You think you’re cooler than me? Well you probably are…but you’re definitely not cooler than Mike Wilson. He raised the bar with his unprecedented ropeswing triple backflip into the Truckee River. In case you missed it, the release point on this particular rope swing was 60 feet high, and Mike was over land for a majority of the jump…until he somehow torpedoed into the narrow “window of opportunity†section of the river. Wilson stomped, stomped, and stomped some more…to which you would think he would go home and rest. Not the case. Wilson’s a Beast!
Instead of patting himself on the back while claiming illest rope swing/extremist in the western hemisphere, Mike Wilson lost sleep, weight and sanity thinking about how he was going to one-up himself. The creative wheels started turning and the hit was on…Wilson concocted a quadruple back flip off a 99 foot rope swing into the royal blue depths of Lake Tahoe.
With the unique combination of childlike eagerness and calculated focus, Mike crafted a pulley system conducive to rocking a quadruple back flip. A four-day shoot session started with a California sunrise and Subway sandwiches…hand-delivered by Wilson’s Mom!
The events that took place between Sunrise, Day 1 and Sunset, Day 4 were out of control. The Shreddy Times Crew scoured the lake/cliffs to get, the, shots. Large crowds gathered on the cliffs, boats and waterbound onlookers pulled up to enjoy the “Great Showâ€, a term coined by Wilson’s fan and father.
Mike Wilson trajected himself into the record books with a MASSIVE 99 Foot rope swing quadruple back flip. Summer 2010, Lake Tahoe. Enough Said.
This year marks the 75th running of the All-American Soap Box Derby, an Akron institution that has left a stream of colorful memories in its wake.