CAN’T SEE FORREST FOR THE TREES!

Forrest Minchinton is a good dude; a stylin’ SoCal cat who was raised in the Wild West of the Mojave Desert and has carved out a name for himself as both a surfboard shaper and dirt bike racer. These days, the itinerant American pretty much just travels the world indulging in both, playing Deus ambassador-of-steez and starring in a bunch of cool short- and feature-length films – such as Painted in Dust and the acclaimed The Desert Said Dance – along the way.

We first met Forrest back in 2019, when he took up our invitation to have a crack at the Transmoto 12-Hour while he and a few friends were in Oz for a couple of weeks. And from then on, the affable Californian has made an annual pilgrimage to Australia, surfing and riding his way up and down the east coast, with Queensland’s Sunshine Coast evolving as his strongest coastal magnet.

So, a couple of months back, when Forrest told us he was heading back to Oz, it made perfect sense for us to hook him up with some of Transmoto’s friends up on the Sunshine Coast – Husky ambassador and multiple Aussie and world champ, Jemma Wilson; Young Henry’s Qld Statesman, Kris Kempnich; and TrailBound Moto’s Luke Czajkowsky.

“A few of us had already planned a cool ride for Kempy’s birthday with the TrailBound Moto crew, so things lined up perfectly for Forrest to join us for a day aboard a TrailBound Husky,” explains Jemma Wilson. “We had single lane, rain, hills, creeks, views, mates, Husqvarnas and a beer baron’s birthday. Add the star power of Forrest Minchinton and you’ve got yourself a recipe for a memorable day’s riding.

“Long story short, Transmoto hooked us up with Forrest and asked us to show him our local area, and we got lucky and had epic conditions. Forrest was super-chill, rides sick and was a mega addition to the day’s festivities. A day out riding with mates, new and old, has always been – and will always be – my favourite thing in the universe. Shoutout to Forrest for joining us and @trailboundmoto for making it happen,” Wilson went on to say.