You are playing wandering around town and finding myself thinking, “this would be a great place to play with bikes”? I’m not talking about several skate parks in the city center or a nice flat bike lane. I mean somewhere with stairs to jump down, obstacles to move around, and maybe somewhere to have a coffee when you need a break. Apparently Red Bull thought so too, as it recently sent freestyle jockey Aaron Colton to Minneapolis to explore.
In case you lost it:
Now, beverage company/marketing company/racing team/extreme sports enthusiast announced a new film chronicling Colton’s escapes around Minneapolis. Specifically, it shows him exploring the Skyway system of covered walkways, which is an extensive network of covered walkways connecting buildings over 80 city blocks across 15 kilometers of Downtown Minneapolis.
He made all these discoveries on the back of a much modified Alta electric motorcycle and, I must say, it looks like an interesting pile.
The video, which you can watch below, shows Colton climbing the stairs up and down the tunnel system, as well as the escalator he tries to use as a treadmill. He travels through tunnels that take him right up to the IDS Center, the city’s tallest building, and down to a food court, where he showcases his talents in front of a room full of spectators.
Red Bull says a movie like this wouldn’t be possible without it advances in electric motorcycles. According to a press release from the company:
A traditional fuel-powered bike ripping through an indoor Skyways system would be disruptive and distracting, but the e-bike created a silent source of energy for Colton to ride in locations never done before, including on stage at Orchestra Hall [and] inside the Target Center, where he performs the trick shot.
And Red Bull was right; There’s something about this whisperless bike circling shopping malls and closed streets that adds to the beautiful atmosphere of this movie. Instead of the rumble of the engine, we heard the screeching of tires and the soft hum of the engine. It’s beautiful.
Anyhow, after disturbing some diners, Colton returned to the escalator to rip things off again. you explode across the Skyway at full tiltwith a rug that absorbs almost any sound he makes as he glides.
It makes going to the mall like a pile of fun. With the death of downtown shopping impending, maybe we should just repurpose all these monuments as bike parking. It would be a much better use of our space, wouldn’t it?
However, there will be one rule in my downtown cycling paradise: just ride the tram.
