Friday Vid Picks: Extreme Sports

We explored the utility of YouTube showcasing rising athletic stars, but what if your sport has yet to be recognized as such? The athletically aberrant and spectacularly sporty have the interwebs to bring their latest extreme pursuit to the masses. And apparently simply putting the word “extreme” before another word qualifies you as the inventor of a new sport. We’ll see if the X-Games pick any of these up for next year.

Extreme Trainsurfer

Traveling upwards of 330 km/h, the mysterious Trainsurfer’s unique YouTube memorial has received over 2.5 million views. Sky News even covered the global train-surfing phenomenon in Soweto, South Africa.

Extreme Unicycling

If you thought riding a unicycle and juggling at the same time was impressive, these guys barrel along the scree and heath of the British countryside and still have a sense of humor about it.

Zorbing

For those of you who never got to fulfill your dream of being chased around in the Atlasphere, your day has come. Now you can know what it feels like when your pet hamster takes that ball for a spin down the stairs.

Extreme Wheelbarrowing

A mythical bond exists between man and barrow. Beyond the mulch moving, beyond the compost compilation, beyond the gravel aggregation, the wheelbarrow is a vehicle for man to express his physical agility, mental acuity, and fantastic boredom.

Ski-Gliding the Eiger

With the increasing availability of sports cameras with remote lenses, such as Samsung’s series, these first-person athletic exploits are a vicarious thrill ride watch.