Video: Episode 5 of Anthill's 'In the Blink' - Party in the Woods
Photos by Sterling Lorence and Margus Riga
In our busy, scheduled lives there seems to be less and less time for the simple things. Things like sitting around a fire and sharing food, drink and stories. As we heard from MTB founding father Gary Fisher with our own ears, the best antidote for urban saturation is to get on our bikes and have a big party in the woods.
Gathering nine of the world’s most talented mountain bikers from a variety of disciplines (plus 13 crew members) in an off-the-grid location, free from worldly distractions, had everyone returning home with their own memories and stories to tell for years.
Here are some of those stories from the Return to Earth Hawaii shoot.
Brett Rheeder
 | The campground is made up of all these shipping containers with living areas built into them. There’s a common area tent where we have all our meals and a couple of big umbrella trees that we hang out and chill under. The container I’m staying in faces the property where we’re filming and I can see the landings of the jumps through the window right from my bed. It’s kind of surreal seeing all these athletes here that you never really see together on an Anthill shoot. You wouldn’t expect to have Matt Hunter and Casey Brown in the same shots as guys like Thomas Genon, Emil Johannsen and Carson Storch. It’s such a wide range of mountain bikers. |
Thomas Genon
| I feel I’m in Hawaii more here in camp than down at the beach. It’s super green with wild animals around, just the crew and the riders. Since I got here we’ve riding bikes on trails and the skatepark and spending time at the beach. It’s good to see this group of athletes outside of competition. We’ve got racers, freeriders and slopestylers, it’s a sick crew to be riding with and I feel lucky to be here with them. |
Casey Brown
| We’re camped right by the river. Everyone falls asleep to the sound of a babbling brook every night. We’re on solar power (with a little help from the generator once in a while). It’s a nice little commune of mountain bikers out here. I’ve been on some big rides on my trail bike just exploring other parts of the island. You find fruit while you’re just pedaling in the woods, it’s awesome to live off the land like that. Returning to Earth to me is airplane mode. You have to switch off. There’s only certain places where you get to do that, places where you have no choice, like here at camp. When you get to go somewhere where you actually switch off, you start to engage with people and relate to them on a whole different level. |
Ryan Howard
| “We’re cruising through town here with bikes and camera and the locals are all looking at us funny and asking what we’re doing here. We say mountain biking but they don’t really get it since everyone surfs here. But so far, this is a dope mountain bike destination. There’s a couple local dudes you see cruising around on bikes, but not the style of biking that we’re doing. The camp set up is awesome. Everyone’s together, all 22 of us including riders, filmers and crews. It’s definitely a bit of a shit show… Getting going in the early mornings is like herding 22 cats. It’s impressive we have a full film production company here, waking up early, riding in the hills and capturing it. It’s an insane amount of work but it’s going to be worth it!” |
In the Blink is a six-part web series that dives behind the scenes of our upcoming feature film Return to Earth. Stay tuned for Episode 6: "Fruits of Labor” where we look at the day-to-day film work that made Return to Earth happen.
Watch Episode 1 "Fall Colours" with Thomas Vanderham and Ryan Howard.
Watch Episode 2 "Creativity" with Brett Rheeder.
Watch Episode 3 "Youth" with the groms of the Whistler Bike Park.
Watch Episode 4 "Community" with riders from the world over.
Return to Earth. Summer 2019.
Brought to you by Shimano and Trek Bicycles featuring Brett Rheeder, Brandon Semenuk, Casey Brown, Reed Boggs, Matt Hunter, Thomas Vanderham, Ryan Howard, Joey Schusler, Thomas Genon, Emil Johansson, Tahnee Seagrave, Koas Seagrave, Kade Edwards, Jackson Goldstone, Jakob Jewett and Dane Jewett in association with Pinkbike, Trail Forks, Evoc, Clif Bar, Whistler Mountain Bike Park, Sony and Freehub Magazine and additional support from Rocky Mountain Bicycles, Spawn Cycles, Arosa Lenzerheide. A new film by Anthill Films with art direction and creative by Good Fortune Collective.
Brought to you by Shimano and Trek Bicycles featuring Brett Rheeder, Brandon Semenuk, Casey Brown, Reed Boggs, Matt Hunter, Thomas Vanderham, Ryan Howard, Joey Schusler, Thomas Genon, Emil Johansson, Tahnee Seagrave, Koas Seagrave, Kade Edwards, Jackson Goldstone, Jakob Jewett and Dane Jewett in association with Pinkbike, Trail Forks, Evoc, Clif Bar, Whistler Mountain Bike Park, Sony and Freehub Magazine and additional support from Rocky Mountain Bicycles, Spawn Cycles, Arosa Lenzerheide. A new film by Anthill Films with art direction and creative by Good Fortune Collective.
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"Going of the grid"
"My parents thought me camping, I want to do this with my kids"
"Deep heartfelt voices"
"Earnest voice over"
Okayyyyy......
- Huge tents
- Cooks
- Trucks
- Pick up trucks to move you around
- Huge support group for all your needs.
- Hawai, which is so far from being rough and unexploited that it's hilarious.
- Instagram scenery shots
Really just living two weeks pampered like VIps...
I love MTB films and will love this one, but this was ridiculously silly, This has NOTHING to do with camping and disconnecting. And that's fine, but don't try to make something of it which it isn't.
Brett , Casey , R dog, Rheed Boggs: *needs a Tacoma to feel like a good mtb rider*