Rare air

Cyclist ramping it up for a record attempt

WOODWARD, Pa. - Kevin Robinson soars high in the air on BMX bikes for a living, though that doesn't mean he isn't afraid of heights.

It's December 2006 and Robinson is hanging precariously off his roof, two stories off the ground, trying to hang Christmas lights in a 30-mile-per-hour wind. "It's the most scared I've ever been," said Robinson, chuckling briefly as he recounts the story. "If I had a bike in my hand, I probably would have felt better."

Maybe that explains why this 36-year-old father of two doesn't seem fazed by his plan to break a world record by soaring more than 26 1/2 feet above the top of a 27-foot-high ramp on his bike. The attempt will be part of an event Thursday in New York's Central Park.

If successful, Robinson would soar about 54 feet above ground, or six stories up. To get that high, he has to descend a 60-foot ramp to build up the necessary speed, at least 40 m.p.h., to fly above the lip of the second ramp.

Then he hopes to flip his bike 180 degrees so that the wheels land perfectly back on the ramp he just flew up.

Robinson knows the three questions that typically come next when he describes his daredevil quest to a novice.

Is he crazy?

"People say that all the time. 'Oh, you got to be crazy,' " he said before a riding session at Camp Woodward, the action sports facility in rural central Pennsylvania. "It's not like that at all. I've been doing this for 25 years."

OK then, is he scared?

"If it's something new, then yeah, I'm scared. I'm not deathly afraid . . . but I also have the confidence in what I'm doing. I've been doing this long enough. I trust my skill level."

Why do it?

"I'm doing this for my personal goal," said Robinson, muscles rippling under his T-shirt. "For me it's always about new ways to challenge myself."

Mat Hoffman, Robinson's bike sponsor and mentor, set the current Guinness Book of World Records mark in 2004 by soaring 26 1/2 feet above the top of a 24-foot ramp.

Riding since he was an 11-year-old growing up in East Providence, Robinson has become a star in the action sports world. He's won seven medals at the X Games, including three golds.

Robinson spends about half of the year living in State College, which has turned into a hub for some of the country's top riders because of its proximity to the training facility in Woodward, about 35 miles east.

Robinson spent one recent afternoon at Woodward riding the half-pipe, which is 13 1/2 feet high, in front of some friends and wide-eyed onlookers.

His other regular event is the big air, in which he does tricks on a 26-foot ramp.

Robinson got a look at the massive ramp he will use in New York during a recent training session in Brunswick, Maine. The 60-foot "roll-in" ramp must be mounted on a series of truck-size containers, aluminum beams, and fiberglass panels.

The angles and dimensions between that ramp, the straightaway, and the 27-foot quarter-pipe he'll fly above must be measured just right to give Robinson optimal speed to achieve his record.

Mark Podgurski, a ramp-builder based in Woodward, consulted on the construction of Robinson's stunt ramp.

"He's just going a lot faster than normal," he said during an explanation of the ramp's design that often sounded like a physics lecture. "The G-forces he's going to hit the ramp with, the radius has to be a lot bigger, but then it's getting it to the right radius where he has to do what he has to do."

Simply put, think of the typical ramp at a local skateboard park, only much, much larger. So large that Robinson and his 26-pound bike will be transported to the top of the 60-foot ramp in a cage lifted by a crane.

"That's the least of your worries," he said.

Jamie Bestwick, a State College resident and another of the sport's top stars, plans to go to New York to watch Robinson but won't get on his bike. He has no interest in riding the big ramp, and said he prefers to not risk injury with the prizes of the X Games and the Action Sports Tour still awaiting.

He knows Robinson's big jump could attract new fans to the sport in the spotlight of the big city.

"I just want Kevin to come back in one piece," Bestwick said. "That's paramount."