It’s been a while since we’ve had a chance to hangout with our good friend and true Metal Mulisha OG’s of freestyle motocross, Dan Pastor. Our last visit with Dan took place while filming for our movie titled, Black Friday in the hillsides of Danimals Domain. Since then, Dan has been more committed than ever behind the bars of his KX450. In 2013 Dan made a life-changing move to the town of Cambria, California. This small seaside village located midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles holds everything Dan needs from surf, moto and good people which he now calls friends. With the sport of freestyle motocross only paying for competitions or events, Dan was strained back into the work force, taking on the labor-intensive job of cutting trails for cattle and ranching. Over a short period of time, Pastor became close with Cambria local and respected rancher Garrett Taylor. Generations of the Garrett family have owned the 1,100-acre parcel of land for cattle and crop farming.
Most the time I’m out here cutting lines and moving dirt I just stall for a moment and look all around me. The potential to build something out here for dirt bikes would bring an all new place for guys like me to ride. Natural terrain lives in my blood. Being able to conquer fear launching a 140ft + jump is what I live for not because of the challenge, but because it’s fun.
Garrett and I one night where out on the property after a full day of work, discussing some motocross talk. I remember us walking up some hill that looks over everything and we both looked all around and Garrett turned to me and said, “go ahead and build this place up for yourself Dan. Do whatever you want and whatever it takes to make this the spot to ride” So like any shoveling bastard, that’s exactly what I started to do.
A few weeks into developing the layout I called up my good friends Vinnie Carbone, Jack Kraus and Jared Armstrong. All three of us started to pick away at the dirt one-by-one. The nice thing about having Carbone, Kraus and Armstrong up here with me is that, we all have a different style of riding and bring something new to the table. We all see something different so if we think it’s a good idea to add more dirt here and tear down half the hillside there is no hesitation; we go for it and make it work.
When things started to come together here we needed to come up with a name and claim it. So we all decided on Dan’s Canyon and it just kind of stuck. I called my good friend and recent member of the Metal Mulisha Media team, Matt Collins to start documenting this place with us. Guys like Chris Tedesco, Brendan Luets, Shane Ruiz, Garth Milan and Jay Schweitzer understand the angles, lighting and position to capture us riding in natural terrain. So having Matt here with me dedicating all his time busting his ass and putting in the hard work is a plus. Matt is up before anyone setting up all the lights, strobes, and capturing everything else on the way. I like shooting with Matt because he’s just damn right creative and all around, a great guy.
Right now we’ve checked off the list of building a perfect; six pack section to a tabletop that puts you into double double. Then you ride into this 125+ ft hip jump and when you land you flow into a 75ft table top which is more like a super kicker. Then you have all the speed pushing you forward into this pretty fun snake run which then pops you off into 75+ table top then you just hold it wide up this 100ft step-up, back into a massive 150ft double and off this rocky natural terrain step-down that’s about a 60ft drop. Every day we build more and more trying to really prime out this place. A fresh rain is coming in soon too so looks like the luck is on our side! My vision along with Garrett’s is to make this place just like a video game moto course. Something you dream about and nearly a BMX setup style natural terrain park.
The next plan of action on my side is to continue to move dirt. It’s a dirty addiction if you’d want to say it like that. The rest of the team is going to have to come out here and ride. Agee is a good friend of mine, I like riding with him and his style is pretty on point. I can’t wait for him and the rest of the crew to come out and see Dan’s Canyon.
