World first! Dawid Godziek nails a bike flip on a moving train
An MTB track on a moving train? I thought it had no right to succeed. Yet we managed it, and it was epic!
Is what we saw in the video an extract from a video game, or is it really possible to ride a bike on a track built on a moving train?
How does it feel to be the only person in the world to have experienced something like that?
It was quite a peculiar feeling because, in fact, everything around me was standing still. The only thing that was moving was the track, which was just passing underneath me. My head didn't quite grasp it. I had to get used to it because it's completely unnatural and takes you by surprise a lot. For the first couple of rides, I felt slight turbulence in my head - it was something unreal. In addition, the train itself, traveling on tracks that were not perfectly level, was moving a bit. All these little elements made the final feeling of riding on such a set difficult to describe. I think at the beginning I was experiencing something like a combination of sea sickness, air sickness and altitude sickness.
What did you think when this idea came into your life?
To be honest, I wasn't particularly excited about the idea at first. I couldn't imagine it. For a long time, Szymon and I thought it was probably impossible. And even if it was, we couldn't do tricks on such a track that would be satisfying to us. Then, when it became clear that the whole thing was indeed possible, there were concerns about whether it would look as good as we thought. In the end, the whole project exceeded our wildest expectations. The execution of the track, my run-through, the whole process - everything came out much better than we expected!
The execution of the track, my ride, the whole process - everything came out much better than we expected.
In a sense, you were 'hanging in the air,' and the train was passing underneath you. It's the exact opposite of what you normally do on a bike...
Yes, this phrase perfectly describes what happened during the project. Interestingly, it was my first time moving backwards on the hops. There were some jumps where I was jumping higher than we anticipated. A moving train influenced me to somehow land on a landing that, from the perspective of someone standing next to the track, was behind the ramp. It's all confusing, but I think the video shows exactly what I mean.
Did you enjoy studying physics at school? Do you know which of its principles and laws meant you were able to sort of hover in the air?
I didn't go into these physics and mathematics issues, but the people I was working with on this project definitely knew what they were doing. It was quite a crazy experience, the opposite of what I usually do; it was me 'hanging in place' and the route going underneath me. We observed something interesting - the lack of air resistance. In theory, this could have made it easier, but the opposite was true. The air resistance creates a tunnel that somehow keeps me in a straight line and doesn't allow me to shift right or left. Luckily on the recordings we had, the headwind gave me artificial air resistance, which helped me to get a feel for the flight on classic hops. On the tests, the wind was blowing weaker or in a different direction, making shooting tricks difficult. Not bad, right? We're always complaining about air resistance, and when it wasn't there, we found that it was impossible to fly without it.
What was the most difficult part of it all?
The hardest part was getting all the tricks to come out perfectly in one run. The idea was to film without cuts, in one continuous take. There was no room for mistakes. The track was narrow and even a minimally shaky landing could end in a fall from the train, which could have ended very differently...
Just riding in such circumstances is already tough enough, yet you also threw a few bangers into your ride. Why?
I wanted the ride to contain the best tricks possible. Just riding the train would have been cool, but not enough. I spent a long time thinking about combining the tricks into a coherent whole. There was a backflip at the end, so I figured I'd throw in a frontflip before it – a forward flip before a backflip looks good. The double tailwhip came about spontaneously because I wanted to add a banger, and the track was narrow, so straight tricks worked best. I had to give up side rotations, so combinations with 360s were out. I chose tricks that made the ride interesting and varied, but didn't overdo the risk.
I wanted the ride to contain the best tricks possible. Just riding the train would have been fun, but not enough.
Is a moving train a good place for a world-first trick? I mean a backflip from a flat drop to a flat landing on the last carriage.
The train was pulling away, so if I didn't do it, it would just go away and there would be no more opportunities.
Well, yes, it makes sense now.
On a serious note, this trick had been on my mind for a long time. Nobody had done it on an MTB bike before, so I wanted to try it. I started preparing a few days before the recordings. It turned out to be more difficult than I had originally anticipated. When I saw the train in person, I noticed the stairs were higher than I thought. Of course, I knew the dimensions beforehand, but you know how it is when you see the obstacles live. The punch on landing on the flat was so strong that all my joints were getting hit hard. But I wanted to do a trick that no one had landed before to add more flavor to the project.
Did any of the obstacles particularly stress you out, or was the track itself the main stress factor?
No, all the obstacles were at a similar level of difficulty and were very well constructed. Nothing surprised me. Sometimes, there was a lack of speed, so I had to turn the crank, but pedaling isn't difficult - that's what the bike is for, after all.
How long did you and your team spend preparing for the whole project?
It took about a year and a half from the initial idea to realization. We did tests a year before the recordings. Another 12 months went into designing the track and planning. The track was built by a team of the best Polish diggers for three weeks - from dawn to dusk. The guys tried really hard to make me feel confident and comfortable. We trained for a few days just before the recordings because the project was very complicated. After all, it's not every day that you hire a locomotive or carriages, build a slopestyle track on a train and put a piece of track out of service!
Did you change anything on the bike for this ride? Is it so versatile that you could fly on it on any track, built on any mode of transport?
The bike was set up as it would be for any competition. I've got tires on it that are perfect for plywood obstacles, and the rest of it is well-proven in all conditions. I just changed the color theme to match the action on the train.