Everyone knows the classic progression of learning how to ride a bike. First you have training wheels, then you slowly get the hang of keeping your balance on two wheels, and finally you pull off sick BMX tricks while suspended 2000 feet above the Earth.
BMX Rider Kriss Kyle has been involved in the bicycle and motor cross scene since he was 10 years old, and this latest stunt presented by Red Bull is something he has thought about for quite some time.
The video starts off with Kyle talking about the stunt while underneath the massive hot air balloon. The longtime BMX Rider states:
“I never dreamt in a million years that I would be getting to do the project that I get to do, and this one is the wildest one yet.”
Yeah, I would say floating a BMX bowl into cruising altitude and doing death-defying bike stunts is pretty wild. You would have to pay me a ton of money to just get up in a hot air balloon, let alone get on a bike while up there and do a one-handed X-Up (I had to Google “BMX Tricks” for that).
When you watch the video, you’ll likely have second-hand anxiety for Kriss Kyle as he gets dangerously close to the edge. The BMX Rider is suited up with a parachute in case he were to slip up and fall during a trick, and I won’t say whether or not he had to use it…
You’ll have to find out yourself:
Certain shots where Kyle rests the bike on the edges of the railing around the BMX Bowl are terrifying (at least to me). He ultimately didn’t have to utilize his parachute, and the visual shots from the hot air balloon, as well as the vantage points from my preferred safety of the ground, were breathtaking.
The stunt was pulled off thanks to sponsorship from Red Bull, and the project is being completed as a part of a documentary that Kyle is working on called Don’t Look Down, which explores how the idea for the stunt went from dream to reality.
P.S.- I wouldn’t have any trouble with the “Don’t Look Down” part. Not because I am brave, but because I would’ve been in the fetal position at the very center of the BMX Bowl for the entire hot air balloon trip.
This stunt was impressive, don’t get me wrong, but I would like to see how Red Bull would manage to take footage of a scared man curled up in a ball (set to the song “How You Like Me Now?” by The Heavy) and make it as exciting as this one.
