13 April 2023 , 09:34
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A man who's "afraid of heights" performed a frontflip at 2,000ft in a floating skatepark in a bid to tackle his phobia.
Professional BMX bike rider Kriss Kyle, 31, came up with the wild idea during lockdown and won sponsorship from Red Bull, who helped bring his jaw-dropping challenge to life.
With a life-long fear of heights, Kriss knew that his quest would have to involve something high up. And having already jumped out of a helicopter, he decided to raise the stakes.
Kriss eventually settled on building a skatepark in the sky, which was held aloft by a giant hot air balloon.
Kriss feared he had bitten off more than he could chew (Red Bull)Kriss, from Stranraer, Scotland, said: "Usually I dream up these daft ideas and I go to Red Bull and ask if we can make these dreams come true, you have to be careful what you ask for as most of the times they say yes.
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"I thought what was next, as I've jumped out of a helicopter, and you need to better it with the next stunt. I was literally on my mountain bike pedalling up this horrible hill, trying to take my mind off the climb, and I looked up above the River Clyde and I thought imagine floating a half pipe up in the sky.
"I thought you'd have to hang it under two helicopters or something, and I knew jumping out a helicopter is like jumping into a tornado, then I thought, 'how about a hot air balloon'
"I put it down in my notes in my phone, and I rode the trails, got down, and messaged Matt at Red Bull and he asked me to sketch up some ideas, and from there it grew legs and arms.
"Before I knew it we were designing the bowl - the only thing was we had quite a small place to work with so we had to fit in as much as we could.
"Instead of a stock bowl, it's got a curved wall ride, a tombstone extension, and a channel gap, and I don't think you could cram any more into it than we did.
Kriss has taken BMX-ing to new heights (Red Bull)"We built a wooden one first and that weighed 6.5 tonnes and we realised that wouldn't be possible, too heavy. The new one is made fully out of carbon, it weighs just 1.7 tonnes."
Creating an airborne skatepark is no easy task, so Kriss borrowed some expertise from Red Bull's F1 race engineers - who helped Max Verstappen claim two world championships.
Kriss continued: "We turned to Red Bull Racing for help, I think they enjoyed doing something that was totally out of the ordinary.
Kriss wanted to create the ultimate challenge (Red Bull)
He built the skatepark with the help of Red Bull Racing (Red Bull)"Working alongside those guys is a whole other level, I never imagined that would happen when I thought of the project. The amount of math and stuff that went into this stuff was incredible, and obviously, they got it right first time.
"The first time I went to see if it was insane, it was like the best Christmas present I'd ever seen.
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"With the carbon, no one has ever made a skate ramp out of carbon fibre. When I first dropped in it it was so much faster than concrete. It flexes a lot but that almost helps, it pops you out a bit more.
Kriss said the project had its ups and downs (Red Bull)"Never in a million years did I think I'd be riding a bowl made of carbon fibre.
"There were a lot of ups and downs in the project, I didn't factor in that the bowl would swing beneath the hot air balloon, we did a few crane tests, and the swing off it was unreal - it was like a pendulum.
There, he did a fakie front flip, which he described as "the hardest thing I've ever done in my life."
Kriss wanted the skate park to be suspended from helicopters but realised it would create too much wind (Red Bull)Kriss continued: "It pushes you to one side and moves you, it was almost like learning to ride a bike again, let alone doing the tricks - I am amazed we managed to get done what we got done.
"I also had to ride with a parachute on in case I fell out, that weighed over 20kg. One of the tricks I was doing was on the back rail.
"I did a trick called an ice pick, where you put the peg on the back rail, that's the one where if it's going to go wrong it will go wrong on that one.
Kris performed his daring bike tricks on a skatepark in the sky (Red Bull)
They had to wait for the right weather conditions (Red Bull)"That was probably one of the scariest things I've done - if it had gone wrong I'd have fallen off the side.
"I've done one skydive and I said I'd never do it again.
"I used to be really scared of heights, I put myself into these crazy things I say I'll do, you visualise something and look at the things you can achieve - for me, it's about that adrenaline rush and scaring yourself.
"I feel like I've overcome the fear, I think you have to dive into it to get over it.
"This is hands down the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, and one of the hardest things I ever will do probably - it was one hell of a ride.
"We were on standby for a year for the right conditions, it only comes around once or twice a year. It came around in December and I wasn't ready for it, it was minus 12 up there, pretty chilly.
Kriss wanted to conquer his fear of heights (Red Bull)"You don't want to fall when it's minus 12 either as you feel like you'll shatter.
"When I eventually got up there I walked up to the edge and looked down to see if I could handle it, I looked around and saw all my friends hanging out the helicopter, and I thought how did BMX-ing get me here?
"I'm super fortunate to do these projects, I've always been about pushing BMXing as it's still quite a small sport, it's in the Olympics but it's still quite small.
"The amount of messages I get from kids saying they started because of my videos, it's inspiring. I came from such a small town in the middle of nowhere - if it wasn't for that bike I wouldn't be here.
"My advice is just pick it up and get out there. It doesn't matter your age, just get out there and start enjoying it."
Kriss would like to thank his sponsors, Red Bull, Endura, BSD, and Layton Vans.