ZAM3: A Freerider's Journey - Part One

After a couple of emails the idea became true. Geoff Gulevich promised to come to the Czech Republic to take part in the Zam project of Richard Gasperotti. In recent years Gaspi and his crew visited Mongolia and New Mexico to find some exotic places to ride. This time Gaspi decided to introduce us to his own homeland - the Czech Republic in Central Europe. In only seven days he and Gully rode the trails and shot film footage which will be out very soon. Until then, enjoy the photo story from three different photographers who joined the team on the trip. 

Gully as ZAM3 member exploring Czech Republic.

At abandoned and decaying plants for tin processing at Přebuz near German border where we competed with Gully in stone throwing at a stationary target in the water. MS

Gaspi behind a tree on "Volcano”, one of the oldest trails built by Stoklasa brothers around Nejdek, a small town in the Ore Mountains. There’s a race held on them every year. The Stoklasa brothers are probably the tallest riders in the Czech Republic. Their hands are so big, that they can remove even the big stones without tools while digging new trails. MS

Cameraman, Marty Smolík, got a new nickname from Geoff: Muffin Movies. That day he went out without heavy equipment, because Baby Trail on Bublava is quite demanding even without a big backpack. MS

On the "Volcano” trail, Nejdek Gaspi tested his freshly built bike on Mondraker Foxy Frame. MS

The weather was sunny almost every day. Long crossings over the Czech Republic were the most pleasant for Geoff, who was constantly catching up with jet lag, he slept in the rear seat of the car. It seemed that he turned to Batman after coming to the Czech Republic because he slept during the day and raged at night.  MS

Geoff looks at Gaspi while Gaspi looks at the photographer. Once again, steep trails and slippery roots were strong arguments for the photographer and cameraman to ride just with the light equipment. MS

One of the last jumps of the day at the Nejdek trails. All around were tons of magic rooms in the woods. MS

Not far from the German border in the Ore Mountains, where we spent a night in the car. The only way to set a fire was to use Marty’s business documents, which he carried in his bag. They worked well for that purpose actually. MS

Rest bench under the pear tree. From left: Marty, Geoff show Zam3, photographer Mila Štáfek concentrates, Gaspi’s father called Big Chief and Gaspi. On the right you can see a hutch for a monster dog who’s just hiding in between Chief’s legs. MS

At the hunt in the Czech republic we’ve shot a Canadian deer. MS

The only person you would meet at the Bublava trails in Ore Mountains is a hunter or a German tourist. MS

Geoff throws a stylish superman while climbing up. The filming was exhausting, but we took the last rays of the sun. MS

Picnic after the ride. Marty discusses the shots from the day and Geoff sleeps to get a power for the night. After tasty bacon it’s good to enjoy a short rest. MS

Most Lake. It’s an artificial lake established as part of the revitalization program when an old shaft for surface coal mining was slowly flood with water. Entering is allowed only with special permission, so we went there with guide Barry who works for the Coal Safari. Unfortunately we didn’t find a proper place for a good shot and we left after a short visit. MS

Ore Mountains, Baby trail near Marty's house in Bublava. When you miss to turn right, there’s a high risk of falling down a 15 meter high cliff. MS

Not far from Medenec. It's nice to use wind energy, but the result is that you can find the wind turbines all around the border which gives you a strange feeling like being on the military runway. MS

Morning break in the Tattoo inkline Studio of Tomas Zítek where Gaspi works over the winter as the second artist. Geoff asked Gaspi to draw an angel on his forearm to commemorate Zam3 forever. In the afternoon we climbed up the Fir Mountain to ride the bikes again. MS

Another steep section of the Baby Trail in Bublava. MS

The Strahov Monastic Brewery located close to the Prague Castle in the building of the Strahov Monastery, which was founded in the 12th century. We were invited to dinner and degustation of St. Norbert Beer by Marek Kocera, son of the owner and brewmaster who’s riding mountain bikes too. You can visit the brewery here. AM

Gaspi’s chasing "Krakonos” on the trail from Fir Mountain in Chomutov. Krakonos is famous mythical lord of the mountains with a long beard very similar to Geoff’s. Trails are being built up by a local biking gang leaded by guy nicknamed Baloo. AM

On the hillside of Fir Mountain are scattered hundreds on mighty rocks which give people a nice view to the countryside. AM

The first ride after the night’s welcome ceremony celebrated by the local mayor and biker Pavel Hornik who opened his home made Slivovitz plum brandy specially for this occasion. Next morning was tough and it was hard for everyone to keep the handlebars. JK

Rychlebské stezky is network of trails which are specifically designed for enjoyable ride on mountain bike in close touch with nature. One can find here both old rocky paths as well as modern flowy trails.  The trails have the IMBA quality certification. For more look here. JK

As you can see, it’s possible to ride at high speeds at Flowtrail. The trail network is highly prized both beginners and advanced riders. JK

Marty just announced to the guys that they were too fast for him to catch them on the camera in the dense wood. Every part had to be repeated at least five times before Marty was happy with the result. JK

Geoff jumps over the rock directly to the bermed corner of the Flow Trail. Not far away local rider Pavel Hornik treats his hangover in the wood spring. JK

We’re out of energy but fortunately our van is not far away. JK

At Rychleby you can find lot of huge stones nicely incorporated into the trails. JK

Cameraman Marty asked us to ride as close as possible. Sometimes it was little bit dangerous to keep this small of a gap behind Geoff’s rear wheel. JK

A turn with a big compression which pushed our eyeballs back to our throats. JK

Geoff captured while doing a short interview for the TV in the Czech language. After he found what Czech idiom "Ty vole” means, he almost didn’t use anything else. "Ty Vole!” is something like Hey, Dude, but you can translate it directly as "You, bull!” JK

We had only six days to make a movie. After Geoff returned to Vancouver he had only five days left to ride to Utah to participate in Red Bull Rampage competition. JK

We were forced to leave Rychleby because of a rain. The end of the day we spent at the jumpy trail which was built by the legendary trail builder, Mira. JK

This portrait ended in our selection on special request by photographer Jan Kasl who wanted to show his retouching skills of the "Krakonos” face. JK

In a short interview Geoff Gulevich speaks about Gaspi, Listerine, Czech Republic and its neighbors. 

Geoff, how was riding in Czech Republic?

Riding was super fun. We’ve visited some super fun jump trails, have been to beautiful landscapes, the food’s amazing, people are really nice and that damned green drink called Zelena. We renamed it to Listerine because of its color and smell. It made my mornings strange.

How do you know Gaspi?

I can’t remember when we met for the first time. Gaspi was on the Shore. The first time we met I was probably 14 or 15 years old in North Vancouver. I wanna go with Digger to shoot some stuff. Digger is a guy who runs North Shore Extreme movies. Gaspi was with him and Australian rider Ben Watkins. I had no clue who Gaspi was. First time I saw him was doing a big step up like 14 meter jump through the trees and he no handed it. Then I saw him again in Austria and all around the world. We stayed in touch and had some good parties together. 

Lots of the Czech riders were successful in 4X. The sport seems was separated from UCI quite recently. What do you think about its future?

I’ve never been into racing at all. So I’ve never paid attention to it. But four cross is really exciting. It’s fun to watch, the tracks are really fun to ride. But that’s a tough question. But in my opinion it will come back again, like slalom which is back again. Everything goes in cycles. It’s like freeriding. People said that freeriding must die out. But Rampage is back and there are more freeriding videos online than I’ve ever seen before. 

Is there any difference between Germany and Czech republic in your eyes?

Germans are pretty much into mountain biking. They always took care of us, and I really enjoyed the food. The people are always so nice. When I was younger I didn’t like those countries so much, but later I started visiting them and I begun to like them. I've always had a good time there, and the riding is always super fun. 

Yes, but probably you see some small differences there…

The terrain is different. People here don’t have such big mountains like your neighbors so here you have to do lot of work on trails before you go riding. Everyone here who I met was super friendly, very welcoming, the girls are pretty cute, the beer’s amazing, food’s great…

Beer and girls, that’s all about Czech republic. (smile)
What else do you need for your life?

Thanks to Gaspi and all the Zam team!

Words: Adam Marsal

Movie coming soon.........

Zam3 Team

Riders: Richard Gasperotti and Geoff Gulevich
Photographers: Mila Stafek / Jan Kasl / Adam Marsal
Camera/edit Muffin Movie - Martin Smolik
Coordinator: Lukas Jusko / Gaspi

Big thanks to our partners:
Rubena
Funn
Red Bull.cz
Fox ride
Mondraker
Alpinestars
pinkbike.com

---

Mentions: @Gulevich87 @JanKaslPhoto @marsaladam @FUNNMTB @AlpinestarsMTB @redbullbike

---