Words: Canyon
Rider: Ryan McNulty
Filmer: Evan Bradley
Ryan McNulty’s desert home in La Verkin, Utah, is where the Oregon native has spent the last two winter seasons. “I typically stay nine months in Utah,” says McNulty. “The only reason to [leave] is to avoid the intense summer heat. We have to wake up at 5 a.m. and can only ride until 10 a.m. before it becomes unbearable.”
Originally attracted to southern Utah for the vast options of natural, big-mountain riding terrain, but a considerably-more wet and cold winter rendered the usual freeride zones inaccessible, and unrideable, for months this winter.
“I thought I’d be on my big bike a lot more [this winter],” says McNulty. But being relegated to lower elevations due to the inclement weather, and forced to stay in town, so the focus changed…
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The main motivation became to build a dirt jump scene here [in southern Utah]. |
Together with his roommates—fellow freerider Talus Turk and filmer Evan Bradley— McNulty began digging a single step-up jump near his old apartment in Washington, Utah, that quickly grew into more and more jumps that became the spot, now known as “17 Palms” for the number of palm trees that line the bordering brick wall.
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That was the only thing missing from here—having proper dirt jumps. So being able to make it happen was huge.[in southern Utah]. |
“Digging [17] Palms happened over the course of four months—we dug every day,” says Bradley. “Toward the end [of the 4 months], we were able to start riding and filming.”
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I moved into the laundry room to pay the smallest amount of rent possible. Our shared passion is to film all day, every day. |
Frame: Canyon Stitched 720
Fork: RockShox Pike DJ
Shock: RockShox Monarch
Wheels: Stans Flow with Project 321 hubs
Handlebars: Title AH1
Grips: Title FORM
Stem: Title ST1
Seatpost & Saddle: Title CP1
Saddle: Title JS1
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It’s sick to see how 17 Palms grew the community. There was literally no dirt jump scene before, then we built up the spot—in four months—and now there’s a huge group of people out riding every day[in southern Utah]. |
Hurricane