When you think of this for the first time, motorcycles and base jumping have nothing in common. However, Washington-based Brad O’Neil begs to differ: in fact, base jumping from a speeding bike was one of his dreams and you know how things sometimes roll out – dreams do come true.
So after preparations and calculations, the 26-year-old rider finally decided to give it a try. The plan was a simple one: riding a bike at high speed onto a ramp and launching both man and machine into the air. Still, this was much easier said than done, as a lot of safety precautions had to be considered, and this was the first reason for choosing to try this memorable jump above a lake.
The kicker was 60 feet (~20m) high and 100 feet (~33m) long and built on the banks of Lake Franklin in Texas. It provided lift for the speeding bike to rise high into the air just enough to allow the parachute to deploy only meters above the lake. If you look closely, the rider doesn’t even go too far above the lake, as he lands in shallow water which reaches up to his waist. This means that landing would have been a real problem in case the parachute would have malfunctioned or failed to deploy altogether.
Still, the jump is a total success, and nobody was harmed. His motocross clothes have definitely seen worst, and the mechanics will also take care of the “drowned” bike. It’s hard to tell whether brad had enough time to throw the kill switch to prevent the engine from aspiring water forcefully, but frankly, it doesn’t even matter. Even if more dangerous similar jumps have been before, this doesn’t make this dose of adrenaline any less amazing and crazy, the funny way.
Google News