This story came from issue 106 of Dirt Magazine. Photographer Grant Robinson (grantrobinson.com) and writer Seb Kemp visited the headquarters of Sombrio Clothing in North Vancouver to try and understand what makes Sombrio so different. Founder/owner/CEO/former-pro-hucker/mad-scientist Dave Watson sat down and we picked his brain on the why, where and how of Sombrio and the…
More often than not, the stories that can really fire up the creative juices of a writer are not the ones that will actually make it into print. A writer can have a great idea or story but for some reason or another it doesn’t end up going anywhere. Perhaps the writer is just a…
Last summer Grant Robinson and Seb Kemp toured the UK trying to track down the remnants of domestic mountain bike production. Along the way they stopped in at Orange Bikes to find out how a dirty little family run sheet metal business nearly once took over the world and what is the future in a…
2FLAT was extremely honored to be approached by The Ride Journal to provide some words for their latest issue. Editor Phil Diprose wanted a story about the North Shore trails to accompany some photos by Dan Barham. The photos were of old and decrepit wood stunts – dinosaurs as it were – and it was…
As well as the short essay, Peak Travel, we “blogged” about the other day, 2FLAT’s Seb Kemp also has a story about Nepal in the latest issue of Spoke Magazine. Except it isn’t the usual travel story or adventure tale, but rather a musing on our modern world in a time of global homogeneity, credit…
We were sent this excerpt of a Kennet Brothers tale by Caleb Smith (Spoke Magazine Founder and Publisher). Read this and tell me it doesn’t tickle your fancy. New Zealand bound perhaps? ON A MISSION IN MOKIHINUI REVIVING GHOSTS OF A TRAIL PAST Abandoned trails make for the best mountain biking. The older, the better.…
In the latest issue of Spoke Magazine 2FLAT writer Seb Kemp has a few choice articles in their ‘Destinations’ issue. First among them is his essay on relationship between global recreation and oil supply. We have include the words below for you to enjoy but we urge you to find a print copy or download…
2FLAT have a Tumblr account now. Check out what inspires us, what aesthetic we aspire to and the morsels in our digital photographic scrapbook. 2FLAT
Part of the content strategy that we have created for NSMB.com is to make the content have more of a magazine feel. NSMB.com readers are generally of a more mature nature and probably grew up in a time when magazines, newspapers and books were kings. These readers often appreciate a more considered approach to the…
Sell what you see…
THE FOLLOWING APPEARED ON WWW.BIKEMAG.COM ON MAY 16TH, 2011. Bend, Oregon Big Beds, Beers and the Characters of Cyclone City Seb Kemp It’s dark and there is no discernible landmarks to show where we are except the sign from the highway which states proudly we are entering Bend, Oregon. Bison, BC is playing loudly on…
We recently worked on a series of enduro racing articles that covered what it means, what are the top races, globally and locally, and interviews with some of the top racers and people involved with the format. Here is the round-up of the articles which appeared between 24-27th January 2012 on NSMB.com Intro to the…
Whistlerdiaries.com is where it all began in many respects. That one website brought together a bunch of idiots and gave us a platform for some really stupid ideas. http://www.whistlerdiaries.com is still sitting there as a relic to the stupidity of youth and as a reminder that being young, naive and full of blood, spit, cum…
The Bike Mag BIBLE of Bike Tests issue hit the shelves over the last few weeks. The BIBLE isn’t just an issue of reviews. It isn’t even just a yearly round up of some bikes and parts. It is certainly not a compilation of information taken from the catalogues of bike brands like EVERY other…
Some idiots had to do this eventually. Sorry. What did we miss?
It seems as though I’m going to have to do some search engine optimization with my weekly News Of The Tweet feature. When I typed ‘news of the tweet’ into Google my feature came up seven places down. Strangely it came behind a story about a football player who had a cold but is getting…
[This story also appears on NSMB.com and contains a copy of my Whistler Diaries column called ‘Worthless Wankers’ that appeared in issue 113 of Dirt Magazine.] Each September a small cabal of NSMB newsroom hacks head off to Las Vegas with camera and pen in hand, ready to report on the latest and greatest in high…
The future is here. Words aren’t dead but in a changing media landscape they may have to be integrated with moving pictures. The writer’s place isn’t diminishing it is expanding. Stories still matter. This is the first episode of the Hey Neighbour! series which I have been working on. When I moved to the North…
The US of A is a pretty demonized place. Sure, the country has a history of questionable foreign policy and domestic government policy may seem very skewed when looked from an individuals perspective, but please let’s not go there today. We could all sit around drunk and stoned ruminating on these topics and many more…
Last week I was remarkably surprised to be the daily lotto prize winner in the PinkBike Photo Of The Day sweepstakes. You don’t get sent a framed picture of your POD. You do, however, get a framed picture if you shoot or appear in a cover shot that appears on an issue of Bike Magazine.
Here is another piece I have been sort of working on for a year now. I pitched the idea to Dirt Magazine that they should publish a discussion piece on how social media networks, blogs, etc are changing how athletes and bike brands market themselves. What I have achieved so far is write what could…
It has been busy and not so busy recently. In between riding the heck out of the amazing two week stretch of unbroken blue bird days and heroic riding conditions, I have managed to scribble a few bits and bobs for a bunch of web based media. First up was the coaching critique I wrote…
I have a bit of an enforced media amnesty happening about my Big Mountains Adventure to Nepal last month. I hope to have that cleared up soon enough but for now here is an excerpt from my diary in Nepal. It contains nothing groundbreaking, but you know that already if you have checked this blog…
It all started with a Tweet. Isn’t the information super highway so wonderful even though it isn’t a highway, not even a super one anymore. It’s something a lot less Smokie and the Bandit and something quite remarkably immersive. As recent as ten years ago I remember being told about a web that would allow…
This is a photo of the carpet in Delhi Airport cattle holding zone. I stared at this for way too long. Read below to find out why in my three Don’ts of Travel. Avoid Air China at all costs. The global travel industry is projected to grow exponentially in the next twenty years, turning the…
Whilst in North Carolina recently we had the chance to visit the Cane Creek headquarters. Vernon Felton crafted a few words for the Bike Magazine website that you can read HERE. Vernon is a much much better writer than me so I’ll leave the words to him and instead post a few photos from the…
This is an article I wrote about my Las Vegas/Interbike experience that appeared in Dirt Magazine issue 105 last year. Seeing as Interbike did in fact return to Las Vegas this year, as did I, I felt it might be fun to return to these words. Although my experience of Las Vegas was a little…
I have written some weird shit before, but nothing as far out as Chris Dolley in his Magical Crimes book. Here is the synopsis: Magical Crimes is a fun CSI with magic and ‘a little something else’ novelette. The little something else being two foot long and lurking in the hero’s trousers. But don’t worry, the…
Just back from two and a half weeks in Switzerland (with a day in Italy and France each) working with Big Mountain Adventures (www.ridebig.com). I could write a book on the stories and tales from that short trip but I’m going to save them and maybe one day write a least seller about it, instead…
Some days work that you have worked on months prior just magically pops up when the editors decide the time is right. It can sometimes be frustrating to be waiting and waiting for stuff to go up when you work hard to get it to them on time only for it to be stalled up…
Travel is the very best part of mountain biking. A bike is a vehicle, and a vehicle is a device for travel. A bike is not a shiny status symbol, or a false god to worship, or even the topic of a new forum thread. It is a utilitarian vehicle. The most efficient machine man…
The Swedish have a long tradition of spirits, elves, trolls, magical creatures, folklore, legends, and fairy tales. And I believe in them because I think there must of been a little magic to save me that day. Maybe some guiding mountain spirit caught my fall, protected my body, and guided me to safety. I don’t…
It was over before it had even begun. One moment the trail was my plaything and the next moment I was a rag doll being tossed about by the trail. It was just one of those things. It couldn’t have been helped. No rider error, no mechanical meltdown to blame, just a one in…
A couple of photos taken from last night’s ride. I’ve been trying to stay off the bike for a while and just get a bit unfit but now I’m all rested and the summer is coming again I felt it was time to see if I could still pop a wheelie. I took in some…
Whilst uber procrastinating from work today I stumbled across this video from exactly a year ago. It’s good to remember where you were and it helps put the here and now in perspective. Available on VitalMtb or Dirt/Mpora too.
I was lucky enough to just spend two weeks on the road with sharp shooter Grant Robinson. Actually I say sharp shooter but Grant loves his arty blur shots, and to be honest, when I see how he does it so well then I like it too. We aren’t sure but we think I took…
Well, it’s been a very tiring few weeks, or was it months. I haven’t slept in the same bed for more than a short while for months. 2011 has been a busy year of travel and not matter how much fun it is, it doesn’t stop you getting exhausted. I got back to my father’s…
I’m currently on the road to Fort William for the World Cup. To break up the journey photographer Grant Robinson and I are cruising the roads of UK gathering content and having some good times. Here are some nonsense photos of the nonsense.
I have just left New Zealand after two months of fun and games. I am sat in Heathrow airport reflecting upon the riding I did there and all I can think about is the Heaphy Track. I have not got the mental strength to recount that tale again so instead I wish to redirect you…
More digital content. This time a look into the Zerode bike…sort of. More about Michael Mayell, a Kiwi businessman who just bought one as a personal bike and business tool. Read more HERE to find out what on earth I’m harping on about.
Ok, time for something a little bit different. I said a while back that this darn blog (world’s worst sounding word. Is there an alternative?) was in danger of becoming a wordless guff cloud, but now I am appealing to that remaining few readers to give me a little feedback on some work. Sometimes words…
The ongoing odyssey of words that is my WORLD AFFAIRS fortnightly column on NSMB.COM. For the next two installments I am providing a bit of a trail guide to the best riding in New Zealand. Check it HERE. For more WORLD AFFAIRS click HERE for a few of the links. A short piece I wrote…
Although we love the written word at 2FLAT, we also have a huge soft spot for cinematic and photographic beauty. While in NZ we came across a friends collection of beautiful cameras. These things are creations of craft and care.
I watch a lot of funny shit on the tinternet, but this was consistently funny for the whole 30 minutes.
A room with a view. Ces Clarke hut at the top of the Croesus track. You know when the trail is too good when the only photo you take is when you are forced to stop at the bridge near the end. “Give me fuel, give me fire/ give me all that I desire.” Browning…
Day one. It may of well being night as we started way before dawn for the drive north. Mount Cook at 100km/h into the day. Cragieburn is in snow up high. Here Clem and Allen carve tracks. Cragieburn is an incredible ride and makes for a high tide mark at the start of any roadtrip.…
Here are a bunch of photos of the pages Seb Kemp contributed to in the latest issue of Dirt Magazine. Even if you enlarge the photo you won’t be able to read it, so go out and buy a copy. Magazines are pretty sexy things. They smell great, they look incredible, and they have a…
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