VIDEO REVIEW: ‘ON THE PIPE’ - FREERIDING DOCUMENTARY WITH A RACING EDGE TOO…
Filed under: MX News
Here is the first of a series of video reviews of all your favorite motocross films. See if it’s the real deal before you spend the $20 of your hard earned cash. We have more to come but here is “On The Pipe” by PowerBand Films latest.
Video Review; “ON THE PIPE” by Jay Schweitzer and Mike McEntire; Powerband Films
One of the cooler parts of this job is getting to watch and review videos. I mean, we all like to watch videos, right? At least our crew here sure does…we watch ‘em over and over and over….
When I received “On The Pipe” from VideoXSports.com, I was happy to see the FMX aspect would be a main theme. Even though this has been done again and again, I we never seem to tire of watching all the incredible tricks and big air these riders pull off.
The main focus of this video seems to be Doug Parsons and his “Ride To The Hills” outdoor freeride contest, which brings together great outdoor FMX riders and natural terrain hits for some incredibly beautiful helicopter footage. There is one particular vertical that Schweitzer uses as a backdrop and I never got tired of seeing the riders hucking it into what seemed to be an endless fall. If you are a Parsons or a freeride fan, this is a great video for you.
There are a series of small stories that keep the tempo upbeat and changing. The first is a sequence with Drake McElroy in a beat up old drive in and it transitions to him watching himself on the screen. Pretty cool. Dead Kennedys provide a really good best for this one story…that is followed by Faisst with Deegan and some cool Metal Mulisha compound riding action.
Then in a strange twist for a “FMX video” there is a bunch of shots of racing including the Outdoor Nationals with riders like Reed, RC, Windham, Tortelli and Hamblin.
Then it’s back to FMX with awesome scenes of Ronnie Renner freeriding and talking about how much he likes to do it at places like The Jackpot Ranch, Beaumont and Cainville….then onto Supermoto with Metzger, K-Dub and Travis.
Then one of my favorite parts is a vignette with Jeremy “Twitch” Stenberg where they show his progression beyond the mere backflip and how it came to be…there are just the coolest shots of him pulling the first natural terrain backflip at Reche Canyon that make the whole DVD worth buying.
It segues into some stuff with McGrath at Mammoth Mountain which is really cool to watch, but upsets the flow of the whole freeride vibe it keep putting you in to.
A parade of FMX stars show up in cameo and longer and the list includes Miller, really cool stuff my bud Jesse Olsen – wall riding, box riding with rolling no-handers and stoppies off the end, Buy-Ten, Trabucco, Rourke, Gustin, Burlew, Bell,. Mason, Carter, Kinisek and Mad Mike Jones just to add the old school flair…
Colin “Scummy” Morrison shows up in one great scene where he decides jumping over a moving freight train would be a good idea…but which gear to be in? He says “I have no idea I’m just gonna pin it!!” – Get the video to find out what happens next.
Then it’s on to the CRASH scene with Dan Pastor where he goes about 230’ on a 180’ hit. Not good!! As he says in it, “Forgive me lord for I have sinned, I hit a fourth gear jump, fifth gear pinned”….The crash is well documented with Pastor trying to keep the bike underneath him so he would at least land on top of it. Incredible footage including a great interview with Dan Pastor.
There are 5 bonus tracks, one where Drake McElroy actually speaks into the camera…now that is a rare thing!
In summary, if you like outdoor freeriding and FMX, this is a pretty cool video, especially for the interview scenes.
Editors Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars