Remi Gauvin has been riding the Altitude since 2015, experiencing all its tweaks and updates along the way. Now, as he gears up for the 2024 season, he's taking on the completely redesigned Altitude—one of the biggest changes the bike has seen since its inception. Even though he had limited time on the new model before filming, Remi adapted quickly, making it easy for him to bring his speed and trademark style to Tessellation, filmed in his hometown of Squamish and Kamloops, BC.
How much time did you have on the bike before the start of filming?
Not much. I think I got maybe one or two days of riding on the bike before I got the call to go filming. I was making tweaks all through the first few days. Luckily, we started close to home in Squamish, so I was able to go home and do the bike work to get dialled in for the next day.
Did you get used to it fast? What were your first impressions?
First impressions were good. The bike is a lot more stable than the previous generation and the suspension curve allows more weight over the front wheel while still being sensitive. Both of which were noticeable right off the bat.
What type of feedback did you have for the engineering team based on the previous generations of the Altitude? Did it live up to your expectations?
There were a few things. The first was regarding sizing. I was really pushing for smaller jumps in sizes. A size in between a medium and a large, a medium-large perhaps? That didn’t happen but Rocky added the reach adjust cups (+/- 5mm) to fine tune sizing on the bike which I think is a huge advantage to getting the bike to fit properly and ride fast. The second was a slightly more supportive leverage curve in the beginning of the stroke and slightly less progression. Both of which the R&D team nailed.
You got the opportunity to ride at home and in Kamloops, could you say it doubled down as training?
Nope not at all, haha! Filming is nowhere near training, but it is a lot of fun!
What was your favorite moment from the shoot?
I just enjoy hanging out with the whole production crew. Working with Brody and his crew was super fun and Margus is always a good time. Tons of laughs and dumb jokes going down while hanging out in the woods waiting for light. It’s rad to work with a crew who have a vision and are trying to create a killer final product.
The film crew went for a more artistic approach during this shoot, which means getting technical with shots. What shot took the most takes?
Not sure which took the most takes but the sunrise shoot in Kamloops was probably the most work. We got held up on the way by a train and got there a bit later than we planned. When there is a finite amount of golden light you have to hustle and the section of trail that we were shooting was a decent hike each time. We basically just kept repeating that trail with the drone in the sky until the light was no good anymore.
