JOIN US TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28TH FOR THE WORLD PREMIERE OF RIDE 2 RACE.
Ride 2 Race is a motorcycle adventure film featuring the Pacific NW’s own Rory Sullivan. Viewers will follow Rory as he rides his dual sport motorcycle from White Salmon, Washington to Denver, Colorado. But this isn’t any ordinary dual sport ride, because along the way, he stops and races two rounds of the outdoor US Pro Motocross Championship. Because dirt bikes are better with friends, Rory’s buddy Joey Lancaster joins Rory in Sacramento and they make their way to Denver. The journey is amplified by the pure adventure that follows them. Not to be missed, the true MVP of the trip is Maya Sullivan. Maya drives the chase van as she follows the team across the US. They camp along the way seeing all of the sites the US has to offer as they spend 10 days and over 2,000 miles on the motorcycle. This film will make you smile, this film will make you laugh, but most importantly this film will make you want to ride your motorcycle. The film was shot directed and edited by the talented Tristan Trowbridge.
Below is a photo journal from Joey, behind the scenes of the making of the movie Ride 2 Race. What an adventure.
At Hangtown in Sacramento, California getting ready for the race. Lots of last-minute things to do before we leave for Denver.
Maya Sullivan, Roy’s mechanic, sits and waits with Rory in line to go out for practice for the Sacramento round of the US pro motocross championship.
Always bike work to do here as Rory works on re-gearing his Husqvarna 501 alongside the camping area by Lake Tahoe, California.
Somewhere in the middle of Utah, on a dry lakebed, Rory ponders his life decisions as we set off across the US on our to identically prepared Husqvarna 501 dual sport bikes on our way to Denver, Colorado.
The dry lake beds were some of the most fun riding that we found, as we were able to create our own track cutting some corners or really open the bike up to see how fast it would go with our 43 tooth rear sprockets.
In an abandoned farmhouse in the middle of Utah, we found a book where you could leave a message for the next person that came through. Somebody must’ve been a fan of Elon Musk and his SpaceX program as they drew a picture of one of the rocket ships. In the movie you see me sketch out Rory standing with his bike in the background. It was one of the funnier moments of the trip. Like the photo says, LOL.
Crossing Utah was an awesome one. Tons of off-road, lots of fast sections with great weather. Here we stopped to check the map to make sure we were on track.
Our camping spot on the east end of Utah as we wake up from another night sleeping in the Poler tents. It was one of the colder times I can remember on a motorcycle as we rode in a dark for multiple hours down a two-lane highway to stay on schedule.
We came up with a name for Maya and her food truck. From this photo forward we called it the Good Food Food Truck. Maya was all1time with what food came out of the side of the van door and she was the MVP of the trip keeping us all fed hydrated and on task.
We got pretty comfortable along the road and one of our favorite things was to just lay on the dirty concrete of random gas stations and have something cold to drink and watch the local town noise go by. It was a good reminder to slow down and just appreciate everything once in awhile.
Arriving at Swingarm City, Utah O,RV park was not to be forgotten. The temperature was about 70°, no wind with a wicked sunset. We found this fire pit along with some unused firewood in one of the back corners of the ORV area. In the film you see me ride up to the van a little too fast and yard on the break and lose control of my bike and crash in front of Tristan as he’s filming. That evening with the fire flickering off the big mud dirt cliffs was one I will always remember.
Here Tristan sets up some writing to film Rory cutting up some wood for the fire. In typical “load the van is full of everything” fashion, Rory forgot to bring his ax. Or I guess decided that he wouldn’t need it on the trip. We ended up using a tire iron and a hammer to break apart the wood. With a little massaging, we had an epic fire to eat dinner next to.
After every day’s ride, Tristan would have to go through all of the SD cards from GoPro cameras and from what he filmed and download everything on his computer and file it away for that specific day and riding area. This way when he goes to edit it, he’ll be able to grab just the footage from that specific day and specific area. Triston really went for it and had a killer time shooting the adventure.
Rory broke out his race bike at Swingarm City to get a little bit of time on it from all the time we’ve spent on the dual sport bikes. I think we got up at 6 AM and I believe at 6:45 we were already riding around Swingarm City. We knew that it was going to get really hot that day. But we were also just really excited to ride this iconic area we have seen in multiple movies.
After I took this photo I took off and rode the ridge behind my bike. I made it all the way to the very end. It got steeper and steeper and dead ended. The only option was to either try to side hill down in my warn out dual sport tires or swing the bike around and ride my way back out. I was able to wedge the rear tire in a little hole that I found and get the front end pop back around. There was a few moments there where I thought I was going to be cartwheeling down the hill, bike and all.
This was us on a high after our Swingarm City visit. We fueled up and split away from the van and took off across the Utah desert in search of Moab, Utah where we would spend the next night and meet back up with the rest of the team in the van.
Like I was saying, this turned into a hot day. Here we are trying to link some dirt roads to Moab Utah through Green River. Later we would find what used to be a road that had gotten washed out. We ended up following this washed-out crater of a road for miles before finding another road to take us to Green River, Utah.
Here is Rory working on his bike after it finally started to fall apart 1,500 miles into our trip. Some of the bolts that hold on the rear fender into the subframe got loose. With the weight of his packs on the back everything started to come in contact with the rear wheel. We had to stop and make some trailside adjustments before finishing the work needed that night at Kolby’s house in Moab.
Here’s a photo I grabbed of the GoPro footage of that washed out road that we found when Tristan was downloading it onto his computer. In the end it was one of the funnest roads we went down.
Here’s a shot looking back to the valley that Moab, Utah is in after leaving and heading to Colorado over the pass.
Riding across small town Colorado, we found a storage unit with a couple of motorcycles outside. After sitting outside for a while, the owner walked out and asked what we were up to. We said just riding to Denver, Colorado to race some more dirt bikes. He started laughing. He started telling us about the collection of dirt bikes that he had in the storage facility behind him. I guess we said all the right things because before we left I said “well I guess it’s time to go unless you wanna show us all your motorcycles.” He smiled as he said “follow me. “. This was one of the highlights of the trip. One of the biggest motorcycle collections I’ve ever seen. This photo shows one of the Elsinore CR 125s that he had in “Honda Room”. It was awesome.
Our nights were spent in the Poler tents. I was so tired each night, I slept like a baby. Except I have a baby at home, and babies don’t sleep. I guess I slept like a single person without kids.
Finally making it to Colorado. The green landscape was out of this world coming from the dry Utah and Nevada deserts.
I think when me and Rory rolled into this valley we both start looked at the mansion in the green valley with mountains behind it and both looked at each other and laughed. I think Rory mumbled “i guess this is what fuck you money gets.”
After a road closure through the mountains, we had to do 100-mile detour that brought us through the heart of Colorado.
At a stoplight in Aspen, Colorado, Maya snapped this photo. As we rode through, all I wanted to do was find that sign that said Aspen, Colorado and sit double on one of our bikes. Can you believe Aspen, Colorado has no sign? Well at least not one that we saw.
We made it to Colorado, with I don’t know probably 45 minutes to spare after leaving the previous Saturday from Sacramento California. Here is Rory and Corey Kirkland another Northwest privateer getting ready to head out for practice at Thunder Valley MX.
Some of the jumps are pretty big in Thunder Valley. So as any mechanic would do, they would try to get their rider excited. I drew a rocketship on the pit board to help Rory launch over the big Colorado jumps. I would like to think it helped him
Here we are at the end of the trip. Tristan, pumped that he got the film and see all the wildness. Rory, excited that it finally all came together. Maya, happy that we all stayed alive and didn’t kill ourselves riding across the country. And myself, excited I was able to take part in yet again a wild adventure on a motorcycle. If someone ask you in the future to do something that involves a motorcycle I believe the only answer to reply back with is “yes.”