to be a minor South American fetish for this sort of thing. I had thought this topic would relate to the infamous road of death, which some odd people seem to like throwing themselves down on a bike:

http://www.gravitybolivia.com/view?page=109

[evilC]

chilean suicide bike racing

This is much more sensible fun. Look - they've even got a 'ski lift' mechanism in place! We Brits are a bit more low-tech. Logically speaking, San Francisco should be the perfect place for all such things, but their racing seems a bit tamer.

I'd like to see a bike race like the Chilean one in San Francisco, though.

[Wyatt Earp]

chilean suicide bike racing

St. Ives would work well.

[Bored Of Education]

chilean suicide bike racing

This makes the route look like it is under half a mile which sounds quit short for 2 and a half minutes. I have found a route in Bath that is 2 and a half miles down hill - albeit on roads