Winning is very much a habit and you trust this line while talking about stunt rider Aras Gibieza’s success spree. Not having tasted defeat in any European stunt-riding championships to date, the Lithuania resident balances between his training, travelling and performing routines with a computerised ease. The man, on his second Indian visit, took time prior to his event at Sujana Forum Mall as a part of the 9-city Suzuki Gixxer Day tour, to talk to us.
Aras believes the stunts that come to him are certainly God-given and feels practice can’t do everything. His love for automobiles, say, for engines, cars and motorcycles too do the trick. Though the various stunts that he performs in competitions are planned, sometimes they are spontaneous too. “Though the daily schedule may be the same, no day is the same,” the man adds.
Making his childhood obsession a career didn’t come easy to him. Given stunt-riding was and has been constantly associated with risk, not many bothered to call it a sport. “Some even mentioned it dangerous street-riding. Most often, one would run into trouble with the cops. One of the major difficulties was to find a proper spot to ride. In India, I believe, that’s a bigger issue. We get a bad name from those who do this unprofessionally,” Aras, who trains for about five hours a day in a small town away from his capital, reveals.
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Aras was first gifted a bike by his grandfather when he was about 10. His initial interest was only to ride but later as he had bad falls, accidents, equations did change. He took adequate care of himself. “The falls increased my determination to ride at any cost. It was only a helmet initially, now there are protective gears attached to most parts of my body as I ride.”
Does the word risk mean anything to him at all? “It’s usual in my life and feels normal, frankly. I always push myself to the limit but don’t go beyond. Accidents do happen; this is part and parcel of sport though,” he replies.
Crowd response, an element that gives fillip to every sportsperson, is equally crucial for him to have that unassailable adrenaline rush as he performs. He convinces us it isn’t a distraction. “I’m always excited by that! It’s the best feedback that I can ever get. In India, there are people screaming, huge crowds all around; it of course makes a difference in planning more tricks. You don’t want people making confused faces and ask, what are you doing? ” he laughs.
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Performing so many stunts frequently, has conventional biking at regular speeds alike a common-man ever feel strange to him? “I know where I can do stunts and where I can’t.
After training for like 6 hours straight, all you want is to feel safe on a public road and crash later.” In India, he feels it a ‘different’ experience to see traffic jams, even though admitting that the heat hasn’t been kind to him this time around. “I love to travel. So, going through this is all fun,” he, having been to most parts of India, is heading to Chennai next.