Big mountain grom tales: Why edit?

Big mountain grom tales: Why edit?
The 2013 riding season is finally in full swing (unless you’re lucky enough to live somewhere with all year riding). My summer had a bit of a rocky start with lots of unexpected troubles and situations that kept me off the bike; but that’s over with. Resources have been gathered, time freed up, and I’m ready to get everything I possibly can out of the nice weather. There’s so many places I want to ride the summer doesn’t seem nearly long enough.

First, a confession. I’m a bike nerd in every sense of the word, I obsess over the components and bikes of pro’s, daydream of competing in contests I’ll probably never see in person, and am on a never ending search for new places to take a bike. I love watching just about any edit or video that gets uploaded, amateur or pro, big mountain or street. Now I’ve decided that it’s finally time to start sharing my little slice of the riding universe.


I recently took a little weekend trip to Kamloops to get my second little taste of the special kind of riding they have in the B.C interior, and just like last year the steep chutes and endless flowy trails sent me home bruised, bleeding, and exhausted. I love it there, mainly because the level of riding and terrain gives me that extra little boost to try and stretch my bike skills. Once my time there was over I was reminded of just how flat my home turf is, gravity is scarce on this side of the rockies.


I live in southern Alberta, Canada. Our province seems to be perpetually under the shadow of British Colombia and its never ending stream of great riders, locations, and professional video segments. People do ride here, and the riding scene is only going to get bigger. It takes a bit of driving and backroad knowhow, but there’s nuggets scattered about the hoodoos, badlands, and coulees.

I’ve only been riding for two years, but for this season I’ll be putting together as many edits and articles as my procrastination will allow. The purpose of the stories and videos I’ll be putting together isn’t simply to showcase my lackluster filming and riding skills, but to shed light on some of my local riding spots, and to let average joes know that you don’t have to be able to huck 40ft cliffs or be world cup fast to share what mountain biking is to you. I suck compared to a lot of people, but I’m still learning. Wanting to get interesting footage should be plenty of motivation to keep improving.


It can be a little tough for socially awkward people such as myself to put their creative endeavours out for public consumption and ridicule, especially when I still consider myself a beginner. We live in an age where just about anybody with some basic resources can spread video, photos, and the written word around the world. This can only be a good thing for any two wheeled fanatic who’s first and last thoughts of the day are of riding. The unfortunate reality for most of us whose last name isn’t Zink or Atherton is that we can’t spend every waking day on the bike, and this is where all the heaps of media being piled onto sites like pinkbike come into play.


I cant count how many times a rider ive never met, who might live halfway across the world, made my morning by letting me come along for a ride. For a lot of people like me, the countless edits, articles, and photos that are uploaded every day are what make a day off the bike bearable. I would encourage anyone no matter their skill level to share their unique view of bike riding; it can only grow and spread this great sport even more.


My favorite way to ride is to find the longest, most fun, natural descents. My search for gravity riding has taken me from the peaks of the biggest mountains we have, into coulees and sand pits, and everything in between. I got the idea to start sharing my rides with people when I did my first real ride in the big mountains. There is a mountain preserve area west of where I live that allows hikers and the like, and I spent a better part of a year figuring out what I could ride in that type of terrain. The feeling of summiting a mountain no hikers had bothered struggling up, then making the first turns down a steep ridge with open air on either sides was a revelation.


Once I had experienced that I knew it was something special enough that I couldn’t just keep it to myself, and the only way I could bring someone along (unless they liked carving down vertical scree slopes) was through film and pictures. The videos I’m putting together are solely to show some fun riding in interesting places. I’m sure not everyone will want to watch what I put up, but if at least one person gets a kick out of what im doing, it’ll be worth it. I have a lot of people to thank supporting my biking, along with a crew of the most amazingly amateur videographers you’ll ever meet. Should be a good summer.