Day 1
"He says there was a murder here last night, " says our translator
with a half English half Mandarin accent. " We should get out of here." Darren
Berrecloth, Cameron McCaul, Blake Jorgenson (Photographer), Todd Barber (Logistics)
and myself (film maker) all look at each other for a quick second, taking
a brief moment to let it sink in that we are not in North America anymore.
This is a long way from home and we can't let ourselves forget that. This
still moment of awareness lasts only a second and then we quickly start moving
towards the vehicles and get the hell out of there.
Cam McCaul making friends.
The man who ran out of his mud hut to tell us that we were about to shred a
murder scene disappears over the roll. As we drive off Berrecloth looks over
his solder out the back window at the Alaskan looking dirt face riddled with
cliffs and chutes. Right then I could tell that this would be the first of
many trips to the Gobi Desert in China and I wondered to myself why it took
the sport of freeriding so long to get over here.
'
Berrecloth smoothing out his line.
"It took so long to get over here " Explains Red Bull Rampage visionary
Todd Barber between chop sticks full of chicken " simply because it's
expensive to travel to the other side of the world and it's a long way to go
based on google earth and a few photo's on the internet." Our group of
four are the only westerners in the small local restaurant. I fumble with the
chop sticks between my fingers trying to get a hold of the battered chicken
in the centre of the table before the rest of our team devours it. I understood
what Barber was saying as I have watched many Freeride Entertainment shoots
that are supposed to be the next big thing in freeriding come back as lifestyle
segments. "And also" Barber says chewing another huge piece of chicken, "the
timing is really difficult, the Gobi has extreme winds and with that come dramatic
changes in temperature, ranging from –40°C in winter to +50°C
in summer. These couple weeks in October were the only weeks where there wasn't
blistering heat, extreme winds or sand storms."
Pick your line.
I first heard about this trip a month ago but apparently it had been in
the making since the fall of 2005. I watch Barber place another piece of
chicken in the chili sauce as I grope at the few remaining pieces of chicken
with my chopsticks. Barber chews and then tells me about how a friend of
his had seen the Rampage and was later traveling in China and told Todd he
had to check this place out. It took 2 years to work out the logistics, funds
and crew but here we were October 2007 eating chinese food after the first
day ever of freeriding in the Gobi Desert. China really is a different place.
I fumble with my chop sticks and finally get the last piece of chicken in
my mouth. I taste it. Hmm? I think to myself, this chicken really is gamey.
That looks like fun.
FINAL DAY
Two weeks have now passed since we've been here. In China, tourists are
not allowed to rent cars so we are not only forced to come to terms with
our drivers chaotic driving style, but also his taste for Chinese pop music.
McCaul and myself have ipods but I'm beginning to fear Berrecloth now knows
all the words to Xin Yue Tuan's "One Night in Beijing." We're
starting our four day journey back home. Everyone is tired from two weeks
of hiking lines, building features and shredding gnar. The mountains blur
by out the car window and slowly morph back from unbelievable riding playground
to unrideable rock.
Darren Berrecloth samples the mystery meat.
I wonder if this place will ever turn into a riding proving ground like
Utah has become or if it's just too far away. I wonder if there is still
room for this big mountain riding in the new world of slope style and dirt
jumps. I look over at McCaul starring out the window deep in thought as well.
I try to guess if he is wondering the same things I am. He takes his ear
phones off and looks at Berrecloth and me. " Did you guys see a single
dog the whole time we were there?"
Does that look like fun? Old school lines like Tippie used to ride
in the early Kranked vids. You like? Tell us what you think.
Check out the Gobi Desert video here.
