Trip Report: A weekend in New Market
Words & pictures by Richard Desaulniers Jr.
Driving Twelve-Hundred Kilometers seemed like a daunting task.
Seemed like a hell of a challenge.
Seemed like the perfect moment to go crazy when I learned I’d be driving down all alone.
Last minute is what I learned to deal with when I started to get more and more into shooting photos in the Bmx and Mtb scene. Last minute plans, last minutes shoots, last minute requirements and last minute changes (i.e. : who’s going on a trip and who isn’t).
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not mad at the boys. We all have last minutes changes and we all have our reasons. And I almost choked out on myself after learning (last minute) that I’d be driving all alone form Montréal to New-Market (An hour north of Toronto).
Boy am-I glad I didn’t.
I was lucky enough to have amazing weather when I left Montréal on Friday morning. I was even luckier that it stayed all weekend.
A big night was awaiting me after a long day on the road. Matthew (and a nice dinner, thanks again to his parents!) was waiting for me at his house, but some unexpected problems also.
Our original plan was to hit his jumps, then load the kicker in his pickup and head out to New Market to shoot with Mike (Gray) and Justin (Browne). Little did we know that his prototype test frame had finally given up on Matt.
Luckily Matt always keeps a backup frame so after a quick detour by Joyride and a quick bike build we where back on the road and quickly at our first spot of the weekend, a random school near Mike’s place with a dope triple-kink gap. Matt landed a sweet barspin and tailwhip over, and almost took out Mr. Browne and one of my flashes after a bail when he tried to gap the whole set. Mike made a couple of good faces and a nice tuck-no-hander too. We grabbed some food, checked out a gap over rail that Matt tuck-no-handed and went back to base (Mike’s place) to chill and hit the hay. A big day waited for us tomorrow.
Saturday, after a big (Like really. HUGE) breakfast, we headed to another school in New Market. A sweet little spot with stair sets and tech rails. Mike got a few clips in (including a nice icepick grind and a line I filmed some B camera in for Justin) and we chilled a bit. Matt ran off to scope out for spots and came back stoked. Looking around the school he had found a crazy roof-to-roof gap. A few minutes later he was throwing the bars over that crazy gap and Justin and I had killer shots! The sun was blazing and our day was starting out great!
We hit the road, found some Arizona’s (BEST JUICE EVER) and made our way to (yes)… wait for it… ANOTHER school. (New Market is full of crazy spots. And for some reason unknown all the schools have crazy little spots around them). This one had a nice over-rail gap down a stair set and a sick bank-to-wall gap. Justin went in hard and got some crazy stuff in. I shot a SICK wall ride in that quick gap that made my whole weekend (and those 1200km’s and twelve hours of driving) all worthwhile!
Sadly, the gang had to split, Justin was heading downtown for a friends birthday and we (Mike, Matthew and I) where heading to Conrad’s place for a DOPE party.
Have you ever driven down the 404 with a huge (wind-catching) kicker in the back of your truck? SKETCH!!!
Conrad’s party was super sick. We set-up a crazy trick jump (backflip tuck-no-handers? Triple bar spins? YES PLEASE!) and so many people rode his barn-park. The fire-master (me) was on duty and I got a sick fire going (so hot it burns wheels). Beers were drank. Fun was had. Conrad’s the rad-master and his party was awesome.
Overall a sick night and a great way to end my weekend.
I left Mike’s early the next morning, stoked on my shots, stoked on the fun I had with my friends, jumping back in the car for another 6 hours, 600km’s, on the road again and stoked on life.
I need to thank all the guys and their families for having me over (Matt’s parents for the food and the pure happiness they share with us every time we head over to Pickering. Mike’s parents for the place to lay my head and the hot shower) and all the guys I shot with. You all made this weekend the best weekend of the year for me. Thanks again!
You can also Click Here for more pictures of Richard's weekend.
