'Against The Grain' - Snapshots

DIG X BSD

12 Jan 2018

Wallride on an abandoned car. Surprisingly, the car held up pretty well until the boys decided to ride over the top of it. /// Photo: Jonny

Sar was constantly craving coffee on the trip. Here he is, coffee in hand in Tel Aviv. /// Photo: Olly Geary

Children playing with a chair and a dead bird. Cute! /// Photo: Jonny Ashworth

...And riding. Air on a tight quarter at yet another dream spot in Arad. Although only having a population of 20,000, Arad had a seemingly endless number of crazy things to ride. /// Photo: Alexey 'Yakov' Rayzman

Ilan our host and tour guide in Arad took us to this amazing view point. In the foreground is the Negev desert and in the distance you can faintly see the Dead Sea. /// Photo: Yakov

Sar catching a break, running up... /// Photo: Olly

(left) Sar overlooks The Dead Sea and across to Jordan on our journey from Arad. (right) One of the few people who enjoyed having their photo taken in Israel. /// Photos: Olly Geary (L) Jonny Ashworth (R)

Fuel stop on route to Eilat. /// Photo: Olly

Alon in pegs before going to crook 180 at an extremely warm spot in Eilat. /// Photo: Yakov

Boris drops in on a dream ditch spot in Eilat. Beside which is an airport in constant use. Needless to say we all got a fright the first time we heard a plane landing. Eilat must be one of a few places in the world with an airport directly in the centre of town. /// Photos: Olly Geary (L) Yakov (R)

Catching a break from the relentless desert sun. /// Photo: Yakov

Justin was well stocked with sun cream the whole trip. Unfortunately this wasn't enough to fend off the sunburn. /// Photo: Olly

Eilat had great spots but even better falafel. Here the crew relax after a long day filming in the sun. /// Photo: Olly

We arrived in Israel during Purim, the Jewish equivalent to Halloween. While Sar battled with a handrail children from a nursery gathered to watch – including this guy. /// Photo: Olly

The crew cruise down the Shuk Hacarmel market in Tel Aviv. What looks fairly bleak here was a vibrant market earlier in the day. /// Photo: Yakov

Coming all the way from Montreal, this was Justin’s first time leaving Canada. Left, Justin stands in front of the Tel Aviv city halls. Right, 180 barspin from a Menashe Kadishman sculpture. /// Photo: Olly

As one of the most religiously significant places in the world, Jerusalem is notoriously difficult to ride BMX in. We decided to be tourists for a day and take it in by foot. /// Photo: Jonny

Jerusalem was a photographers paradise, so much history and an endless number of interesting things to shoot. /// Photo: Jonny

We met Fred in Tel Aviv at the end of the trip. Here’s a crook Yakov shot just after we’d left. /// Photo: Yakov

Sar after a tiring day of filming. /// Photo: Jonny

Photos by Jonny Ashworth, Olly Geary & Alexey Rayzman

You've watched the video, now see the story from some singular images, courtesy of Jonny Ashworth, Olly Geary & Alexey Rayzman.

"The dream spots and guaranteed Middle-East sunshine lure many pros to Israel year after year. As a result, many of the best video parts include riding here. What remains quite under-the-radar though, is the local scene.

Last year we set out to catch a fairly routine trip with BSD's Sar Levi and a few others including visiting Canadian rider Justin Hughes (WTP).. After working year-round, he and his friends book time off work to travel from their hometown - Tel Aviv - to Be'er Sheva, Arad, Eilat and Mitzpe Ramon.

In a country with mixed views in the press and a unique history, one thing we found stood out is that BMXers are BMXers wherever they're from. We were warmly welcomed and these guys just want to ride their bikes." - Jonny / Olly