Recently I did a wee cycle mission around BC, trying to escape the snow (or lack of). Dave Roth and I set out from Whistler on our mountain bikes, towing trailers with our gear, and circumnavigated the Salish Sea entirely by our own power (and the power of the 13 different ferries we boarded). Thirteen days and about 800 km later we completed our route.

Yes, the original intention of the trip was to escape winter and prove to ourselves and others that there is a lot more to BC, especially in the winter. But the trip soon became not about our journey but the journey that individuals, organizations and communities go through to make their hometown such a remarkable place, particularly for mountain bikers.

We documented the trip extensively through daily trip journals and social media (archived on The Escape.ca), and even had two super stalkers follow us around, shooting us with their cameras the whole time. Today, the teaser for the stalkerazzi’s video goes live, with the full length video coming out in March.

 

UNION PRESENT THE TEASER VIDEO FOR THE UPCOMING VIDEO RELEASE FROM THEIR EPIC TRIP ‘THE ESCAPE’

Reminding the world about the pleasure of the road and the thrill of the trails.

Vancouver, BC – February 26, 2013  –

Let’s get one thing straight, this film is not really about us or our journey. It’s about the people and places that your mountain bike can show you.

Mountain biking is brilliant in its scope and variety; there is no right or wrong way to enjoy it. However, mountain biking, to us, is about adventure and exploration, fun and games, and understanding a little bit more about the world, the people around us, and in the long run, about ourselves.

On February 6, 2013, the Union crew set out from snowy Whistler to seek out some of the rumored snow free trails around BC. Their route took them on a circular journey around the Georgia Strait (or Salish Sea) between Vancouver’s lower mainland and Vancouver Island – where they found clusters of communities that elude the snow line all winter, leaving the ribbons of crafted dirt free for all to ride.

They rode mountain bikes the whole way, towing their kit in trailers for the long road stretches and then dumping them when the riding turned to dirt. Thirteen days and over 800 km later they closed the loop on their ride. Perhaps you already caught some of the story online on weareunion.co or bikemag.com but in early March 2013 Union Production Co. will be releasing a video of the trip. Here is the teaser to the grand presentation.

This video is about bringing the pleasure of the road and the thrill of the trails. We want to reach out to the rider who is told they are getting old but still feels young and who still gets recharged with youthful thrills. We want to reach out to the person working in a cubicle and reunite them with that long lost wanderlust. We want to show everyone that, yes, nothing is easy, but the rewards of seeking soothes all hardship.

More so, although the video’s backdrop is the backroads of British Columbia, we want to remind the world that adventure can be found on your own doorstep, you just need to get off the couch to seek it. Mountain biking shows us all somewhere new and personal, whether that’s at the end of a long road, a piece of remote singletrack, or the woods at the bottom of your own backyard.

This video is about celebrating the world, that as mountain bikers, we ride within. It is also about the communities and individuals that dare imagine, build and provide nourishment so that mountain biking can flourish.

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Union Production Co are a collection of photographers, videographers, writers and graphic artists who have united to create engaging content that is conceptually inventive, artistically pioneering and integrates communication mediums. The Escape (#TheEscapeBC) was their first project together. The daily trip journals, Instagram and Twitter feeds can be viewed at the-escape.ca

weareunion.co -home page
 the-escape.ca -The Escape web
@weareunionco – Instagram
@weareunionco -Twitter
facebook.com/weareunionco/ – Facebook