A few days after the 2012 FMB Chatel Mountain Style competition, held in the French Alps and won by Brandon Semenuk, we caught up with competition finalist and US freerider, Nick Simcik (Transition Bikes), for a shoot on Châtel’s legendary ‘Black Shore’ trail in the Pre la Joux bike park.

Despite the trail being closed for maintenance, the Châtel crew opened this incredible line up for us – after adding a few slats to some of the shore features – especially for our filming session with Nick.

During the Mountain Style final, Nick had launched a huge backflip over the final feature – something many other riders didn’t attempt – but unfortunately came up a bit short, which ended in a big crash! Nevertheless, being a pro and armed with his new POC lid two days later, he effortlessly threaded his Transition TR250 down this unique line, displaying his trademark big mountain style.

Nick was a pleasure to work with and was utterly professional, putting in run after run. It was also great to work with a rider who had done a fair bit of filming work in the past, which meant we nailed the entire shoot in just a few hours, with Nick happy to interject with ideas and riding styles as we rattled off the shots.

Thankfully, the fickle alpine weather was good to us and we caught up for a beer with Nick after the shoot before he left Châtel with his tour crew to discover some other amazing spots in the Alps.

Keep an eye on this guy! A few months on from our shoot, Nick rode in the finals of the Red Bull Rampage in Utah, across the state border from his home in Boulder, Colorado. Big talent, big balls, big mountain!