Joey Schusler – Lite Pro Gear's Head of the Month

Name: Joey Schusler – Filmmaker, Photographer, and professional MTB rider for Yeti Cycles
Town: Boulder, Colorado
Cameras of Choice: RED Epic & Sony FS700 for video | Canon 5D with Canon lenses for photography
Bike of Choice: Yeti SB5 Carbon
  

You were born, raised, and currently reside in Boulder, CO. How has a resident of the front range defined who you are today?

Boulder was a cool place to grow up. It’s a community that’s super active, which got me into mountain biking at a very early age. Then there’s also a huge creative film and photography scene, which was a big influence on me. And there’s a lot of great locations around here that helped me progress both of those skills.

I got started with Yeti Cycles (Golden, CO) six years ago as an athlete. Over the years, the relationship progressed, and I started helping out with marketing stuff; a lot of the photos and videos. Now I’m in a position where I still get to ride and race full time, go on big mountain biking adventures, and also do a lot of the marketing, photo, and film work for them. It’s a cool combo, a way to pursue my creative endeavors, as well as ride my bike every day.

Youve traveled the world racing for Yeti Cycles. Whats a highlight that comes to mind from these experiences?

I got see a lot of different places–I did the whole World Cup circuit for a full season, and couple half seasons here and there. It opened my eyes, and it’s definitely what’s driven me to go on as many adventures as I can these days.

Racing was good, but since I’ve gotten into film, the trips have elevated to the next level, and I’ve started to enjoy the process much more. This past January we went down to Peru and shot a short film. I think experiences like that are more gratifying than any race could ever be. Not many people have gone there for mountain biking, especially really deep into the mountains with full bikepacking set-ups. We set off, and decided to make a film about it, and it turned out really great.

Huayhuash from Joey Schusler on Vimeo.

 


Do you have any highlights from your Feather Camera Crane usage?

We’ve taken it on a couple huge bikepacking trips now, which is crazy to think you can carry a jib with you that far. In Peru, we carried it with us for 10 days. We were fully self-supported, we had all of our camera gear, sleeping bags–everything–all loaded on the bikes, and we were still able to ride at a pretty decent level, which was great. We also carried it on this new film I’m working on. We rode the entire Colorado trail; 500 miles from Denver to Durango.

In both trips, we just strapped the crane on the handlebars and went! Having the ability to get dynamic movements in shots, coupled with the FS700, which is a pretty light camera with really nice frame rates–its crazy what you can accomplish with absolutely no support, as in, no car to put your stuff in. There’s nothing out there that can do that–it’s a super cool tool to have!

The San Juans. Proven Here. from Yeti Cycles on Vimeo.


Any current or future projects that youre excited about?

We’ve got a bunch of things on the radar. There’s a skiing trip in Japan in December, we’ll be doing a big bike trip with Smith Optics in January, and then probably do another type of trip, similar to the Peru trip, later on in the spring. Still working on the location for that one.

Thanks Joey for taking the time to talk with us! To learn more about Joey and Yeti Cycles, check out http://www.yeticycles.com

2013 Yeti Cycles - The Tetons from Keith White Audio on Vimeo.




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