Love For Dirt – Daniel Fleury

Love For Dirt

RIDER + WORDS: daniel fleury / PHOTOS: HÉCTOR SAURA


This year Daniel Fleury has been putting in a lot of work with a shovel and his bike, from being one of the few selected trail diggers to build for Revel Co.’s video productions to digging at his home spot of Laguna and mastering his riding skills to become the stylish and smooth rider that he is today. He knows a thing or two about building and shaping jumps and definitely knows how to ride them.

In the following conversation, he explains why he digs, what keeps him motivated, and other stuff related to his love for dirt.

I just enjoy digging; I’ve loved it ever since I started riding. I always thought it was so cool that you could build whatever you could think of. It really is amazing what you can accomplish with just a shovel. Building new things and getting the chance to ride it for the first time really doesn’t get old. For me, digging is a creative outlet where I can express myself and how I see riding a bike.

What keeps me motivated to create new stuff is really just the excitement of getting to ride and film something new, working on photo and video projects to push myself and ride the best that I can. Putting the time into projects is very rewarding. The outcome always makes the long days of digging so worth it.

I get a lot of my inspiration from other riders, seeing new video parts and photos. It keeps me stoked to work on my own things and keep going. 

During the winter, I tend to dig more than ride. It rains most days on the island, so I like to make the most of the time and build. I would say that I enjoy riding and digging the same, they go hand in hand, it’s just rad to be out in the woods with my friends doing whichever.

To build your own spot, you need to be willing to spend the time. It’s a challenge, for sure. Starting a spot from scratch is always tough, but it becomes easier to see lines and how to approach them the more you do it. If you have the vision for something you want to build and the motivation to do it, you can make it happen.

I have been going to Laguna since I was 15. I always loved going to that spot. The hillside section of that forest has endless possibilities. The spot has been around for a long time; it was originally called Oakridge.

The main line that is there now is basically a super-sized version of what it was before. I started building the known set of Laguna in the summer of 2015. I had a crazy idea for a jump set: build something that would stand out. It took about 7 months of straight digging every day. At times I think about how long it took and it almost seems ridiculous. I really had no idea where I was going with it and wasn’t sure if it would even work, but somehow it all worked out.

The time that it took to build and finish that spot means everything to me. I met all of my closest friends along the way building Laguna, and most importantly, it has taught me that you can really make anything a reality if you work hard enough at it.