“I know firsthand just how much commitment something like this requires. With the ludicrous amount of height it takes to pull around the rotation, the slightest misstep may well have meant death.” – Travis Pastrana
There is “going big,” and then there is “GOING BIG.” The former tends to be used in the context of one’s personal achievements, generally of admirable but manageable strides. The latter, on the other hand, identifies truly monumental feats. The first ever triple backflip on a motorcycle, launching Josh Sheehan into the same realm as Evel Knievel and Travis Pastrana and Matt Hoffman, is most definitely the latter.
Reaching a speed of 60 miles per hour, on a 200-pound bike no less, Sheehan revved off a 37-foot tall takeoff ramp at an 81-degree angle to stomp the unprecedented trick.
French climbing great Lionel Terray often referred to the climbers and their completion (or reaching the top) of a wall as “the conquistadors of the useless.” The achievement in and of itself is largely useless in the way of tangible progress. There isn’t any real outcome or result that has even a little quantifiable value. But the lessons learned, about the individual and humankind at large, are immeasurable. So while Josh Sheehan did not provide a directly and immediately measurable contribution to civilization, he pushed the boundaries of what we consider feasible, bringing the impossible within reach. And it is that mentality, that the impossible is indeed possible, that has brought us from making fires with flint tinder and bow to idly fingering pocket-sized machines with more power than Apollo 11.
Welcome to the moon, Josh.
