Bikes

BMX, Mountain Bikes, Dirt Jumping

Dec

2016

B24, Base in Bright

Once again the Thule B24 has rolled around put on by Base in Bright down at the beautiful little Victorian town of Bright. Nestled in the Victorian Alps Bright is set up for the biker with trails running everywhere to suit all levels of skill.

The threat of rain kept the numbers lower than expected but considering the forecast the turnout was great and certainly not a the small race it was when it kicked off 4 years ago. The weekend started out at the Bright Brewery with a track stand contest and a few beers while metres away people were casting flies into the water to chase the trout.

Saturday lunch saw the race get underway. First out were the solo racers then followed 15 mins later by the esprit d’ corps category. I shot a bit along the river then headed out to the new section of track called Tombstone. By all reports this super-flowy section went down a treat and everyone who came down were all smiles. Basically though, all the track was new as the course had been reversed this year to accommodated taking in Tombstone.

Early Sunday morning around 1am, I had just about dozed off in the back of my car when the sky lit up and the heavens opened with a bang as a thunderstorm rolled in. I felt pity for those still slogging it through the night. Some pretty torrential rain fell over night but by morning it had eased back a bit. A constant rain fell through the sunday at times becoming heavy again. I was rather helpless as first my lenses started to mist and then I saw moisture forming inside the camera itself. Not much to do but keep shooting anyway.

By the end of the races those who were still out on track came back plastered with mud but still the smiles would not leave them. I have long wanted to shoot a few portraits after a muddy race like that and I got more than my fair share of mud-encrusted faces after the race finished up

Sam Moffitt took the win with his first 24hr victory and Courtney Henry took the win in the female solo category with her 3rd ever mtb race.

If you have an event that you would like covered swing on over to Outer Image and touch base with us so we can work out how best to suit your needs

: Fly fishing on the Ovens River in Bright

: Overlooking Bright

: The Thule B24 mountain bike race in the Victorian Alps around Bright

: Inside the great marquee

: The Thule B24 mountain bike race in the Victorian Alps around Bright

: The Thule B24 mountain bike race in the Victorian Alps around Bright

: The Thule B24 mountain bike race in the Victorian Alps around Bright

: The Thule B24 mountain bike race in the Victorian Alps around Bright

: Night on the pumptrack

: Cruising Angel Alley

: Early morning light

: Down by the river

: The Thule B24 mountain bike race in the Victorian Alps around Bright

: Solo Female winner Courtney Henry

: All mud and smiles

: The Thule B24 mountain bike race in the Victorian Alps around Bright

: Sam Moffitt, the Solo Male Winner

: The Thule B24 mountain bike race in the Victorian Alps around Bright

: Empty Trails of the next day

: Rain in the mountains

Dec

2016

Harrison Dobrowolski: Enduro MTB

I went up to the Blue Mountains and met up with Harrison Dobrowolski, one of the young guns on the Australian Enduro circuit. Harrison has been ripping it up on the tracks and walking away with the goods in the races. This last year he took out the Under 17’s Superflow Enduro series winning it outright. More recently, he stepped it up with his first foray into the Elite category for the Superflow Enduro Championships at Ourimbah and finished up on the podium again. Definitely one to keep an eye on in the coming years.

I met Harrison at his place in Katoomba and he showed me around one of his favourite trails in the mountains, No Friends near Mt Victoria. It’s a great flowy little trail with some really cool features. It would be quite a challenging trail in the wet as it runs down a small waterfall and along a steep slope under a prominent rock-band.

If you are an athlete looking to pump up your profile or portfolio, or you represent a company or brand looking to promote your athlete, get in contact and we can work out how to get the best images to support you..

: Only a trickle in the dry.

: Some great features on the No Friends trail

: Young gun Harrison Dobrowolski on the No Friends trail near Mount Victoria in the Blue Mountains.

: Young gun Harrison Dobrowolski on the No Friends trail near Mount Victoria in the Blue Mountains.

: Young gun Harrison Dobrowolski on the No Friends trail near Mount Victoria in the Blue Mountains.

: Young gun Harrison Dobrowolski

: Young gun Harrison Dobrowolski on the No Friends trail near Mount Victoria in the Blue Mountains.

: Into the ferns near the bottom.

: Young gun Harrison Dobrowolski on the No Friends trail near Mount Victoria in the Blue Mountains.

Nov

2016

Aiden Varley: Downhill MTB

I had a bit of a shoot with downhill mountain biker Aiden Varley after the Thule B24 a couple of weeks ago. We cruised around the hills of Bright, checked out a few different spots and tried out a couple of different ideas that I had floating around in my head. Unfortunately Aiden’s downhill rig was out of action so we shot with more of a lean towards enduro. Also, after shooting for almost 24hrs out of the previous 36 I was more than a bit shattered and vacant-headed. It sort of made those ideas of mine a bit blurry. Never the less we still got a few shots.

We did a short shoot on the new Hero track which is looking amazing. Its has some great views around the top section before ducking down into the pine forests. Then we headed to a simple little trail called Sycamores which led through a beautiful little stand of, yes you guessed it, Sycamores. Next time we meet hopefully he will be back on his big DH rig and I shall be a bit more on-point and focussed.

If you are an athlete looking to boost your portfolio or a company or brand looking to promote your athlete get in contact and we can sort out how I and my imagery can best help you.

: Aiden Varley on the Hero trail at Bright

: Aiden Varley on the Hero trail at Bright

: Aiden Varley on the Hero trail at Bright

: Aiden Varley on the Hero trail at Bright

: Aiden Varley on the Hero trail at Bright

: Aidens in the mist

: Under the canopy of Sycamores

: Under the canopy of Sycamores

: Aiden Varley making a creek crossing in Bright

Sep

2016

The Jetblack 12hr Mountain Bike Race

The final mountain bike race for the 2016 Rocky Trail Entertainment XC season was the Jetblack 12 hour. This year it was held at Mowbray farm MTB track near Picton in the southwest of Sydney. It was a couple of years since previously shooting my last XC race there. Though the course was basically the same, weather over the last month or so had altered the terrain around it.

The main change in the features around the course was the missing lake. Heavy rainfall of the previous weeks managed to wash away a dam, draining the lake in the middle of the course. Rain had left the track over-saturated. More rain overnight had also added to the puddles, making some sections of the track more like water crossings. Although the previous night had been another wet one, the new day dawned windy but otherwise the weather was great.

Terrain along the track varies quite a bit. It heads through open fields with some nice views across to the city, crosses and drifts along a small creek that was once the lake and heads off into a young pine forest. The wet weather had closed a couple of sections of the track making the course shorter. However, this just meant faster laps, bringing the riders back in front of our cameras more often.

At 10am a mass start sent mountain bikers racing off into the fields. The harsh light in the open fields below the start line meant shooting there was tricky. Thankfully, it wasn’t long before a few clouds came rolling in and softened up the light a bit. I followed the track in the same direction as the riders were headed, stopping when I came across shots that I liked. By mid afternoon I had made it probably halfway around the track. I realised the best locations to shoot the sunset would be in the fields and dams back near the start so I packed up my kit and headed back in that direction.

Nightfall saw me playing with my lights around the lakes and puddles. By using a mix of flashes and dragging the shutter to create long exposures I was able came up with some interesting effects. When water was added to the frame I threw reflections of the riders lights into the mix. I always have trouble balancing the riders lights with my flashes. The problem is, I end up losing portions of the bikes due to over-exposure caused by the riders lights. Exposing for the riders lights is tricky as no 2 riders seem to have lights of the same brightness. Practice makes perfect though and each time I am out there I seem to get a little bit better. The good thing about 12 hour and 24 hour races is that I get plenty of practice and plenty of chances to get it right.

Below are my picks for the race.

: DJ Nigel kept the tunes going all day

: Paul from Gloryfy doing his thing

: Owen and Craig from team BH

: The mass start

: Zigzagging across the bridges

: Single trails through the paddocks

: Claudia heading up the hill

: Recent rain meant big puddles.

: What was once a dam is now a creek

: Team Fizo crossing the creek……

: ….and along the riverbed

: Sunset at the farm

: The puddles seemed to grow as night fell

: A little bit of light can go a long way.

: The final laps into the night

Aug

2016

Superflow: Kempsey Enduro

Last weekend was spent cavorting around the headlands and bushland near Kempsey. It was the final round of Rocky Trail Entertainment’s Fox Superflow Enduro and I was up there to cover it with Gil under the guise of Outer Image. I set up camp each night at the beautiful Hat Head National Park on the coast. It’s only about a 20 minute drive from the trails in Kempsey but is a beautiful area. Rugged coastline and wild surf made for some interesting shooting on the headlands over the weekend.

Kempsey Superflow enduro is a 2 day race taking place on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. The trails had been hit by some torrential rain through the week leading up to the race. Sections of the tracks were underwater whilst other sections were just mudpits. It certainly made for some interesting comments from the riders as they went on by. On the Sunday the trails were cut shorter in order to remove the worst of the wet trails. There was still a couple of deep mud sections that took down more than a few riders.

On the way home I took a bit of a detour and headed out to find Mount Seaview Nature Reserve. in the falling darkness I managed to drive right past the turnoff. Not wanting to drive too much further in the dark (I would miss all the great scenery) I settled in for the night on the edge of Cottan Bimbang National Park. In the morning I took a drive through the park and it is definitely a place that I think calls for some further exploring. I headed back towards Mt. Seaview but it turns out it’s not an easy park to access. Something I shall have to plan for in the coming future.

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Jul

2016

Superflow: Killingworth

The tiny little town of Killingworth on the NSW central coast played host to round 4 of the Fox/Camelback Superflow Rollercoaster. Killingworth is a quaint little town that seems to only have about 20 houses in it but unfortunately the entrance to the trails seems to be a bit of a magnet for dumping. This year it did seem like the local club had cleaned the around the area quite a bit though.

The trails themselves though are pretty cool. As far as from a shooting perspective there is a few nice sections. I had shot on what was called the Camelback trail last year and this year picked the Fox trail for something different. As I walked and shot my way up trail I talked to a few of the riders and had the company of Matt Staggs who helped me line up a few shots. Everyone directed me to a fern section near the top of the trail. This was a great section and certainly unique to these trails. The trails twist and turn through the giant leafy fronds. Riders had to come past me twice for this race and it was quite easy to find 2 different angles I really liked. I’m sure I could have shot plenty of more angles in there if they had to do another lap

It was a great day out covering what is my favourite format of mtb racing. Next up is Kempsey which is a great weekend away. See you all there.