Filmed and Edited by Ross Measures - Photos by Harookz.
The three of us had a creative goal in mind to produce our own riding segment, shoot some amazing photos, and merge it all together in an article on Pinkbike. We hope that you enjoy Geoff's riding first and foremost, as well as my video and Harookz's photos. A lot of blood, sweat and beers went into creating this media for you - Enjoy.
For those that don't know, Green River is a town in Utah, and for any freerider looking to film a video segment, the ability to ride and build here is endless, it is a mecca. The grey and gold covered cliff mesas are home to some of the most uniquely shaped landscape that you'll ever see, the best part, it's all shaped in a way that caters to the bike. Erosion here causes the hills to have the perfect balance between smooth rolling hills and sharp knife edge cliffs and ridges, together these build natural lips and landings.
The town here is small, it caters to the passerby of the nearby Interstate-70, with restaurants, motels and gas stations littering the main strip, the population of nearly a thousand are good small town people perfectly content with the small town lifestyle. There aren't any tacky tourist shops or traps, with the town marketing the tourist towards its world class watermelons, river rafting, and the River History Museum.
Geoff Gulevich has been on a trip here before, so has Harookz. I have been here briefly while passing through on my way back from various events in Colorado, but together the three of us had never been here on our own creative mission. For the past couple years it had become a goal of ours to come here, as many have before us, and try to create something with help of the unique landscape. There have been so many video segments filmed here, so to be unique is difficult, we decided to embrace this idea and look for a few unique lines while interspersing them with the classic hips and ridge lines that Green River is known for.
Rolling into the town late at night is a bit of a shock for someone who comes from a city of two and half million people, it's small, and it operates small with most of the restaurants closed by 9pm. That's ok, it's late October and we'll be done shooting by 6:30, plenty of time to eat. Once we're settled in we'll hit the hay as soon as possible, the next week is going to be hectic, early rises to shoot and explore, and long afternoons until dusk in the heavy heat. Exploring the landscape here is key as so many of areas close to town have been picked over, having 3 or 4 sets of eyes to comb the landscape is ideal, as is keeping an open mind with stuff that could look really cool if worked the right way.
With a 4X4 truck one can get in and out of the zones quite easily, but to truly explore the untouched, a quad or dirtbike is necessary. Water here is sparse, so bringing buckets in from the Green River is necessary to pack lips or landings, carrying these without an ATV sucks, we found that out the hard way. Luckily we had Kevin Soller assisting us, Kevin was more than game to carry the water on his back or to help carry gear up the hill for us. If you don't have an ATV, try to bring someone willing to carry in the gear for you! We lucked out with Kevin, not only did he bring his handwork to the table, but he brought comic relief to a trip that verged on way too serious for our liking quite a few times
.When it rains here, the desert becomes impassable, the dirt becomes thick and heavy, the sandy patches become quick and the potential to get stuck is huge. The next day on the other hand will be amazing, the dirt moulds however you would like, creativity becomes unimaginably easy. It rained for the last two days on us, washing us right out of Green River earlier then we had hoped.
Hopefully with the Behind the scenes video and some of the lessons we've shared here, some of you will be inspired to get out and create your own trip. Road-tripping with friends on an adventure like this is an amazing experience that I would suggest to anyone looking to follow in the foot steps of big mountain freeriding in Utah.
While it's a bummer that we had to leave early, we know there are 3 or 4 lines that we left out there for next time. The hunger to come back and get them in the bag combined with the lessons learned on our first trip here on our own will only help us next time. We were pleased with what we did capture and what we were able to produce for you guys. Keep your eyes peeled to the magazines and advertisements as well for Harookz's ultra bangers, these photos are just a sample of the amazing images he captured.
Geoff Gulevich is a professional freerider from North Vancouver. He is sponsored by Rocky Mountain Bikes, Dakine, Adidas Eyewear, Pro-Tec, Marzocchi, Vans, Shimano, Skull Candy, Cove Bike Shop, Kuat, Lezyne, Chromag, Honey Stinger, Whistler Bike Park, Quintin Co, TFJC. - To follow Geoff add him on
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Twitter.P.S. there is an Easter Egg hidden somewhere in the article.
www.carlosblanchard.com
The music was very good too, who's the artist?
Bottom line the feature is an amazing film, but the extras ... big turn down for me !
And the last photo POD!
Awesome video, Ross and Geoff. Stoked on that first lil' bit, especially.
good music, song?
Serious skills, props