India celebrates Republic Day with rad motorcycle tricks

India recently celebrated its 68th Republic Day as a commemoration of when the country's constitution went into effect. A massive parade was part of the festivities, and it included some of the most impressive motorcycle riding imaginable by the Corps of Military Police.

These aren't the traditional motorcycle stunts like wheelies and lifting the rear wheel into the air. Instead, these folks show off an absolutely incredibly degree of balance. It's impressive enough to see someone standing on the seat while riding, but doing that on a ladder is even more astounding.

From there, the military police's stunts get even more fascinating by piling an increasing number of people on a single bike and eventually onto multiple motorcycles. They position themselves in progressively more complex arrangements with additional people hanging off the bikes or standing on top of each other.

Eventually, they get to the really bonkers stunts like having people be prone on a trellis attached to the bike and even spinning around like a propeller. Later, dozens of riders in a human pyramid balance across nine bikes.

This doesn't appear to be a short parade route, so imagine the amount of core strength and balance necessary to hold these positions for long periods. Plus, there's the knowledge that if one person on the bike breaks concentration, many of your fellow military police officers could be in danger. It's a spectacular feat and makes for a great show.

Nissan also staged quite a stunt to celebrate Republic Day. The automaker put rally driver Rahul Kanthraj into a GT-R on the dry Sambhar Lake. Using GPS coordinates he drew a 9.1-miles (14.7-kilometer) track in the ground that looked like an outline of India from above. It's the largest ever outline of a country.