Thursday, May 26, 2011

Bike Dancing

The lovely weather is bringing out bikers right and left.


The first thing I noticed about this rider was the sparkly hula hoops that she had slung across her body.
The next was her enormous smile-  a smile that took over her whole face (even though she was squinting into the sun)

We chatted a bit at a light, and she said that she was off to a meetup of hoop dancers in Cambridge Common.  I wished I hadn't had to go to my livable streets meeting so that I could have followed her there to check it out.  Hoop dancing on youtube,

Speaking of Youtube, bikes and dancing,  I really loved the People For Bikes video that's been going round the blogosphere- especially the BMX trick guys.  This prompted a Youtube search which resulted in the most amazing bike video I have ever seen.   Wikipedia says that  Danny MacAskill  is perhaps the world's most renowned practitioner of what in the UK is called trials biking.  To me it looks like parkour or dancing on a bike.  It's incredibly amazing and terrifying, and he's an amazing athlete- absolutely one with his bike.  It's a bit long, but worthwhile!

4 comments:

  1. I have a couple of mountain biking films by The Collective that typically have a Danny Mcaskill Trials segment. It's been amazing watching his progression and what sort of new tricks he pulls off. It can also be humbling seeing the outtakes and what happens when he misses a jump.

    I remember seeing some hoopers on my way through Harvard Square last night, too. They can be fun to watch, especially in an open space like that. Some hoopers and burners show up at the clubs that I hang out in from time to time and they do a little less well in confined spaces, but it can be a neat spectacle with those light-up hoops in the dark.

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  2. Yeah Danny MacAskill even has skill in his name.
    Too corny?

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  3. Danny MacAskill is the MAN. The first time I saw video of what he does I was just in awe. If I were about 15 years younger I would want learn to do that!

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  4. I've seen these guys around, actually. They're cycling in Edinburgh, Scotland -- and about half the video is around the campus of Edinburgh University. I used to sit and eat my lunch in Bristo Square and watch a few of them hopping up and down steps and walls, stunned. They'd do the same jumps over and over until it was perfect, then do it again.

    Not something I'd want to be doing on my Brompton... :P

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