Danny MacAskill doesn’t need the New York Times to legitimize his sick trials riding, but it doesn’t hurt. Under the fantastic headline “Tour de Fence”, the Grey Lady has just posted a fairly lengthy profile on the Scottish bike mechanic turned YouTube sensation, which thankfully is short on gee-whiz and long on biographical details. Like: It took six months to shoot the video of nutbag tricks like riding on a spiked fence, which viraled out of control and created the sensation he is today. Like: He didn’t get his first “proper” bike until age 11. Like: Ellen DeGeneres really did want him to dress up like her and ride around Los Angeles.

He declined. Which shows that, despite the risks he takes, he has good sense.

“I didn’t want to grab everything while I could and look like an idiot,” he said.

You can see two of MacAskill’s videos, including the one that started it all, below.

Tagged as: cycling