Hailing from different sides of the world, Amir and Tyler grew up in very different places with a distinct variance in cultures. They've been competing against each other at various events across the globe for years, always trying to edge each other out in the name of competition.
However as time passed, there were two things about their individual character traits in which they realized they reach a common ground; the love for riding, and the love for digging. In this two part web-series, Amir and Tyler aren’t only traitors to their own countries and principles as competitors while visiting each other’s hometowns, but they’re also traders of riding spots, ideas, and cultures.
In the first installment, Tyler McCaul visited Amir Kabbani in his hometown of Boppard, Germany. In part two of Traitors, we join Amir while he visits Tyler in his hometown of Aptos, California…
| The winter was still in full swing here in Germany, so I was pretty pumped to fly over to Tyler and ride my bike in California. I knew Tyler was going to make sure all the ride spots were in perfect shape, but the weather definitely made us work for it! The crazy rain might have ruined his work but did not stop us from getting the video done in time. I guess that’s what this video series was about. We both like to dig and make stuff work once we know it’s worth it. This trip is surely going in my collection of good times. Thanks to T-Mac for making this whole idea work! –Amir |
| After shooting with Amir in Germany for part 1 of this series I knew I had to build some pretty good stuff in order to follow it up for part 2. Our winter in Santa Cruz was insane this year (by Cali standards) and it made building tough, but I got as much done as I could before Amir got here. Once he arrived it rained for a week straight, leaving us with only a few days to finish all the digging and filming before he had to fly home. It must've rained at least 10 inches that week with wind speeds up to 70 mph. All my tarps had blown off the jumps and the water damage that followed was pretty insane.
The reality of getting it all done in time wasn't looking likely, but luckily Amir is an incredibly hard worker and together we were able to get everything running and rideable just in time. Pretty much everything shot at the jump spot was on the first session we had riding there and it was crazy soft most the way down the line. Amir is one of the best I've seen at tricking sketchy setups though so it was fun to watch him ride there and start tricking everything right away. In the end, I think Amir had a good time during his stay with me, even though I made him work for it! -Tyler |
Watch the first installment of Traitors below.Video by Root One Productions
Photography by Long Nguyen
MENTIONS:
@GTBicycles
2) Never understood why we don't see Amir in more high coverage races and events. he rocks.
3) Awesome video!