Record Sky Tower terror
It takes a lot to faze a freestyle motocross rider but having to ride 192 metres above the ground will do it.
Yesterday, Auckland’s Sky Tower played host to a brand new world record attempt when Japan’s Taka Higashino rode his motocross bike around the outside of the southern hemisphere’s tallest structure.
The 33-year-old is in New Zealand for this weekend’s Sxopen, at Mt Smart Stadium.
For the average person, riding a motorcycle around the outside of the Sky Tower sounds like lunacy, even more so when considering the expectation is to pop a wheel stand on the narrow platform.
Strong winds forced the rider to abandon the wheelie attempt but he still managed two full laps around the Auckland skyscraper.
And while Higashino, a threetimes X-games gold medallist, is used to pushing the envelope he said this particular stunt was ‘‘on another level’’.
‘‘I’m actually afraid of heights and this was not exactly what I was expecting,’’ he said.
Higashino said he was expecting the Sky Walk platform to be wider ‘‘and to have a railing’’.
Still, the daredevil managed to pull off what few would dare to try. ‘‘The first time around, halfway I wanted to cry, stop and jump off.
‘‘The view was trippy, I was going: Oh my god, I can’t watch,’’ Higashino said.
‘‘Sometimes, watching the floor felt like a dream, not real.
‘‘It was crazy when the wind came up, the bike was losing balance, the rope had tension too.’’
Thankful to be off the platform, Higashino would return to his more comfortable setting of dirt ramps in preparation for Saturday’s event.