THE LOST BRIDGE

 

Extreme enduro star and riding guru, Chris Birch and his crew have served up another superb short film, The Lost Bridge. Watching it makes us, A, Want to get out on dirtbikes, B, Relocate to New Zealand.

The time Chris, Charlie and Liam begin in a remote area of the country, then go further into the wilderness. They receive a friendly warning from a local farmer, ignore it (obviously), and set off in search of an old, abandoned pioneer’s hut. Only a lost bridge and miles of gnarly, rain-soaked terrain stand in their way.

We asked Birchy a few questions about the filming.

Kriega: What is the idea behind this latest film?
Birchy: Simple, just wanting to have a good time and a good adventure with bikes and friends while exploring a new area.

Where did the filming take place?
We were in the absolute middle of nowhere. We started from a small farming community at the end of New Zealand’s longest no exit road and headed further into the hills from there.

You chose lightweight enduro bikes, not the twins we’ve seen you on most recently, was this route a lot tougher?
I’ve ridden the main trails through this area on the big bikes before, but I’ve never explored it on an enduro bike. We could go places we didn’t know with more confidence being on the little bikes.

How does your cameraman keep up with you, and get to the same spots you do on those bikes?
John the cameraman rides with us. We help him out through the hard parts, but it’s a really big couple of days for him.

Did anything go wrong?
We did have one thing go wrong. This area really sucks when it rains. It’s all clay, mud and steep hills, and it can become impossible to get around, especially for the cameraman. We did a small recce ride the day before and it was borderline too wet, but the weather forecast was good, and I was confident it would dry out a bit overnight. I woke up at 2am to the sound of heavy rain, not what I was hoping for. I woke up again at 4am and could hear more heavy rain. I got up about 5 to start packing up, admit defeat and go film somewhere else. I went outside and the ground was dry. There had been no rain whatsoever. I went back inside and could hear more heavy rain. John was playing rain noise to help him sleep! I was less than impressed…

What was the highlight?
Spoiler: the highlight was eventually finding the hut we were looking for. Still standing after 130 years, right from when the first settlers attempted to break in the land.

Chris Birch Kriega KTM New Zealand Lost Bridge

Photos: Out House Productions

 
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