Mike Kinrade Sends it in Kamloops

Lone Wolf Productions gets together with Mike Kinrade for some shredding and sending it in Kamloops.Lone Wolf Productions gets together with Mike Kinrade for some shredding and sending it in Kamloops.


They say things in life tend to go full circle, and shooting with Mike Kinrade made me realize just how true that statement is. The first time I met Mike I was 15 years old and he was shooting his own films. Mike had recruited me as a rider for one of his videos: Rider Anonymous, and at that point essentially guided me toward big mountain riding, and shooting for bike films. At the time Mike was the only rider of his caliber who both rode in and filmed his own feature bike movies. I would say he was way ahead of his time, as we are now seeing many riders doing the same thing, including myself. As I stood on the side line and held the camera for Mike while he shredded down the trails I couldn't help but think how ironic it was that now I was the one now filming him.


Our shoot took place in Kamloops, in some of the well know old school areas of town. The original plan was for us to shoot over the course of three days after Crankworx, but much like most of our other shoots, we had issues with the weather. For those of you that have been to Kamloops you will know how the wind can affect the riding, especially when you are going to be spending any amount of time in the air. Unfortunately, we did have some issues with the wind, but Mike being the experienced rider he is was not phased by it. He knew when he could ride and when the weather had gotten the better of us. It was nice knowing that I was shooting with a rider that was not going to just throw himself off any jump in any weather condition just to get a shot, but rather took calculated risks and knew when would be the best time to go get a clip he wanted.


After our three scheduled days we agreed that we did not have quite enough footage to put the section together, but Mike had another large stunt he wanted to hit that he had noticed on our way back from shooting one evening. The jump was totally Mike's style, with a ridge ride, down to a steep face, into the run in, and then a drop away take off that spanned out about 40ft to the landing. Mike agreed he would come back to shoot the jump next week and in the meanwhile I would get in touch with the builder for permission to shoot it, and cross my fingers for good weather. Luckily the builder was Kris Foster (you may know the name from his repeated POD's) and he agreed to let Mike not only be the first rider off his jump but for Lone Wolf Productions to film it as well. Along with Kris' generosity the weather suddenly improved in a drastic manner.


When Mike came back to Kamloops the following week, we met up with our photographers for the shoot; TNL photography, and last year's camera man Florian Feise. We all ventured up to the new stunt in the old valley in which is argued that the freeride mountain bike scene started. As we walked up the trail we could see the history of stunts carved into the silt bluffs like monuments to the progression over the years. We knew we were there to make our own mark. Mike's experience showed as he climbed up the run in, and had obviously run over this jump in his head many times before even taking his bike up. Mike did a few run ins as I helped him gauge his speed. I remembered back when I would stop at the end of a take off, look down and ask him if he thought that my speed looked right, so it was an honour to finally return the favour. After about three run ins Mike gave the signal that he was ready, and we ran to get behind our lenses. With no hesitations Mike made his way down the in run and stomped it first try. He was fired up and wanted to do it a few more times so we could get alternate angles. I think Mike would have stayed there all night and hit that jump over and over again, but the wind picked up, so we decided to take it back to basics and shoot some silt lines from the old days to finish off the night. Believe it or not, Mike crashed on his last line of the night and the last day of his shoot; I guess it's just not a Kamloops shoot unless you eat a little Kamloops' dirt. Thank you Mike for coming out and showing us you are still a big mountain master, it was a blast.


Also, another big thank you to TNL photography, and Florian Feise for their epic images:
tnlphotography.com
florianfeise.com

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