Over the last few decades, mountain biking has impacted a lot of lives. Whether you're a retired professional rider or a grown-up Mom/Dad-shredder with groms of your own, almost any veteran mountain biker can recall when the sport came into their life. For AAron “Moose” Reichert, one of the most life-affirming experiences was being introduced to the 12 Steps program many years ago while he was incarcerated. Another, was riding a mountain bike down Hawaii’s Skyline trail for the first time.
We first met Moose back in 2003 when we traveled to Hawaii to film The Collective. Moose had established himself on the island of Maui and was instrumental in helping us capture some of our proudest moments of the first Collective film. He was also on hand when we returned in 2011 to shoot a video with the first members of Trek’s C3 Project (Brandon Semenuk, Cam McCaul, Andrew Shandro, Rene Wildhaber), which subsequently became the inspiration behind the NotBad series. When we returned to Hawaii once again to film Return to Earth in 2018, we’d come to learn a lot more about Moose and the hardships he had endured. Moving to Maui and falling in love with mountain biking played a large part in him healing old wounds.
Moose feeling right at home on Maui
The Islander is the fourth episode of Return to Earth: The Series and explores Moose’s rollercoaster journey and how much he has since given back to his adopted community on the island of Maui. He’s a firm believer that bicycles can change lives and every year he partners up with other local businesses to give hundreds of bikes to underprivileged kids.
Watch the full 22-minute episode now on the Outside TV app.*
Return to Earth: The Series was developed in partnership with Freehub Magazine. Animation by the talented Taj Mihelich. Photos by Sterling Lorence and Anthill Films.
*Outside TV app is available in Canada and USA only.