If you’ve been following the Burros for a while, you know we’ve spent a lot of time in the dry, chalky dust bowls of the West. Beautiful in its own way, sure — but after weeks of choking on talcum-powder dirt and watching my Red Gemini camera get coated like a powdered donut, heading east felt like stepping into a different planet. A planet made entirely of moss, mud, sweat, and slippery tree bark.
This latest shoot in the lush, rain-slicked east coast terrain was one of the wildest—and surprisingly smallest zones I’ve ever filmed at for Hard Enduro Burros. And since the final cut is now live on YouTube, it’s time to take you behind the scenes. This is the stuff you don’t see in the video: the gear struggles, the athlete wrangling, the jungle-gym hike-a-bike with a 40-pound camera pack, the complete disbelief when a 16-year-old cleans something first try that a factory veteran took a couple tries to do and still never got clean, and the absolute chaos of trying to keep track of wireless audio synced across Red cameras, muddy GoPros, and sweaty riders.
Let’s dig in.
The East Coast Hits Different (And by “Different,” I Mean Slippery as S$HT)
The first thing everyone says when they come east is exactly what you’d expect: “Holy crap…it’s green.” The second thing is, “Why is everything so slick? It’s not even raining!”
Out west, the dust is annoying but predictable. Out east? Every log, root, and rock is basically coated in grease. One mis-timed clutch pop and the bike decides to spontaneously yeet itself sideways. Great for the fans out there that wanna see the carnage, but terrible for film crew trying to ride in and access these remote zones.
When I’m out filming with the Burros, I’m hauling two camera bodies — a RED Digital Cinema body — a Red Gemini — and a Canon full frame still camera — plus three lenses, wireless audio receivers, V-mount batteries the size of bricks, and all the camera do-dads that seem to weigh more than the camera itself. And because the terrain is so tight and steep, I try to ride in as far as I can but some of these spots are straight up goat trails and really vertical. Luckily this shoot worked out in film crew’s favor; the guys were very happy to spend two full days in a single zone because there were so many good lines available, we didn’t have to go far to find good stuff. That’s normally not the case. I’m usually chasing them around trying to get the camera set up before they hit the big lines!
But as always it turns out all the work makes the shots worth it. Those 5K frames cutting through the vibrant green canopy are the kind of footage you dream about as a cinematographer. The Gemini absolutely loves the contrasty colors of the forest, and the mixed lighting through the trees gave the whole production a moody, gritty vibe that fits east coast hard enduro perfectly.
“Hold up, let me set the shot!” – Herding the Burros
One advantage I have these days is rapport. I’ve been filming this crew long enough (now) that the guys trust what I’m doing. Riders like Trystan Hart, Cody Webb, Ryder LeBlond, Ryder Guest, Makana Barger, Niko Piazza—the whole Burros crew—they know my goal is to make them look like superheroes. So, when the lines got big — like tree-splitting gaps, greasy rock gardens, — the boys would pause (usually mid-banter), glance back at me, and go:
“We got a cool line over here to film.”
That’s how you know you’ve got a good dynamic.
There were moments when Trystan was instigating his usual chaos—baiting Ryder or a Hawaiian into trying something borderline stupid—and I’d yell up the hill, out of breath:
“WAIT UP A SEC. I need a clean angle before someone yeets off the edge!”
It’s not often that world-class pros will hold the line on a steep ledge while I scramble into position. But these guys do. And that’s why the videos hit the way they do in my opinion. It’s like anything good in life, the best stuff takes time!
Makana Stuns, Cody Stews, and Everyone Pretends to Be Chill About It
One of the funniest real-time storylines from the shoot involved 16-year-old Makana—who greased a massive hill climb through the tree gap before Cody Webb cleaned it— one of the most seasoned pros in the sport.
I won’t name names… but let’s say one rider whose name might rhyme with rider was laughing his a$$ off about watching that go down!
I caught the whole dynamic on camera: Cody analyzing tire pressure, squinting at the line like it personally offended him, Makana acting innocent, Trystan instigating like the gremlin he is, and Ryder yelling out to Cody to rev him up even more.
From behind the camera, it was the singular moment where I knew… we had an episode. This is the exact kind of unscripted moment I pray for when I’m out filming with the guys. The funny thing is it always seems to happen because the energy is so organic and the situation lends itself to deliver big moments when the d$ck measuring goes on.
It was fun to explore the themes that the riders talk about in the interviews and both Trystan and Cody touched on mutual respect, treating each other well, and being friends despite technically being rivals. I really enjoyed diving deep into how they view each other and their racing history, so creating the lookback vignette in the episode was something I really enjoyed editing.
Burros Tech Corner: Shooting in an East Coast Forest on RED Cameras
Okay we have to do it — a quick filmmaker segment for the camera gear nerds:
Cameras Used
- – Red Gemini 5k (EF mount) — superstar in low light, perfect for dense canopy, REDcode raw footage captures a raw version of every ISO and white balance so I can easily fix footage in post.
- – Canon EOSR — It’s important to bring a full frame still camera so I can capture a quality thumbnail and get product shots for social. I’m not a fan of pulling a still frame from video.
- – Rider GoPros — I set my GoPros to high bit-rate, 5k 24frames, low sharpness, natural color and auto audio.
Audio
Wireless lav mics are my secret weapon. Tentacle Sync Lav Mics — all the riders are timecode-synced to my Red cameras for clean dialogue even mid-crash. They are 32-bit float as well so there’s no peaking when the riders are screaming or they are off the rev-limiter on the bike.
Composition Strategy
East Coast forests are busy — layers of branches, leaves, moss, and motion. So, I leaned hard into:
- – Framing riders between tree gaps
- – Using foreground leaves to create depth
- – Shooting low angles with wide angle lens in slow-mo for big moves
Mixed lighting forests are hard when the sun is bright and harsh so it’s actually a relief when the clouds roll in. It softens the contrast a lot.
I haven’t told many about this, but at one point I truly thought I was about to sacrifice a $25,000 camera to the mud gods but turns out I basically accidentally threw a camera lens instead.
So, I tried to take a moment between runs to swap a lens but a Peewee burro went for a line right in front of me and it went south so I jumped back out of the away right at the moment I was handing the lens to a buddy and we accidentally flung the 24-70mm lens off the rock and down the hill like a frisbee. Time slowed down as I watched it roll down the hill at bowling ball speeds. We retrieved the lens but it was severely mangled and it reminds me of the costs of trying to get high quality content in these tricky to access spots. Welp there goes $900 bucks!
Most of the video takes place inside this tiny patch of forest—maybe 400×400 feet—where the riders built and rebuilt lines for hours.
Trials-style repetitions, no wasted terrain. This is where the best moments came from:
- – Cody dissecting a creek like a surgeon.
- – Ryder almost tricking Trystan into hitting a line he didn’t even want.
- – Niko eyeing an impossible waterfall and reconsidering his life choices.
- – Everyone roasting everyone else in between attempts.
From a filming standpoint, this was bliss. Tight action, multiple angles, fast resets, and endless raw personality.
The Burros Dynamic: Chaos, Talent, and Endless Laughs
What I love most about filming this series is watching riders of every age—pros, up-and-coming teenagers, full-send Hawaiians—learn from each other in real time. Hard enduro attracts a certain type of lunatic: resilient, technical, hilarious, and always two minutes away from trying something they probably shouldn’t.
The younger riders like Makana are sending lines with zero hesitation. The older pros like Cody and Trystan are calculating risk but still pushing because nobody wants to get shown up by a 16-year-old. And as the filmmaker, I get to catch all the little interactions: the trash talk, the cheering, the “holy crap did you see that?” moments, the coaching, and everything in between. These moments are previously unseen by the fans, so out of a personal curiously to see how these top guys train, I try to capture as much as I can.
And this is why people watch Hard Enduro Burros. It’s raw, but cinematic. It’s ridiculous, but informative. The Burros are a family, yet full of rivals. It’s a funny dynamic where friends dare each other to climb something nearly impossible.
Final Thoughts: Mud, Mayhem, and Why We Keep Doing This
Filming Hard Enduro Burros in the slick eastern woods reminded me why I love making this series. It’s not just the athletes. It’s not just the riding. It’s the dynamic — the trust, the chaos, the willingness of everyone to push the sport forward one line at a time.
Making an episode in this wet terrain pushed me as much as the riders. I had to think differently—about camera placement, about line choice, about protecting gear from mud, rain, about dealing with the extreme humidity and heat—even when I’m not the one hitting the gnarly lines! But it’s one of my favorite episodes we’ve ever made.
The east is unpredictable. It’s messy. It’s unforgiving.
But it’s exactly the kind of terrain that makes hard enduro—and this series—so addictive.
If you haven’t watched it yet, do yourself a favor and check it out. Then share this blog post with your riding buddies, your group chats, or your uncle who still thinks motocross and hard enduro are the same thing.
Trust me—this one’s special.
Want more behind-the-scenes chaos? Let me know what you want to hear about next—gear talk, rider dynamics, my camera pack setup, or how many times I’ve fallen into a creek chasing a shot. The answer might surprise you!
Cheers,
Burro Blake
