A bike is a bike is a bike. Unless the bike is “Stoopid Tall,” a heavily modified 14-and-a-half-foot-tall monstrosity ridden and built by Richie Trimble.
Trimble spoke with LA Streets Blog about his recent adventure riding his bike on the streets of Los Angeles. Trimble recorded the journey for posterity.
I think I’m an adrenaline junky. The whole build up before riding Stoopid Tall is probably my favorite part. The anticipation of what it’s going to be like. I am worried about this hundred pound bike gaining momentum and hurting someone else along the way. It’s a huge risk.
The most terrifying part for Trimble (and for anyone watching the footage) comes when he’s forced to fit under a freeway overpass. Here’s how Trimble described the experience to LA Streets Blog:
That moment was amazing because you see the freeway coming. I could see the top of the cars going by and I had never seen that before. And everyone is cheering for me to touch the bridge. I reach up and high five the bridge. As I go under, I drag my hand along the top and I’m thinking, ‘Wow, I’m probably the only person to have touched this besides the workers that built the overpass.’ And that was pretty chilling, but then I realize that the street I was on was at an incline and the bridge above me was banking, the gap was closing in on me. And all I could think was, ‘Holy s***! What am I going to do if I can’t make it out? How do I wedge myself up against this and still make it out? What do I do?’ I could feel the crowd below me, they all knew what was coming. All eyes on me and this bridge closing down on me. It got to the point where my body, my back was parallel to the ground and I looked at my hand and I had about two inches clearance above my knuckles and then I came out from under the bridge and the whole crowd ROARED! A deafening scream of ‘Holy s***, you made it!’ And I swear, those smiles must have lasted the whole ride. That was the moment for everyone.
You can watch Trimble’s journey below. For those with an aversion to adult language, beware that Trimble lets loose with some profanity when things get particularly hairy.
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