Lucas Robinson started filming for an edit last fall, but when you work nearly full-time, are enrolled in school full-time, and are also an intern at a big-boy job it can be difficult to juggle filming a full edit amidst all the responsibilities. Whether it’s school or his bike, Lucas is always on his grind and it’s apparent in this short, but sweet edit. Hopefully this year clears up and we get to see even more of his dialed and technical riding. Big ups to Lenny’s Bike Shop for keeping Luke’s ride nice and dialed.

 Just a quick post; had a fantastic time visiting the Coast Gravity Park in Sechelt, British Columbia this past weekend. Video and Picture are from a portion of the trail “Flight Deck,” which truly lives up to its name. Full of lofty mandatory jumps and a fun berm at the bottom, it’s a great way to finish a lap from “Coastal Cruise,” the more technical but still flowy upper pro line that feeds directly into the fast, floaty line of doubles that make up Flight Deck. Spent the evening celebrating my good friend Michael’s recent birthday around the campfire in Porpoise Bay Provincial park. Whiskey and a rowdy day on bikes made for a wonderful weekend.

Flight Deck Quick Clip

 

In February of 2014, Sasha Yakovleff decided to mix things up and leave the comforts of his New Hampshire hometown to make a cross-country move for a job opportunity in Salt Lake City, Utah. The decision wasn’t too hard since he knew Utah was a world-class biking destination and the new surroundings would offer plenty of choices to fuel his two-wheel addiction.

“You’re only young once, might as well travel around a bit and explore,” says Sasha. “Utah has opened my eyes and put things into perspective. I miss New Hampshire dearly and I’ll be back home permanently at some point, but until then I’m not sure where life will take me. However, I know I’ll be aboard a bike wherever I go.”

Moving your life can be tough. Making new friends and getting familiar with a new neighborhood can be a daunting experience and humbling to some, but Sasha sought to make it a quick process. His love for bikes and an incredible motivation to challenge himself have helped him settle into his new home and explore the limitless riding options waiting out the backdoor.

“Riding a bike is the ultimate sense of freedom for me. It doesn’t really matter where I am or what mood I’m in, riding always makes me happy and I have to thank my sponsors for helping me with that – Scott Bikes, Deity Components, Kenda Tires, Mavic, G-Form, Bern Unlimited, TRP Brakes, Five Ten, Darn Tough Vermont. My motivation though is pretty simple – keep myself challenged physically and mentally. There is always something new to learn or ride, whether at the dirt jumps or way out in the woods on some remote mountainside.” – Sasha

The constant desire for something new is a driving force behind Sasha’s creativity. He’s a nine-to-fiver who doesn’t understand the term “weekend warrior.” Everyday provides if you’re motivated to take advantage, and the Wasatch is a big backyard with more to offer than most seek to realize. The abundance of pleasures is almost overwhelming, and even after a good soak, you can easily be satisfied with just the tip.

“When I moved to Utah, my first thought was damn this place is dry, I hope we get a ton of rain. New Hampshire has variable weather which you learn to love, but Utah is much more sunny and dry. When it rains here I get really stoked and head to the woods to build. The nice thing about the Wasatch is the variety. You can ride whatever you want. Dirt jumps down low, alpine riding up high, DH or all-mountain trails in between.” – Sasha

Over the past few seasons, I’ve had the opportunity to tag along with Sasha as he familiarized himself with his new backyard. Being on the bike or shoveling dirt seem to be the only two things he thinks about, and soon I started to expect a call or text from him every couple of days to go shoot a new feature he had been secretly building over the weekend or scout something he spotted from the road on his drive to work that looked fun to ride. We got together at the end of this season to recount a few of the fun adventures and build projects we had photographed together.

“This was shot early in the morning in March. I Street is a winter staple in Salt Lake City as it is usually rideable year-round. In fact, the dirt there is much better in the winter when it’s actually wet and malleable. The funny thing about I Street is that things are always changing. Lots of people build there, so the place has tons of personality. I don’t know who built this jump but it’s awesome; you can just pull for days.” – Sasha

There had been a couple wildfires this past summer just outside of Park City. Sasha and I scouted this area after he spotted the burn zone on a cross-country ride and thought the ashy dirt would make for some good turns. Besides being covered in soot when we got back to the car, it was a fun new experience for both of us.

“I had driven by this spot a million times, or taken the bus up past it with my DH bike to go ride other trails. I thought about riding it before but was too lazy and forgetful to check it out until it rained one time this past spring. The dirt was perfect and it was really fun to ride. There are a few sections of different pitches where you can alternate your speed and push out a brown pow turn or two. Plus, first descents are hard to beat.” – Sasha

“Evil Empire is a Park City classic DH freeride trail that never gets old. It starts at Jupiter Peak and descends over 2200’ vertical feet back into Old Town Park City via Daly Canyon. This jump is rad and on one of my favorite sections of the trail near the bottom in the Black Forest of Empire Canyon. The pines thin out a bit as you jump through aspens before dipping back into the darkness.” – Sasha

“Raspberry Lane is one of my favorite pirate trails and sits just above the top of Old Town in Park City. We were actually scouting out another shot on an overcast day and noticed the fall colors in this berm. Funny how things work out when you’re looking for something else – always keep your eyes open I guess.” – Sasha

I think Sasha’s least favorite time of the year is after Daylight Savings when it gets dark super quick in the afternoon. For someone who works all day but lives to shred, it’s frustrating to only have an hour or so to ride after work in the later part of the fall. Luckily the Park City Dirt Jumps are easy to get to and the street lamps at the fire station next door help illuminate the open field of jumps for a few laps before dinner.

The Oakley Skatepark is located right next to one of the biggest rodeo venues in Utah. The town population is about 1,000, but the new $3 million rodeo arena seats 6,000. It can be windy a lot of times, but if you wait it out, the Kamas Valley sunsets are usually incredible.

Eric Porter has one of the sickest backyard setups, stacked with stunt ramps, a pump track and a water slide snake run connected to another pump track in the neighbor’s yard. Fall BBQ sessions at Porter’s are some of the funnest days during late season.

“After moving to Utah, it took me about a year to scout out a few spots I wanted to build and learn my way around the place a bit. I knew I wanted to build a large wallride in the middle of the woods, and what better place to put it than in an Aspen grove? This thing is tucked up on a hillside in Park City. We built it, painted it and sessioned it a few times before the snow started to fall. The aspen leaves died early this year due to a fungus, so hopefully we can catch a golden frame next autumn when the grove goes off.” – Sasha

Adventures in any backyard can be endless if you use your creativity. Even when it seems like there’s nothing new left to discover, building and riding have endless possibilities. When you’re passionate about riding your bike and always looking for something new to shred, you’ll find a way to satisfy your cravings but also stay thirsty for more. He might be settled into his new home now, but Sasha’s quest for new fun outside his doorstep will never stop regardless of how long he stays anywhere.

I met the homie Lucas Robinson down at Woodward and he decided to road trip up the coast with me and my Brother-from-another-mother Adrian Martinez, and we eventually ended up in his hometown. After a summer of toddler sized bicycles, learning the native lingo, and living out of a tent and a Forester along the coast I found myself in a little blip on the map called Bellingham. Bham, as we affectionately call it, is a little town in the most northwest pocket of the country. As an east coaster originally, I was totally taken back by the compost bins in restaurants, Jerusalem cruisers on everyone’s feet, as well as the 81% overcast days per year. Certainly not the SoCal weather that you see in most BMX edits online, so you can imagine my surprise when I found a tight knit little scene of shredders who were down to make the most of the remaining summer, dodging rain spurts, drying spots with old clothes and towels, and dealing with the bipolar weather that makes the PNW so dreamy.

This edit we threw together I think really highlights the good vibes, friends, scene, and weather that we were able to squeeze out of the last ray’s of sunshine this summer blessed us with. I’d like to shoutout all the homies who were a part of this little project, and anyone who has showed us love around the way.

At first glance in Bellingham, one might not pick up on the subtle hints of a bmx scene. It’s pretty tucked away and could certainly be glanced over. However, the scene in Bellingham really seems to represent what bmx is after all the bullshit is dropped, trends come and go, high seats, low seats, pegs, brakes, riding street, dirt, and park; the list could go on forever. Though all the guys in the scene come from different backgrounds and like to ride different ways, we’re all united by the fact that we just want to be out on our bikes whenever we can, having a good time with the dudes.

Bellingham isn’t SoCal, on average we get rain 168 days a year which pretty much chops your chances to ride in half. We have one skatepark to serve the city’s 80,000 people (which is overrun with lowlifes), a hidden trails scene tucked back in the woods, and though we have some good street spots you have to put in work for it. Bmx isn’t perfect, and it’s not meant to be. bmx is different. bmx is staring at a jump for 20 minutes trying to get your balls to descend from your stomach. Bmx is slamming your body into pavement one second and throwing yourself down the rail again a second later. Bmx comes in a lot of shapes, forms and sizes. From hundreds of riders swarming the streets of LA at the latest sponsored jam, to a couple homies riding the local cut between patches of rain, bmx is and always will be there. Sometimes you just gotta look for it.

More on the way this year as we plan to film a real project so if you’d like to spice up that feed with some hot fire or good laughs just holler at us on Instagram: @lcs_rbnsn & @vacuumssvck P.S.- Let us know what you think of the edit below in the comments. Love it or hate it speak up!! Deuces til next time!

Who couldn’t resist getting first tracks of the season?

The route looked like: Guardsman – Crest – Pinecone – Mid Mountain – Jenny’s – Ski School

Out of the seven days of the week, Monday probably takes the cake for least favorite day. The weekend is over, the hangover is rough and the average Joe goes back to a world full of people they spent the last three nights trying to forget about. Back to the stinky hallways and claustrophobic cubicles, forced conversations and the all-important meeting that for unknown reasons, requires your attendance. Mondays mark the return to the hell hole.

It was just another Monday morning as I scarfed a jelly donut while waiting for my carpool to pick me up from the parking lot at the Park City Dirt Jumps. Dustin Orem’s mini-van rolled up, so I downed the last of my coffee and took a seat next to Jonesy Fedderson and Riley Smith. We had one more stop in Coalville to pick up Matt Beringer before we’d be on our way to the Hell Hole. Not the same hell hole, however, that most people were commuting to that morning. None of us were agonizing over the thought of sitting at a desk for 8 hours, or correctly filing TPS reports. We only had thoughts of drinking full strength domestics and shredding some BMX bikes at the Hell Hole full pipe in Wyoming.

It might not be the secret spot it once was, but no one will tell you Hell Hole has lost its appeal. There’s something different, something special about venturing away from the perfectly sculpted concrete parks and over-sessioned street spots in urban neighborhoods. Sometimes we get trapped in our comfort bubble. Smooth transitions and effortless flow are hard to find in the middle of farmland, America. But, if you’re up for a little adventure and a challenge, spots like Hell Hole can not only humble you, but remind you of how rewarding it is to put in work for a few tube rides.

We arrived to find some newly installed gates blocking the service road that parks you right at the pipe. Perhaps a sign of the developed popularity of the spot. A little hike is always good for getting the blood flowin’ though, that, and some house cleaning. Lurkers find it amusing to toss rocks down the mouth of the elbow. Can’t say I wouldn’t be tempted myself if I wasn’t aware of the hellish nightmare I would create for anyone sessioning the pipe. Matt will tell you first hand, that nightmare sucks when it becomes a reality.

A quick sweep was all that was needed before the session was on. Everyone took turns charging up the tube, high marking the elbow before carving the 200 feet back out of the snake. It was all smiles, with every run feeling better than the last. Each new high mark was raising the stoke, and every fresh skid made a lasting impression. Jonesy threw down a couple flares and over-vert hand plants while Riley stacked some clips for an upcoming edit. Matt was typically creative in-between speed runs, rocket sliding the belly of the pipe from the elbow all the way out the spout, and Dustin couldn’t get enough flow rides, pumping the walls all afternoon. It was tiring just to watch him, but his energy never faded, nor did his big, bearded grin.

By afternoon, we had cranked enough pedals to clean any gunk out of the lungs. There were no more man-cans to crush and the graffiti lining the pipe was getting blurry, so we loaded the bikes back in Dustin’s van. High-fives for the good times were in order after some hard work on a Monday. No deadlines to meet today though, just the tough decision of what photo to gram on the drive home. There was only one thing left to do before we crossed back over Brigham’s border. A quick stop at the discount liquor store in Evanston was necessary to fill all the empty space in the van. Enough full strength to last until the next Monday!