Pushing the Limits
Area men share their adrenaline rushes by founding Kinetic Energy
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| Brandon Kindelspire started Kinetic Energy about 3 months ago with six friends. They thought they could do a good job filming extreme sports, and have been filming and learning ever since. They hope to release a DVD of their adventures next year. (Herald Photo by Adam Nekola) |
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Dirt biking, skydiving, motocross racing, snowboarding and the other extreme sports the men of Kinetic Energy spend their free time doing are dangerous and expensive hobbies, but they say the rush is so worth it.
About 3 months ago seven friends from the Morris area decided to take their hobbies and form a group to film and broadcast their adventures for other enthusiasts. A few of them were watching skydiving videos online and thought they should give it a try.
“We just said we can make these videos of what we do and we could do it better,” said Brandon Kindelspire, Kinetic Energy member.
Since that day the group has invested in resources to help them produce professional video and have been filming themselves doing what they love as much as possible. Most recently they have invested in multiple GoPro cameras, which are wearable mini digital cameras that can be placed on helmets or on equipment, such as the wheel guard of a dirt bike or the end of a longboard.
For starters the group plans to record “webisodes” and post them on their Web site, kineticenergyx.com, which is currently live, but under construction. By March 2010 they plan to have their first season of videos called “Vertical Limits” for sale online and in local businesses. Ultimately the group hopes to create a reality television show.
“It’ll be a don’t try this at home thing,” Kindelspire said. “There is a lot of competition because there are people doing this already so to do it we need to get better than them. So until then we’re doing the Web site.”
Between the seven members they have plenty of connections to help them be successful, he said, including a pilot and a family member who used to have his own reality show on the Outdoors Channel who is willing to provide some guidance.
The group already has plenty of footage of skydiving over Morris, dirt bike stunts and racing and longboard stunts, but it’s all practice for now.
“So far we’re testing the equipment. We have a lot of footage that still needs editing,” Kindelspire said.
The first video with the new cameras was done in August of Kindelspire longboarding. A longboard is a longer and wider skateboard. He rode one down a Channahon hill going 50 mph. A camera was placed on the front end of his board for footage of him riding the board and other members filmed him from a truck following behind him down the hill.
The hill was more than a mile long and includes curves Kindelspire had to take at 50 mph because there are no breaks on a longboard.
“It was dangerous, but we had people both at the top and bottom of the hill with a radio to make sure there were no cars coming,” Kindelspire said.
The rush of the speed and actually getting it all on film has the group researching going for a Guinness World Record for speed on the longboard, which is 90 mph. But that will be quite some time in the future since it is expensive to accomplish and record, Kindelspire said.
Each member is an expert in their own “art” Kindelspire said. Their newest member is 19-year-old Travis Denton of Channahon who joins Kindelspire and some of the other members in the expertise of dirt bike riding. Denton hopes to start racing dirt bikes, which he has been riding and experimenting with since he was 12.
Denton said he loves everything about riding - the speed, the jumps and the danger. So when he was asked join Kinetic Energy there was no question since he’d be doing what he loved, he said.
Just last month the group filmed two of the members skydiving with Sky Dive Chicago. One of the divers wore a camera on his helmet and recorded another member jumping with him.
The video is almost silent until the jumpers lean outside of the plane and the wind blasts against the camera. Then they’re falling and observers can almost feel the wind pressure as the diving pair let go of each other and the wind rips them away from each other.
Next on the adventure list is ice racing and a trip to Colorado to film a combination of snowboarding and skydiving.
“One of us is going to snowboard off a cliff and then parachute for 10 seconds or so to slow down and then detach, land and snowboard again,” Kindelspire said.
They plan to have a camera on the snowboarder’s helmet and on his board facing him in addition to a crew on the ground and someone else skydiving with a camera on their helmet watching the snowboarder.
Action online
Kinetic Energy debuted their “Vertical Limits” trailer on their Facebook page this week featuring clips of their dirt bike jumps from a camera mounted on Kindelspire’s helmet. Dirt bikes are the majority of the members’ passion.
“It’s all about the timing. When you’re in the air there is only so much time to do what you have to do before you land, but you have to time your speed, how you’re going to land . . . But once you’re into it you do it without thinking,” Kindelspire said.
Next spring the group plans to build a track and freestyle course north of Morris on property provided by one of their supporters. They hope at some point to build a foam pit to land in while practicing dirt bike tricks as opposed to crashing into the ground.
As they continue to learn more about the sports and filming they will continue to post video clips so people can watch their progression before the first season comes out. And because “boys will be boys,” Kindelspire said they even plan to capture any injuries that may occur on film.
The group is welcome to new ideas and new talents.
“We’re sure there is unused talent out there we don’t know about,” Kindelspire said. “We’ll give someone else a chance to show us what they can do.”
When Kinetic Energy’s first season of video, “Vertical Limits,” is complete it will be available online at kineticenergyx.com and at its supporting local businesses including D&S Powersports and Kindelspire’s Auto Supply in Morris.
