The first episode in Danny MacAskill’s six-part Imaginate series of internet stunt videos went live this morning.
Though the 15-minute film is short on footage of stunts, which have made MacAskill an internet star with more than 60m viewings, the episode gives an insight into the toll the inevitable crashes have taken on his body, starting with a back injury.
“I’m not really too sure exactly how I first sustained the back injury,” he says in the video. “It sort of reared its head in different ways, and in the most recent way it’s been affecting my knee, which had been a bit of a problem. And when I start losing power in my leg I’m not in control of the bike.”
The video follows the star of Way Back Home and Industrial Revolutions into the gym with the Atherton mountain bike siblings – clearly a novel and humorous experience for the Scot – and to a back specialist in Newport, California, where he opts to have surgery on the injury.
The Imagine series follows the Red Bull-sponsored athlete as he prepares to shoot what he claims is his most ambitious film to date. Imaginate will be shown over the summer at www.redbull.com/imaginate.