We are all used to stunning two-wheeled sports videos from Red Bull Media House. But the “Red Bull Bike Express” video hits differently. The rider stays fixed in space while the course moves below, creating a unique visual masterpiece and an incredible challenge to one of the world’s best freeride pilots.
Red Bull is no stranger to extreme mountain biking. With events like Rampage and sponsorships of countless freeride and slopestyle series and contests, the media juggernaut’s dueling bulls logo is synonymous with two-wheeled aerial action and daredevil speeds.
Until now, the amazingly talented mountain bikers displayed their skills by hucking, whipping, flipping, and speeding down courses on terra firma. This is how all of us ride. Our visual field moves at the same speed as our bikes and bodies, and we can count on the ground remaining consistent in position and feel.
But what if we reversed that? What if the rider remained stationary in space while the ground sped by below? This is the intriguing question Dawid Godziek, the 2024 Slopestyle World Champion, wanted to answer in the largest way possible.
A Freeride Mountain Bike Course on a Train
To answer his own question, Godziek and Red Bull constructed an eight-jump course across 10 train carriages. To up the ante, he planned a world’s first for the set of stairs on the last carriage — a flat drop backflip to a flat landing.
This is heinous due to the absence of a takeoff ramp and the violent jolt of landing on a flat surface — a surface that isn’t moving. Doing it on a moving train only adds to the difficulty and spectacle.
The course is under 9 feet wide, making the accuracy of both takeoffs and landings — with limited visual reference points — crucial. And the weather would have to cooperate, as crosswinds could be extremely dangerous.
Godziek recruited his brother Szymon, also a mountain biking champion, for support and advice. Szymon also provides expert and emotionally invested commentary.
Galilean Relativity Provides ‘Freeze Frame’ Effect
Godziek and the team deciphered that the train had to travel at 14.3 mph to match the rider’s speed. This speed kept the bike and rider relatively stationary in space as the mountain bike course moved below. The camera was stationary, as was the background, creating a “freeze frame” effect that is stunning for the viewer.
However, all this has to be visually strange and disorienting for the rider. Godziek comments, “My head is tripping.”
Szymon also states that spinning while the track moves below would make his brother dizzy. As a longtime mountain biker, I cannot fathom how Godziek managed all these wild visual and spatial inputs while performing tricks that are extremely difficult under normal circumstances.
The World’s Firsts: Watch Red Bull Bike Express
After practice runs on a stationary train, the Polish athlete gradually increased the train’s speed. Ultimately, Godziek executed 15 runs to achieve the video you can see here.
The end result: a double tailwhip, front flip, and the world’s first flat drop backflip to flat landing from stairs, all on the first-ever completion of a mountain bike course on a moving train.
Get your eyes and mind ready for “Red Bull Bike Express.” Godziek states it was just “another day in the office.”
