AKA Rory Bushfield is fittingly filed under… #EpicHumans

If you don’t know who he is, then hit the net do your homework.  He is living life is on a level all his own…

Bushy from mspfilms on Vimeo.

Took a bit of a hiatus there folks.  Was a little pre-occupied hopping from country to country navigating transport stations of every variety.  Actually though, planes, trains, automobiles, and even a boat… needless to say there wasn’t much time to sit down at the computer.  I did however get a rude introduction to operating on less than 3 hours sleep for 3 consecutive nights.  Conclusion… sleeping less is not the answer to getting more out of life. Quality not Quantity.  I’ll dive into the series of events that lead to those sleepless nights in a later post.  For the time being, let’s get you caught up.

I left you guys in the middle of France with, “I’ll let you know when we get there”.  Well “there” just so happens to be, the middle of nowhere.  An hour drive from the southern French village of Dignes Les Bains lays the next stop on this Durolux World Tour.  Tucked in lush surroundings of green sit static shelves of motionless black.  France’s dark answer to Utah.  Now in my yesteryears this situation in the post would have served as a launch point for a massive run-on analogy that’s a characteristic of earlier excited works.  It would have been outrageous, completely void of any punctuation, running no less than half a page, and collimating with a strong finish of useless information.  It’s good to see I’ve grown out of that phase in my life   Rambles aside, I’ll let the below build the your impression of our location… a thousand words at a time.

This place is Wild! Rolling contours, the contrast of lush and bleak… it’s one of kind.  Naturally something like this doesn’t remain a secret.  It’s a well known spot to most french riders and when our team rolled up on site, the fellas from ION clothing were unloading there gear… chalk it up to great minds.  A quick round of high-fives and we were off.  The morning was spent working the natural landscape for the lens of Hoshi and his WHYEX Crew, while the afternoon lingered on the sweaty end of a goon spoon shaping a line from ridge to shaded gulley.  When it all came together it was pretty amazing.  Think of a mini Rampage run, but all fun and no fear.  The younger contingent couldn’t get enough of it, and when you’re surrounded by that the kind of energy it’s pretty easy to get wrapped up.  For the second time on this trip the enthusiasm of the rookies has me feeling like a kid again.  Loving it!  Day one on “Black Mountain” was a hoot!  We found some amazing natural features to work with.  Round two coming your way soon.

Les Arcs is unreal!  What a place!  Elliott explained it as a loamy paradise where the lines just appear from the woodwork, and it didn’t disappoint.  Pick your poison, steep and tech, wide-open flow, root and loam… it’s got it all.  I kept thinking to myself what a treat it is to venture places like this with motivated individuals.  Not to mention it’s pretty awesome following these guys down the track.  Each rider has a different way of riding and it’s wild to watch.  The collective energy of the group is super contagious, and I am all for it! I forgot how much fun it is to ride fast!  It’s Awesome!

Over the past 2 days we’ve wrangling shuttling laps and bagging as much vert as possible.  We’ve also got this whole packing 8 bikes into a small van down to a science.  I have to say one issue with filming with a handful of athletes is keeping everyone entertained.  The first few days of filming ran a little slow at times so we decided to switch up the program… Two riders filming at one time, the rest of the team goes for a lap and when we pass the crew on the next run athletes swap out.  More riding for everyone, and the media had fewer cats to herd, win-win.  We could have spent a months plundering the flanks of this valley alone, but we had to hit the road and at the end of the day I guess it’s good to be left wanting more.  Last night we polished off our weekend in true french fashion… with a little wine and cheese.  I’m not sure where we’re headed next but I’ll let you know when we get there.

Today was a travel day.  Leaving Chaumont we made our way to France, stopping at Lake Geneva for an introduction to dress codes, a fine lunch of risotto, and a French vs Canadian paddle boat race, naturally.  For the record we lost to the French contingent but it must be noted that the blue, white and red took a few inside liberties . After hitting the castle ridden highway we  landed on the flanks of Les Arcs and stepped into what I can only describe as a rustic mountain side palace, complete with 400 year old timbers, a chicken coup, tree fort, and of course a pump track.  Before turning in for the night we made proper use of the festive grounds.  Tomorrow we hit Les Arcs and from what our young bike ninja Eliott tells us, we’re in for a treat.  I am off to bed, but I’ll have more details tomorrow after we put gears to the ground.  Till then, over and out from a beautiful villa tucked in the French Alps.

Yesterday we laid our last tracks in Chaumont, and what a day it was!   The amply badged “SuperTrack” is basically a Supercross course in the forest.  No tables, just doubles and triples running 100 deep through the woodwork.  You’d normally have to go to a bike park to log as many airmiles as we did yesterday, but in true Swiss fashion we accessed this gem by train.  I can’t put a distance on the jumps but some where probably the biggest I’ve hit on a trail bike.  Fast long and lows right up my alley.  To be honest I haven’t hit back to back jumps like this in a long time and I gotta say it felt Unreal!!!  Huge props to the trail builders!

SR put together a multi-national crew of various backgrounds.  A World Cup racer, a couple of free riders, an enduro racer, and myself who is definitely more of an adventure guru these days.  Roots aside, it’s a winning concoction.  Loamy singletrack and big hits make for happy fellas.  Today we’re setting off on a castle hunt as we head to Les Arcs France.  More to come…