Don't try this at home, kids

December 7, 2013 2:12 PM

Riding a bike backwards at 80km/h. (SLYT) In Trollstigen, Norway.
posted by ambrosia (26 comments total)

That's not how you're supposed to ride a bike.
posted by Atom Eyes at 2:29 PM on December 7, 2013 [1 favorite]

That car at 1:10 must have been like WTF?
posted by GrumpyDan at 2:31 PM on December 7, 2013 [2 favorites]

Good lord. In the rain, too.
posted by Pantengliopoli at 2:34 PM on December 7, 2013

I don't care if people want to do crazy shit to endanger their own life, but he was doing this on an open road. What if he came around a blind spot and a car creamed him? The driver would have to live with that. What if the driver swerved suddenly not expecting to see some idiot riding the wrong way down a mountain road?
posted by MaryDellamorte at 2:37 PM on December 7, 2013 [5 favorites]

But...why

Why I say
posted by tooloudinhere at 2:37 PM on December 7, 2013 [1 favorite]

Though to be fair, the suspense is rather marvelous.
posted by tooloudinhere at 2:38 PM on December 7, 2013

MaryDellamorte: "What if he came around a blind spot and a car creamed him?"

There are no real blind spots on a serpentine road like this, and you're going to be taking the corners at less than 20 km/h precisely because you don't know if there's a guy on a bike or a huge truck coming the other way.

Also, Norway.
posted by brokkr at 2:42 PM on December 7, 2013 [1 favorite]

Okay didn't realize it was a road going both ways, makes more sense then.
posted by MaryDellamorte at 2:43 PM on December 7, 2013

80km/h. Backwards. On a narrow road. That winds. With a wet surface. Not closed to oncoming traffic.

Totally doable.
posted by MuffinMan at 2:45 PM on December 7, 2013 [1 favorite]

Man, on a wet road with curves and shoulder dropoffs like that, I would have been crapping my pants riding that road at half that speed, facing forward. Not to mention muscle memory, his brake hands would have been reversed... super easy to hit the front brakes hard by mistake.

In other words, I am perfectly happy to leave this particular maneuver to the pros, and stick to my nice tame little bike with flowers on the stem.
posted by sldownard at 2:47 PM on December 7, 2013 [1 favorite]

Yeah, that guy has no fear.... that's prime hill troll territory.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 2:49 PM on December 7, 2013 [9 favorites]

He seemed in control of his bike – using his brakes, looking where he was going – aside from the novelty of his seating position, I think the only problem he might face is that he can't shift his weight as far back to keep from flipping his bike.
posted by zippy at 2:50 PM on December 7, 2013

Yeah, what they conveniently leave out of the video is the 17 previous attempts where he died before he finally got it right.
posted by Naberius at 2:57 PM on December 7, 2013 [25 favorites]

Regarding the music, you can't really get any youtubier than Lindsey Stirling
posted by aubilenon at 2:58 PM on December 7, 2013

This guy is pretty notorious for doing balancing feats. Here is his Wikipedia page.
posted by knapah at 3:16 PM on December 7, 2013

I predict a closed casket for this one.
posted by 4ster at 3:48 PM on December 7, 2013

Lindsey Sterling's music on YouTube may be more dangerous than that road.
posted by oneswellfoop at 4:33 PM on December 7, 2013 [2 favorites]

At no point is he going 80km/h. Not even close. The long shots and some of the near ones are actually sped up. But it is pretty impressive, nonetheless.
posted by klanawa at 5:19 PM on December 7, 2013 [1 favorite]

Don't try this at home, kids

That warning was entirely unnecessary in my case.
posted by Greg_Ace at 5:29 PM on December 7, 2013

You know who else rode a bicycle backwards?

That's right; Lester Maddox.
posted by TedW at 7:27 PM on December 7, 2013

Don't try this at home, kids

This vastly overestimates the size of my living room
posted by ook at 8:34 PM on December 7, 2013 [7 favorites]

Norway has free healthcare. Just sayin'

I do envy that guy for his bike-maintenance skills, though.
posted by Namlit at 5:45 AM on December 8, 2013

My first question was "Why?," as well. Seems dangerously foolhardy, though I agree the cyclist is not going anywhere near 80k. I also worried about the driver on the road getting into an accident, being distracted by dude on bike. Glad that didn't happen!

That being said, Norway should post have this video on their website to encourage tourism. The scenery is GORGEOUS! That's what kept me watching (Full confession: I was also hoping for a glimpse of an elusive troll or two! When do I get a new Troll Hunter movie, Norway? Remember what LOTR did for New Zealand? That could be you, printing up new stamps, you know!).
posted by misha at 6:55 AM on December 8, 2013

I've been on that stretch of road--it's TWO-WAY! How did this man not die doing this?
posted by reformedjerk at 8:17 AM on December 8, 2013

"aside from the novelty of his seating position, I think the only problem he might face is that he can't shift his weight as far back to keep from flipping his bike"

This is an understatement. His weight is shifted so far forward that his rear wheel can hardly brake at all without skidding and any real force on his front brake will flip him.

I was really glad to see that he took the corners sedately. I thought 80 kph meant he was going to try to corner at 80 kph, which would be very close to suicidal.
posted by d. z. wang at 12:20 PM on December 8, 2013

There was one turn where he was heading toward the edge, and I caught my breath. Also, it's not shown on camera his coming to a full stop, so it's arguable that he fell down or in some other way had a suboptimal in-control stop.

But yeah, that scenery. Wow!
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 6:53 PM on December 9, 2013