Trials riding is one of those unique sports that evolved as mountain bikers pushed the limits of what they thought possible. Defined as a mountain biking discipline where the rider attempts to pass through an obstacle course, trials riding turns a bike into part Pogo Stick.
Riders can jump over rock obstacles, rails and now giant fiberglass statues. Two leading trials riders have taken their balance-defying skills to an otherworldly backdrop in Sparta, Wisconsin where they tackle a field of larger than life characters.
Kenny Belaey and Tom Oehler star in the latest short film from Red Bull Fantasy Line. By combining computer generated graphics, the bizarre staging of these giant characters and audio enhancements, the film has the feel almost of a video game. That and the fact the stunts these guys are pulling off are pretty sick.
The film is set in the 9-acre backyard of Fast Corp, a manufacturing company of large roadside attractions like that 30-foot Paul Bunyan statue you might have seen or that dinosaur outside that truck stop in the middle of nowhere.
Whenever they finished a project there was a fiberglass mold left over. After years of production those fiberglass figures started to pile up, which one day sparked an idea in the twisted minds of Red Bull.
“After seeing some photos of all the statues, I Googled around a bit and I got even more interested in these becoming obstacles to ride,” Oehler told the action sports network.
But figuring out how stable these objects were and how to exactly craft a line was a challenge, they explained.
“The fact they move a bit, even after preparing them — so we couldn’t just ride anywhere we wanted. And some of them were huge!” Belaey said. “We didn’t want to use too many to keep it clean and uncluttered, so we pushed ourselves quite hard and needed to give it our all to get on top of every one of them.”
