From the Archive - Chris Akrigg's brakeless trials (VIDEO)

Over some rather substantial flapjack this lunchtime (thanks, Celia!), office conversation turned to brakeless trials – that frankly ludicrous ability of some people to ride the impossible, to defy physics, and to do so, furthermore, without brakes.

And, as happens so often in conversations of this sort, thoughts turned to Chris Akrigg. Here’s one of his brakeless videos from a dim and distant past. No HD, no widescreen, just mental skills. We like the crashes; we like the successes even more…

Barney Marsh

Barney Marsh takes the word ‘career’ literally, veering wildly across the road of his life, as thoroughly in control as a goldfish on the dashboard of a motorhome. He’s been, with varying degrees of success, a scientist, teacher, shop assistant, binman and, for one memorable day, a hospital laundry worker. These days, he’s a dad, husband, guitarist, and writer, also with varying degrees of success. He sometimes takes photographs. Some of them are acceptable. Occasionally he rides bikes to cast the rest of his life into sharp relief. Or just to ride through puddles. Sometimes he writes about them. Bikes, not puddles. He is a writer of rongs, a stealer of souls and a polisher of turds. He isn’t nearly as clever or as funny as he thinks he is.