January 1, 2008

read story | posted by mr_crash_davis to Extreme at 4:07 PM CDT (36 comments total)

I watched it. It was entertaining.

posted by NoMich at 4:51 PM CDT on January 1

That was cool- thanks for the post. SpoFi needs more posts like this: we all can easily access the latest updates and news about the NBA, NFL, or MLB, but I'd never have seen or known about this jump until m_c_d posted it here.

posted by Hal Incandenza at 5:29 PM CDT on January 1

Heck, I didn't even know it was going to take place until I channel surfed onto ESPN a tad before midnight last night.
The guy made it look too easy. I'm sure he'll be jumping far farther than that very soon.

posted by NoMich at 7:06 PM CDT on January 1

Nothing less than spectacular!!Man this kid has balls!Looking forward to seeing more from him.That jump looked too easy for him to do.Like to know what his next jump will be.

posted by Ghastly1 at 7:20 PM CDT on January 1

Simply amazing. To do it once is out of sight but to turn around and do it again really takes confidence in youself and your equiptment. Notice at the end of the first run he came to a stop at the fence turning left on the bike and on the second run he was turning right. Nice touch to dispell any thoughts that it was the same jump shown over and over. Would like to know how far the second jump was.

posted by coach at 8:56 PM CDT on January 1

Same here, NoMich, I saw a preview while surfing, then I forgot. Shit.

Thanks for posting this, Crash. Incredible jump.
I wonder how much dirt was needed to construct the landing ramp...er, mountain?

posted by BoKnows at 9:48 PM CDT on January 1

He is no Evel that is for sure. Yea he made the jump and made it look easy, but he did it on state of the art equipment that alot of pro riders could have used to do it. I was not impresed. To me his willingness to go at it again showed that this was not the "death defying act" it was played up to be. His girlfriend was hot though. As Evel said "There will be other dare devils, but only one Evel."

posted by CHIEF FAN at 9:54 PM CDT on January 1

"His girlfriend was hot though."

Made me laugh out loud...

I was thinking the same thing

posted by canstusdis at 11:03 PM CDT on January 1

Damn, pretty impressive. For some reason I though the arc of the jump would be
flatter, more line drive. He got quite a bit higher than I expected.

posted by aerotive at 12:06 AM CDT on January 2

I was not impresed.

Yeah, I'm sure you do more death-defying things every day, before breakfast, no less. The guy strapped himself on a motorcycle and flew over 300 feet, and you're not impressed? You, my friend, take Internet Toughness to a whole new level. Congratulations, you get my vote for Most Asanine Statement of 2008. Happy New Year!

posted by The_Black_Hand at 5:28 AM CDT on January 2

I just loved the run up, it looked like it began outside the state and ran through the garage by the pillar, just flat out nailing it. That looked the most dangerous. The flight was so smooth, I wonder if he looked around when he was up their. I doubt it, but it would have been beautiful to see. Maybe next time a helmet cam. Impressive, you bet!

posted by gfinsf at 6:02 AM CDT on January 2

He is no Evel that is for sure.

Because he stuck the landing, you mean? Great obit on Evel in The Economist.

posted by yerfatma at 6:45 AM CDT on January 2

Damn it, here we go again in 2008 with yerfatma stealing all my best lines again.

posted by JJ at 8:17 AM CDT on January 2

That was a great jump. As a fan of ski racing, I've always wondered at people who go banana-whackies over a run where a racer wobbles all over the place and nearly eats fence half a dozen times, but yawn at a perfect execution. Clearly Maddo put a huge amount of preparation into this, to be able to do it so cleanly. Congrats to him and thanks for posting the link, crash.

posted by lil_brown_bat at 8:43 AM CDT on January 2

It was an amazing jump and the height he got was just incredible. He looked 3x higher than the stands...must have been well over 100' in the air.

As far as Chief Fan not giving him props because he did it with new technology, what's was he supposed to do? Attempt it on an old Triumph or Harley? Oh brother. This guy has a bigger sack than you and your whole town put together, Chief. He broke the world record. Just because he made it look easy goes more to his preparation and professionalism. I guess you would only compare him to Evel if he broke a few dozen bones, huh?

The only thing that disappointed me was that the show started at 11 ET and the jump didn't happen until well after midnight. I had to keep interupting my New Year's Eve to go back and check when he was going to jump.

posted by MattC at 9:19 AM CDT on January 2

He is no Evel that is for sure. Yea he made the jump and made it look easy, but he did it on state of the art equipment

Didn't Evel use a ROCKET to jump the grand canyon?

posted by bdaddy at 9:44 AM CDT on January 2

"Didn't Evel use a ROCKET to jump the grand canyon?"

No, he used a rocket to fall into the Snake River Canyon.

posted by mr_crash_davis at 9:59 AM CDT on January 2

No, he used a rocket to fall into the Snake River Canyon.

And I've seen an animated coyote do that trick.

posted by Mr Bismarck at 10:16 AM CDT on January 2

Attempt it on an old Triumph or Harley? Oh brother.

No doubt. His bike would break down half through the jump. I can see it now:
"Holy crap, I must be a hundred feet in the air! I'm flying...I'm flyyyiiiinnngg!!"
"Wait, what the hell was that?"
"Oh great, I just dumped all my oil. AGAIN!"
/gets off bike and starts to work on it

posted by NoMich at 10:16 AM CDT on January 2

As a fan of ski racing, I've always wondered at people who go banana-whackies over a run where a racer wobbles all over the place and nearly eats fence half a dozen times, but yawn at a perfect execution.

Good point, LBB. Whatever that human tendency is, it's pretty much exactly why people got into Evel. He said it himself a few times later in his life - if he hadn't cocked up in Vegas in '67, would people still have been interested the next time he jumped over something? Probably not.

It's that same desire to see people live so close to the edge that they're wobbling that makes this good sport. Alex Higgins in the semi-final of the World Snooker Championships in 1982 clears the table to force a deciding frame against Jimmy White despite putting the cueball in good position approximately no times at all.

posted by JJ at 10:45 AM CDT on January 2

"Thank you God, thank you ESPN, thank you Red Bull."

Fantastic. Is that some sort of new holy trinity?

posted by holden at 11:10 AM CDT on January 2

Haven't you seen those Red Bull Ads? That's pretty close to how they described the Holy Spirit in school. At least as sensible.

posted by yerfatma at 11:35 AM CDT on January 2

Not to belittle this achievement but from a SpoFi perspective I think we need to do a sport/not sport debate since the technology and rider nerve were the key elements involved rather than, say, any physical attribute.

posted by billsaysthis at 2:54 PM CDT on January 2

any physical attribute

Other than balance, strength and endless repetition/ practice, you're spot-on.

I think that's why we don't do these debates.

posted by yerfatma at 3:46 PM CDT on January 2

Maybe he used performance enhancing drugs.

posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 3:50 PM CDT on January 2

Maybe the bike used performance enhancing drugs.

posted by BoKnows at 4:04 PM CDT on January 2

It definitely looked juiced.

posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 4:34 PM CDT on January 2

Bill: It's ski-jumping on a motorcycle. I watched this jump a dozen times, awestuck by the distance and the overhead view, and his movements and the way he aligns the bike for landing are remarkably similar. The miniscule margin for error is comparable too.

posted by rcade at 6:35 PM CDT on January 2

If those are the main attributes of a sport then almost anything that requires physical effort and where results improve with practice is a sport and the word loses meaning. Far be it from me, though, to declare myself the SpoFi arbiter of language.

posted by billsaysthis at 11:11 PM CDT on January 2

Sport/not-a-sport is the ultimate threadkill. Do you honestly think there's a negligible physical component to what that guy does, and anyone with "technology and rider nerve" could do it? That seems as absurd to me as the suggestion that anyone could be a world-class ski jumper.

posted by rcade at 8:41 AM CDT on January 3

If those are the main attributes of a sport then almost anything that requires physical effort and where results improve with practice is a sport and the word loses meaning.

Eh. You seem to be coming from a view that's predisposed to see a "sport" as something with a ball, two teams, uniforms, rules and officials.

posted by lil_brown_bat at 9:40 AM CDT on January 3

anyone could be a world-class ski jumper

But... oh.

posted by JJ at 10:09 AM CDT on January 3

lbb, rcade: not really in either case but is chess a sport (not boxing chess, mind you) and are FedEx drivers athletes since nerves, endurance and practice, plus strength in the latter case, are all involved at the highest levels?

posted by billsaysthis at 10:13 AM CDT on January 3

Hate to knock a pal, Bill, but your introduction of chess and FedEx driving demonstrates that you're just looking to ridicule this jumper's achievement. That's about as welcome here as the soccer haters who can't let a link pass them by without ridicule.

The sport/not-a-sport aspect of this discussion is over. Future comments along those lines will be deleted, as I should have done originally.

posted by rcade at 10:39 AM CDT on January 3

Comment deletion requires nerves, endurance and practice, plus strength. But it's not very sporting.

posted by yerfatma at 11:28 AM CDT on January 3

Fair enough. At least I don't feel like Zed Shaw must after seeing the Slashdot thread about his anti-Rails rant.

posted by billsaysthis at 3:21 PM CDT on January 3

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