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Thrills in the Hills – Choccolocco ORV

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Tuesday, July 27th, 2010

Choccolocco Mountain Off Road Vehicle Park is located in Jacksonville, Alabama, just one mile from the town square. We recently had the chance to make it out to this park for the Thrills in the Hills Event. This place is just plain ridiculous. We took the sport quads so we could get around easy and film. We had a hard time following the big buggies around due to the loose steep climbs. After a few hours of riding around we had gotten the park figured out so we could easily drive around and see all the best obstacles. There was even an f-250 superduty that was basically stock roaming around on the main roads.

We started off the day bye hitting Hells Revenge which is a dry creek bed that runs down one side of the property. It had a lot of steep loose climbs that went up the far side of the creek bed. There was also a nasty stacked ledge at the end that gave the rigs a good fight. No worries though, the ones that couldn’t make it up just took the bypass. We found that most of the more difficult trails had a bypass so everyone could see the main obstacle without having to back down or turn around.

Our favorite and the most well known trail of Choccolocco Mountain ORV is “BOAT RAMP”. This obstacle gets its name because it is a rock slab that has water running across it year round. If you have ever tried to walk up a boat ramp at the lake then you will quickly see how it got its name. Kyle even tried it on his Suzuki Z400 and quickly got bucked off the back. A guy in a honda powered buggy on stickies made Boat Ramp look like a driveway but a few of the other rigs had to make multiple full throttle attempts to conquer this beast. Two of the rigs slid back down and punctured a tire on the sharp edges of the step down into the obstacle and had to make repairs. We had a good scare when lightning struck just 30 feet from where we were filming. The owners claim that most people come into the park and immediately want to go try “Boat ramp”. He tries to convince them to try a few more trails first, but sure enough they come limping back 30 minutes later with a half broken rig.

All in all the trip was great. It was almost unbearably hot, but atleast there were creek beds and water everywhere you turned to cool off a bit in between obstacles. Bottom line is you have got to put this place on your list of off road parks to check out in Alabama. Check back for a detailed review of the park. For now enjoy some of the trip videos.

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Crusher Ridge – Mad Dash for Cash Race

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Tuesday, July 20th, 2010

The Busted Knuckle Films crew was on hand to film the first ever Mad Dash for Cash Race at Crusher Ridge Rock Crawler Park. Crusher Ridge is a 150 acre Off Road park in Faulkville, AL less than an hour north of Birmingham. Don’t let the size of the park fool you. There are plenty of challenging trails to keep you occupied for the weekend. Stay tuned to our website for a Review of the Park at a later date.

It only cost participants $15 for the weekend and that included your entry fee into the race. Entering a Free Race where there was Cash to be won was a no brainer for most of the participants. The Race course was about 200 yards long and “slick as snot on a door knob” (I think that is the correct country saying) from the 2 inches of rain that had been dumped on the course the day before. This made anything but a full throttle attempt at the final obstacle useless. The final obstacle was so nasty that only half of the competitors actually made it up. Brian Cole and his ColeWorx Highlighter Buggy took first place & $700 with the help of his Ramjet 502 and 42″ sticky iroks. Mason took second place and $300 in his black star buggy on 39 Krawlers. The Spider buggy actually shredded a 14bolt R&P.

The Race wasn’t the only action to be seen at the park. Just after the race a $800 bounty was put on the first rig up CROWALL. Diddy made a few valiant attempts in the yellow buggy only to end up on his lid. This resulted in two fires that were quickly put out with the help of some frosty beverages. You have got to love the willingness of spectators to get in there and sacrifice their adult beverages in order to help a wheeler in need.

The Coleworx crew and a few others kept the action going with some wide open attempts at Stairway. Stairway is basically a series of 4 foot tall ledges. Brain beat on his rig pretty good with no avail and eventually had to back down due to overheating issues. The Diesel buggy gave it a whirl and was denied just the same. Then the Riddler buggy shattered its hopes of making it up the unconquered wall of the day with a hard roll. His hopes weren’t the only thing shattered; his aftermarket hood took the brunt of the impact. I guess they can’t stay pretty forever! The buggy was heaved back onto all fours with the help of seemed like 30 people. Just when we thought it was impossible a silver buggy on propane finally found the right line. After a few full throttle attempts on the left side of stairway it found its way to the top to the tune of a cheering crowd echoing through the mountainside.

Crusher Ridge and the Mad Dash for Cash event will be featured in our newest full throttle offroad DVD “RockRods” due out later this year. For now sit back and enjoy some of the raw unedited footage we got over the weekend.

Click here for – MORE HD OFFROADING VIDEOS

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Spring Crawl at River Rock ORV Videos

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Monday, May 24th, 2010

Wow when this place gets rain it is a whole different park. My second trip out to River Rock ORV in Milledgeville, Georgia was for the May Spring Crawl Event. It rained all day Friday but that didnt keep them from having a great turnout with rigs from all over the Southeast. I of course towed my tacoma from Auburn, Alabama which is only 3 hours or so away. I arrived early Saturday morning and noticed that my key for my trail rig was no where to be found. Lucky for me I had some backyard Toyota mechanics parked next to me and they proceeded to help me knock chunks out of my ignition until I could start it with a screwdriver! These guys had never met me before and they took an hour out of their wheeling time to help get me on the trail. This says something about our sport. The people are what truly makes four wheeling the great past time that it is. I camped with a great bunch of random folks from Georgia Trail Runners and the Georgia TTORA who were kind enough to let me hang out with them all weekend.

As for the wheeling action, the buggy guys made sure not to disappoint. The roll video above was a builder who was driving a customers buggy. I bet that was an interesting phone call the next day when he had to tell him that he rolled his buggy twice and busted the chassis! There were some great rolls and full throttle attempts at a few of the more hardcore trails of the park like Horsepower & Cabin Hill. There was even a Florida mud truck on huge tractor tires tooling around on the trails. We made sure we brought all this back with us on HD video. We even have a few in cab videos we shot with the GoPro. Make sure to double click on the videos and watch them in HD. Oh and don’t forget to subscribe to BustedKnuckleVideo on YouTube where we will be posting all of our clips from the wheeling trips and events we cover.

Jason had just gotten his buggy back from Jimmy Smith and was just getting a feel for it riding around the park. Ofcourse when you got a nice clean buggy you know you are going to get crap from everyone on the trail if you arent trying the hard lines. I think all it took was a female walking over to Jason and telling him that she could probably drive it up horsepower hill that finally got him to give in.

The 1st of many rolls for the day.

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May Madness Event at Gray Rock ORV videos

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Tuesday, May 18th, 2010

There is just something about a rig bouncing off the rev limiter of it’s healthy V8 that gets your blood pumping. Good thing for you, Busted Knuckle Films was on hand to cover the wide open throttle action of the May Madness event put on by Central Alabama Offroad Society (CAOS) at Gray Rock ORV near Birmingham, Alabama. There was also a Brawl for All competition put on by Blue Torch Fabworks. BTF put up $1000 bucks to whoever made the quickest time around the course. Gary from Crazy Horse Kustoms ended up taking 1st place while doing a wheelie up one of the final obstacles. As if that wasn’t enough the owner of Bluetorch put up another $1000 bounty for the rig that could make it up the infamous Cable Hill the fastest. Cole Shirley driving his LS1 powered Jim’s Garage JK Buggy and Mike George driving his BTF fusion buggy were the only 2 drivers to make it up the obstacle and the times were too close to call. Then Cole went for another run and killed it with a 20sec run removing all doubt and grabbing the cash. The other participants in this put up or shut up event provided plenty of carnage. Blue Torch’s King of the Hammers Race Car grenaded the atlas transfer case on its full throttle attempt at the hill. The spider buggy broke the rear section of its frame in half after a rev limiter run. The Coleworx Highlighter buggy shredded ring and pinion in the front dana 60 while smoking the tires. But like Brain Cole says “If you are scared of breaking this aint the sport for you.” Be sure to watch the videos in High Definition (Double Click) below for some of the action that will be featured in our next Offroad DVD. All Videos were shot in 720p with a Panasonic HMC40 camera with a Rode Videomic.

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Alpha Psi Rodeo 2010 Videos

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Tuesday, May 4th, 2010

There is an April weekend each year in Auburn Alabama where everything is a little too quiet around this college town. Where is everyone you might ask? They are at the Alpha Psi Rodeo. All the rowdy students have put on their cowboy boots and overalls and packed their coolers full with their favorite beverages and ice and have been taking part in one of the biggest field parties in the state since 8am. How did you miss it? No worries Busted Knuckle Films were there to catch all the action. The event is put on by Alpha Psi Fraternity and all proceeds go to Storybook Farms in Opelika and various mission trips going on within the vet school. Thousands of students attend each year. There is bull riding, bronc riding, tug-o-war, and many other festivities including live music featuring some great bands including Pat Green, Confederate Railroad and many more. Here are some Videos of the Shenanigans that took place at this event in 2010. We even saw Aubie the Auburn University Mascot ride a bull and don’t forget about the country girls that are always out in full force and will make your jaw drop. Check out the videos and we will see you out in the field next year.

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Alpha Psi Rodeo – Auburn, Alabama

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Tuesday, April 6th, 2010

What a Rush! Thats all I can say about getting on a 2000 pound animal that hates your guts and trying to hang on for 8 seconds. There is a Rodeo that Alpha Psi Fraternity puts on every year in Auburn, AL. This isn’t your typical Rodeo, it is basically just a bunch of amateurs taking on rodeo events while a huge crowd kicks back on gooseneck trailers while enjoying a few of their favorite frosty beverages.

Riding a bull has always been on my “bucket list” you know, the things you want to do before you die. After watching the rodeo the previous year I knew I had to give it a shot. So I called up a friend of mine that rode in high school and got some pointers and some equipment. I figured that since I have been riding horses all my life that this should be easy. Oh was I wrong. After getting the mechanics of it all down and watching a few youtube videos, I was ready take on the challenge.

I barely slept the night before the rodeo. I woke up anxious and ready to go at 7am the day of the rodeo. I put on my gear, climbed in the Tacoma and headed down the road. We pulled through the rusty red gates that led us back to an old gooseneck trailer lined arena half full of college students.

We walked up to the arena as the owners started calling names. Of course my name was first on the list. “Matt Myrick” shouted the rough cut old man. I raised my already shaking hand “Yep that’s me” I yelled laughingly. The man asked me “Is this your first ride son?” I replied “Yep” With a big grin the old man yelled “Alright You will be on Sport”. Sport? I was thinking alright that doesn’t sound to bad. I walked up to the chute after some stretching and a few last minute pointers from my Coach Matt Cain. Wow it was a mean looking bull. Sport? maybe the name Killer or Cyclone would have been more fitting. Against my better judgment I climbed down on the Bull and got into position. Meanwhile my friends are all over on the side of the fence watching. The rodeo clown comes over to them and tells them “This is a pretty bad bull so If I come running towards the fence yall just get outa my way”. I’m sure glad I didn’t hear this until later. Bye this time the bull had already tried to pin my legs against both sides of the chute and buck me off a few times. My heart was pounding ninety to nothing. My coach was in my ear the whole time encouraging me to just nod my head when I was ready. After what seemed like days I finally raised my hand and nodded my head. The gate flung open and off I was. Holding on for dear life, high on adrenaline but still trying to remember the mechanics. After about 4 seconds Sport took a nice sideways jump throwing me off his left side. I hit the ground running with the bull right on my tail. The rodeo clown caught his attention just before the bull had a chance to throw me over the fence. I climbed up the fence and gave a good holler to the crowd. The adrenaline was still flowing. For all of you who think Skydiving is a huge rush, I think bull riding trumps it by far. A Texan said it best when he told me, “there ain’t a drug made that’s a bigger rush than strapping your hand onto the back of a pissed off bull.” I had just taken part in one of the most dangerous sports known to man. Best of all, we got it all on film. Look for us this year at the 2010 Alpha Psi Rodeo and check back for videos from the event.

[View with PicLens]

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Clemson Downhill Mountain Bike Race

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Thursday, March 4th, 2010

At Busted Knuckle Films we don’t just cover 4×4 Offroad events. If it gets your adrenaline flowing and has a likelihood of bodily injury you better believe we will be there to film and partake in the shenanigans. After all we are just a bunch of camera carrying adrenaline Junkies. The Clemson Freeride Downhill Race takes place just a few miles from the Clemson University campus in South Carolina. It is a Downhill Freeride course set up with various wooden and dirt obstacles. Racers are arranged into classes from youth to expert and judged by time. I myself even took some time away from behind the camera and raced the beginner class on my Specialized Pitch Mountainbike. Here is an account of the race from my own perspective. I almost forgot what competition was like. It is something that is in our DNA we all want to compete. We compete in everything growing up only to let it go by the wayside later in life. I thought all that pedaling wore me out when I was making my practice runs…..It was 10times worse when I got to the starting line. As the official began counting me down from 30seconds. My heart started the race way before I did. It pounded faster and faster the closer it got 5,4,3,2,1 GO!, I was off pedaling as hard as I could to the first obstacle. I cleared the double I had been having issues with during practice with no problem and was off to the next obstacle. I soared over the next jump with my heart pounding 90 miles an hour. As I leaned into the first high berm I could hear the crowd cheering PEDAL PEDAL PEDAL!!. I went into straight adrenaline mode ripping through the next berm almost getting parallel with the ground as I leaned in to it. I sailed over the next table top and did a little bar tweak for show, that only made the crowd louder. I railed the next turn and was off to the wall. I hit the wall with all my speed and no thought of tapping the brakes. I hit the transition and before I knew it I was on a perfect line in the center of the wall hugging the turn like a nascar. I tapped my brakes for the first time when I hit the hairpin turn as the crowd once again shouted to Pedal. I was gassed at this point with a small uphill section and tight technical section in front of me. I pedaled through it all and launched off the A-frame into the only major uphill of the course. The suspension of the bike sunk down as I hit the bottom of the hill and shot up the other side. I came around the next turn pedaling with everything I had. I bypassed the road gap jump to save time and not risk casing it. I leaned back on the seat and readied myself for the two rockgardens lurking at the bottom of the course. I ripped through them on the edge of being out of control and shot down the wooden stepdown. As I came around the last corner I could see the finish line with the people cheering and the Cowbell sending me into a high that only racing can give you. I steered across the bridge and through the finish line. I had made it through my 1st run of my 1st race EVER and I hadnt made a single mistake. My second run went much the same with me picking up a little speed in a few spots. I was on cloud nine and got more air on the table tops that I thought I ever could. As I meandered my way through the final rock garden I lost control and the bike came out from underneath me. It happened so fast I don’t even know what I did to make the bike loose its grip. As the dust began to clear I could hear the crowd cheering louder than I had heard them the entire race. They were telling me to FINISH. As I gathered myself and quickly threw myself back on the bike I noticed my right hand was completely numb. I was too pumped to feel any pain so I just gunned it down the remainder of the course and across the finish line. This is Gravity Racing at its best. The crowd cheering, the cowbell ringing, the feeling when the official says GO, and the feeling of accomplishment when you cross the finish line for the very first time. I finished 2nd only 1.2 seconds behind 1st place. I guess I should have pedaled harder. But that didn’t matter to me. I had found something I had lost along time ago. The feel of a real competition. Now that I remember that feeling I AM HOOKED. When is the next race!?! If you have an event like this that you would like us to cover feel free to contact us. BKF can Film, Photograph and make a professional DVD of your event. An event DVD is a great way to get more racers signing up for your next event. Busted Knuckle Films can also make a short highlight real that you can post on your website or to youtube. A highlight real can be a very effective tool for attracting sponsors to your next event.