So it came to that time in the year again where everyone flocks to (usually Scotland) for the National Champs. This year it was at Ae Forest in Scotland. Not so bad, only 6 or so hours from me, at least it's not Fort William.
I took up Milky and Dom again, so we left at 11 on Friday, and obviously got stuck in endless traffic jams along the M6 for about 3 hours. Anyway, got to Ae at about 7.30 and walked the track. It looked pretty simple, it was a hardpack top section, hardpack middle section, a little bit of a new bottom section and hardpack bottom bottom section.
We then pitched up the tent and ventured into Dumfries for food, got to KFC and it was closed, then some drunk Scottish guy (what a lad) told us to go to "Jumping Jacks", when we asked him how to get to Burger King. Jumping Jacks turned out to be Dumfreis' biggest night club. So we drove around for another 20 minutes then eventually found a Dominos Pizza.
Got back to Ae at about 11 and pretty much went straight to sleep.
Woke up Saturday morning to pissing rain and no-one felt very pumped to get up the Hill. We waited for a while and it stopped, so me and Milky headed up on the third coach with Rich Thomas, Danny Hart and Scotty Mears.
Got to the top and ran down the hill to get them coming down.
The top section was pretty cool, open and through the heather so some slow-mo "Clay Porter-esque" shots were in order. I met Sam Oakes up there who has walked up (what a weapon!) and we made out way down. I wanted to get most of my shots done on Saturday as I knew that the rain was supposed to come in heavy on Sunday. The weather was alright on Saturday, some heavy rain showers in the morning (which made for some of the raddest shots I've taken!) resulted in out ghetto waterproofing coming out. I went for the plastic bag approach, where Sam went for a plastic shed type idea. Both did the job, not well though.
Saturday night was a ball of laughs. Went up to the freeride section and some of the lad did some big whips and hucks, Joel Anderson was killing it with bigger whips than anyone else. Then we came back and watched a few DVD's in the tent while Jamie from Wideopen got drunk and tripped over his laptop.
We stood around the Andersons 'pits' for a good hour or so and chatted and watched Chaz from Juice Lubes demonstrate how good Brake Juice is at aiding a fire (don't try this at home).
Woke up sunday morning to more pissing rain, and this time it didn't stop. Me and Dom both managed to miss all of the Sunday practice, which meant his first practice run on Sunday was his seeding, and the only shots I got on sunday was seeding and finals. Peaty managed to crash just up from me, meaning he went past me real slow, great, one less shot of the winner. Al Bond stopped in front of me after crashing at the rock garden then getting red flagged when Brayton binned it.
Went up to a similar place for finals as I was for seeding, and again, some spectators thought it'd be a good idea to stand right in front of me, great, another shot ruined of eventually the winner. Current shots of Peaty: 3. The crowd were going mental though, loads of crashes and they were loving it.
Gee went down and everyone had forgotten about Peaty as he qualified pretty much last. We then heard through the radio that Peaty had won by 3 seconds. 3 seconds on a 2.15 is a lot of time to pull out of the ex-World Champion. Needless to say Gee was upset, but Peaty was over the moon. Stoked he put it together in the end, and great to see him on form.
Champery is this weekend and it's going to be absolutely mental.
I'm up at Triscombe shooting with Jay Williamson, Tom Coles and Adam Lock this weekend so look out for a video for that next week!
Oh, and here's the video!
More Mountain Biking Videos >>
Wednesday, 21 July 2010
Tuesday, 29 June 2010
Llangollen BDS!
Well, last weekend was round 3 of the Halo BDS in Llangollen, in Wales. The weekend started off at around 4 on Friday, when I picked up Chaz (from Juice Lubes, check out their site at www.juicelubes.co.uk) and Jacob Gibbins (www.jacobgibbins.co.uk). It was awesome weather, and we packed up the car and headed over to pick up Dom. Thinking we'd have plenty of room in the boot for everything, it ended up spilling out into the back seats. No biggie, just a little bottom out of the rear suspension over every bump.
The journey up was awesome. Plenty of banter and some interesting (or boring, depending on how interested you are in every single detail about the wheel) stories, and some funny jokes about an Indian Restaurant that was coming soon (does that mean they're on their way over from India?). We got to the track at about 7.30 ish, and because I thought we were special enough (well, we did have a Team manager, World Cup photographer, a sponsored rider and err... me) we parked up in the pit field, under a nice big tree. Awesome, lots of shade in the day so I thought! We pitched up the tent, and headed out on a track walk. The first part of the awesome weekend! That track was nuts even before it started getting mashed out!
Headed back down and met Adam Price and his mate Joe Taylor. Sat down and watched Follow me, where Adam and Joe consistently went on about how 'they'd been there' every time some North American bike park came on ;)
Then, the decision of pitching up under a tree came back and bit me when we realized that the bumpy ground with all the tree roots wasn't especially comfy to sleep on.
Saturday morning rolls around and I was up early to get on an uplift and head up to the top. The uplift was the right idea. Just a bit poorly executed on the saturday. It was awesome weather all day, and I got some pretty cool shots. Seeing Brendan and Gee and the top dogs on that sort of track really blows you away.
Saturday evening me and Dom headed in to Llangollen and got some food, then went down to the river for a little wash. Really nice place when you're in the town center! Got back and watched some Travis Pastrana DVD's, and went to bed about 11.30 ready for racing the next day.
Sunday I headed up on the hill as early as possible to try and get the pro's on the spot I hadn't shot all weekend and got an awesome shot of Brendan that I was stoked on!
Then back down to the Juice Lubes tent for the start of qualifying, then up to the last few corners for the Senior/Expert/Elite qualifying.
Back down to the Juice Lubes for a massive media quids and riders chillout. That place was where all the action was going down with Rich Thomas coming over for a long chat along with a load of other guys. A bad crash on the last step down meant everything was delayed for an hour so we just chilled in the sun!
Up to the final step-downs for race runs, and Brendan took the win by a second after being 4 seconds down in quali. Results of the weekend go to Al Bond in 5th and Rich Thomas in 6th. Wicked rides from both of them! Also massive props to Brayton coming into 8th after smashing up two fingers in half on the saturday and riding Michael Jackson style on the Sunday!
Best weekend of the year so far, and another funny drive home hearing all Chaz's funny stories from the Royal Mail.
Anyway, here's the vidder!
Halo BDS Rd 3 - Llangollen >>
The journey up was awesome. Plenty of banter and some interesting (or boring, depending on how interested you are in every single detail about the wheel) stories, and some funny jokes about an Indian Restaurant that was coming soon (does that mean they're on their way over from India?). We got to the track at about 7.30 ish, and because I thought we were special enough (well, we did have a Team manager, World Cup photographer, a sponsored rider and err... me) we parked up in the pit field, under a nice big tree. Awesome, lots of shade in the day so I thought! We pitched up the tent, and headed out on a track walk. The first part of the awesome weekend! That track was nuts even before it started getting mashed out!
Headed back down and met Adam Price and his mate Joe Taylor. Sat down and watched Follow me, where Adam and Joe consistently went on about how 'they'd been there' every time some North American bike park came on ;)
Then, the decision of pitching up under a tree came back and bit me when we realized that the bumpy ground with all the tree roots wasn't especially comfy to sleep on.
Saturday morning rolls around and I was up early to get on an uplift and head up to the top. The uplift was the right idea. Just a bit poorly executed on the saturday. It was awesome weather all day, and I got some pretty cool shots. Seeing Brendan and Gee and the top dogs on that sort of track really blows you away.
Saturday evening me and Dom headed in to Llangollen and got some food, then went down to the river for a little wash. Really nice place when you're in the town center! Got back and watched some Travis Pastrana DVD's, and went to bed about 11.30 ready for racing the next day.
Sunday I headed up on the hill as early as possible to try and get the pro's on the spot I hadn't shot all weekend and got an awesome shot of Brendan that I was stoked on!
Then back down to the Juice Lubes tent for the start of qualifying, then up to the last few corners for the Senior/Expert/Elite qualifying.
Back down to the Juice Lubes for a massive media quids and riders chillout. That place was where all the action was going down with Rich Thomas coming over for a long chat along with a load of other guys. A bad crash on the last step down meant everything was delayed for an hour so we just chilled in the sun!
Up to the final step-downs for race runs, and Brendan took the win by a second after being 4 seconds down in quali. Results of the weekend go to Al Bond in 5th and Rich Thomas in 6th. Wicked rides from both of them! Also massive props to Brayton coming into 8th after smashing up two fingers in half on the saturday and riding Michael Jackson style on the Sunday!
Best weekend of the year so far, and another funny drive home hearing all Chaz's funny stories from the Royal Mail.
Anyway, here's the vidder!
Halo BDS Rd 3 - Llangollen >>
Sunday, 20 June 2010
Lots of new happenings.
It's been a while since I posted on here, which is pretty bad (or is it? Not sure if anyone even reads this!) but I've been doing loads of cool stuff recently.
The most significant of which was a shoot with Will Soffe and Greg Hampton for a piece of college work for which I had to produce a short documentary. Obviously I chose downhill, as I've got pretty easy access to some really quick guys, so I thought I'd really be able to show what it's all about to some people who don't know really know what downhill is. The plan was (or so I thought) to shoot Will, and Ash Mullane (who is now back on a bike! Great news for the south west.) at Tavi woodlands. But after a little misunderstanding, I ended up going to Swansea to shoot just Will and his friend Greg instead.
The forecast wasn't looking great at all with torrential rain forecast all day. Anyway, got there at about 10 in the morning, met Will and Greg and headed up to Kilvey. Then, after about an hour, the sun came out and we had an awesome day of weather and shooting.
In my opinion this is easily my best video to date, and I'm super happy with it.
(Photo's courtesy of Sam Davies)
And then of course, here's the video!
Will Soffe Bio - Kilvey >>
Also, the weekend before this, was the Southern champs. I haven't ridden for ages, and I haven't raced for even longer so it was really cool to see everyone again and just have a nice day out. Track was awesome and I had two shocking runs and smashed up my shifter leaving a lovely single-speed race runs. Anyway, Will Soffe won, over World Cup racer Harry Molloy making him Southern Champion!
Llangollen is next weekend and I'm so excited to see that place, and see the World Champion and a load of other top guys kill it on it.
I've also had a look at next years WC schedule and decided I'm gonna try and get out to all the Euro rounds including the World Champs!
Next update will include the video from Llangollen to keep posted for that!
The most significant of which was a shoot with Will Soffe and Greg Hampton for a piece of college work for which I had to produce a short documentary. Obviously I chose downhill, as I've got pretty easy access to some really quick guys, so I thought I'd really be able to show what it's all about to some people who don't know really know what downhill is. The plan was (or so I thought) to shoot Will, and Ash Mullane (who is now back on a bike! Great news for the south west.) at Tavi woodlands. But after a little misunderstanding, I ended up going to Swansea to shoot just Will and his friend Greg instead.
The forecast wasn't looking great at all with torrential rain forecast all day. Anyway, got there at about 10 in the morning, met Will and Greg and headed up to Kilvey. Then, after about an hour, the sun came out and we had an awesome day of weather and shooting.
In my opinion this is easily my best video to date, and I'm super happy with it.
(Photo's courtesy of Sam Davies)
And then of course, here's the video!
Will Soffe Bio - Kilvey >>
Also, the weekend before this, was the Southern champs. I haven't ridden for ages, and I haven't raced for even longer so it was really cool to see everyone again and just have a nice day out. Track was awesome and I had two shocking runs and smashed up my shifter leaving a lovely single-speed race runs. Anyway, Will Soffe won, over World Cup racer Harry Molloy making him Southern Champion!
Llangollen is next weekend and I'm so excited to see that place, and see the World Champion and a load of other top guys kill it on it.
I've also had a look at next years WC schedule and decided I'm gonna try and get out to all the Euro rounds including the World Champs!
Next update will include the video from Llangollen to keep posted for that!
Tuesday, 25 May 2010
Summer's here?
So first off, I'd like to say thanks to the people that gave me their thoughts on the Fort William video, I'm really happy with the amount of views it's had and I'm starting to feel like my work is getting out there a bit more. I'm really looking forward to the next round of the BDS at Llangollen.
Right, so last weekend I headed down to Gawton in Devon with my mate Dom (who rides for www.bikeactive.com) for a day of filming. It was hot (really hot) and really dry. We got down there and found Jacob Gibbins shooting a piece for Dirt on the new 1.04 which should be in the shops pretty soon but no doubt he'll put a bit up on his site (www.jacobgibbins.co.uk) when it's on sale. He was there with all the really quick locals including Ash Mullane who's now back on the bike after a long time off through knee injuries and he's looking real quick, so look out for him at races soon.
Me and Dom were making our way down the hill when Aaron Bartlett made a rare appearance on his bike, cool to see some more locals back riding again!
I'm not that happy with this edit really. The colours are pretty poor after trying to lighten/darken them in post production as the light was really hard to deal with in the dark woods with the light seeping through. I was being really lazy all day wasn't too happy with the sort of shots I got, but hey ho.
No doubt we'll do another shoot down there soon so keep looking back for that.
MPORA Action Sports >>
Next filming stop is Llangollen BDS, unless I decide to head up to Fort William again for the World Cup next week (which is looking unlikely) so if you're around, say Hi!
It's the Southern Champs this weekend and I'm going up on Saturday night for the 'Unofficial Southern Pumptrack Champs' at Torico which Ben is holding as a sendoff Party for some friends who are off on their travels so I might end up making an edit from that which will be funny! Hopefully the weather stays dry for racing on Sunday and Adam Price and Will Soffe are both back on the bike and looking for that Southern Champs title!
Right, so last weekend I headed down to Gawton in Devon with my mate Dom (who rides for www.bikeactive.com) for a day of filming. It was hot (really hot) and really dry. We got down there and found Jacob Gibbins shooting a piece for Dirt on the new 1.04 which should be in the shops pretty soon but no doubt he'll put a bit up on his site (www.jacobgibbins.co.uk) when it's on sale. He was there with all the really quick locals including Ash Mullane who's now back on the bike after a long time off through knee injuries and he's looking real quick, so look out for him at races soon.
Me and Dom were making our way down the hill when Aaron Bartlett made a rare appearance on his bike, cool to see some more locals back riding again!
I'm not that happy with this edit really. The colours are pretty poor after trying to lighten/darken them in post production as the light was really hard to deal with in the dark woods with the light seeping through. I was being really lazy all day wasn't too happy with the sort of shots I got, but hey ho.
No doubt we'll do another shoot down there soon so keep looking back for that.
MPORA Action Sports >>
Next filming stop is Llangollen BDS, unless I decide to head up to Fort William again for the World Cup next week (which is looking unlikely) so if you're around, say Hi!
It's the Southern Champs this weekend and I'm going up on Saturday night for the 'Unofficial Southern Pumptrack Champs' at Torico which Ben is holding as a sendoff Party for some friends who are off on their travels so I might end up making an edit from that which will be funny! Hopefully the weather stays dry for racing on Sunday and Adam Price and Will Soffe are both back on the bike and looking for that Southern Champs title!
Tuesday, 11 May 2010
FORT WILLIAM!!!
Another national over and finished with. What a cracker it was. Someone told me that Fort William is the wettest place in the UK. Hah! It was probably the only place that saw some sun over the last weekend.
We (Me, my dad and Dom) set off at around 6 on Friday, aiming to be at Glasgow by about 11.
11 arrives and we're about an hour off, not too bad, apart from getting lost in the center of Glasgow and having a sight-seeing trip for an hour. We ended up sleeping in a lay-by next to Loch Lomond for a few hours at 2.30.
We woke up and drove (through the AWESOME) scenery at about 6 and got to the Fort just before 8. Built the bike up and got signed on and headed up for a track walk just after 9. Dom cracked on down and I started filming in the lovely sunny weather.
Day one was sick. Plenty of pro's pinning it everywhere, and the weather was mint.
Went back to the B&B for the night and had a sweet pizza!
Day two we woke up just after 8 and headed over to the track. Got on the gondola nice and early and got up top for some sick shots.
Elite only practice is wicked for people like me, and to have so many Elites coming down in quick succession means you don't have to wait around in a certain area for ages just for two pro's to come through. So after Elite practice I waited around at the new section at the top for the Elites and Experts to come through on their seeding runs. Gee and the top guys absolutely killed it through there and it was set to be an awesome race.
I walked on down to the bottom of the track where the atmosphere was wild! Dave had sorted out a load of horns and Toby was topping everything off with some wicked commentating.
I headed up to the Tissot jump for the end of seniors but it seemed everywhere I stood I was either in someone's way (Sorry Paul Roberts!) or there were spectators standing in my way. Eventually for the top Elites I got a good place and Dan Atherton came down and did the biggest huck I've ever seen off the compression. Some awesome whips were being thrown over the Tissot and eventually Chris Kovarik came down and took the win by a few seconds.
All in all an awesome race despite spending almost 24 hours driving.
Halo British Downhill Series Round 2 - Fort William >>
Next up is the BDS at Llangollen. But I should have a few video's up before them.
Best wishes to Olly Hooper, Will Soffe, Adam Price from the SW Massive who are all out injured at the moment.
Also, Massive props to Luke Ball scoring 3rd in Senior and throwing a massive whip over the Tissot in front of my lens!
We (Me, my dad and Dom) set off at around 6 on Friday, aiming to be at Glasgow by about 11.
11 arrives and we're about an hour off, not too bad, apart from getting lost in the center of Glasgow and having a sight-seeing trip for an hour. We ended up sleeping in a lay-by next to Loch Lomond for a few hours at 2.30.
We woke up and drove (through the AWESOME) scenery at about 6 and got to the Fort just before 8. Built the bike up and got signed on and headed up for a track walk just after 9. Dom cracked on down and I started filming in the lovely sunny weather.
Day one was sick. Plenty of pro's pinning it everywhere, and the weather was mint.
Went back to the B&B for the night and had a sweet pizza!
Day two we woke up just after 8 and headed over to the track. Got on the gondola nice and early and got up top for some sick shots.
Elite only practice is wicked for people like me, and to have so many Elites coming down in quick succession means you don't have to wait around in a certain area for ages just for two pro's to come through. So after Elite practice I waited around at the new section at the top for the Elites and Experts to come through on their seeding runs. Gee and the top guys absolutely killed it through there and it was set to be an awesome race.
I walked on down to the bottom of the track where the atmosphere was wild! Dave had sorted out a load of horns and Toby was topping everything off with some wicked commentating.
I headed up to the Tissot jump for the end of seniors but it seemed everywhere I stood I was either in someone's way (Sorry Paul Roberts!) or there were spectators standing in my way. Eventually for the top Elites I got a good place and Dan Atherton came down and did the biggest huck I've ever seen off the compression. Some awesome whips were being thrown over the Tissot and eventually Chris Kovarik came down and took the win by a few seconds.
All in all an awesome race despite spending almost 24 hours driving.
Halo British Downhill Series Round 2 - Fort William >>
Next up is the BDS at Llangollen. But I should have a few video's up before them.
Best wishes to Olly Hooper, Will Soffe, Adam Price from the SW Massive who are all out injured at the moment.
Also, Massive props to Luke Ball scoring 3rd in Senior and throwing a massive whip over the Tissot in front of my lens!
Tuesday, 13 April 2010
Rheola!
The past weekend saw the first round of the newly formed Halo British Downhill Series at Rheola. I woke up at 5, and went to pick up my mates. Drove up to Swansea and got to Rheola at about 7.30 to find it packed with cars and vans already.
We walked up to the pits area to find it packed with pro teams, the biggest and most extravagant being the Atherton racing pits, with their massive Lorry and tent.
Sign on was quick, and I went and picked up my media pass etc, and I was surprised to walk in and see Sam Dale bashing out a bit of xbox in the sign in area before he headed up for practice! How cool is that! An xbox to play on before you ride.
Anyway, cracked on up the course and about 20 minutes in I heard through the marshals radio that someone had crashed on the bottom section with suspected spinal injuries. The air ambulance was called and (so I heard) a stubborn farmer wouldn't let it land in his field. It turns out the dude broke his neck. So I wish him a speedy recovery and hope he's back on the bike soon.
Practice day was rad. The weather was awesome and the track was wicked. The pro's were bashing out a good few runs and I got some cool footage.
Sunday morning, practice started at 8.30, so I got some shots on the bottom section and witnessed a few riders taking a mega crazy line and Dan Atherton absoloutely killing his rim on a stump. Then for quali I headed up to the notorious Rheola 'star wars'. Some good action was had there through qualifying with a few riders killing it, but Gee without a doubt was the quickest.
Along with all the other photogs and videogs I filmed the triples at the bottom for race runs and it was going off down there! Loads of people on the sides of the track going mental and some crazy hucks over the river.
Great weekend Dave and Si. Props for pulling it off so smooth for your first event. Can't wait for Fort William now.
For people who don't already know the results they read like this.
Elite mens:
1. Gee Atherton
2. Dan Atherton
3. Matt Simmonds
4. Joe Smith
5. Marc Beaumont
Elite Womens:
1. Rachel Atherton
2. Aimee Dix
3. Manon Carpenter
Fort William see's team CRC/Intense in action as preparation for the World Cup, along with the usual British boys and The Atherton family once again.
Sorry for the lack of interviews. I had one with Gee, but I had a slight problem with forgetting to move the power switch to on on my microphone. Oops! Live and Learn I guess.
If you're after photos of the weekend, head over to www.JacobGibbins.co.uk
Anyway, here's my first BDS video of 2010! Enjoy.
We walked up to the pits area to find it packed with pro teams, the biggest and most extravagant being the Atherton racing pits, with their massive Lorry and tent.
Sign on was quick, and I went and picked up my media pass etc, and I was surprised to walk in and see Sam Dale bashing out a bit of xbox in the sign in area before he headed up for practice! How cool is that! An xbox to play on before you ride.
Anyway, cracked on up the course and about 20 minutes in I heard through the marshals radio that someone had crashed on the bottom section with suspected spinal injuries. The air ambulance was called and (so I heard) a stubborn farmer wouldn't let it land in his field. It turns out the dude broke his neck. So I wish him a speedy recovery and hope he's back on the bike soon.
Practice day was rad. The weather was awesome and the track was wicked. The pro's were bashing out a good few runs and I got some cool footage.
Sunday morning, practice started at 8.30, so I got some shots on the bottom section and witnessed a few riders taking a mega crazy line and Dan Atherton absoloutely killing his rim on a stump. Then for quali I headed up to the notorious Rheola 'star wars'. Some good action was had there through qualifying with a few riders killing it, but Gee without a doubt was the quickest.
Along with all the other photogs and videogs I filmed the triples at the bottom for race runs and it was going off down there! Loads of people on the sides of the track going mental and some crazy hucks over the river.
Great weekend Dave and Si. Props for pulling it off so smooth for your first event. Can't wait for Fort William now.
For people who don't already know the results they read like this.
Elite mens:
1. Gee Atherton
2. Dan Atherton
3. Matt Simmonds
4. Joe Smith
5. Marc Beaumont
Elite Womens:
1. Rachel Atherton
2. Aimee Dix
3. Manon Carpenter
Fort William see's team CRC/Intense in action as preparation for the World Cup, along with the usual British boys and The Atherton family once again.
Sorry for the lack of interviews. I had one with Gee, but I had a slight problem with forgetting to move the power switch to on on my microphone. Oops! Live and Learn I guess.
If you're after photos of the weekend, head over to www.JacobGibbins.co.uk
Anyway, here's my first BDS video of 2010! Enjoy.
Monday, 5 April 2010
Wasson guys!
Went up to Moelfre on the weekend for the Descent-Gear clipped in race. The field was completely bogged out, so when we got there we had to just park wherever our car slid too in the field. Track was fun as ever, nothing changed, but was still fast and mint.
Anyway, loads of people were eating shit so bad on the bottom compression, so I decided to sack off my second race run (I already did as good as I could first run) and make a video of the compression.
So here it is!
For some reason it uploaded in the wrong size. It is exported in 16:9 and is on my pc on 16:9. Not going to bother uploading again as it's not that important...
Rheola is next weekend and I cannot wait!
Laters!
Went up to Moelfre on the weekend for the Descent-Gear clipped in race. The field was completely bogged out, so when we got there we had to just park wherever our car slid too in the field. Track was fun as ever, nothing changed, but was still fast and mint.
Anyway, loads of people were eating shit so bad on the bottom compression, so I decided to sack off my second race run (I already did as good as I could first run) and make a video of the compression.
So here it is!
For some reason it uploaded in the wrong size. It is exported in 16:9 and is on my pc on 16:9. Not going to bother uploading again as it's not that important...
Rheola is next weekend and I cannot wait!
Laters!
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