Biography Eric Barone

Eric Barone > Biography Eric Barone

Eric Barone is head of a company which surprises and upsets established ideas. For more than 30 years he had led an atypical sports career as well as a career as a film stuntman. In addition, he has his own company where he excels as a conference lecturer and life style coach. Professional sportsman, World Champion in Mountain bike Downhill, a true adventurer of the extreme plus multiple world records for speed cycling, Eric has had an unorthodox path which has been difficult, with ups and downs, successes and failures. An accident in his life allowed him to forge his personality and his life philosophy which today is a true source of inspiration. For Eric an obstacle is an opportunity, a problem, a solution. He doesn’t think like you or me!

Eric lives a bit as the thinker named Dugpa Rimpoche who he discovered on day in 1997 through a citation where he recognized himself. The citation said, “Childhood is not a past period of your life which will never come back, but a state of being, a certain quality of heart which makes the world shine.”
In 2012 at 52, 10 years after a terrible accident which could have killed him, Eric returned to confront the mountains with a key to success only too well known and in 2017 established a world cyclist record of 227.720 km/h on snow. Today a true orator, Eric speaks at conferences, encounters, coaching sessions about his vision of life and his keen sense of overcoming one’s limits…. As a good manager of a company, Eric is simultaneously developing a pioneer project: the birth of a new sport called Alpine Snow Bike which has seduced the highest echelons of cyclism, UCI (Union Cyclism International). This ambitious project is in progress and an international program has been launched with the final goal of a demonstration during the next winter Olympic Games in “Beijing 2022”.

Origin of the Red Baron

Red Baron, alias Eric Barone, extreme sports legend, was ,thus, baptized by the sports press in 1996. His name and the color of his competition suit are surely responsible. Eric Barone’s human qualities seen during his long career such as fairness towards himself and others, as well as being attentive to others are closely linked to the real person named Red Baron who was a famous German pilot during WWI and whose actual name was Manfred Von Richthofen.

His passion for flying almost made him forget that Europe was at war. He became a legend due to his position with respect to the German army who used his image as a means of propaganda. He had to make the choice between his disgust for the war and his sense of duty…

Cinema

In parallel to his dazzling career in Downhill Mountain bike, Eric was a stuntman in the famous team “Rémy Julienne Action” where he performed several world firsts such as a back flip on a scooter in 1998 in the acclaimed Taxi 1 by Luc Besson. He had performed this stunt several years before in 1993 on a motorcycle during a night show under the leadership of Rémy Julienne. This was seven years before the American specialists of motorcycle freestyle achieved it. Eric performed in the same Taxi 1 another famous stunt, the well known hand jump over the scooter handlebars, a stunt he often does on his mountain bike during a cyclist event or TV show. In Taxi 3, Eric did all the fast chase scenes on mountain bike with the Gang of Père Noël except the passage of motocross on the cars which Thierry Girard, World Champion, had fun doing.

Volcano Adventures 1996-2001

Due to his atypical experience, his attraction to speed and traveling plus several times mountain bike world speed record holder, Eric was, thus, drawn to flirt with the most active volcanoes on this planet (Etna in Italy, the most active in Europe, Stromboli also in Italy on the Eolien Islands, Mount Fuji in Japan, Nevado Tuluca in Mexico, Kilauea in Hawaii (the most active volcano on the planet) where he rode on red, hot lava (his wheels caught fire!) In Central America on Cerro Negro in Nicaragua, Eric achieved 2 world records the same day of his accident due to defective material. This was on May 12, 2002.

Accident in 2002

This dramatic accident which could have cost Eric his life led to his rehabilitation, a tremendous trial for him. In the section “coaching” on this site, you’ll find “From Chaos to Rebirth” which explains in detail his rehabilitation and the strength that ensued.

Following this accident, Eric didn’t ride a bike for 10 years. It was only by chance that Eric at 52 years old once more sat on a bike seat with a clear and positive vision to set in 2015 a new world mountain bike speed record on snow with the back up of technology, a truly bold project that motivated all his team.

DNA of Alpine Snow Bike

Starting by “The Barone Speed Tour” created by Eric with the idea of organizing bike events on snow with curves in order to spot and coach a replacement in speed ( handing over the torch) as he was the only one to date in 7 billion individuals to achieve world speed biking records on snow.
Eric wished to offer his enormous experience of speed to others so that they could save years of preparation if they decided to launch themselves into this challenge. This project reached its limits and three candidates were selected. Their future belongs to them as they need to form a team and create their own project with sponsors and partners. This difficult road is unavoidable if one day they want to be ready to beat Eric’s record. Unfortunately, all these requirements are a major drawback to such an accomplishment. Today “The Barone Speed Tour” has evolved into the official birth of a new discipline called Alpine Snow Bike. Go see the site :
www.alpinesnowbike.com