Each Autumn, Red Bull Signature Series hosts a trails contest deemed Dreamline, the brain-child of Anthony Napolitan. After its inaugural year in Minnesota, the second ever Dreamline was built and laid down in Angelfire, NM. Around the time the second ever Dreamline was recieving its last few touches, a crew of trail locals from all over Texas and New Mexico got together to form the first ever Trail to Dreamline.
Through a few meet ups, Jason Hines and Fuzzy Hall birthed a road trip that enabled real trail riders and locals from all over the southwest the means to ride jumps they had never hit and make new friends in the trail community across the US. Trail to Dreamline is the best time ever with both new and old friends and really pushes bmx further into your soul than ever. Fast forward a year and here I am sitting here in Texas writing about the 2nd ever Trail to Dreamline that just took place in Hendersonville, NC.
This year the Trail to Dreamline kicked off out of Denton, TX at the always hard to find CTY trails. Riders from all over the state of Texas met up in the woods for a session that would descend south through Austin, San Antonio, Houston, Mississippi, Atlanta, eventually arriving at the Dreamline contest near Asheville, NC. Joining the Red Bull MXT truck on the trip was Red Bull athlete and Dreamline contestant, Dawid Godziek. He and his hometown bmx compadre Tadek Molski "Teddy" would become close with the group, gaining much respect from the squad as they destroyed every spot on the way, both on the bike and off. Most members of the crew packed out with Hammocks, sleeping bags, toothbrushes and enough beer and Red Bull to fuel an army. In search of the perfect line, and with ample support from RedBull, 15 or so riders joined in on the caravan and began the long trip through the Southeast United States.
The premise behind the 2nd annual Trail to Dreamline was to not only spend time riding trails along the way, but to dig some new ones as well. With the crew fully decked out in shovels, rakes and brooms courtesy of Joe Carroll, many lips were smoothed and numerous landings re-built along the way.
Many have heard of or read about this debacle before, but being a rider and photographer or filmer on a trip is tough. Splitting time between fixing jumps, shooting photos and actually riding them is an art form, one i still haven’t truly figured out. Fortunately on this trip we were armed with 2 photographers and a filmer so I feel like plenty of fun on both sides of the lens was had by all parties involved.
As we made our way South through Texas and East towards Atlanta the crew really started to click and new relationships with our boosting brethren were budding quickly. On a stop in Jackson, Mississippi at some hidden trails we unfortunately lost a member of the trip. Cole Littleton, brother of Todd Littleton, took a nasty spill and suffered a compound fracture of his right ankle. Cole must have taken some inspiration growing up from Matt Hoffman and Dennis McCoy because he kept calm and waited patiently for the ambulance to arrive. Tough as Nails is an understatement. After losing a member of the trip in Jackson the crews morale had definitely taken a blow. After we got word that Cole’s family was en route to the hospital, we packed up and set our sights on Atlanta.
As we blared the likes of Old Crow Medicine show, Outkast, Lucero and Ludacris in the rig I had a moment to stop and think just how awesome life was at the moment. No longer was I worried about e-mails, deadlines or Texas traffic but instead I was focused on what track would get us the most hyped as we neared Atlanta.
After losing a Crew member in Mississippi and a long day of riding the skatepark in Atlanta, Red Bull’s Tyler Anderson graciously hosted the crew to a batch of hotel rooms to re-group and prepare for the beautiful drive up into the Mountains of the Carolinas. ALAS, we were headed to Dreamline and this group of Trail diggers was pumped to say the least! Next stop, Asheville.
Asheville is a small town but one thriving with small business, breweries and music venues. It reminds me of San Marcos, Texas but with views that make it one of the most beautiful cities in the country. Nestled in Southwestern North Carolina, Asheville was the nearest “big town” to the Red Bull Dreamline event. Upon arriving we really wanted to pedal around and get a feel for the city so we set our sights on riding some street and eating local food. Having previously spent a little bit of time in Asheville I knew where some hotspots were in both the streets and eats categories. We first pedaled around the River Arts district and made a stop at the infamous Slab spot in Asheville. It was clear the locals had been busy working on the spot with at least 10 new obstacles having been built since last year. All of the new obstacles had been built with transition, rebar and concrete so you know it was a fun stop. After shooting photos and riding the slab we completed our quest for concrete in Asheville by stopping at 12 bones BBQ for beers and pulled pork sandwiches. Next up was some local trails for a quick sundown session then off to Hendersonville to check into our accommodations for the rest of the week.
For the rest of the weekend everything was a blur of Dales Pale Ale, oversized backflips on oversized jumps and corn hole. Each day we began our morning with coffee or beers, followed by a mass exodus to the contest location for full day of bmx, partying and enjoying the Fall colors of North Carolina. One of the riders from the Trail to Dreamline, Tyler Trueman, scored a gig doing course preview shots with a GoPro and assisted course maintenance early each morning until well after the event had finished. Thanks to guys like Tyler Trueman, Lil Chris, Joe Carroll, Craig Swafford, Chris Kavy and all the other Trail Riders out there, we no longer have to watch dirt contests take place on giant mulch piles but rather courses resembling a scaled up version of some local trails.
I would like to give special thanks to the coordinators of the trip: Jason Hines, Tyler Anderson and Whitney Gonzales as well as Oskar Blues Brewery for the tour of the Brewery and the Pale Ale hookup. Also Thanks to Sam Hamus and Goldie for filming and DJ'ing the trip.
Riders of Trail to Dreamline: Tyler Trueman, Lil Chris, Sean, Joe #1, Joe #2, Travis Kincaid, Justin Haynie, Todd Littleton, Cole Littleton, Max O'Brien, Davis James, Chris Kavy, Bart Taylor, Chad, Colin G, Jeremy Dann, Craig Swafford, Dawid Godziek, Tadek Molski, Atlanta Eric.
For more pics go check out the #TrailToDreamline hashtag.