Trial Biking
Welcome to part two of our four-part interview with Laureus Awards trials sensation Danny MacAskill
In the second of our four-part interview with Laureus Awards nominated street trials sensation Danny MacAskill, we discover who Danny was more excited about meeting – Dougie Lampkin or Kevin Spacey
Danny, what's the best thing about being an 'internet phenomenon'? The best thing about is that I get to live now just riding my bike. It’s never been a goal of mine to be professional trials rider. I’ve always been happy just riding my bike. The biggest thing that’s happened is getting sponsored by Red Bull really. Now with that backing I get to dream up projects and carry them out. I can’t think of any better way to spend my time. Getting to do more videos and that’s what my job is now and traveling and meeting lots of cool people, but most importantly just riding and getting to do what I want to do, so it’s really cool.
What's been the highlight so far? It was pretty cool riding with the Athertons in California, apart from when I broke my collar bone again tailing Gee Atherton downhill. One of the craziest experiences I had was when I was nominated in the category ‘Action Sportsperson Of The Year’ in the Laureus Awards, which is kind of like the sports Oscars. To be at that was pretty incredible. There were real sporting people there that had achieved the most amazing things, like Lance Armstrong and Mick Fanning and Stephanie Gilmore. I was partying with Kevin Spacey and it was insane.
I find it hard to get good routines on the go because I’m the kind of person who looks at the sky and thinks if it’s a nice day I’ll go and ride my bike
What were the Laureus awards like? The whole thing was crazy. I’d be more star struck meeting someone like Dougie [Lampkin, pictured above with Danny] really than meeting someone like Kevin Spacey. I think I appreciate what someone like Dougie has done more.
How much do you practise every day? Normally I ride for about three or four hours a day. Up until recently I never did anything that I would call training. I ride purely for fun. I never did any sort of gym work. All the ability just came from riding a lot. I’d go out by myself and ride with no agenda. I would never think ‘I’m going to do this’. For the filming a lot of the things I just learned in front of the camera. Now, I’m getting whipped into shape a bit by Darren [Roberts, Red Bull trainer] but it’s frustrating at the moment because of my back injury. I broke my collar bone the first time in America, then I did it again in Edinburgh and again in California. I’ve got programmes with Darren now, which are meant to ease me back into my riding, but there’s no easing with Darren! I find it hard to get good routines on the go because I’m the kind of person who looks at the sky and thinks if it’s a nice day I’ll go and ride my bike, which obviously I love, but when you’re in the gym you get the enjoyment afterwards and you spend the whole time in pain and feeling sick.