With around twenty percent of the world’s population currently experiencing some degree of lockdown, urged by government to remain indoors and cease all communal activity, we find ourselves in an unprecedented moment of collective lethargy, bound to our sofas and looking wistfully outdoors.

In response, we bring you a collection of the sportier moments from HERO’s archives, where Olympic-hopefuls, weekend racers and seasoned fanatics all rub shoulders, to ease your twitching limbs. Pumped-up teens colliding on ice in Canada’s junior hockey leagues, petrol-heads flying over dunes on dirt bikes and rodeo prodigies riding bulls in Montana, these images remind us of the freedoms we take for granted, and which for the coming months we may be forced to go without.

Following last week’s look back to the Jersey Hitmen junior hockey team, taken from HERO 19, we now turn our attention towards another full-throttle story shot by Danielle Levitt. This time however, we’re about as far removed from a frozen ice rink as is possible, specifically, the scorching sands of California, just outside LA. Under the impeccable blue skies of the Mojave desert, a group of friends convene for a full-throttle ride on dirt bikes. Diesel vapours mix with spitting sand and stale sweat in this story taken from HERO 17, styled by Andreas Kokkino.