The other day, I had received a package in the mail from Jon Saunders over at Can You Dig It. Inside was a copy of the new Compression BMX DVD “Septembre”. Anyone who checks this site knows I get really excited about anything trails, so as you can imagine I was more than stoked to check out this video! I figured since it’s out now and available worldwide that it might be a good idea to do a quick review to give you guys some Insight into what this video has to offer and if it’s worth checking out. Let’s see what this one is all about…
Going into the video, I had a brief understanding about what to expect from it. I’ve seen the videos the Compression guys have put out and I knew they know there way around a camera and I know France has some damn good trails. The video is based around a one week trip they took this past September and features a handful of U.S and French pros that were on the trip and then a bunch of the locals they came across with each stop. You can find Dave Dillewaard, Max Bimar, Vincent Primel, Jeremy Lepennedu, Richard Walker, Kees Schelfhout, Heath Pinter, Nicky van der Veen, Sig Cools, Jason Rickwood, Chris Doyle, Guillaume Etourneau, Pete Taliadoros, Alexandre Pommier, Dimitri Araouzos, Benjamin Cabot, Joackim Segaert, Gilian Peralta, Mike Saavedra, Tom Humbert, Jeremy Muller, Adam Hough, Stephane Lafitte and Guillaume Rigoulet all making appearances in the video.
Given that this video is based around a week long trip, you would think they wouldn’t be able to cover much ground (or should I say dirt), but it turns out that is completely wrong because southern France is home to some of the best trails in the world! During this trip (and a little while after the actual trip) they made their way to Des Cults Terreux, Parenthese, Urkatu Trails, Hoppy Trails and then wrapped the week up with the jam at La Source and then the JLD Trails. If you’re from France or heavily into the trails scene, then you are more than aware of how good each of these spots are from the insanely creative and unique lines to the clay to the soil they’re working with that makes for some awesome jumps.
So the video is broken down into days, where they hit up a different trails spots (and beaches) each day along with a section mixed in from a trip a few of the guys took after the big trip. I like this just because it kind of shows how all of the riders were vibing together and just having a good time at each spot versus a crazy mix of all the different trails wrapped into different sections for each rider (I can’t even imagine how that video would have panned out, haha).. This gave the overall feel of this video a good flow and feel. I really liked that the riding in this was all about style and flow over banger tricks. There really wasn’t anything too gnarly trick wise going down which goes along with the laid back feel of the video.
The filming and editing of the video was something I went in expecting high quality. Like I said before, I’ve seen the work the Compression guys put out and knew that they weren’t just going to pull out a camera and hit record. The shots were well thought out and smooth. The gear they were working with also made for some real crispy clean shots. Same goes with the editing, they kept it pretty simple and straight forward without having too much going on in the graphics or excessive editing like film burns or anything. The video transitions smoothly and the clips are well organized which keeps the video interesting and fun.
They had a pretty laid back music selection for this video and it features a ton of artists I’m not familiar with. You can find songs from The Noise We Make, The Oh Hellos, James Leg, The Trouble with Templeton, Lady Kill, LD Kharst and The Sour Fields. The music goes really well with the riding and overall feel of the video really well.
Overall, I’m really digging this video. It makes me wish I could have been on that trip and really made me want to go ride some trails. The video runs a total of 35 minutes not including the Extra Features section so it’s a pretty quick watch (and it goes by pretty quickly) which makes it for a perfect video to start your day out to get stoked to go ride or just end your day before crashing after a long day of riding. Do I think it’s worth buying? I think if you’re a trails rider and into style over Dew Tour tricks, then this is definitely one video worth checking out! Is there any negatives to the video? I didn’t really think of anything that really stood out to me. I was a little bummed they didn’t catch any boob action when they were on the beach, but that’s just me and my love for boobs acting up. If you are on the fence, I’d say hit the play button on the trailers below. They give you a good idea of what this video is like!
You can pick up a copy of the video for $14.99 on the Can You Dig It Webstore or from the Compression Webstore for 15 euros. If you want to order it from a shop, you can check out this list of distributors for Canada, France and Australia right here!
