ISLE OF MAN TT

THE VIEW FROM INSIDE THE PADDOCK

MICHAEL DUNLOP

Senior TT Winner

By now we’ve all seen the bonkers videos of Isle of Man TT racers lapping at 130-mph average speeds, head-shaking or crashing between hedges and rock walls (if they are lucky), and generally defying the odds by running at the limit where a greater percentage of mistakes will end in death or serious injury. Three riders died this year.

Seeing it live and riding the course on a streetbike while the roads are open during TT made me realize that as good as the coverage and on-board footage has become, the soul-moving magnitude) use unfathomable skill and talent and physical force to thread superbikes through impossibly narrow gaps to near perfection. It’s more than joy to watch, and the feeling of doing it firsthand must be incomprehensible.