Chasing Your Dreams Can Take You Around The World - Video
His year started out in New Zealand with a third place finish in the Giant TOA Enduro at Crankworx Rotorua; it would be a harbinger of success to come in the biggest race of the year: the SRAM Canadian Open Enduro presented by Specialized. (Photo by Clint Trahan/Crankworx)
Elite Australian athlete finds home in Vancouver, training for Crankworx Whistler
Official Crankworx— Australian enduro star Josh Carlson shares how he moved halfway around the world to train in the Sea-to-Sky corridor in a new TELUS Optik Local feature out today.
Available for free on demand on TELUS Optik TV, and online on TELUS Optik Local’s YouTube channel, this is the second episode of a three-part series on the thriving B.C. mountain bike scene.
Inside Crankworx: The Adopted Child is a story about pursuing one’s passion through the challenges of life, and was put together through a partnership between TELUS Optik Local and Crankworx, the defining celebration of world-class mountain biking.
“Five years ago, if you told me I was going to be living in North America and have a little baby, I would have told you, you’re crazy. Yet here we are and life couldn’t be better,” says Carlson, from his Kitsilano home.
Carlson, and his then girlfriend, made the move to Canada so he could train near the biggest race in his sport, the SRAM Canadian Open Enduro presented by Specialized held at Crankworx, in Whistler, each August.
Placing third in the race this year, Carlson shares how his success is the result of a big gamble, and the daily choice to build a family, and a new life, in a country far from home.
“After a big practice day it is easy to switch off and become a husband and a father, but at the same time, I almost don’t want to switch off that much because it’s all got to come together on race day,” he says.
Placing himself among a growing contingent of international riders who leave the supports of their family behind for the chance to pursue their dreams, Carlson says the decision is paying off. Racing enduro, a discipline which combines the excitement of downhill racing and the endurance of cross-country, and living and training on some of the world’s top terrain has made him one of the top 15 riders in the discipline.
Carlson holds his son, Eli, at the finish line in Whistler. Photo by Clint Trahan
Crankworx is ground zero for all forms of gravity-mountain biking. For 14 years, it has drawn fans and athletes to the region to practice in the Sea-to-Sky Corridor’s technical terrain, and in the number one lift-access bike park in the world, the Whistler Mountain Bike Park. It also hosts festivals in Rotorua, New Zealand, Les Gets, France and Innsbruck, Austria, and its events are broadcast globally on network television and webcast on Crankworx.com.
The release of Inside Crankworx: The Adopted Child follows Inside Crankworx: How to Become A Pro Mountain Biker, a story about 14-year-old Sooke resident Piper Allman, and her quest to make riding her life’s mission.
TELUS Optik Local supports compelling, original storytelling in British Columbia and Alberta by providing funding to filmmakers to produce their content, training to maximize their potential and exposure to new audiences.
There's a time for smiles and there's a time to get serious. Carlson takes it all in at the Enduro World Series riders meet prior to the big race; the SRAM Canadian Open presented by Specialized is the sixth EWS stop and is considered by many a rider to be the biggest race of the year. (Photo by Clint Trahan/Crankworx)
Carlson pins it mid-mountain in the Whistler Mountain Bike Park as he makes his way to a third place finish in the Canadian Open Enduro presented by Specialized at Crankworx Whistler 2016. Photo by Clint Trahan/Crankworx
Rounding toward home at Crankworx. Photo by Clint Trahan/Crankworx
MENTIONS: @officialcrankworx / @giantbicycles / @ClintTrahan
Member since Jul 14, 2011
This video states it was made by his mechanic.