Decided to toss a camera & 50mm lens in my bag before today’s ride with Aaron LaRocque.


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Shoot only in golden light. Aaron LaRocque and Strahan Loken proposed this seemingly simple concept very late in the summer. In abstract it sounded achievable, but with the warm clear weather quickly coming to a close, they cast off not knowing what results to expect. Here’s how it played out.



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Mr. Daniel Barham and I have been working together on a couple of projects this year and images are starting to make it into print. This month’s issue of Singletrack UK has a nine page article loaded with Dan’s photos and my words from a 10-day trip to Peru. If you can get you hands on the mag consider checking it out. While you’re at it you may as well scope out Dan’s recently updated website and join his facebook page.

Double in Sept ’10 Bike Mag


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Myself, Wink Grant and Alan Hepburn went out and shot a video with Aaron Larocque about a game we made up. We had a lot of fun making it, and we hope you like watching it!

Recently snapped a couple pics of my bikes.

Banshee Legend MKII w/ Atlas FR goodies, Evolve post, and Sniper grips.



Banshee Rune w/ the super light and backcountry burly SIXC bar and crankset, Atlas AM stem, Dues post, and Sniper grips.



Both these bikes destroy their respective genres! I’ve become accustomed to referring to the Rune as my “magic bike” since it performs so well in so many situations. One day we’ll be happily accumulating long miles of backcountry exploring together while the next day we’ll throw down some downhill shuttles and stunts. Here’s a quick video from the Island Cup #1 in Cumberland where I pedaled the access road a couple times and poached the race course before shooting photos in the afternoon.

The Legend is obviously a pure downhill machine, but it still manages to feel nimble and active on the technical moves and jumps. Here’s a quick edit that Aaron LaRocque and I put together as part of a series of videos he did for Banshee bikes. You can check the rest of them here.

Of course the family album wouldn’t be complete without a couple snaps of my one-week old baby boy. Stoked on the new job title of “Dad”.

Hey Guys,

Lone Wolf Productions.ca has gone online, and on the same day was featured on the pinkbike.com’s main page:

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/lone-wolf-productions-section-1-2010.html

For those of you that don’t know what Lone Wolf Productions is all about, it is a website has been created to put riders back in charge, and follows some of your favorite athletes while they create their own segments for you to watch.  Each rider is given a set of camera gear and some time to work with, in order to bring you their segment. Some may chose to shoot with friends, some may take a road trip, while others might want to show you their newest insane lines. Either way, in the end you see what they want you to see.  Our team is made up of 4 individuals.  Aaron LaRocque, Tam Forde, Karl Heldt, and myself (Matt Brooks).  Between us we hold a wealth of rider ability and editor creativity that should assist in helping the riders create what they are looking for in a section.  We will be posting new videos/photos all the time; some will be full rider sections and some will simply be clips.  We hope we can entertain you, and welcome everyone’s support.

Lots of props to Race Face of course for being a site sponsor. We are also available on the Lone Wolf Productions blog, our facebook page and twitter now so follow as there as well:

http://lonewolfproductions.wordpress.com/
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=128040877218809
http://twitter.com/LoneWolfTeam

Hope you all have a second to check it out.

Matt Brooks

Usually when Aaron LaRocque and I get together he’s barking orders, pointing lenses, and directing me to get back up the trail for another shot while the light is good. Here he gets out from behind the editing station and shreds trail on his 2010 Banshee Wildcard leaving the artsy stuff up to me.

A quick video of backcountry trails on Vancouver Island. The weather has been unseasonably chilly for early April, and I was prevented from summiting out by knee deep snow.

Taking the shortest line through a tricky section of roots on the same section of trail!
Screenshot by Aaron LaRocque.

As a loaded up my gear that morning, mind and body still blurry from the night before, the last thing I read was the forecast: Periods of rain with a chance of fog patches. Could it be? Aaron LaRocque and I refer to fog, the dense kind that rolls in from the coast, penetrates the forest canopy, floods onto singletrack, and fills your lens with a bright diffused sky, as the Unicorn. This apparition of the wilderness lures you to seek it out, checking web cams, plotting scenarios where you might capture it, but it seemingly appears when you least expect it. I hastily jammed a camera body, fisheye, and tripod into my bag – just in case. (continue reading…)

Aaron LaRocque and I had been talking about a concept for an all-mountain edit for a long time. We wanted to combine backcountry riding with awesome scenery and remote lake fishing. The project went off great, and I couldn’t be happier with the result.

On the last morning of shooting, I took a fall on a double rock-to-rock jump right at the top of the trail where we started shooting. After I recovered from knocking the wind out of myself, I noticed that somehow the chainring had sliced through my shoe, augered into my foot, and high fived my calf on the way out. Luckily it wasn’t too serious and we were able to get the footage we needed, blood dripping onto the crank arm, just before the weather got dark and rainy.

Here’s a little edit Aaron did with some spare footage. If you can’t take blood, you might not want to watch past 0:25 or so…