Canada 2010 - Let the dream come true!

Hey guys! Right at the beginning of this write up I would like to direct some words to you. This is no special report of some awesome event or race, I am also not able to present you with the newest equipment or components here, or even to deliver you the hottest news of the biking-scene, it is just a story of some guys that are planning to fulfill their dream and go to Canada in the summer of 2010, and it’s just a story of the passion of riding, traveling and having epic moments on a bike, what it means to live for riding, and the magic of bike-riding in general. If you’re not interested in that, I’m sorry to have wasted your time reading my introduction, but if you’re interested in hearing our story, I beg you to take a few minutes of your time to read through this, and just share your thoughts and feelings of bike-riding or in a best case scenario, you could even help us out in 2010...Honestly I don’t exactly know where to start, but I think first of all I will introduce myself to the rest of the users.

My name is Jörn Hessen, I am twenty years old and I’m from Germany, perhaps some of you know me from POD`s in the past. Since I was an eleven-year-old kid I was magnetized to bike riding, and pretty soon the bikes, and what it is all about, determined my future. Now I am at a point where I have just finished my school exams in April this year and looking for the next steps. And I think that the time has come to fulfill my dream, to do what I've always wanted, to come over to see all you guys in Canada and to spend some months doing nothing more than epic rides. To meet new interesting people, to be fascinated by an awesome landscape and environment, to make new life experiences and to have some unforgettable months, hopefully the best months of my life, before it is too late to start a project like this and I get caged in a boring, typical 9 to 5 job... The guy who will accompany me is, one of my closest and best friends, Sebastian. Those of you that have followed me through my photos on my account will know that he is the one behind the lens, the one who is making these beautiful photos….


We've developed into a perfect team over the last few years, starting years ago when I bought my first “real” bike and he his first camera. Now you can claim that we are some kind of dream team, have an almost telepathic understanding. So this whole photography thing developed, I became better and better, and so he did. Now we are always searching to capture great moments in mountain biking, and it is a pleasure for me to share these moments with you here on Pinkbike, especially when I receive comments from people that tell me that our photos motivate themselves to grab their bike and have a ride. For us there are no better moments, than standing on the top of a mountain early in the morning, seeing the sunrise coming through the fog and have an epic singletrack in front of us and to catch this feeling with a nice shot. Traveling around, discovering new spots and locations, meeting new people and being out in nature, that is what we love...


Many people here on the site think that I’m some kind of pro and often ask me if I am sponsored or something like that, mostly my reply is: “if you are living for something, aren’t you then professional in the way of living?”

I mean if you are so attracted by this sport, that you are willing to abdicate upon so many things only to travel around and ride as much as you can, I would claim that you are professional.
It is an everlasting balancing act between spending as much time on your bike as possible and to achieve your goals, and to get on with your “normal” life. I think everyone knows what I am talking about. I mean how many races have you missed because you had to work, how many sunny afternoons you have missed riding with your buddies because you had to learn for school or university? How many weekend trips you have missed just because you had other obligations? There is always something that wants you to impede riding your bike full time, either family obligations or simply a bad conscience towards your girlfriend, injuries, broken parts, no money to afford a lift ticket... We could continue this to a non-exhaustive enumeration.

Of course I am lucky to have a friend that takes such good photographs, so that it seems that I could be a pro, but I think there are so many other guys out there that love mountain biking in every aspect and are doing the same thing as I. And of course it is everyone’s dream to ride their bikes full time as a job in secret, but only the fewest have this chance. Over the past years I have learned that everything I do is somehow bike-related. I am not at a point to earn enough money with the sport to finance a living, but as long as I have got enough money to execute my sport and to achieve my goals, everything is fine. After every trip there are some publications in magazines, sometimes more, sometimes less, that bring money in. But that is not the point, we’re also happy with the result even without money. To catch an unbelievable moment outdoor on your bike is priceless! It’s all about dedication and determination, I’m just trying to get every shitty temp job I can find and earn as much money as I can get to afford those months of riding, Sebastian is in the middle of graduating from school, playing in various music projects, giving drum-lessons, selling his photographs, just to earn the needed money. This is worth a try, if anyone wants to sponsor us for our trip, here you go!


I really have to admit that I am spending a lot of time here on this site, but it’s really so great to be part of the community here, especially when you are so into this whole photography thing. It’s awesome to see how people around the globe are having fun riding their bikes. In the winter-time with the days when you’re at home and not riding becoming more and more often, I just love to sit in front of my computer and see other guys here uploading great pics, Eric Palmer of sunny rides down there in South-Africa, Justin Brantley posting insane Dirt-Jumping photos, or when Brad Walton gets me fascinated with shots of great riding in an amazing environment. These are only a few, sorry for all the others that I didn’t mentioned, they all keep the site alive by sharing their pics.


Now things are getting serious, I've just booked my flights. I will be there from the 3rd of July till the end of September. Hopefully a bit longer, but that will depend on how much money I can save now. Sebastian will come along from the 18th of July to the 27th of August.

Here is my petition, anyone who can show us the great trails in and around the Whistler area: contact me! Anyone who wants to show us trails in Kelowna, Kamloops, Nelson, Pemberton, Squamish, on the Sunshine Coast and everything in between: contact me! We are open to all suggestions! Anyone who wants to give us some advice on where to ride on the North-Shore or anyone who wants some pictures of themselves by Sebastian: contact me! Everyone who wants just to ride and chill with us: call me, a good time with two cool dudes will be guaranteed! We would also be very happy if every Canada-experienced traveler here on Pinkbike.com could give us some tips or point out some problems we haven't heard of yet.

As you can probably assume there are so many things to plan for such a journey to places where you have never been from your home that is thousands of kilometers away. Especially when you want to come and do as much as you can, full on, with Heli-Biking and all you can think of. I've soaked up so much about Whistler and BC in the past months on the internet and by meetings with friends, I have the feeling that I know every corner and braking bump of A-Line, although I have never rode it yet. And I know, especially when it comes to photography, that you would have to spend thirty years instead of three months to cover all the spots there. So we're just looking to ride as many places as possible. Depending on how much resonance we will get here, don’t be upset when we don’t get it sorted to come over to your spot, but I suppose after the next summer, we will know that it won't be the last and only trip to British Columbia.
There are other things that make the planning hard for us. Due to the Olympic Winter games this year, we're really having problems finding offers of long-term accommodation for the next summer season. I looked on the internet for rooms to rent, but everything is now full with offers in the Olympic time. So I’m just sending hundreds of e-mails to every offer if there would be a room for us in the summer. Not really the best occupation you can think of, right? I’ve also heard from someone who was there, that there would be some kind of time-sharing houses? Or is it called House-Sharing? He told me that he lived in a house with around 10 other guys from all over the world. Of course this would be the perfect deal for us, but unfortunately I don’t have any clue on how we could come into this. So again, everyone who could gives a connection to this kind of accommodations, or could offers us a room for the mentioned period, or just anyone who could give us some tips or help us to find a relatively cheap accommodation, guess what, yeah, you got it… Contact me! Or if there are a bunch of riders out there who are looking for members to fill their Timesharing house, here we come!

We just got an enforcement to our group at the last minute, Leander, a friend of ours, wants to get in on the bike-riding and was fascinated by our goal to come over. He just bought his first bike and is getting in his first training rides, so he will come along. We are looking for accommodations for three guys. The best base I can think of is of course directly located in Whistler, to wake up, have a nice breakfast and then just go out ride your bike all day long with hundreds of like-minded people, and just to ride different spots every day. To have a nice chat along with a beer in one of the bars at the evening, this would be the best we could dream of. Everyone who went there told me to stay directly in Whistler in order to share that kind of lifestyle with hundreds of others.


Being able to get around is our next problem. We would need a car, but to find out where a car dealer with a rusty pick-up is located is another thing. We don’t want a high-luxury limo, we only want a crappy vehicle which is able to survive for 2 more months, so if anyone knows of one, please, let me know, because renting a car is not affordable to us. This will not be the biggest problem I know, I’ve heard from one Canadian that he swapped a hockey game-ticket for a car, but anyway…

There will be a few more problems that we have to handle on the way to next summer but that won’t be too serious, like getting all sorted with our equipment for the airline, getting all demanded documents together, etc...I hope that we will have an unforgettable time next year and that we meet as many new people as possible!

Please just drop me a note for a ride in 2010,

-Jorn

And once again, everyone who wants to shoot with us, be it a rider or a photographer, message me. In order to whet your appetite, I will leave you alone with some shots of us…