Are you suffering from the summertime blues? Maybe you are stuck in a rut, no pun intended. Either way, if you could use some riding motivation, David and Michael Ellis have you covered.
I feel like a lot of off-road riders hit a midsummer slump that is hard to break out of. The combination of heat and dry dirt seems to make even the most enjoyable trail a task at times. We get it, it happens to the best of us. But that’s why we have to be thankful for people like David and Michael Ellis. Between the two brothers, we have a couple videos that are guaranteed to jump start your drive to ride.
Between the two Ellis brothers, you have the perfect combination for a video dream team. First, you have David, a two time South African Western Province Off-Road Open Class Champion. David has a skill level all of us strive for. Growing up riding in the mountains of Namaqualand, David has honed his passion for off-road hoonery to the point of being one of the best riders in South Africa. And the guy plain rips when it comes to open area riding.
Then you have Michael Ellis. A talented rider in his own right, Michael has a skill set that differs greatly from Davids, yet it also acts as the perfect compliment. See, Michael is a videographer. And a damn good one at that. Combining that skill with his brother’s raw talent the duo made their first project together last year. They called the project ‘Home Grounds,’ filming the entire video at their old stomping grounds in the Namaqualand mountains. The video quality is amazing and the riding even better.
Following that up the Ellis brothers are right back at it again, this time calling it ‘Tankwa.’ The name once again comes from the riding location, this time a desolate and dry area 5 hours outside Cape Town. While it looks brutally inhabitable, it’s practically perfect for some serious summer riding.
Motocross videos have been seriously lackluster as of late. I remember when the ‘Moto’ series came out and blew everyone’s mind. It was incredible and full of some of the best edits the industry had ever seen. You couldn’t watch one of those movies and not want to ride. After about 7 movies they became all hip hop and scrubs. The variety was gone, and so was the inspiration. The Ellis brothers video is here to right that wrong, and it does so in a big way.
The biggest departure from the norm comes in the setting. Both of David’s films are set in the barren terrain South Africa is known for. While you would think that could be boring, it’s actually quite refreshing. In place of scrubs, we get massive berm blasts. Instead of whoops sections we get David doing power wheelies for days. It’s a full circle change from what we are used to, and that is the very best part.
I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to ride something, and I want to do so right now.