Title athlete and up and coming freerider, Hayden Zablotny, migrated south from his home in Vernon, B.C., in order to ride and continue progressing throughout the Canadian winter months. While on the road, Hayden met up with some riding buddies and ended up tagging along with cinematographer, Caleb Ely, on another shoot Caleb was on. One thing led to another, and Hayden hung around for the rest of Caleb's shoot, while also collecting clips of his own. The result; 'Winter in Utah'. Enjoy!
“Working with Hayden was a pleasure. A last minute shoot fell into place last Fall down in Utah. I believe Hayden was 3 weeks into a road trip with the primary focus on meeting new people, riding new areas, and progressing his skills on a mountain bike. When I met Hayden in Utah, he was traveling in his Xterra with an old memory foam mattress and all necessary belongs for such a trip crammed into the back of his car. The motivation and love for mountain biking was truly shown by this humble and simple form of travel. Not long after, I was quickly able to see the passion Hayden had for this sport and appreciated how he could make the most simplistic feature a work of art with his unmistakable style. Three days later, we had wrapped up this short passion project leaving me excited to see what the future holds for Hayden with his original style and skill. Three long days, many different riding zones, miles on miles hiking for my shots, and one quick piece to show just a little of Hayden’s potential."
- Caleb Ely
"The way this project came together was quite a coincidence, and I’m very grateful to have been in the right place at the right time to make this video happen. Just after Rampage, my homie Talus set out with Caleb to start filming a video they had planned to shoot for a while. One evening, Talus asked me if I wanted to come help him build and test a feature the following day. We built it, tested it, then had a session on it in the evening. Talus asked if I could tag along for the rest of the filming, and Caleb agreed to doing a piggy back on his video. Big thank you to Caleb for making that happen.
I originally headed south with plans to watch Rampage, then go to California until the end of November, followed by a long drive back up to Canada. I watched Rampage and ended up staying in Utah for another 6 weeks. I then decided to extend my stay once again when it snowed in Vernon at an early time of year. So, on November 14th, I packed my car and headed to Dylan Stark’s place in Lake Elsinore, CA. I stayed there until late November, where I then drove to my friend Evan’s house in Santa Cruz. Talus was there at the time and I stayed there until November 30th, then headed back to Lake Elsinore until December 4th. I then left Utah on December 28th to go to Talus’s house in Bellingham for New Years, then back home to Vernon.
I’m super thankful to have such a supportive company behind me, and support me doing the things I love. This video was unexpected, however, it I think it showcases some of my best riding. I got to ride with Talus while we were filming everything, and I think we both pushed each other ride at our best. Massive thank you to to Title for presenting 'Winter in Utah'."
-Hayden Zablotny
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Shortly after a successful week of riding at Red Bull Formation, Harriet Burbidge-Smith, commonly known as Haz, stopped by Title HQ to build up her new Trek Ticket S. Follow along to see Haz build up her fresh Ticket S and see the specs on how she'll have her bike set up for Crankworx Innsbruck in a few weeks' time!
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