It’s cold. It’s snowy. It’s winter pretty much everywhere in Canada, and that’s a major bummer, because for a lot of us, it’s a month ahead of schedule. Curse you, polar air masses!
So, here’s something to get you through Thursday—a 360º video of what it takes to make it up the Pikes Peak International Hillclimb. ICON Motorsports worked with pro racer Akinori Tetsugo Inoue to put together this video, and it gives you a pretty good idea of just how crazy you have to be to tackle the mountain. Slide your view around by mousing over the arrows on the top left, and watch for the mishap at 7’35”.
And remember, this doesn’t really show what’s going on behind the scenes. Talk to any Pikes Peak vet, and they’ll tell you there’s a lot more to worry about than just corners and hills. The pavement heats up during the day, meaning your available traction is always changing, especially as the practice runs often take place in the wee hours of the morning, making it almost impossible to string together the same conditions two days in a row. Call us wimps if you wish, but we’d certainly like to have more than just guesswork keeping us on the track on a crazy course like Pikes Peak.
But people do it, and here’s a first-hand peek at what the result is. Apparently ICON is producing a documentary about this year’s effort, but for now, this video is enough to impress us. Especially on a cold November day, when most people’s bikes are locked away for the year.
