Winter Dirtbiking

first carve

I do hate winter. But every year as a teenager I rode my dirtbike in the winter. I never had any documentation of such behaviour, none that existed past the careless stage of those years. The conditions were perfect this day, much like a good day at the hill. I was lucky enough to have my better half handy and able to take such great photos. Fresh powder. Under the right circumstances, is a lot like fresh sand. If you are careful you can certainly have some fun much in the same way. What will you do different this winter?

adventure man!

this buds for you turtle

Some more random photos. Some of last winter, some from the summer. Winter is officially here and it sucks. But here is a great shot of Josh last summer from the Jam. Jeff photo bombs the moment. Have fun in Australia Josh!

bring summer back edit

Summer/fall clips thrown together with a bit of hope of winning a drone with camera from Royal Distributing. I don't have Facebook but attempted to post this on their page from Brenna's account for the contest entry. So I guess go to Royal Distributing and vote for me or something!? They give a drone a month for the next while. Pretty cool. Thanks to Jaime and Jeff for getting in on the filming here.

I do have a bunch more go pro footage that I filmed in a different resolution. I will try and do something with that shortly. This has been way over due as it is. Enjoy.

iphone offload 2014

a giant snapping turtle being removed from the side of the road where she tried to lay eggs

Sometimes it's handy to have the phone after all.

X-Town

I got comfy on this big table, it was about 60ft or so. It certainly wasn't the biggest jump there though

Jeff came down for the a full weekend to ride in the dirt. We had a blast, but ended up filming more than taking photos. Well more than anything actually, we just rode as much as we could. We hit up X-Town motocross track in Mirabel, QC. Really great tracks, yes plural. Something for everyone there. I had some nice photos of Jeff, but they along with a nice photo of a hawk eating a dove in my yard, accidentally got deleted. So this is a really quick update. Just getting time to work on some video stuff now. I will offload some phone photos from the year first though. Thanks to Jeff for his keen eye behind the lens.

Limerick Forest ride

when it runs, it runs amazing

We hit Limerick Forest in the late afternoon one day last week. We never seem to get a full day riding because we are consistently dealing with engine gremlins on Derek's bike. When the thing runs, it produces nice shots like these. Fresh sand is a lot like fresh powder at a ski hill. And getting the shots early in the session is key. These are all slightly touched up, mostly washed out colours and some sharpened. My old Tamron 18-280 is no longer as sharp as it once was, which causes it's focus to slow down too. We did pretty ok snapping shots of each other regardless. And Derek even got some air on a drop off. Make sure to check these out full screen to see the beauty of the fresh sand. Hope you are all getting in your final summer plans as fall is upon us in a hurry.

first race ever

warmup first corner

 This was a fun experience. I raced in the Vet Junior class at MX101 (Sadn Del Lee) in Richmond, Ontario. A lot went wrong that day for me, namely missing the practice. I only got one race due to weather complications. So I had one single practice lap before my race. That really stressed me out. I knew my arms wouldn't last with no practice or warmup. And I was right. I had a really good first lap, and then the arm pump came. Not too many photos with other riders in them, because I was at the back of the pack within 2 laps. I did have a blast though. I felt really out of place, like first day of high school. But at the end I felt like a cool kid. Thanks to everyone coming out to watch and Ginger for snapping these photos of me. And an extra thanks to my un-named race crew that took care of me all day and put my mind at ease. I always said I wanted to try it, so I am really proud of myself for getting it done at 32, finally. Hopefully next year I am better prepared though. Thanks again for everyone's support.

gopro pov

fresh sand is the equivalent of fresh powder

 I will have to stop borrowing Chris and Jay's go pro and just buy one of my own. Here are some random photos from the last few weeks. These are from the "chesty" mounted angled. Also borrowed from Steve haha. This really gives the best perspective from behind the bars. Like a first person video game. These go pro 3 models are really great and come through quite well even in poorly lit situations. Thanks again guys.

Sudbury dirt bike trip 2014

Jeff gets the cover shot on his XR400

I trailered my bike down to the big nickel on a Thursday night. Met up with Jeff, Kyle, and Zach and stayed up late usual, listening to Slater and downing my ciders. Friday was great weather and we had a sweet day exploring about 11 pits. I felt like I was in heaven. So much stuff good stuff to ride. Bigger and better than anything I have ever ridden. I have ridden some great places before, but always either undocumented or only a few times at best because spots get shut down easily. Knowing I had more days to ride the same stuff put my mind at ease. It's comparable to going to 11 skateparks in one day. It never happens, so it's hard to imagine. Kyle had a good and proper party that night and we were up until sundown catching up, shooting the shit, and laughing it up.

We dilly dallied the next as per the norm, but then got screwed with rain in the afternoon. We hit up Royal Distributing to kill some time and Jeff found a beauty new helmet for his noggin. The rain never broke, but we said screw it once it slowed down around 6pm. We headed out with Kyle on the big quad going through all the insane water holes that had come to be from the rain on the trails. The rain actually stopped and we rode into dark and then b-lined it home. We a great sessions despite the conditions, and Kyle rode his first dirtbike. He did really well in the limited time and light. We partied again Sat night, but I couldn't hang with the big boys and had to sleep around 3am haha. 

Sunday appeared as though it was going to be a bust as it was pissing rain again, and Saturday night was a total storm. As I packed up, it started to clear. Jeff packed his bike and follow me out in case it looked good enough to ride. We caught a break and decided to take a ride. So glad we did, because we found so much more. So many more pits and amazing spots. Each spot had something unique. One would be hills, another would be jumps and humps. We found tracks, trails, washed out canyons, and everything in between. Hell, we even found a bowl berm, basically a curved wall ride. We went super far and just hit so much stuff, having the time of my life at least. Soaking it all up. The SLR camera went dead right away, the video camera went dead right after, and I didn't bring the go pro because I didn't think I would need. I also left all the charged batteries in the car. Bah, won't need those. We said screw it and just kept riding, relying on our memory to document the thrills and scenery. Jeff did a huge hill climb and caught air out of the top. He had no idea how much air he would get but randomly threw a no footer and landed perfectly. This caused a ton of laughs. Just think about all the variables. Jeff is a natural. We were super far away and I ran out of gas. We got creative and I made Jeff got to higher ground and lean his bike over to dump fuel into mine. We disconnected his carb line, then used his gas cap breather hose to make an extension. It was wacky, but it worked. I used the google map app, and found the fastest way out. Typically we went around every water hole and tried to stay dry, but time was of the essence, and daylight was fading fast. We went down a trail that was basically a total enduro style of water and rocks. We plower through it all with some luck, and yeah I do call this lucky still, I ran out of gas only half a km from our vehicles. I walked my bike back and enjoyed every step, because I knew I just finished the best riding of my life with my buddy.

Thanks to Jeff and his family for the hospitality, and Kyle for hosting us and driving us around too. Both guys got behind the camera for me which I never take for granted. Thanks guys. Can't wait to go back. Click the title to see some more photos of us. More updates to come, some go pro footage too.

out for a rip

I felt like a magazine hero when I saw this photo

Just out for a rip, Bug thanks to my better half for the awesome camera work. I have been prepping for a month end motocross trip to Sudbury with the master of caulking. Can't wait. And it would appear I need to do more right turns here.

Motocross Action

such a good feeling

That was the name of a magazine my neighbour had when I was a kid. He seemed to have a million copies. We used to go through the magazine and drool at the bikes, riders, and their cool gear. At school I could never wait until he brought a new one so we could examine every single photograph. This summer has been great. My lovely came and took some photos just before dark. All on the T3i with Tamron 18-270 lens. The light was crap but she did a great job. More updates soon I am sure. When it rains, it pours.

Lake Placid motorcycle trip 2014 update #3

another amazing lake up in the mountains

The final update of photos. Damn was it ever good. Adventure at every corner. Animals everywhere, amazing scenery, and the best roads I have ever seen.

Lake Placid motorcycle trip 2014 update #2

best breakfast around, especially the french toast. Out of this world amazing. Country Bear in Wilmington

Still so pumped about this trip. Next year's will only be better. Check back for more soon.

Lake Placid motorcycle trip 2014 update #1

we camped on our own island

The trip has come and gone. It was a blur. It was awesome. We hit up Lake Placid and Lake George. We lost a day to rain, got drenched, but also made the best of that too. What a great time. Can't wait for the next one. Check back soon for more updates, with actual motorcycles in them.

itch scratched

'09 yz250f first ride from Dirty Lens Productions on Vimeo.

The night Jeff left, I put the Warrior up for sale. I couldnt resist any longer.  After having the motocross itch really bad from riding with Jeff, I helped Derek get his yz250f running. And then that made it so much more worse. The Brose Jam happened (no photos). It was a totally awesome event. I can't relate to the motocross community, especially the freestyle culture, but what a great show. Those guys are absolutely insane. I won't ever do that stuff, but it's amazing to watch. And just hearing the engines go, makes you want to ride and listen to heavy metal. I got on kijiji and found an awesome ride. Itch finally scratched. Relief. Ray lent me his truck for a few days. I grabbed the bike and slapped together this small edit from random pit riding in two days with a tripod. Back in the saddle after 4 years off, I felt relatively comfortable at home. Enjoy.

motored machines

Jaime shreds on the warrior, my fav photo from the session

Jeff got the itch to get a dirt bike. So I found him one in the area. That gave me an itch. Jeff came down with the trailer to get it with Jaime. Hey's let's go to a nearby pit and bring the Yamaha Warrior 350 quad I bought and never have time or motivation to use. I was never into quads as a first machine, good toys, but only if I have a few serious machines first to play on. We hit up the pit and had a good 'ol time. Jeff had his first dirt bike experience and Jaime totally shredded on the quad. Not sure when Jaime last rode a quad, but it was as if he was a daily driver. Check the photos for proof, he wasn't rolling into the turns, he was cooking. We had a great time. Problem is that really started an itch for me. Still more updates coming.

I'm open

Hey I am open!

 I am lucky enough to be part of a new team with long time friend Chris Riopelle. Ben Kaufmann and Jay Leroux are also on the team (Benny didn't play this night). Chitters shot these photos for me. We have a new logo and jerseys and all. The Dekes of Hazzard! I think it was Rio that came up with that, while Derek helped me make the logo. Damn don't we look good? Just need to fix our track record now…

Manitoulin bound

Ginger with the rides 

Haven't had too many good reasons to post up until recently. Jeff finally bought a bike, and I finally got to ride with Ginger. This quickly led to a trip to Sudbury, which then turned into a trip to Manitoulin Island. We packed up and rode with little sleep. Just getting to Sudbury (Hanmer) was a task. We packed to camp, and well team dilly dally never actually camped. We stayed at Jeff's and enjoyed a random metal band at a nearby pub, then once in Manitoulin we settled to stay at an Inn where would could enjoy some drinks with locals, as well the Stanley Cup Finals were on tv. Great trip. Just not enough time to get it all out of the system. Thanks to Ginger for getting behind the lens on the very few photos we shot. I can't believe I brought a camera and only came back with this. Never again. More updates soon.

Snowy Owls

beautiful white male swoops down. Perhaps the best shot of the bunch

Boy did I ever luck out. Chitaroni lent me his Canon - L series 100-400 lens and I went out to find my snowy owl friend nearby. I armed myself with jeans and a half full battery for the camera. No big deal, was only -15 out and the wind was howling like it usually is the neck of the woods (I actually mean flat fields). I couldn't find my friend nearby. So I took a drive down the 417 as I can usually find a spotted one down there. I had to go back and forth before spotting the…well, spotted one below in the tree. I am always excited to see these owls and this time was no different. With the L series lens I was able to shoot from further away, while maintaining great quality photos. After getting what I wanted and having walked through waist deep snow, I decided to move on in my frozen jeans. I decided to go a bit further and take a longer route home down a road perfectly suited for an owl to perch. To my luck I stumbled upon another photographer also snapping away at a snowy owl on that exact road. He was very knowledgable and friendly. Friendly enough to let me "poach" his session by allowing me to join in. I contemplated not using the photo of the mouse as it was live baited. With some research on the topic I found it the be very negatively looked down upon by people choosing to post their opinions on the subject. While I can see both sides of the debate clearly, I am also not overly opposed to it. Out of respect, the photographer will not be named to save him internet hate that really isn't backed by anything more than simple opinions. I have seen his work and it is outrageously good photography and he clearly knows what he is doing, where to go, how to find his work, and how to preserve it in a manner that keeps the animal alive and safe. Again, I see both sides. I just happen to not necessarily see it as a negative. I can understand why it is done. And my photos are a clear example. I (the hobbyist) got to enjoy something spectacular at hopefully little to no expense of the bird. The mouse you ask? Yeah, I could care less about mice. They come into my home and make a mess. And I get to take photos of this, instead of photos of a dead mouse that has defecated itself in a trap? I can't say I would do it myself, but I am not opposed to this specific method in this specific circumstance. I hope you can see past the debate and just enjoy my photos here. You will notice a second spotted owl towards the bottom. I found her (female I believe) while on my way home. 3 different owls in one afternoon! And that one big white male… nature can be so awesome. I am really thankful for these rare winter photo opportunities. And Chitaroni for lending me such a nice lens. Enjoy.