Reasons why I shouldn't be allowed to edit. 1) Its taken far too long. 2) Its rubbish. But I've got this far so there's no reason not to share. Big up the Busted!
Oohh, "Your video, Macclesfield Forest January 2012 Freeride , may include content that is owned or administered by this entity: Entity: UMG Content Type: Sound Recording". If the ace soundtrack disappears, this is why.
Tuesday, 14 February 2012
Tuesday, 7 February 2012
The 'Summertime Sessions'
So, this is a plan. Not 'the' plan as it's still got to be sorted out in my head, so more of a concept. I thought if I put it out there then people can comment.
My plan is to ride Darley Park every Monday evening from March 26th till October 28th. I'll have with me at least one spare board with a complete set of pads so that anyone who fancies joining me for a ride will know that I'll be there, and anyone who fancies a go, can do so.
Why Mondays? Mondays are usually good to be out because there's not much on TV, and the dates are set for British Summer Time i.e. longer daylight.
Why Darley? Why not Allestree? Darley Park is a nice slope with a few trees that can be mixed up in various ways. It has a carpark very close to the top and is close to the city centre. Far more people use Darley for recreational use and we should be seen by lots of people. Darley can accommodate ramps well, or be set up with slalom cones, or just dodge the trees and in summer time when the ground is hard - Darley flies.
But I really want to ride Allestree! Allestree is a 5-minute drive away. It could be we do 7pm beginner/freestyle stuff at Darley, 8.30pm onwards for freeride at Allestree.
But you can't do freestyle.... No, I though I'd leave that to someone else.....
Are you insured? *cough* no.
It may be that this gets condensed down to just the summer holidays, or that it only happens when there is interest through Mountainboard Derby, or that it fizzles out due to lack of interest, but it could be worth doing, even if it gets me out the house on a more regular basis.
So, lets see what happens with this and please let me know your thoughts, especially any that can turn this into a better plan of action. Cheers!
Update: There's a pretty good discussion going on here if you want to add anything.
Expand on the above, please. In my mind, it's sort of a 'mid-week training' before the 'weekend big match', so not exactly a replacement for semi-regular meets, but a platform to introduce locals to the whole thing and pointing them in the right direction if they want a bit more. Darley I've suggested for being relatively undaunting for the first time rider. It'd be cool even if the same fella turned up to borrow the board each week as we'd have another local rider on the scene, or even if no-one else turned up as I'd use the time to practice riding switch etc etc
Why again? One aspect I failed to mention is that we get a small but steady stream of people contacting the ATBA wanting to try mountainboarding in the East-Midlands area. At the moment we point them in the direction of the nearest centres which is usually Hales (hour+half drive). It will make life simpler if we can let them know that something will be happening every Monday somewhere significantly closer.
Darley??? It's here: Parking off Darley Park Road, nice slope to the East.
View Larger Map
My plan is to ride Darley Park every Monday evening from March 26th till October 28th. I'll have with me at least one spare board with a complete set of pads so that anyone who fancies joining me for a ride will know that I'll be there, and anyone who fancies a go, can do so.
Why Mondays? Mondays are usually good to be out because there's not much on TV, and the dates are set for British Summer Time i.e. longer daylight.
Why Darley? Why not Allestree? Darley Park is a nice slope with a few trees that can be mixed up in various ways. It has a carpark very close to the top and is close to the city centre. Far more people use Darley for recreational use and we should be seen by lots of people. Darley can accommodate ramps well, or be set up with slalom cones, or just dodge the trees and in summer time when the ground is hard - Darley flies.
But I really want to ride Allestree! Allestree is a 5-minute drive away. It could be we do 7pm beginner/freestyle stuff at Darley, 8.30pm onwards for freeride at Allestree.
But you can't do freestyle.... No, I though I'd leave that to someone else.....
Are you insured? *cough* no.
It may be that this gets condensed down to just the summer holidays, or that it only happens when there is interest through Mountainboard Derby, or that it fizzles out due to lack of interest, but it could be worth doing, even if it gets me out the house on a more regular basis.
So, lets see what happens with this and please let me know your thoughts, especially any that can turn this into a better plan of action. Cheers!
Update: There's a pretty good discussion going on here if you want to add anything.
Expand on the above, please. In my mind, it's sort of a 'mid-week training' before the 'weekend big match', so not exactly a replacement for semi-regular meets, but a platform to introduce locals to the whole thing and pointing them in the right direction if they want a bit more. Darley I've suggested for being relatively undaunting for the first time rider. It'd be cool even if the same fella turned up to borrow the board each week as we'd have another local rider on the scene, or even if no-one else turned up as I'd use the time to practice riding switch etc etc
Why again? One aspect I failed to mention is that we get a small but steady stream of people contacting the ATBA wanting to try mountainboarding in the East-Midlands area. At the moment we point them in the direction of the nearest centres which is usually Hales (hour+half drive). It will make life simpler if we can let them know that something will be happening every Monday somewhere significantly closer.
Darley??? It's here: Parking off Darley Park Road, nice slope to the East.
View Larger Map
Sunday, 22 January 2012
Bosch IXO Electric Screwdriver
In the first of my 'useful things that are handy for mountainboarding, but aren't absolutely essential' series of articles, is this short one detailing the merits of the....
Small and handy, this tool is perfect for tinkering with the angle of snowboard bindings as it comes direct with the 4mm attachment required. Featuring ergonomic grip, charging cradle and easy switched forward/reverse operation, this screw driver can reduce a noSno down to the size of a small suitcase in a matter of seconds! This attachment will also fit MBS Matrix adjustment screws, shaving vital seconds off your changing egg shocks speed record (for the 'Dirt-Box Egg-Shock Speed Change Challenge!'). I paid approximately £35 around 4 years ago from a DIY store and it's still going strong as ever but getting one a bit cheaper on-line should be easy enough.
Small enough to pack in a backpack, but also powerful for many jobs around the house too, the Bosch IXO Electric Screwdriver isn't essential, but it is certainly very, very useful.
Bosch IXO Electric Screwdriver!
Monday, 16 January 2012
Return of the Macc - It's officially Annual!
So, just to start with a little bit of history. Way back in late 2008, Roger (LB4UL), JC and Joe Gatley hatched an idea to encourage more people to come out freeriding: the plan - meet up in the middle of an isolated forest at the coldest time of the year. From the subsequent photos and the writeup, it appeared to be a success and the following year, with yet again frost all around, more riders turned up to do it all again. I wrote about it here, it was a good'un.
Same thing happened again last December. Not so many riders this time, but still plenty of action taking place and enough of a buzz to keep the spirit alive. Fast forward to late November 2011 and murmurings were taking place here and there, especially over twitter, suddenly the cool place to hang out. 'Surely there's going to be another Macc event?', these 140 character limited messages requested. But bar a few reassuring responses, not much was happening - the lead up to Christmas suddenly becoming very busy busy for everyone. And that might have been the end of the story.....
Thursday, 5 January 2012
New Year Stuff
2011 - What a year! And I'm not the only one with Roger 'LeapB4ULook' and Chris '6th Degree' looking back equally fondly.
But no time to reminisce...2012 is here! No point making definite resolutions since we're all going to die horribly in several apocalypses anyway, so on the off chance that we survive another 12 months, here's the run down of what I'd like to do....
Work less!! Not ride more, as I do quite a lot of that anyway. No, I'd prefer to work less so that I'm less tired when I do ride.
Ride more often at Hales Superbole. I love the 'bole and everytime I go, they've built even more stuff. Plus Mark's a top bloke. And the BX gets my heart racing a bit too much (in a good way).
Ride at both 'Dave' and Whinlatter for Rounds 1 and 2 of the new UK downhill Series. Probably not Dunkeld though, it's a bit far for me unless I can convince the family to have a nice holiday up North.
Freeride at:
- Wendover Woods with the Rem boys,
- explore more of the Chicksands bike park,
- ride The Wrekin (remembering larger tires and brakes this time),
- ride the Lickey Hills (new contract job not far from here, fingers crossed),
- ride Burton Dassett with Jay (beautiful location not far from M40).
- Macclesfield Forest (easy one this - all arranged here)
In general, I'm going to try and film on a semi regular basis, but not so much as it gets in the way of the riding. Playing with mounts is fun though so this'll keep it all fresh.
Buy some flexi composite axles from noSno. If I put away a pound a day, I'll be able afford them by August :-D
Plus, I'd like to ride more with more riders in general. Want to ride with me in the Midlands or can suggest somewhere awesome new to try out? Please get in touch! So, unless we all die in the meantime, Cheers and happy riding in 2012!
Sunday, 25 December 2011
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!
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!
Thursday, 22 December 2011
Pole-Cam - initial testing
After a long period of night-riding, finally got out for an afternoon, yesterday. Others in the area had reported Allestree to be a bit wet so decided to give Darley Park a go for the first time in a long while. Unfortunately, conditions proved to be just as bad, if not worse with most areas either slow and boggy, or wet and slippery. Shoved a set of 9 inchers on which improved things slightly, but still nothing much worth writing about. Got some interesting shots though using the new pole setup for the Contour cam whilst rolling down a couple of the footpaths. Most of the camera footage recorded so far lacks the interest of having someone in shot, so the options are to follow someone else, or to film yourself from behind (so to speak).
The pole itself I've taken from an old electric power mop. It features an ergonomic handle, handy grip section half way down the shaft, and ready made holes at the bottom to attach the camera bracket. For the custom camera bracket I've taken the mounting that the camera was originally packaged in and firmly adhered this to a wooden block. This provides a firm object to bracket onto my power mop pole. Overall, it's relatively heavy, but easy to handle and transfer from hand to hand mid-ride. It can be held mid length as shown in the video above, or at full length to put even more of me in the shot. Image quality looks nice and smooth filmed at 60fps and I hope to film a bit more once conditions improve a bit.
I've been warned by Contour not to use the mounting bracket due to the possibility of it shattering, so care must be taken not to clip the ground when using, or wiping out generally. Hopefully the wooded block mount should improve the overall strength a little.
So, making the most of a bad riding day. It's not something I'd do that often either as it distracts from the riding a little, restricts body movement a little and I'd have to move either the pole or the brake to the left hand if filming some of the faster tracks. Still, provides some nice effects so all good. Hope to film some more soon over the holiday period. Really hope it will snow, but I wont hold my breath....
The pole itself I've taken from an old electric power mop. It features an ergonomic handle, handy grip section half way down the shaft, and ready made holes at the bottom to attach the camera bracket. For the custom camera bracket I've taken the mounting that the camera was originally packaged in and firmly adhered this to a wooden block. This provides a firm object to bracket onto my power mop pole. Overall, it's relatively heavy, but easy to handle and transfer from hand to hand mid-ride. It can be held mid length as shown in the video above, or at full length to put even more of me in the shot. Image quality looks nice and smooth filmed at 60fps and I hope to film a bit more once conditions improve a bit.
[ergonomic handle]
I've been warned by Contour not to use the mounting bracket due to the possibility of it shattering, so care must be taken not to clip the ground when using, or wiping out generally. Hopefully the wooded block mount should improve the overall strength a little.
[camera mounting block]
[comfy handle]
So, making the most of a bad riding day. It's not something I'd do that often either as it distracts from the riding a little, restricts body movement a little and I'd have to move either the pole or the brake to the left hand if filming some of the faster tracks. Still, provides some nice effects so all good. Hope to film some more soon over the holiday period. Really hope it will snow, but I wont hold my breath....
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