Video: Dustin Gilding - From the Ground Up

Feb 6, 2014
by Absolute Cinema  
From the Ground Up


Dustin Gilding has spent the last 6-7 years digging his ass off to transform his family's property in Abbotsford, BC into an intricate personal bike park. Liam Mullany and Bryce Piwek spent the weekend at Gilding's yard and came back with this short piece reflecting on the sheer sweat equity he has put into his trails, as well as the subsequent opportunities he has created for himself through building. This is Dustin Gilding - From the Ground Up




Dustin started as any MTB grom in the mid 00's would - hammering together skinnies and ladder bridges in his friends backyard.

Once his family moved into a new location on Sumas Mountain which had a continuous downhill grade and plenty of extra room, Gilding was still in the early stages of a mountain biking obsession and began initial foundation work on what would become an ever-expanding compound to facilitate an equally-expanding interest in riding.

The work started with a few downhill trails dug into the top of the yard, but as Dustin's focus shifted towards smaller bikes, he started to piece together a set of dirt jumps which would be continuously modified and expanded to challenge and progress his ability on a bike.

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A trailbuilders answer to Michaelangelo's David

First morning drop-in
The corpse of a shovel lies motionless in the morning sun

Along with the growth as a rider, one of the bi-products of Dustin's years spent honing his creations became a finely tuned sense of design, work ethic and overall experience with building slopestyle-focused bike trails. Looking up at his switchbacking set of dirtjumps, Gilding recalls some of the logistical struggles when he blindly first began turning the slightly sloped wooded and brambled area near the bottom of the property into something ridable on a jump bike. "It was obviously a really long learning process," pointing out his first rendition of his jumps had them essentially aiming uphill.

bigquotes"It's crazy, I couldn't even begin to count how many hours I've put into this place... But I've been lucky enough to grow up and have a lab to learn my craft..." - Dustin Gilding


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Dustin may not do triple flips, but he sure as hell has style

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More of aforementioned style

As the compound began to fill out, evidently so did Dustin's reputation behind a shovel. In 2013 Dustin joined Joyride Bike Parks in Whistler to spend his Summer contributing his years of experience towards the construction of what was widely commended as the most flowing and overall fun Crankworx slopestyle course in the event's 10-year history.

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As things progress into the future, Dustin's looking forward to rejoining the Joyride team for the upcoming season, as well as breaking ground on some new building-related projects down the road.

Words and Video by Liam Mullany
Photos by Bryce Piwek

Author Info:
AbsoluteZero avatar

Member since Sep 3, 2012
15 articles

41 Comments
  • 31 0
 Get it? Because he built it from the ground up
  • 2 0
 Truly gifted ! Some real blood, sweat (& tears...)
  • 2 0
 my biggest inspiration right here
  • 2 1
 started from the bottom now we're......... lmao
  • 23 0
 Coastal Crew should hire Dustin for the Coast Gravity Park
  • 17 1
 I'm pretty sure any of those "whips" would have won the Whip-Off contest at Crankworx!
  • 13 2
 wow that dirt is looks so amazing! I want to lay in it and make dirt angels
  • 1 0
 B.C. Brown!
  • 8 0
 WHAT! I met this guy at Burlington Bike Park and I didn't even know it!
  • 1 0
 He was killing it down there
  • 7 1
 "intricate personal bike park" -- DO WANT!
  • 2 0
 The satisfaction you get when you have your own little spot somewhere where no-one knows about apart from a select group of friends that come and contribute with the building of the trails for weeks/months on end until you finally have something to go and play on, nothing is more enjoyable than creating something from nothing then riding it with those people. I have never built jumps on this scale ( because im nowhere near dustins level of riding ) more short section downhill stuff using natural features but i enjoy seeing just how dedicated and creative people can be with their own little spot. Sculpting trails that look as perfect as these shows just what you can do if you put the effort in. Great vid mate....
  • 2 0
 sick starting static shots. editing was perfect. atmospheric shots were so sick. awesome wide shot capturing his riding around. great camera movement on the riding. perfect exposure. color correcting? yz plz.

u killed it
  • 4 0
 Haha second pic. The broken shovel.
  • 4 0
 those jumps and berms are works of art!
  • 4 0
 i live 15 minutes away from there. wanna be friends dustin?
  • 3 0
 I kno! He lives just up the hill behind me!
  • 2 0
 too bad eh?
  • 2 0
 sick riding dustin. your video of riding a bigger bike with the jezabels in the backround is still in my top 3 favourite vids. keep on going! Smile
  • 1 0
 Im pretty sure Dustin has a whole other spot on the property that has a massive step up... like massive. Look on Anthony Messeres instagram post.
  • 3 0
 Not sure if it's much of a step up, but yep, he's got a few more jumps as well.
http://www.pinkbike.com/photo/10258529/
  • 2 0
 Yeah that was the jump I was talking about. It looks insane.
  • 3 0
 one day ill own some land in the mtns..
  • 3 0
 Supa nice backyard buddy Your lines made my evening!! Cheers
  • 3 0
 Sick little edit
  • 2 0
 Sooo sick! Stoked to see Dustin on a DMR.
  • 2 0
 those nacs are outta control!
  • 2 0
 Huge inspiration, props man!
  • 2 0
 SO jealous! I'd love to have even half the land available to build on!
  • 1 0
 wow, those are some beautiful jumps! stylish riding and nice cinemathography. *instantly added to favourites*
  • 1 0
 That property looks amazing! Takes a lot of hard work to build but it pays off in the end. Great riding!
  • 1 0
 Beautiful work buddy looking great
  • 1 0
 Beautiful jump line. So slick. Great riding style and video, too.
  • 1 0
 Such sweet rides, those jumps look epic. Props for the artwork!!
  • 2 0
 So sick!
  • 1 0
 ya Dustin! sick riding as always
  • 1 0
 why cant i watch it . it says loading ?
  • 1 0
 I love this series. Really well made videos!
  • 2 0
 Gilding for president
  • 1 0
 realy nice stuff :O







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