Stunts in the streets for Venezuelan motorcycle virtuoso | Entertainment
Stuntman Pedro Aldana performs a wheelie on his motorcycle during an exhibition in the Ojo de Agua neighborhood of Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, Jan. 10, 2021. The motorcycle trick rider and adrenalin junkie who prefers the nickname “Crazy Pedro,” draws masses of Venezuelans starved for entertainment to his shows across the country.
Awards and medals won by motorcycle stuntman Pedro Aldana sit on a wall at his home in the Catia neighborhood of Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2021. The 33-year-old makes a living with his shows inspiring his young fans who flock to his shop, where he teaches them to change the oil and tune up their bicycles.
Motorcycle stuntman Pedro Aldana waits for his friends for an exhibition in the Ojo de Agua neighborhood of Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, Jan. 10, 2021. The motorcycle trick rider and adrenalin junkie who prefers the nickname “Crazy Pedro,” draws masses of Venezuelans starved for entertainment to his shows across the country.
Reflected in a motorcycle side mirror, stuntman Pedro Aldana performs a wheelie on his motorbike during an exhibition in the Ojo de Agua neighborhood of Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, Jan. 10, 2021. “This is my passion and my work,” he said.
Motorcycle stuntman Pedro Aldana fixes his brakes during an exhibition in the Ojo de Agua neighborhood of Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, Jan. 10, 2021. The 33-year-old makes a living with his shows, inspiring his young fans who flock to his shop, where he teaches them to change the oil and tune up their bicycles.
Motorcycle stuntman Pedro Aldana cleans motorcycle parts with his daughter Alanis as his young neighbor and admirer, 6-year-old Milan Sandoval Ramos, watches from a chair outside their home in the Catia neighborhood of Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2021. Of Aldana’s two children, 4-year-old Alanis is the only one interested in his work, who he plans to teach her how to ride a motorcycle.
Motorcycle stuntman Pedro Aldana performs a front end wheelie during an exhibition at the Ojo de Agua neighborhood of Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, Jan. 10, 2021. Aldana draws masses of Venezuelans starved for entertainment to his shows across the country.
Motorcycle stuntman Pedro Aldana speaks with a police officer after officers stopped his previously authorized exhibition, citing COVID-19 restrictions, on Camuri Chico beach in La Guaira, Venezuela, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2021. Soldiers have also refused to let his crew of adrenaline junkies hold an exhibition in the streets of Caracas, where neighbors are starved for entertainment.
Motorcycle riders gather to see stuntman Pedro Aldana do an exhibition performance in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, Jan. 31, 2021. The 33-year-old makes a living with his shows inspiring his young fans who flock to his shop, where he teaches them to change the oil and tune up their bicycles.
Motorcycle stuntman Pedro Aldana performs a wheelie on his motorbike as he rides to an exhibition along the old highway from Caracas to La Guaira, Venezuela, Sunday, Jan. 10, 2021. Aldana, who prefers his show name “Crazy Pedro,” dares to beat the odds and put on exhibitions of speed and agility with a crew of like-minded daredevils atop their motorcycles.
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — If police aren’t shutting down his street shows for lack of permits, Venezuelan motorcycle trick rider Pedro Aldana is battling coronavirus quarantines or the tropical rains that turn the asphalt slick and send fans running for cover.
Despite life’s obstacles, Aldana — a natural-born showman who performs in wild checkered clothes and dyed green hair — has kept up his performances, which draw hundreds of people to unused parking lots or obscure city streets.
“This is my hobby, my art,” said Aldana, who is leading a movement to win official recognition of motorcycle acrobatics in Venezuela — a sport nurtured in poor neighborhoods like his, where he sometimes mentors young fans in basic mechanics. “This is my passion and my work.”
Aldana, who goes by the show name “Pedro Locura,” Spanish for “Crazy Pedro,” is joined by a loyal crew of likeminded daredevils for occasional exhibitions of speed, agility and precision balance.
The swarming motorcyclists do wheelies at high speed, often standing on one foot or a knee from the seat or the back foot peg. Sometimes a young woman stretches out on the seat in a show of her trust for the rider’s skills.
In other maneuvers, they turn tight circles in a group, each rider hopping from a normal seated position to sidesaddle while the front wheel is sky-high.
