Wednesday, February 26

Allan Cooke Sends a 54 Foot Backflip

By Aaron Cooke
EXPN.com

Allan Cooke, the 2002 X Games VIII gold Medalist in Bicycle Stunt Dirt Jumping, is the kind of rider that sees things others don't. He can look at a building as he drives by and see some sort of transfer, gap, or other way of getting himself into a crazy situation on his BMX bike. Earlier this month he took another wild idea and turned it into reality when he backflipped his BMX bike 54' over a ramp that looked fit for a motorcycle.

Anyone that knows Allan's style knows he likes to go big. And throwing a backflip? "I've never jumped anything that I couldn't flip," said Allan. Since Cooke signed with new sponsor, DC Shoes, they've been going over some of the wild new ideas in his head. Historically DC has shown support for past stunts from their pro team -- Danny Way's record skateboard distance air, Dave Mirra's record BMX vert air, and Colin Winkleman's record BMX distance jump over 13 SUVs. So once Allan was signed it was only a matter of time until one of his crazy ideas materialized.

"I've never jumped anything that I couldn't flip." -- Allan Cooke.

Allan had talked with DC BMX Team Manager, Brian Botts, about sending a record backflip. "I had always wondered what it would be like," commented Allan. "To jump my bicycle off of a motorcycle ramp." Beginning with this simple idea the crew at Point X Camp/VPI Ramp Builders in Southern California took on the task of building that special ramp.

They constructed a massive 110 foot long roll-in, perched it on the side of a mountain, and came up with something that looked like a log-ride straight out of Disneyland. The landing gave him about 60 feet from top-to-bottom and the safety case was 16-feet-long and 13 feet off the ground! At first sight it looked frighteningly similar to a motorcycle jump -- except that after the landing VPI reconstructed the 20-foot-tall quarter pipe that was used for Danny Way's high air record.

After sizing up the ramp, and a couple of practice runs, Allan was successfully backflipping at 46 and 47 feet with no worries. The initial goal of a 50-foot-backflip seemed like it would be reached, but as he climbed higher and higher on the roll-in he figured out an interesting fact … the faster he went the higher he went, not further.

After many attempts, a lunch break, and some interesting calculations, the wind died down just enough for Allan to send this 54 foot backflip.

Plus, the wind condition from the top of the roll-in to the point where he flipped was always different. Allan was waiting upwards of 20 minutes between jumps to get a break in the wind. Another variable was that after 40 feet, he could no longer jump the ramp straight -- he needed the rotational force of his backflip to keep him better in-line. After numerous attempts under 50 feet Allan found himself at the top of the roll-in, struggling to find more speed.

After a much needed lunch break Allan climbed back to the top of the roll-in one more time. The cameras were rolling, the wind died down, and I gave him the thumbs up to send it. "I took a half crank and bunny hopped in," said Allan. "Like a Kagy drop-in … to get as much speed as possible." When he hit the ramp I could see he was going faster than other attempts. I was standing on top of the safety case and he was at least 12 feet over the deck after take-off.

As he touched down at an estimated 35 mph we marked the landing and pulled out the measuring tape. His tire mark measured exactly 54 feet -- he had done it! And he had done it with style, surpassing the original goal of 50 feet. Before he even had the chance to celebrate a huge gust of wind came and blew a dust storm across the ramp. That was it, the wind was not going to let any more jumps happen for the day … and besides that we had ran out of roll-in.

"I had always wondered what it would be like ... to jump my bicycle off of a motorcycle ramp." -- Allan Cooke.

"This flip was really hard to calculate because you had to adjust your rotation for both the distance and the speed," said Allan. "I had to just trust that once I got in the air my instincts would take over and I would stick the landing."

Look for the video footage on www.dcshoes.com and keep an eye out for Allan's new ad coming soon.

Special thanks to DC Shoes for building the ramp that made it possible, Point X Camp for hosting the madness, and the builders that spent seven days constructing the ramp all for a jump that was just an idea in Allan's head … because nobody knew if it would work until we got there.