Exclusive Street Trials Rider Performs Unbelievable Gravity-Defying Trick in Abandoned Village

The 28 year old Glasgow professional street trials rider Danny MacAskill is performing a gravity-defying new trick in an abandoned tourist village in Argentina. The mind-blowing “Bum Front Flip” in Epecuen a lakeside resort that was submerged under flood waters in the 1980s. After riding up a specifically constructed ramp, MacAskill flips his bike over a sign, and turns 360 degrees in the air, and lands on his back wheel on the other side.

He managed to perfect the trick just before a huge dust storm swept into the village. He has also riding across the roofs of abandoned buildings and along the branches of dead trees, which have been turned white by the lagoon's salt water, and then navigating rusting train tracks and jumping over the tops of concrete tunnels.

MacAskill has been preforming street tricks for more than 17 years and got his first bike at the age of 4. He had wanted to go to Epecuén for the past two years so approached Red Bull with his idea to film a series of tricks there. The Argentinian town was once a lively lakeside resort but it was flooded without warning after a long period of heavy rains directed the lagoon bursting over its banks, plunging the small community in 1985.

The crew filmed there for 2 1/2 weeks to get the finest shots of the exclusive landscape, which appearances almost post-apocalyptic. Rusting cars, broken appliances and crumbling homes dot the landscape, which has once again become a popular tourist destination for people willing to drive at least 6 hours form Buenos Aires to get there.

 MacAskill said this was a town that was a lot of people's homes and they’ve been forced out by the flood so at first it was strange. After a while I settled into the place and respected how attractive it was despite what happened there. His favorite part was he rides across a series of rooftops. The sequence was filmed from the air and in fact shows off the scale of the village.  He was also fortunate to avoid any injuries during the shoot, and also had a few near misses riding the skinny beam coming off the side of one of the building’s roofs so I had a few ten foot jumps to the ground without my bike as I missed my spot!

One of resident 83 years old, Pablo Novak still lives on the edge of the town. He spends his days cycling around the ruins, welcoming people who wander into the wrecked streets. Whoever passes nearby cannot go without coming to visit here. It's getting more people to the area, as they come to see the ruins.