BARCELONA, Spain — Just when you think you’ve seen the most absolutely outlandish, extreme event there is at the X Games, along comes Moto X Step Up. For those unfamiliar with the discipline, Step Up is like pole vault with motorbikes, except after pole-vaulters clear their bar, they at least fall into several feet of deep foam padding that adequately cushions the impact. Step Up competitors must race their bikes up a 16-foot-high, 77-degree takeoff hill, clear the bar many feet above that and then land safely (well, hopefully safely) after dropping all the way down to the ground. And there is no padding. (Hey, it’s the X Games!) And, depending on the venue, they plunge anywhere from 30 to 47 feet. While straddling a motorcycle.
Who came up with this event? Evel Knievel?
“It goes from being so high to just dropping out of the sky,” Josh Hansen said after finishing second in Sunday’s Step Up final. “Man, it was a hard landing. I’m kind of feeling it in my back right now a little bit. But it’s commitment or nothing.” Hansen said you have to be careful to stay on your bike; otherwise, you’re looking at broken legs. “It is a hard landing. It’s gnarly, but these are the X Games and we’re extreme athletes. This is what they expect from us, and this is the show we give them, so it worked out well.” more
