If anyone told trials champion and extreme enduro rider Pol Tarres that you can’t do totally radical, gravity-defying stunts on a 700cc adventure bike, he didn’t listen.
The Seeker, a gorgeously-shot and occasionally funny short film that follows Pol as he performs seemingly impossible maneuvers on a stock Yamaha Tenere 700, is the Spaniard’s second collaboration in a series of videos created by the Echevarría Brothers, also known as The Who.
In their previous project, Dominicana, 2010 World Trials Champion and 2018 Superenduro “Rookie of the Year” Pol rips and flies across the Dominican Republic aboard a bike we are far more used to watching him pilot, a super light and lean Husqvarna TE300I.
The Seeker is similarly put together in The Who’s dream-like tone and editing style, and follows Pol from a predawn tool-packing scene as we hear, “Life is the storm before the quiet. You either take shelter and see it out in safety, or throw caution to the wind and chase down all it’s got. The chase is the way of The Seeker.”
And sure enough, from the moment Pol stands up on the Tenere 700 and reverse rolls it off the trailer, caution is definitely out the door.
The Yamaha, badged and beefed-up with crash guards and a burly skid plate looks formidable tearing up Spain’s sea- and countryside scapes, especially the straight-on shots accentuating the bike’s super distinctive quad LED headlamps.
So Is It A Stock Tenere 700?
Javi Echevarría, co-producer of the film, told us that the only thing they did was change the stock tires to Mitas knobby tires, while the Tenere’s suspension was prepared by Erik Augé, with more oil in the fork for a stiffer, more stunt-proof ride. During some of the harshest landings you still hear both the front and especially the rear suspension clunk hard on the stops, yet Javi told us that after their week-long shoot the Yamaha “was totally in perfect condition after seven days of crazy riding to the limit.”
He also said that Pol only crashed three or four times during the entire shoot, which explains why there aren’t more bloopers during the prolonged credits, though we get to see some pretty funny outtakes, several involving actor Ahikar Azcona (Money Heist), who became friends with Pol over their shared love of motorcycles. Ahikar shows up in the storyline as a mechanic who gases up the Tenere, but when Pol leaves his Kriega (the video’s main sponsor) backpack in the shop, Ahikar hilariously chases after him on a horse.
Evidently, the crew set out with low expectations for Pol on the huge-to-him adventure bike and expected the stunts to be pretty mellow. But when they saw his skill on the Yamaha they “decided to go more and more crazy,” a progression evidenced by some truly thrilling scenes, such as Pol’s hop-up on the narrow edge of a high dam (2:49) and a hop and jump sequence (starting at 8:38) that just seems impossible for a 450—pound adventure bike.
A Spanish Legend
Pol lives and trains in the area of Catalonia, Spain, where most of the video was filmed. At 27, he’s already a trials legend and now consistently finishing in the top ten of the grueling WESS World Enduro Championship series. No surprise he started riding BMX and trials when he was just a tiny kid, after all, his uncle is seven-time World Trials Champion, Jordi Tarres.
If you want to see more of Pol’s magnificent riding, there are plenty of fun training and travel videos on his youtube channel. To watch him tear it up in real life, the WESS has announced it will run an abbreviated series this year, kicking off the first of four rounds on September 19-20 at Hawkstone Park in the UK, and ending with Red Bull Romaniacs on October 27-31.
In the meantime, keep in mind the intentions of “The Seeker” and the storm before the quiet. The film’s most important message is about chasing life…on a motorcycle, of course.
Be The Seeker.
Author: Jamie Elvidge
Jamie has been a motorcycle journalist for more than 30 years, testing the entire range of bikes for the major print magazines and specializing in adventure-travel related stories. To date she’s written and supplied photography for articles describing what it’s like to ride in all 50 states and 43 foreign countries, receiving two Lowell Thomas Society of American Travel Writer’s Awards along the way. Her most-challenging adventure yet has been riding in the 2018 GS Trophy in Mongolia as Team AusAmerica’s embedded journalist.August 03, 2020 at 12:12AM
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Trials Champ Pol Tarres Defies Gravity Riding The Yamaha Tenere 700 - ADV Pulse
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