Danny Macaskill is a professional Trials Cyclist and Red Bull athlete from Dunvegan on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. Trials cycling is a form of urban cycling with participants doing a series of complicated tricks on modified mountain bikes whilst at all times keeping both feet off the ground. The sport was invented and developed in Spain and has now grown in popularity around the world and has a professional circuit with regular competitions.
Macaskill came to fame in April 2009 when he appeared in a five and a half minute video on youtube in which he is showing off his incredible skills around Glasgow city centre, “We really didn’t expect anything to come of that video, it got some ridiculous amount of views, something like 300,000 views overnight, then within a couple of days it was 3 million.” He said. At the time of filming he was still working in a local bike shop as a mechanic. The video led to sponsorship opportunities and enabled Macaskill to turn professional.
As well as competing in trail cycling competitions around the world, Macaskill has continued to release videos through Youtube where he has a massive following. In summer 2013 he released a video called ‘Imaginate’ which had been shot over 18 months with support and sponsorship from Red Bull “The Red Bull thing has been great…the coolest part has actually been the freedom, they’ve supported me financially and creatively so I haven’t had pressure to do anything other than keep making the videos I want to make.” Macaskill said of his Red Bull partnership.
As you’d imagine, if you’ve ever seen one of Macaskill’s videos, injuries are common place in the Scots man’s life and have often led to long spells off the bike. “I broke my collarbone not long after Red Bull got involved, it was actually a good thing though, it gave me some actual time where I could go and recce spots around Scotland that would be good to ride and also look good on film, that’s where the idea for ‘way back home’ came from and it was during that time that we found all of the locations in that video.” ‘Way back home’ was Macaskill’s first Red Bull collaboration in which he travelled in his camper van from Edinburgh to the Isle of Skye, stopping off to ride amongst some spectacular scenery along the way, the video to date has in excess of 30 million hits on youtube.
Dan Macaskill’s rise has been spectacular in a discipline which only a few people knew existed before he arrived. With over 100 million Youtube views to his name and Red Bull’s backing, the Skye is the limit for this pioneering cyclist.
Red Bull Project 