Martyn Ashton
 Animal Bike Tour, Aberystwyth, June 2007 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Martyn Ashton |
| Born | 2 December 1974 |
| Team information | |
| Discipline | MTB |
| Role | Rider |
| Rider type | Trials |
| Professional team(s) | |
| 1997 2005 2008– |
Volvo - Cannondale Animal MBUK Team Ashton Diamondback |
|
Infobox last updated on 12 June 2008 | |
Martyn Ashton (born 2 December 1974)[1] is a mountain bike trials rider and team manager. He has been riding professional trials since 1993[2] and is often described as a mountain biking legend.[3][4] He has been credited with turning it from a niche form of riding into the sport it is today.[5]
Biography
Ashton started out as a motorcycle trials rider, and only later took up mountain bike trials.[5] He has been the front man for The Bike Tour since 2002, and is a four-time British Biketrial Champion and former World Expert Biketrial Champion. Ashton is the High Jump World Record Holder. In 2008, Ashton entered the Mountain Biking UK 'Hall of Fame'.[2]
Ashton not only rides trials, he has also designed the exhibition stages[6] and has been designing products for his own Ashton Bikes range since 2002.[3] He has appeared in TV shows, magazine covers and MTB videos, and also has his own column Hop Idol in the MBUK magazine.[3] Ashton lives in Port Talbot, Wales.
Ashton broke his back in 2003 when he compressed a vertebra and fractured it during a fall, having misjudged a landing, but he soon returned to riding.[7]
Ashton established Team Ashton Diamondback in order to provide support for young riders. Although they are top level riders nationally and capable of achieving results internationally, Ashton does not believe competition results are the be all and end all, and the team concentrate as much on gaining positive attention in the media as competition. A range of Team Ashton bikes was released in October 2008 as part of the 2009 Diamondback range.[8]
Ashton again broke his back on 1 September 2013 during a demo at Moto GP. A 3-metre fall from a high bar left him with severe damage to his spinal cord and dislocated T9 and T10 vertabrae.[9]
Road Bike Party
Ashton published, on 09/Oct/2012, on Youtube, an amazing video called Road Bike Party, where he takes a carbon road bike and makes incredible performances, overcoming insurmountable obstacles. The video, that was shot in various locations around the UK, has got a huge success, with millions of views and tens of thousands of likes (about 10 Millions of views as of 09 Jan 2014).[10]
Road Bike Party 2
After the success of Road Bike Party, Martyn was in the middle of filming a new movie, when his life was transformed by the accident during a trials display which has left him paralysed from the waist down. Courage, determination and great friends have helped Martyn to complete his vision for Road Bike Party 2. In this episode, Martyn and other bike trial champions, Danny MacAskill and Chris Akrigg, appear into the video making their incredible stunts. "Road Bike Party 2", was released on 10/Dec/2013, and like the first episode of the sequel, become a success, and, in the first month, got more than 7.5 Millions of views and 66.000 likes.[11]
References
- ↑ "Martyn Ashton". Cycling Website.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Martyn Ashton". Ashton Bikes.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Team Ashton Diamondback Is Launched". Diamondback.
- ↑ "Martyn Ashton : Mountain bike legend". ADS Projects.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Martyn Ashton". Mud in the Blood.
- ↑ "ANIMAL MOUNTAIN BIKE CHAMPIONS, MARTYN ASHTON AND GRANT ‘CHOPPER’ FIELDER, AT THE SPORTSBOAT AND RIB SHOW". Southampton Sports Boat and RIB Show. 4 May Animal Mountain Bike Champions, Martyn Ashton and Grant ‘Chopper’ Fielder, at the Sportsboat and Rib Show2005.
- ↑ "UK Trials ace Ashton recovering from broken back". February 2003.
- ↑ "About Team Ashton". Ashton Bikes.
- ↑ "Legend Martyn Ashton is set for a new trial". DIRT.
- ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZmJtYaUTa0
- ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhabgvIIXik&feature=c4-overview-vl&list=PLUdAMlZtaV105t0QZCfOkG-O-d6GPKS7t