Martyn Ashton is back on two wheels for YouTube, this time taking on the toughest Downhill mountain bike course in the world.
In the clip, titled Down Not Out, Ashton, who was paralysed from the waist down after falling during a stunt in 2013, uses a specially modified mountain bike to take on the Fort William course.
Ashton’s modified Canyon Sender CF has a Tessier sit ski chair, instead of a saddle, that was adapted to fit the mountain bike’s seat tube – as seen in Back on Track. He was strapped in to the chair, and his feet attached to clipless pedals (one specially-made Crank Brothers pedal reads Martyn, the other Ashton), with 3D printed brackets to hold the pedals in one position, with some float in the cleats.
The other key modification is an electric motor, which allows Ashton to power out of corners, up inclines and maintain momentum along the straights. The throttle was taken from a motocross bike. The battery mount is also 3D printed.
Filming took place over a week on the Fort William course in the run up to the recent World Cup, with the final section using the event crowd. Riding the 1.7 mile (2.8km) route was pretty terrifying, Ashton told the Guardian. Although some of his friends wept when he finished the course, Ashton himself was too busy trying not to fall off, it reports.
“I just wanted to get down and not make a fool of myself,” he said.
See below for more about the bike.
Help us to fund our site
We’ve noticed you’re using an ad blocker. If you like road.cc, but you don’t like ads, please consider subscribing to the site to support us directly. As a subscriber you can read road.cc ad-free, from as little as £1.99.
If you don’t want to subscribe, please turn your ad blocker off. The revenue from adverts helps to fund our site.
If you’ve enjoyed this article, then please consider subscribing to road.cc from as little as £1.99. Our mission is to bring you all the news that’s relevant to you as a cyclist, independent reviews, impartial buying advice and more. Your subscription will help us to do more.
Laura Laker is a freelance journalist with more than a decade’s experience covering cycling, walking and wheeling (and other means of transport). Beginning her career with road.cc, Laura has also written for national and specialist titles of all stripes. One part of the popular Streets Ahead podcast, she sometimes appears as a talking head on TV and radio, and in real life at conferences and festivals. She is also the author of Potholes and Pavements: a Bumpy Ride on Britain’s National Cycle Network.
The details have yet to be finalised – even the award of the Grand Depart to Leeds has yet to be officially confirmed, I believe. Presumably once...
Great to see redruthboy28 and jonnybar5705 getting the credit they deserve for their contributions to journalism:...
I tell you what, I'll take a leaf out of your book, I'll just make up a figure (for example, off the top of my head, that 40% of the population of...
Caught the last few days, hadn't realised they were showing it to start, shame....
That's a bit like refusing to get a sofa because you've got cats or dogs "because then every other inch of the house becomes explicitly for animals...
The good old uci at it again. del Torro fined for bringing the sport into disrepute because of a broken zip on his skinsuit. Beggars belief.
I decided to delete my posting immediatley after it was made....
Just got my set, the actual weight for rim brakes are 692g front wheel and 860g rear wheel. So a total of 1,552g (with rim tape, and no valve).
Obviously it's a good thing that manufacturers are trying to phase out PFAS and other damaging chemicals. That said, the reason that Shakedry "set...
Unfortunately I too had problems with the Techalogic camera - worked well for a week then started to turn itself off despite being fully charged....