First-class photographer and MTB adventurer Dan Milner returned to Mallorca, the scene of his mountain biking past. Retracing his tire tracks to discover what’s left of the island of his memory.
In this video:
In 1994, adventure photographer Dan Milner shot his first major mountain bike magazine story on the Spanish island of Mallorca.
A lot has happened since, and today, few riders aboard their slack, plush full suspension, 12-speed super-rigs would ruminate on the mountain bike world of thirty years ago—a pre-internet planet of paper maps, and steep geometry hardtails with skinny tires, narrow bars and meager suspension—but Milner has a bent for reminiscing.
While the story that Milner shot in 1994 was built largely around topless summit selfies, it became the first step in a long, winding journey that would ultimately see him photograph some of the most adventurous mountain bike stories ever to appear in print—in locations as diverse as Afghanistan, Iraq and North Korea.
In 2024, Milner returned to Mallorca to see if his trail-infused memories were everything he remembered them to be.
The result is Sizzle: a 16-minute fun celebration of both Milner’s journey to becoming a household name among mountain bikers and the amazing, empowering journey the once humble mountain bike has taken over the intervening 3 decades.
Concept & Direction: Dan Milner
Riders: Francesco Gozio & Dan Milner
Videography & Editing: Robert Grew
For more than three decades, British photographer Dan Milner has hauled himself and his mountain bike to some of the most remote corners of the globe in search of singletrack rewards and photo stories to share. Always happy to swap a hotel room for a tent, he says that such adventures are not only about experiencing a new destination, culture and its people, but also about pushing himself and his own limits.
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