Moving piles of dirt and sculpting them. That is what canadian trailboss Daniel Fleury has been doing for years, just so he could have a place to ride his bike and escape from the real world deep in the woods. Soon after he met Tyler Olson and a solid friendship was forged. Together they have been putting tons of work in Laguna and both progressed really fast.
One of our favorite photographers, Toby Cowley had the chance to visit Daniel and Tyler in their natural habitat and spent a couple weeks with them documenting what they usually do: dig jumps and ride bikes.
I met Daniel earlier this year at LP’s Backwoods Jam on the Sunshine Coast and we tossed around the idea of me coming out to shoot his trails on Vancouver Island in the fall. I’d been stoked on Daniel’s work ever since his interview on BN about a year ago, so couldn’t pass up the opportunity to shoot him at his trails. – TC
Laguna is a work of art, I feel like most people won’t understand the kind of passion and hard work that goes into building a set of trails like Laguna. it took Daniel 7 months of digging before he could even ride them for the first time. – TC
With myself not really knowing how long Laguna will be around for, I really want to make the most and document the trails while they are still here and capture the things that really mean the most in my life. I remember being so amazed by the number and size of the jumps. It was like nothing I had ever seen before and I have never stopped going back. Since then I have spent over 3 years building and shaping new jumps, most of the time alone. – DF
I have spent a lot of time building and riding with Darren Berrecloth, he was a big mentor of mine; always pushing me to keep going forward. – DF
Being out in those woods has given me the chance to learn so much about digging and riding. It gave me a positive outlook on life and opened my eyes to what was possible with a shovel and a bike. – DF
About 2 years ago around this time, I met Daniel. He showed me what he was starting at Laguna. Ever since then, we’ve been digging together. – TO
I’ve known Tyler since he was 15. When I first met him he was just a kid who didn’t know how to dig. He was really keen to learn and ride, in turn he progressed really fast. – DF
It’s crazy to see the kid who could hardly ride jumps when I first met him, ride some of the biggest jumps around in less than a year. – DF
Once you spend so much time working on your jumps the satisfaction to ride them is unexplainable. There is only a handful of riders who have ridden Laguna and I’m glad to be one of them. – TO
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Photos by Toby Cowley
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