‘With A Little Help From My Friends’

Photo: Robin Kitchin

About Martyn Ashton

Just three months after suffering a severe spinal injury, Martyn Ashton, international mountain bike trials legend and ex-World Champion, announces that he has today released his spectacular sequel to Road Bike Party: Road Bike Party 2.Following the 9 million YouTube view success of the original in 2012, Martyn has been secretly working on the sequel, however his accident during a bicycle trials demo on Sunday 1st September at Silverstone’s Moto GP, England – in which he dislocated his T9 and T10 vertebrae, leaving him a paraplegic and a wheelchair user – cast doubt as to whether it would ever be finished.Thanks to some very strong friends – chiefly, Danny MacAskill and Chris Akrigg – rallying around and committing to help Martyn and videographer Robin Kitchin complete the film, the project is now ready for release.“It’s very different to what I planned but I’m really starting to love it and care for it,” Martyn says of the finished film. “It’s a brilliant collection – you can lose the fact that we’re on a road bike as it just looks like a great piece of riding. The first Road Bike Party was all about it being a road bike but this one, the road bike doesn’t get a chance – the stuff that we do collectively is beyond what would be ‘normal’ for a trials bike. It’s exceptional.”Martyn Ashton started riding motorcycle trials at the age of 11, reaching a high standard by the age of 18 and competing in national competitions. At this age he then ventured into bicycle trials with immediate success seeing him selected for the Great Britain squad to compete at the World Championships. In 1993, the following year, Martyn won the British Bike Trial Championship and continued to dominate the British competition scene for the next 10 years.1995 was a big year for Martyn. He joined the all-conquering Volvo-Cannondale Mountain Bike Race Team and won a World Bike Trial Championship. He then spent the next seven years riding on the Volvo-Cannondale squad with his focus gradually moving more and more to live shows and media coverage.In 2002 Martyn started riding for Animal Clothing and also created his own bicycle brand ‘Ashton Bikes’; Martyn's designs were strikingly different and influenced trials bike design for many years to come.During his career with Animal, which continues to the present day, Martyn has taken his live shows from a one-man demonstration to an annual national tour ( actionsportstour.animal.co.uk ) with action from some of the best extreme sports athletes in the country.One of Martyn's strengths has always been producing great riding footage for videos. This talent was evident in his early career in VHS hits such as the Trainspotting-inspired Chainspotting, Tricks and Stunts and, more recently, with huge YouTube phenomenon Road Bike Party which has received more than 9 million views to date.