Jumper: Matt Wadsworth

By

jumper

Like the avatar on his custom helmet, Englishman Matt Wadsworth is blind as a bat. From what I understood overhearing him describe the sensation, the accomplished lutenist sees only vague impressions of light when looking at the sun. Regardless, he is determined to set a 100-foot world record for distance jumping on his Honda CRF450R. Together with his trainer, two-time AMA Motocross Champion Micky Dymond, the two have developed a simple system of communication that already has Matt reaching just over 60 feet. There are no training wheels, no fancy balancing devices, no computer-assisted guidance system for the bike, just Matt and Micky talking over a two-way radio. Watching a few feet from the massive earth mound as they practiced, I felt like I was a kid in the ’60s witnessing some strange guy named Evel do the impossible for the first time. Click below for the feature.

Jumper: Matt Wadsworth

  • http://mansgottado.tumblr.com/ Andy Gregory

    Nice, Grant. This guy is awesome, really inspirational story and you did it justice with your pictures, interview, and layout. Go Matt!

  • Brian

    Neat story, interested to see how it turns out.
    That display format is horrible. Are we all supposed to have the same screen to view the article as the one you used when you wrote it? You’ve done the horizontal format before but this one was worse than most.

    • http://hellforleathermagazine.com Grant Ray

      Is horizontal scrolling really that difficult for you?

      • David

        Agreed. Once I remembered I had arrow keys I loved the format. Great stuff!

      • Brant

        I have to scroll vertically and horizontally. This format is great on my big desktop monitor, but on the laptop its pretty unbearable.

        • http://hellforleathermagazine.com Grant Ray

          Guys, the images are only 900px high, which is fine for 15″ monitors or greater with a standard resolution setting. Making lush feature content that adheres to an infinite combination of personal resolution preferences and variable screen sizes on thousands of different new and older products simply isn’t going to happen. Sorry, but there aren’t enough hours in the day.

        • Campisi

          I have to do the same most of the time as well, but since none of my display devices are very large I chalk it up to that and refrain from complaining about it.

    • http://hellforleathermagazine.com Wes Siler

      Oh. My. God. Something different. Clearly, the only option is to complain.

      • th3w3s

        Think of it as user feedback, Wes :)

        • http://hellforleathermagazine.com Wes Siler

          Think of it as creator feedback — fuck off.

          • th3w3s

            Your subscribers tell you what they like and don’t like about your product and your response is to tell them to F- off?

            I wasn’t complaining by the way, just posting stats…

            • http://hellforleathermagazine.com Grant Ray

              Sorry about the dog. Wes was drunk texting and hadn’t bothered to notice the links you provided state that 85% of teh internets are using really big screens to better see their anti-SOPA free porn. :)

              • th3w3s

                PUI hey ;)

      • Gene

        Yes, it’s different, which is why I come to HFL. I think it’s fine, even though I have my monitor set up portrait instead of landscape.

        Needs moar nekkit tattoo models though!

    • http://www.postpixel.com.au mugget

      Works fine on iPad – keep up the great layouts. Vertical scrolling is so passé.

  • http://twitter.com/metabomber Jesse

    Wow.
    Thank you, Matt.
    Thanks for bringing this to us Grant, et al.

  • http://greatjoballweek.blogspot.com/ Case

    That is totally bad ass.
    Fuck yeah motorcycles.

  • Campisi

    … Bats actually have decent vision.

    /missing the point entirely

    • http://hellforleathermagazine.com Grant Ray

      That depends actually. Some of the larger fruit and fox bats aren’t so bad, while other varieties of chiroptera depend entirely on ecolocation. Yeah, I was totally nerdy in junior high, so what!?

      • Campisi

        While it must be said that the vast majority of studies in this matter have used Myotis-family microchiroptera (the family containing most of the “mouse eared” bats everyone pictures in their heads) only, the general consensus seems to be that these small bats have vision capable of pattern recognition and similar-object differentiation; some evidence even indicates that under certain conditions vision is the primary sense used, with echolocation either foregone completely or used to supplement vision.

        Bats are awesome. :)

  • Squid_Squidly

    AAAAAAAAAAaand now I feel bad about myself.

    :(

  • Mr.Paynter

    Absolutely amazing!

  • Eric

    loveit!!! i am teaching movement classes to people with visual impairment and this reminds me not to get boring in the job…and the horizontal format suits the subject: broadening horizons…like traveling on a bike.

    • http://hellforleathermagazine.com Grant Ray

      “…horizons…like traveling on a bike.” Folks, we have a Winner!

  • Robert

    Inspiring journ(ey)alism Grant, HFL & Subscribers. Keep up the great work!

  • http://www.brammofan.com Brammofan

    Great feature, Grant. As I was reading it, I thought, why not have some sort of loudspeaker at the top of the ramp. Then, the obvious realization, that he won’t be able to hear it over the engine. Might be a situation where the relative silence of an electric bike could come in handy.

    • http://hellforleathermagazine.com Grant Ray

      Micky is already talking the entire time through Matt’s headset, constantly chanting “Straight, straight, straight” all the way until he changes to “Jump, jump, jump,” even when Matt is in the air. The whole thing happens so quickly, there’s no time for giving other information.

      I think an electric dirt bike is interesting but would actually make the sequence far more difficult to navigate because of how much sensory information is eliminated by an electric-powered vehicle. No shifting, no engine vibration, no sound of acceleration or deceleration on the ramp or during the jump to help understand speed or timing for landing means Matt can only rely on the wind on his face.

      • Miles Prower [690 Duke, MTS 1200]

        I fly electric RC aircraft (most with brushless outrunners), and I get a ton of feedback from the sound of an electric motor. I can judge relative airspeed, remaining battery capacity, gustiness of the wind, etc just from listening to the whine of the motor and the buzz of the prop relative to throttle position.

        I’ve only ridden an electric motorcycle once. I was blown away by how much I could feel (and hear) the tires on the riding surface without the vibration (and noise) of an ICE engine masking all the intricate bumping, squishing, scurrying, bouncing, etc of the rubber knobs contacting the ground — even more so than what I experience pedaling a mountain bike.

        A loudspeaker at the top of the ramp seems like a good idea. You ears & brain are very good at determining the position of a sound source given the right cues. Therefore, you can aim for a loudspeaker. You can’t aim for a voice coming out of your earphones.

  • AHA

    Awesome. Impossible (really) is nothing for Matt. You can’t be reminded too often how our limits are largely self-imposed. Inspiring story, excellently laid out. The superb HFL art direction is a key reason I subscribe.

  • Rick

    It’s worth getting their names right, too: the trainer is Micky Dymond.

    • http://hellforleathermagazine.com Grant Ray

      I tried various spellings, but that one never came up. Thanks for the info. All fixed.