2023-12-22 20:34:23
Travis Pastrana says goodbye to freestyle. The living legend of motocross and the X Games will stop challenging death at the age of 40, and the reason is none other than the imminent knee operation that he plans to undergo before the end of the year, an intervention that will prevent the 11-time X Games winner from risking his physicality behind the handlebars of a motorcycle, exactly what he has been doing for the last 22 years.
Before saying goodbye to his great passion, Pastrana has given his fans one last trick that makes their blood run cold, and what better setting than thel Mid America Outdoors, and Oklahoma, to carry out. Pastrana is responsible for giving life to this impressive complex dedicated to the world of off-road and freestyle, a spectacular multidisciplinary circuit in which more than 700,000 dollars have been spent on giant air bags so that both he and the rest of the drivers can train their tricks safely.
For his farewell to freestyle, Pastrana wanted something epic, and boy did he achieve it; the one from Annapolis has scored a Back Flip On – Front Flip Offthat is, taking off from a practically vertical ramp, turning in the air, stopping the turn and then turning again in the opposite direction.
And how has he achieved it? Well, by manufacturing a special ramp that was later uploaded to an elevator and placed several meters above the first exit ramp. The trick leaves no room for error: A deviation of a few centimeters means hitting the ramp at a height of more than 15 metres, so the consequences could be fatal.
Travis himself explains in the video that “I’m having knee surgery in a couple of weeks, so this is my last chance to go further. I’m not saying I’m going to stop riding, But it will be the last time I can force like this and try to do something that no one has ever done.“.
“At 40 years old, although I am old for sports, I am young to need a knee replacement. Actually, I would have to have surgery on both, but one of them doesn’t let me sleep, I can’t play with my children, I can’t jump off a trampoline or play Pickeball with my mother-in-law. “I can’t live life the way I would like,” laments the American.
Travis is aware that “my time of trying to achieve things that no other athlete has achieved will be finished in two weeks with my new kneeand before that I have a couple of to-dos on my list.”
Account that “At the 2019 Masters of Dirt I saw a driver jump, put the front end down and do a front flip, and I thought ‘wow, this is really cool’, I think it’s one of the most underrated tricks ever. That’s why my goal is to do a back flip and then a front flip off.”. And such a challenge at 40 years old is something that he imposes: “My wife is a little scared, I am too, everyone is. This is my last chance to beat this body God gave me before I start adding new parts to it.”
Pastrana carries out several jumps as training to adjust the height and position of the two ramps. “If I miss by one meter, I decapitate myself. And I do not want that“, he says during one of the preparation jumps.
If the challenge was already complicated, things get even more difficult when Travis breaks his right hand on one of the landings; At that moment he decides to go all out and start the jump, aware that in just a few minutes the pain in his hand will prevent him from correctly operating the throttle grip and the front brake.
Not without tension, Travis Pastrana executes the trick successfully, and the explosion of joy is inevitable: “I almost regretted it and went home, I almost shit my pants this time… for all the haters, I know it was with an air bag, but you know what? I’m already 40 years old, and I wanted to see if This was possible… and it is!” he exclaims proudly.
Read also: Pedro Acosta changes helmet brand
You can watch Travis Pastrana’s latest and final trick below:
#definitive #madness #Travis #Pastrana #surgery #goodbye #freestyle