mountain bike rides news

Complete Site Revamp

March 9th, 2010 by Mad Pierre

If you’re wondering why things a a bit quiet here lately it’s because I’m working on a completely new version of the site. I reckon this is long overdue?

The new site will (hopefully!) get you users far more involved. You will be able to comment on and rate all the site content. Searching to find articles will be easier. Videos will play within pages. Photographs will be viewable as a slideshow etc etc.

I’ve got the basic structure of things in place and am now working on tidying up the loose ends and transferring all the content from the existing site. There’s still a lot of work to get done… I’ll let you know how it’s going?

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Rear facing camera test

February 24th, 2010 by Mad Pierre

Whilst out in the melting snow last Sunday we experimented with putting the camera on the back of my helmet facing the following rider. The original footage was recorded in 960p but had my camelbak in shot and bobbing around a lot! so I zoomed and cropped during editing to make it appear less often.

Didn’t work out too bad?

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Typical Saturday afternoon video

February 10th, 2010 by Mad Pierre

Continuing with one video a week from playing with my new technology:

Here’s some wheels on the ground footage! What do we do on a Saturday afternoon when we don’t go off riding exotic or exciting locations? Go for a blast round the woods. Even if it is foggy, damp and cold!

I guess this is a good a test as any of how the new cameras perform in low light and far from perfect conditions? Watch out for Jamie’s crash on the roundabout at the end I had to zoom and pan with my editing software to show it so it’s not ultra clear. I still can’t tell what happened?

Also: I’m testing Mpora for hosting videos. The first one I uploaded was a copy of the Bestwood video and it has won me a prize! I’ve won a T-shirt for “creativity”

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Bestwood

February 2nd, 2010 by Mad Pierre

Sheldon showed Fairy and I around the trails at Bestwood last Saturday. I can’t believe we have such good stuff so close to where we regularly ride and have never ridden it before! There are loads of dirt jumps and some good down hill runs with some nice drops and jumps too. The weather was kind to us as well. The ground was mostly frozen so the trails were dry.

I continued experimenting with my new cameras but still have to sort a few things out – particularly the angle of the camera when chest mounted. Here’s a little clip I’ve knocked up from the day:

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Latest version of IMB Bike Mag available

January 28th, 2010 by Mad Pierre

The latest version of IMB is out. Free and online here

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Cannock Down Hill Video

January 28th, 2010 by Mad Pierre

Jamie and I went over to Cannock Chase last Sunday. He had a shiny new Mondraker Summum bike to try out and I had my new Sony HD Handycam and Go Pro HD to play with. It was a typical grey and damp January day but it was good to be out on the big bikes for the first time in too many months.

It was also ages since we had visited Stile Cop and we were pleased to see all the new trails that have been built since we we were last there However conditions meant that we just had one run down several of the rooty, technical runs, especially as I wasn’t running spikes (UST swampthings already ordered for next time!). Along with most other folk there we stuck to the drier lines with the red run being most used.

Although the weather and light were poor I still manage to record us “getting our eye in” at this DH malarky again. Here’s a quick edit I’ve managed to put together after struggling with my new editing software and my insufficient computer hardware:

The riding and filming is all good practice for when things start to dry out……

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First video from my new camera

January 10th, 2010 by Mad Pierre

I got my new Go Pro HD camera on Friday so I took it out for a test on Saturday. Conditions meant that playing around with different mounts, resolutions etc wasn’t really on… so I left it at 960p and tried it on my helmet and also on the chest mount. This is a quick edit of some of the footage taken on the usual Saturday afternoon ride in the Nottinghamshire woods. First impressions are good

Look out for the snowball in Ricky’s face!

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New Year’s Eve ride photographs

January 2nd, 2010 by Mad Pierre

I’ve just added a gallery of photos from the New Year’s Eve ride in Derbyshire. We set out from Hope and went over Ladybower way. It was a glorious sunny winter day with snow and ice under wheel. This meant the riding wasn’t as good as usual but we all thought it made it a great day to be out and the views were stunning.

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New Video Clips

December 30th, 2009 by Mad Pierre

I’ve started adding some new video clips to the Whistler video page. These clips are of trails we didn’t record on our first trip back in 2007 but did capture on the 2009 trip.

First up are Schleyer and Drop In Clinic. More to come….

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