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NOWHERETORIDE - In Photos

Nicolas Cambon and Matthias Dandois

28 Sep 2016

Photography by Mayol | GREENFILMS

At DIG we’ve always been a fan of the road less travelled, and when that comes to bike riding. Adventure is one of the most important elements and pretty much the foundation of what we've been built on since day one, well ahead of tricks, trends or popularity contests. A lot of us here grew up in areas that had very little to no BMX scene at all so the art of seeking out and using a spot that most would ride straight past has been and still is, a necessity for survival and motivation. The world is huge and the potential for new spots is endless, and some of those may be previously unconsidered and just down the road. Stay out there and keep exploring - you never know what you might discover... even if occasionally you might have to look beyond the norm and put that extra bit of work in.

For NOWHERETORIDE, long time French BMXer Nicolas Cambon (Vans / Haro) and renowned filmer Mayol worked together over a 6 month period searching to find and ride the most unique spots that they could. 

Watch the VIDEO HERE.

Here's what the man behind the lens had to say about the project from his perspective:

"With this adventure, the search for the spots was definitely the most work. Trying to find a unique spots, figuring out how to get there, how to ride them, would we need a boat or not,  how do we get into the middle, etc etc… that was the main challenge. 

Once we found the spot, we organized how to access it and of course ride it. Sometimes it took four or fives sessions to get all clips and photos, not least because all the spots are illegal of course and sometimes very dangerous too. Our safety was a big part in this project because although riding an incredible spot is cool, but to come back home safe is better. 

It was definitely not a trick project but more an adventure project, this is why the objectif was not to film a double flair but to film a spot adventure were nobody is going to ride. 

For the two bridges with full pipes inside we had to travel by boat and build a mechanism to give us access. Then we had to clean the inside and manage the filming with different angles. It wasn't easy but it was beautiful at the end. The old factory was a big part of the project trying to create and ride multiple spots within it. The banger and the last clip of the video is also from there with that 'curved wall from the dead.' For this one we spent five days, yes five days, to get the speed needed, breaking twelve walls in the process.. 

Between all this work we had so many problems, like typical bad/wet weather, the police who didn’t understand how got went into the middle of the bridge, and some pretty bad crashes during filming,

Most of time when you see BMX on video it is street, park, trails or contest. With NOWHERETORIDE we wanted to make something totally different, unique and original." - Mayol