One of the most death-defying and incredible performance artists in the world, Ronningsbakken first got into the art of balancing when he was just five years old. His interest was sparked when he saw a person do one-of-a-kind feats on TV. When Ronningsbakken was 18, he ran away to a circus and performed there for 11 years. He knew that balancing was exactly what he wanted to do.

Now in his early thirties, Ronningsbakken puts his life on the line by riding a bicycle upside down on a tightrope over a canyon and doing handstands on a bar that hangs under a flying hot-air balloon. In the video above, you can see him ride a bicycle backward down one of the curviest roads in Norway. Ronningsbakken isn’t fearless, however, admitting that he gets anxiety before some stunts. He claims that fear is part of what makes us human and that if he ever lost his sense of fear, he’d immediately quit; he’d be afraid of not being fully human.