There are those who ride mountain bikes and then there is Eric Barone. He rides his mountain bike down actual mountains.
Apparently, the faster the better.
The French daredevil known as the Red Baron recently rode a specially groomed speed track down a snow-covered mountain in Vars in the French Alps, breaking his own world speed record with a ride that nearly approached 139 miles per hour.
Point-of-view cameras attached to Baron and his bike allowed his publicity team to produce a video for YouTube that introduces the viewer to the sport of downhill mountain biking on snow with a ride on his handlebars.
Barone, 54, looked like he was encased in red shrink wrap with a specially designed speed suit. His bike definitely was not purchased off some shop’s showroom. According to his website, he and his team prepared three years for the March 28 record-breaking ride.
He broke his own world speed record set in 2000 by a kilometer.
Barone seeks out the most extreme playgrounds and has been known to zip down the side of volcanos.
“I like to dream of (the) unattainable then confront my dream to reality and make it accessible,” Barone says on his website. “It’s not so much the record which is important to me, but the movement it gives my life.”
David Pierini is a former newspaper writer and long-time photographer. Considered a luddite by most of his friends, they did not believe him when he broke the news that he would be writing for a technology website. He is fascinated by human nature and would love to cultivate stories about the people driving the tech bus. Reach out to him at [email protected].
