By the time this article goes to print, the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour will have shown the special edit of my segment from Kranked 6, “Trial and Error”, to over 100,000 people. In this film I share my instinctual feelings of concern when seeing or thinking about clear cutting a forest.

I often show this video at my school presentations, and while on tour up in Northern BC where forestry supports a large chunk of the population, I began feeling a little sheepish about showing it, as I certainly am no expert on the topic. In the film I reference the particular zone of forest where my trail is built, “this is one of the last remaining sections of mid elevation old growth on the BC coast, and it’s slated for clear cut.” Then one of the analogies I make in the film is that “it seems to me that clear cutting is exactly like a crash, and they’ve done it time and time again, and perhaps haven’t learned from their mistakes.” I didn’t want to insult those in BC that base their livelihood on the industry and give them a bad reputation from my generalizing statements. Perhaps they have learned, and perhaps there are some ecologically sound logging practices in effect.

I needed to find out some more information, so while up in Northern BC I had the opportunity to chat with Dawn Stronstad R.P.F. who is a Planning Forester in Burns Lake, also an avid mountain biker with the BLMBA. She shared her own personal feelings on the topic of clear cutting. She gave me a brief history of logging in Canada, and acknowledges that there have been many mistakes along the way. But long gone are the days of the cut & run without looking back (this is happening in South America right now), and she believes that BC has learned from their mistakes. British Columbia has some of the most stringent logging laws in the world, and if a logging company hadn’t morally been doing the right thing in the past, they are now contractually and lawfully obligated to.

It is hard to complain about clear cutting when we as the consumer hold so much power. When we’re out at the store and buy something with a big cardboard box, we are really saying “please, please cut down that tree so I can have this nice packaging again”, then we grab a newspaper with a ‘coffee to go’ on the way home and what we are really saying to the logging companies is “oh and while you’re at it, cut down that tree beside the first one”.

Dawn told me that there are some areas that should not have been clear cut in the past, and portions of these areas are slow to recover or have reduced potential for re-growth, she thinks for the most part, these sites have recovered, but some areas not as quickly; but if done properly, clear cutting can be a reasonable forest management system. In fact, many foresters are amazed at the recovery capacity of Nature to bounce back; old growth is of course another story. The ironic thing about our disgust with clear cuts in BC is that it is along the coast where the most incredible old growth occurs, so the act of clear cutting is the most damaging and yet most of  us live on the largest and most permanent clear cut in BC, Vancouver.

I was fortunate enough to hear a speech by the young Simon Jackson, who has lobbied for the protection of the endangered Spirit Bear in BC. Great steps have been taken to secure 2/3 of this creatures habitat as protected, but another 1/3 is still open for potential logging; the government is aware and lobbyists are hopeful for full protection. I also heard Bill Clinton speak recently, and his Clinton Climate Initiative is anxious about the rapid deforestation of rainforests, especially in South America, this is where some unprecedented devastation is happening, far greater than anything we have ever seen in BC (the Amazon loses about 60,000 square kilometers a year), and being global citizens, these acts effect us just as much as if it was our own backyard, so perhaps this is where our lobbying efforts and expertise need to be focused now? It’s a complicated topic with so many different views, opinions, and motivations.

All I know is that the trees we do have deserve some respect, so next time you’re out shredding the trails, make sure you do some tree hugging!

Ryan

 

 

Bringing Trials to the trailsRyan Leech has a unique way of riding. He claims to be a trials rider, has made videos on how to ride trials, yet his style of trial riding has a unique appeal. Most trial riding I see does not appeal to me, riders bouncing around on their weird looking bikes, generally looking discombobulated. But Ryan captivates my interest, he always has. There’s an element of his style that lends itself to flow, to a certain purity of aescethetic. His riding is visually pleasing and astounding in nature.As a mountain bike filmmaker, there are certain qualities I’m constantly in search of. These are great locations, spectacular light, and unique riders. The first two are self explanatory, but what constitutes a unique rider? I’m looking for riders that have personality, can express themselves and first and foremost have a riding style and matching ability that separates them from other riders. This might be a little too simplistic, there is something more that only really translates when you see the footage. Some riders simply look good on film, while others don’t. It has to do with style, flow, presence and some other indescribeable qualities.I’m approaching the 10 year mark of mountain bike filmmaking. I’ve seen the sport blossom, witnessed the first 5 freeriders getting their first sponsored bikes and filmed them trashing them with their cowboy like antics back in 1997. Now there are so many sponsored riders that I know just a handful of them. But what hasn’t changed is that to make a great mountain bike film you need to pay attention to what is unique. Like making a fine dining experience, you need the great raw ingredients if you expect to make a culinary delight. Same with a mountain bike film.During the filming of Kranked 5, I really wanted Ryan to bring his trials riding out of the urban environment and into the forest. We ventured into the forest and attempted to translate Ryan’s riding onto the trails. I was stoked, it was all there, it would look fabulous, it was new, fresh and spectacular. But my mind was too far in front of reality. Ryan couldn’t hook it up. He gave it a hell of a shake though. It was apparent that he needed some time to get used to the new environment, get a bike more suitable to the terrain and I think most importantly get his mind working on the translation from urban to mountain.Three years later I showed Ryan a location I had found. A mystical, mid-elevation old growth forest ravine with a beautiful creek running through it. THe place is beautiful and inspiring. Within minutes we had found a natural flow for a trail, utilizing the natural elements that were present. Ryan’s imagination took off like Dodge Viper at a Las Vegas intersection. He started describing the indescribable. “Build this, make it this far apart, I’ll gap that, side hop this,, make some 10 foot posts, here some skinnies - 2 inches wide.” Soon he had it all sketched out. He was psyched, hell I was too. It seemed Ryan was ready to bring trials into the trails.The trail crew began building. Ryan came up and refined the build, making sure everything was perfect. I’ve noticed recently that the riders successfully pushing the boundaries all have two things in common, they are great riders and they are amazing tacticians. They know exactly what they and their bike is going to do. How big the gap needs to be, where the transitions must be placed, what will work and what will not work. Gone are the days of winging it and hoping for the best. The trail was built to fit in with the natural beauty of the forest. It is a piece of art. I’d like to think of it as a homage to the forest and how we humans can interact in a non-destructive way with this pristine ecosystem.But this trail is crazy. It does not appear to be rideable. Ryan designed it, explained what he was going to do on each section, so we built it. But now, I look at it and wonder. Is it rideable? Is Ryan able to pull this off? I have moments of angst. The trail took a lot of work to create, it would be such a drag to have it flop, to have been overzealous in our ambitions. But Ryan is a master tactician of trials riding. I have to trust it will happen.Ryan waits for a new special bike. For the first time I have filmed with him he is going to ride a full suspension bike. It’s necessary to be able to make some of the more ambitous moves. The geometry is all different from his usual bike, a bike he knows intimately. Now it’s new geometry, and rear suspension to add a twist in how the bike handles. Ryan will have to adapt his skill set to the new bike.With anything worthwhile it seems you have to go the distance, put extra effort in to realize the vision. Although we are still not finished filming the trail I ‘m feeling confident that this segment has that special uniqueness to it. An innovative, visually pleasing rider, a spectacular forest location and that indescribable element that puts the sparkle on the screen. Ryan has that special uniqueness about him that has allowed him to once again create something spectacular. In this case he has pioneered bringing trials into the trails and let me tell you, it’s damn cool.To check out what this is all about see PROGRESSION - Kranked 6. Ryan rocks it.