DANNY MACASKILL doesn’t look at the world in the same way most people look at the world.
Rather than breeze past his surroundings as he goes from A to B, MacAskill looks at everything around him as having the potential to be ridden along, jumped over or balanced upon. “A playground”, as he would call it.
Over the past decade, MacAskill has become a worldwide superstar.
The 36-year-old from the Isle of Skye has established himself as the globe’s most prominent stunt cyclist, undertaking breathtaking feats on his BMX that seem to defy gravity.
He has travelled the world: from Scotland to Argentina to America to Cape Town, he searches for new opportunities, with his videos racking up hundreds of millions of views online.
For some, over a decade of stunts would result in something of a slowdown when it comes to new ideas. But for MacAskill, and his unique perspective, there is no sign of his inspiration dwindling.
“To me, everything is an obstacle, that’s the way I look at the world,” he says. “So it’s not too hard coming up with ideas even after all this time because I look at things in a certain way.
“It’s constant – all the time, subconsciously, I’ll be measuring and assessing my surroundings.
I look at the world around me as a playground and I’ll be looking at the potential in front of me.
“I’ll pick out something I dream about doing on the bicycle and then work away trying to make it happen. There’s no boundaries for me.”
MacAskill’s latest adventure was to San Francisco, where he shot his new film, “Danny Macaskill: Postcard from San Francisco”, which was released on Red Bull Bike’s YouTube channel yesterday.
In the film, the Scot undertakes some quite remarkable tricks in some even more remarkable locations including, most notably, Alcatraz.
This is MacAskill’s first city-based film in over a decade, and despite the challenges, he admits the opportunity to visit some of the most famous sites in the world was too good an offer to turn down, especially when the idea for this film has been over five years in the making. But despite the ease with which he does the unthinkable on his bike, his tricks can see him fail dozens, if not hundreds of times, before he gets it right.
“We originally planned to film this in 2017 but on the second day of filming, I broke my kneecap so that put a stop to things for a few years. So it was very cool to get back out,” he says. “I’ve not tackled a pure street riding film since 2009, when I made my first street film, and that’s because filming in cities is pretty difficult.
“First of all, you need permission for what you can ride on, and you have to deal with pedestrians. And also, you’ve got concrete landings, which are a bit harder than grass.
“Going to Alcatraz was very cool, though, it’s got an interesting vibe. It’s got a sinister feel. Getting to ride in there was incredible – we were so lucky because they are very protective of these locations.”
A broken kneecap is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to MacAskill’s list of injuries.
More than 30 broken bones over the course of his career is testament to the degree of difficulty of his tricks and while most mere mortals would become incrementally wary with each broken bone, MacAskill has become a master at banishing any feelings of fear that dare to creep in.
“For sure I get scared,” he says.
“I try some of the moves onto some mats or palettes to get a feel for things but once you take that away, you just have to go for it. But still, it can take me hundreds of attempts to get a trick right.
“It’s like anything, though, it comes down to experience and you learn about calculating the risks. As long as you trust your equipment and yourself, it’ll hopefully be OK – one of the big things with fear is you think you’re going to freeze on the edge, which is the worst place that you could bottle it.
“For instance, if you bottle a front flip as you take off, you’re in for a really bad time. But I’ve been riding my bike for 25 years and professionally for 13 years so you’d hope I was reasonably decent with coping with those feelings by now.”
Despite being on the verge of turning 37, MacAskill has no thoughts of hanging up his bike helmet any time soon, as 2023 may well see him return to the countryside and the mountains, where so many of his films have been shot.
“I never planned to make this a job and I feel so lucky to still be doing it after all these years,” he adds. “There might be a point when I’ve done my highest bunny-hop or biggest trick but, at the moment, there’s still a lot of world out there to do some storytelling on.”
