The Early Bird....

...The early bird gets the grainy footage.

Couple of weeks ago something amazing happened....I set the alarm at 6am for an early morning ride and then come 6am, managed to get my arse out of bed and up into the hills to the undisclosed Dirt Box downhill training grounds (no, not Allestree).  Normally an exclusive night-ride location, I was keen to hit the down hill under first light to film the track following a couple of failed attempts to film at night using a copious amount of torches.  So the benefit of a bit of light but with the problems of added dog walkers and golf course groundsmen.

So, just before 8am and just before sunrise but with reasonable viability I set off from the peak.  Camera was preset with +2 contrast on 'dusk' setting to get as much clarity out of the low light.  Not the fastest run ever with a slow midsection leading to a bit of tic-tac-ing just before the final 'left-right' hander but got to the bottom just in time to see the first golfers of the day teeing off and home for breakfast.

On playback I found that levels were poor especially when passing trees in shadow, and when dipping my head towards the ground.  As a result, I've had to boost the exposure in post production and made a note to angle the camera up a bit on the next filming trip.  Still definitely easier to ride unimpeded at night but I will be back for some filming, probably in the Summer when the sun rises earlier.

Either way, excuse the film quality but enjoy and give me a shout if you want to go for a ride sometime, cheers!