The Art of Adventure: Joey Schusler’s Unexpected Journey

compose Logan Watts
time Jan 24, 2018
comment 4

Although sill a pup in his 20s, Joey Schusler has already built quite the career around mountain bikes, bikepacking, and adventure filmmaking. With roots in Boulder, CO, the mountains have been a formative force in Joey Schusler’s life. After nearly a decade of racing – all the while climbing the ranks from local races to the UCI World Cup — his focus began to shift toward filmmaking. One thing led to another and this creative outlet pushed Joey to see how far his bike could take him, not just how fast he could go. In the years since, he’s traveled the world with his camera, bike and best friends, exploring rugged and remote areas, telling the stories of places and their people. For Joey, adventuring is not only a lifestyle, but an art form.

In this video series — made to compliment “The Chairman”, a feature on Freehub Magazine — Joey shares three parts of his journey. Starting with the latest, watch all three. Then find more photos and links to follow…

Episode 3: Joey Schusler’s Time to Reflect

Adventures are often glorified as wild missions to exotic places, but that doesn’t always have to be the case. The Colorado River, its surrounding terrain, and the Kokopelli Trail make up the perfect natural playground not far from Joey’s house… and the perfect place to escape on a solo, multi-day bikerafting trip. There’s no better way to step back from the whirlwind of daily life than by sleeping under the stars.

Episode 2: Joey Schusler’s Unexpected Journey

As Joey progressed in the world of filmmaking, so did the scale of his adventures. From Mongolia to Mexico to Iceland, he’s continually raised the stakes through his pursuit of secluded singletrack, uncharted territories and majestic landscapes. We followed his route through the Caucasus, so I can certainly vouch for that last statement.

Episode 1: An Obsessed Upbringing

Joey Schusler found his love for mountain biking at the ripe age of 13. As a young teenager, few things rivaled the exhilaration. He set his sights on racing professionally, and by 2010 was doing just that as part of Yeti’s World Cup team. Yet for as fun as racing was, Joey soon fell in love with bikepacking, a change in direction that would provide new meaning to life on the bike.

You can also read the full feature “The Chairman” over at FreeHub Mag. And, if you haven’t, make sure to check out Joey’s films The Trail to Kazbegi, Flashes of The Altai, The Bus, and Huayhuash.