Learning how to pop a wheelie on a mountain bike is hard enough, but mastering the skill on a motorbike takes a certain type of daring because it requires much higher speeds. The feat requires balance, coordination and a whole lot of experience.
Proving he is a wheelie king of motorbikes, 12-time Motorcycle Trials World Champion Dougie Lampkin completed the 37.7-mile Isle of Man TT course entirely on his back tire.
The whole feat was live-streamed by Red Bull TV all the way to its glorious finish as Lampkin crosses the finish line relieved. He made the whole thing look easy but it certainly was not.
“It feels fantastic,” he said at the end. “The last 15 seconds were really lovely. The rest of it was a challenge.”
The first-of-its-kind stunt around the famed TT course with its iconic grandstand in the town of Douglas, took the rider seven months to put into action. Planners carefully watched the weather, which they were not completely able to avoid as Lampkin faced strongest winds at the highest sections of the course.
Lampkin’s accomplishment is not an official record, however. The longest wheelie on a motorcycle record goes to Doug Domokos who traveled 145 miles on his back tire at Talladega Speedway in 1984. But unlike Lampkin’s challenge, this record was set on flat land.
