Originally published at: Skateboarding downhill at not quite 70 MPH | Boing Boing
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Imagine either being the rider or the driver of that Subaru coming the other direction at around the 1:45 mark. Yikes.
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He was so lucky he got that meeting at a spot with good visibilty. At several points he was on the wrong side of the road with almost no vision ahead.
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In the US, at least, those lines are 10 feet long, which more or less makes up the discrepancy.
I’d be surprised if the Swiss ones were much shorter than that. They look smaller because you’re going fast and because of the angle from which you normally see them, so I think they’d look tiny indeed if they were only 6 feet long.
EDIT: Evidence below shows that I am wrong, although [aggrieved look] it took math [dismissive scoff].
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That is just terrifyingly fast. I’ve never been anywhere near that fast on skates or a bike, but I have exceeded 40mph on each. On a bike it brings to mind the second Demon Planet episode of Star Trek Voyager; on skates it brings to mind the idea of NEVER DOING SO AGAIN.
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This skateboarding is some seriously Jackie Chan style awesome nonsense.
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holy crap, everything about that was terrifying. i was thinking, “what happens at that speed when he’s in the other lane and he comes upon a car going the other way??” – and then he comes upon a car going the other way, luckily on a straight stretch. also, his stance is mesmerizing.
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The problem with toxic young men doing stunts like this is that they don’t seem to appreciate the emotional risk to others. If he had hit that car, the people in it would be living with the memory of having killed him for the rest of their lives. Not to mention the fire rescue crews who have to fetch your body off the cliff or whatever. He thinks he’s only risking his own body but he’s wrong. We live in a society and your actions always affect other people.
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Downhill skating like that always makes me think of Thrashin’. Check out the power slides at the 6:00 mark 
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Love the idea that, in a tunnel, someone feels the need to exclaim, “This way!”.
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Came here to say the same. Based on the initial few seconds of the video where he’s walking to his mark, I would say the spaces are 10 - 12 ft apart, unless the gentleman is about 3 feet tall.
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I just discovered the series ‘Post Radical’ hosted by professional skateboarder Rick McCrank that delves into the “fringes” of skateboarding (i.e. non-street and vert skating) and this post reminded me of this episode which coincidentally has basically the same title as this post.
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Precisely. If he can’t reasonably provide for others’ safety from him in common space where laws expressly establish safe usage, then he’s just another asshole who deserves a stiff fine.
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I’d go with a bit more protective gear, but that’s me.
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Cameraman was doing the exact same run, but he also had to keep him in shot.
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So his “brakes” are his gloved hands applied to the road surface? Scary! But then so is every other part of this.
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Yeah, there’s some kind of a plastic (?) puck strapped to his palms that he can use as a brake.
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I just don’t like the idea of such tiny wheels doing that much spinning.
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6-7 feet per road line
Swiss road lines are so much more efficient than that.
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