YouTube was surely invented for people like street trials rider Danny Macaskill, who was a relative unknown when he uploaded a five-minute clip to YouTube in 2009 which pushed the envelope of what was perceived as possible on a trials bike. The video has since gone on to garner an incredible 34 million views.
Before long, Danny Macaskill was able to give up his job as a bike shop mechanic to concentrate on riding full-time, and he found himself featured in the New York Times, working as a stuntman on Hollywood blockbuster Premium Rush, and appearing in a TV advert for the Volkswagen Golf Estate set in Lisbon.
In 2010, he released Way Back Home, the follow up to his original video, and it proved almost as popular, currently at over 30 million views on YouTube. Made in collaboration with Red Bull Media House, and once again shot by flatmate Dave Sowerby, it showed Danny on a trip back to his hometown of Dunvegan on the Isle of Skye.
Since then, riding for Red Bull and Inspired Bicycles, Danny Macaskill’s career has gone from strength to strength, including a nomination for Action Sportsperson of the Year at the Laureus World Sports Awards. Recent films Industrial Revolutions and Imaginate, featuring bike stunts never previously performed before, have been clocking up the views online, and he has also been part of the Drop and Roll Tour alongside Duncan Shaw, Ali C and Fabio Wibmer.