 | The band is back together!—Chris Lawrence |
We are at an Earl’s in Kamloops at 10pm on a Monday night. Tippie is telling stories about Richie’s escapades while Chris Lawrence, Elladee Brown, Christian Begin, and Chris Burger all drink strawberry daiquiris and give each other shit. Bjorn Enga leans over to me and says, “It may be a couple decades later, but this is exactly how it always was with these guys.”
We had just wrapped up a reunion of sorts at the Todd Gravel Pit in Kamloops for Darcy Turrene’s much-anticipated history of freeride documentary,
The Moment. Darcy organized for some of the original freeriders who rode their first lines for Kranked at the very same spot to return, reminisce, and ride.
| It felt great and a bit emotional to be back at Todd Pit after 20 years. It definitely brought back some amazing memories.—Christian Begin |
Darcy – the filmmaker behind
The Little Things – was originally slow to agree to make this movie. “To be honest, when I first started this project I was pretty burnt out from a two-year snowboard film I had just made,” she explains. But having grown up in mountain biking Darcy knew she would regret if she didn’t get involved, “mountain biking has given me so much – pretty much everything good in my life I owe to mountain biking in some round about way – so I couldn’t turn down Christian Begin’s offer to make the movie.” Christian, the creator of the Kranked movie series with Bjorn Inga, had already digitized much of his old footage and gave Darcy full creative control over the project.
| I would have regretted it if I turned down that kind of opportunity to make a film about the sport that gave me so much.—Darcy Turrene |
Despite having a career as a sponsored freeride athlete Darcy quickly realized that she was fairly naïve about the origins of the sport. “I knew about the Kranked films, and the FroRiders, and North Shore Extreme but beyond that, I didn’t know much. Needless to say, it has been really fun learning about all the history!”
And perhaps the best part is learning about freeride through some of the biggest names and biggest characters in the game. “I just can’t believe some of their stories, and they are all really silly, honest, and loveable.” Darcy knew most of the people featured in The Moment from her professional riding days but through the film has learned more about the important role they played in making the sport what it is today. “For example, Eric Berger I knew from the ski/snowboard photography world, I had no idea he was there shooting some of the first freeride images that were ever published.”
| Maybe I’m biased, but I think the characters in this film are some of the funniest and most engaging characters that I’ve ever seen in a sports documentary!—Darcy Turrene |
“Seeing everyone come together to relive the pivotal Kranked 1 shoot in Kamloops was way more emotional than I thought it would be,” says Darcy. “Seeing them all together, behaving like siblings, so happy to be there and getting nostalgic for my cameras really made me feel like taking on this film was a good decision.”
The Moment tells the chronological history of how freeriding came to be and those who made it happen, but it goes much deeper than that as well. "It’s not just talking heads talking about history – it’s people, their personalities, their roles, and how they all interacted during a small time frame that contributed to the birth of freeride as we know it today." The story is told through a mix of interviews and archival footage and photography – including many previously unseen clips and behind the scenes video.
Stay tuned here for the trailer release on September 14! | These guys have unknowingly done so much for the sport and for so many people, I felt honored to be there witnessing history repeat itself.—Darcy Turrene |
| That’s 20-year-old dust. Blood, sweat, and tears… blood, sweat, and beers!—Brett Tippie |
| [That Gary Fisher] rode better with a blown shock.—Bjorn Enga |
| When we were first here we had no idea what would happen… 20 years later it’s great to come back. It actually looks sizeable still!—Bjorn Enga |
| Chris was always stuck wearing the giant helmet camera because Christian and Bjorn had convinced him that he was the best helmet cam operator in the world. They’d pump his ego to make sure he’d always wear it – and Christian admits that the main reason they’d make him wear it is that he had the biggest neck!—Darcy Turrene |
| Holy shit! I’m getting claustrophobic. Smells like moth balls in here.—Chris Lawrence |
| I think the biggest difference from being there in the early days was that back then we had no idea how much influence that little piece of gravel will have in opening up the door to the free ride movement to the mountain biking world.—Christian Begin |
| We all started together and it was like ‘synchronized sliding’ – so much fun though! Being on a modern day mountain bike made it seem much less daunting than the geometry of yesteryear.—Elladee Brown |
| I think the most amazing part about getting together was how quickly everyone gelled after all these years! We really haven’t changed that much in terms of the passion aspect. I’m so proud of Tippie, Ritchey, Wade, Lunchbox Larry, Christian, Bjorn, Eric, Lesley and the contributions those guys have made to the sport. To see them still so close as friends and just as excited as before to be ripping a pit and shooting together, that’s what it’s all about!—Elladee Brown |
| The biggest difference from the old days is that someone has dug a deep ditch along the entire length of the bottom of the pit and piled the excess into a wall of dirt so you can't hit the entire length of the pit at full speed anymore. You have to shut it down before you get to the bottom and hit the bottom diagonally. You used to be able to fly down the entire pit with little to no brakes carving huge super-g turns and run it out at mach with the natural transition into the flats. The top has been bulldozed for gravel use and the run is not nearly as long anymore or a continuous pitch. There also used to be a cornice along the upper bit that had little cliff drops into various little chutes here and there. It is still fun but definitely not the same. We used to ride fully rigid bikes, moving to hardtails with early forks, then early full suspensions with v-brakes or Magura rim brakes and now we have modern pimped out full suspension steeds with slacker angles, great tires, and disc brakes! Another big difference is that we are now old as hell!—Brett Tippie |
| There were a lot of stories, laughs, and reminiscing going on and it felt like going back in time to be there riding bikes and shooting with the crew. I loved it!—Brett Tippie |
| In the first Kranked movie I asked Chris Lawrence, "What is free riding?" The answer – on camera and it’s in the movie – was, “Freeriding, it kind of explains itself; ride and feel free!" And that’s still true today! I feel very grateful and privileged that I was part of such an amazing group of people that helped change a sport forever.—Christian Begin |
| Being there together was bittersweet as we were missing one of our core crew, Dave ‘Swetty’ Swetland. Dave was the ultimate freerider and mountain man. We tragically lost him years ago and there were many memories shared of Dave that day, a couple of moments of silence and cheers to the sky as we celebrated his life and impact on the sport. While Dave did a great job of ‘getting the shot’ his true desire was about pushing himself on the bike regardless of who was around to watch. Dave was such a hard ass but I loved his style and I learned a lot from his counter culture way of living. I think the biggest highlight was seeing everyone still pushing their limits through riding and media – this area was the birthplace of an epic movement that went global, it’s an amazing piece of history that should never be forgotten – so thanks, Darcy and crew for etching this into foreverness!—Elladee Brown |
MENTIONS: @bretttippie
And you could undo the v brake posts so that it looked cooler with your Hope Big'un and Hope Sport disc (but not on the back as frames did not have mounts normally).
A year oil change revision .You pick one of them today and the stanchions have no wear. This should make us and manufacturers think .Of course this is bad for the business....
If freeriding=riding mountains that don't have existing trails.