Travis Pastrana makes his last jump

The freestyle legend gave us one last swan song

Travis Pastrana. Pastrana’s Final Send. YouTube, Channel 199, December 17, 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qlv50fh7m_4&t=4s&ab_channel=Channel199

Last week on the Channel 199 YouTube channel, Travis Pastrana posted a video of him trying another worlds-first trick. He and his crew travelled to Mid America Outdoors to check off a few bucket-list tricks before Travis has his operation for full knee replacement surgery. Travis explains in the video how this is his last real opportunity to push himself as a rider and find the human limit. “This is my last opportunity to really push the envelope. I’m not saying I’m going to stop riding, or I wont be doing the Cernics’ race, or one off here and there. But as far as pushing myself and trying stuff that’s never been done, at 40, although it’s old for our sport, it’s young for getting a knee replacement”.

He cites a trick from the 2019 Masters of Dirt for his inspiration coming up with his trick ideas. A rider jumps up to a box landing, nose bonks, and front flips off. Pastrana saw that as an underhyped trick and decided to elevate the trick with new style. Pastrana goes on to say “and for me, it’s riders like Axel (Hodges) that are inspiring the stuff I’m going to be trying tomorrow”.

Travis Pastrana’s high-profile motocross career started when he was just 12 or 13. Injuries began piling up for the young rider, who managed to never get deterred and continue to push at a high level. For a career as long as his, Travis has never had a shortage of both tricks and injuries, as well as memorable moments. A backflip to front flip is not something I would have expected to see in my lifetime, let alone the triple backflips and front flips currently being done in exhibition stunt shows. For reference, the first backflip landed in a competition event was Mike Metzger during the 2002 X Games. That immediately opened the floodgates for the inverted aerial trick arms race, and backflips are standard faire to see at freestyle events now.

We here at GAS are wishing Travis a speedy recovery from knee surgery and success on his future endeavors.