Thrill seeker

I like to be in the sky. I pretty much travel the world with my bike in one bag and my paraglider and my skydive rig in the other bag. I base jump, I skydive, I paramotor. Those are pretty much my main interests: riding my bike, jumping out of planes, or jumping off of random things with my parachute.

Base-jumping is such a gnarly discipline. With riding, I keep trying to find those impossibilities, keep pushing it. In base-jumping, that’s a dangerous mindset – when you mess up with base-jumping, you don’t get the chance to correct your mistake.

Paragliding is great because it’s like surfing the sky. It definitely humbles you. You have no control over the earth and the wind and the sky, and you have to learn to harmonize with the elements – things you can’t control. It puts things in perspective.

The bike is my first passion and everything else takes second place. I know I can’t grow old with my bike, and I know I have to satisfy myself somehow or I’ll end up in a padded room. It’s great walking up a mountain and seeing a 70-year-old man strapping himself to a paraglider. It’s very encouraging.

I always wonder why everybody doesn’t do this. The truth is, your body really isn’t that fragile. I’ve beat the hell out of mine, and it’s remarkable what it can do and how it heals itself. I think if I died with a healthy body I’d definitely feel like I didn’t push it to it’s potential.

Fear is the challenge. You can’t ignore it because it’ll put you in hospital – you lose instinct when you lose fear, and you don’t know when you should stop. But if you can channel fear, you can use it to stimulate your mind so that your body reacts at the 110 percent level you need it to in order to accomplish whatever is in front of you.

Everything we do is more mental than physical. You have to learn how to control it. It’s about learning how to use fear for its positive point, managing it, and having control over your mind. You have to respect the danger, but use the fear to focus as much as possible.

The sky is a 3D playground people don’t know exists. It’s one of the most remarkable ways to sightsee. Whenever I’m flying inside and looking at the wall of a volcano, it’s amazing. I just think about how much better it is than the inside wall of a hotel.