Bikes

BMX, Mountain Bikes, Dirt Jumping

Dec

2015

Stromlo National round and the Brindabella Range

A spur of the moment trip to Canberra to go shoot at the National Round of the Downhill saw me paying a visit to the nearby Brindabella range. I have visited these mountains a few times now but still think I am only scratching the surface of what they have to offer.

I arrived late in the afternoon and spent the night at the top of Mt Ginini which was as far in as I could drive. Thankfully I had been unable to find my summer sleeping bag and had taken my warm on as the temperature dropped to 3C despite the fact that it was mid-summer. In the morning I rose to being enveloped in the clouds so there wasn’t any real sign of sunrise. I spent the best part of the morning driving around and enjoying the beautiful scenery. I stopped off at Mt. Franklin and walked to the site of Australia’s first ski lodge. I could quite happily have spent the whole weekends drifting around in the hills.

Although I missed most of the practice runs of the National series downhill i made it down for the main event. As is normal for Stromlo someone seemed to have turned the thermostat up. The action was great with a lot of Australia’s best racers screaming down the hill.

: Feral pigs roam the hills of the Brindabella Range

: Looking out from the Summit of Mt Ginini

: A friendly local of the Brindabella range.

: Paper Daisies on Mt Ginini

: Looking out from the Summit of Mt Ginini

: Looking out across the Brindabellas

: A flame Robin of the Brindabella range.

: A friendly local of the Brindabella range.

: A new hut replaces the original ski lodge on Mt Franklin

: The remails of Australia’s frist ski lift and lodge are found at Mt. Franklin

: Australian National Downhill Series Stromlo

: Australian National Downhill Series Stromlo

: Australian National Downhill Series Stromlo

: Australian National Downhill Series Stromlo

: Australian National Downhill Series Stromlo

Aug

2015

Stromlo for the Shimano GP

And yet again, though this will be the last time for a while, it was back to Canberra. This time it was round 4 in the series of this year’s Shimano GP taking place at Mt Stromlo Forest Park.

We went down on Friday afternoon and sat around having dinner together with the Rocky Trail race organisers Martin and Juliane. It was a nice relaxing evening catching up and talking through the race season so far. Then off to the car to set up for the night. The Saturday dawned chilly but not frosty like the previous weekend’s Rollercoaster, no frozen puddles this weekend. There was no brilliant sunrise though just a flat grey sky.

I had the option of getting a lift to the top and walking down or start at the bottom and walk up. I decided on the bottom as I wanted to shoot the riders among some of the beautiful wattles that were in bloom down there before the sun burnt through the clouds and made the light too harsh. Unfortunately, this meant that all up my day was spent walking uphill and shooting riders as they came uphill, not usually what I would normally choose. As it was the soft cloudy light stuck around for most of the day so I could have done it the other way around. Over the rest of the day, I slowly made my way uphill making the most of the soft light by shooting in the trees. There are some great views around the track which makes Stromlo one of my favourite to shoot. I tried to include these in my shots as much as possible (no point in having these views if I don’t use them).

At the end of the day, I ended up near the top at Echidna Pass shooting the riders as the came through a gap between a couple of big boulders. Having shot there before I count the gap as an old favourite of mine. Gil finished off his day shooting in the trees below me on skyline which was great as it meant that I could get a lift back down the hill.

We didn’t hang around for too long afterwards but drove back North and headed out to Bungonia Gorge for the night. A couple of lookouts there overlook a slot canyon down in the valley below. Plans are already being made for an excursion down into the canyon.

Below is a small selection of the shots from the day.

: Rocky Trail’s Shimano GP at Mt. Stromlo Forest Park near Canberra, 2015

: Rocky Trail’s Shimano GP at Mt. Stromlo Forest Park near Canberra, 2015

: Rocky Trail’s Shimano GP at Mt. Stromlo Forest Park near Canberra, 2015

: Rocky Trail’s Shimano GP at Mt. Stromlo Forest Park near Canberra, 2015

: Rocky Trail’s Shimano GP at Mt. Stromlo Forest Park near Canberra, 2015

: Rocky Trail’s Shimano GP at Mt. Stromlo Forest Park near Canberra, 2015

: Rocky Trail’s Shimano GP at Mt. Stromlo Forest Park near Canberra, 2015

: Rocky Trail’s Shimano GP at Mt. Stromlo Forest Park near Canberra, 2015

: Rocky Trail’s Shimano GP at Mt. Stromlo Forest Park near Canberra, 2015

: Rocky Trail’s Shimano GP at Mt. Stromlo Forest Park near Canberra, 2015

: Rocky Trail’s Shimano GP at Mt. Stromlo Forest Park near Canberra, 2015

Aug

2015

Stromlo Rollercoaster, the final round.

It’s hectic weekends at the moment as I flit from race to race. Not that I am complaining mind you, I love travelling round and visiting a new place each weekend or revisiting as the case may be. This time it was back to Stromlo in Canberra for the final round of Rocky Trail Entertainment’s Fox Rollercoaster.

With three tracks running the Rollercoaster covered a large section of Mt Stromlo. We went down on the Friday so we could have a bit an explore around the area. We drove out west past Cotter Dam and along Paddy’s River to the space station at Tidbinbilla. We spent the night camped up along the river. Snug as it was wrapped up in the sleeping bag it was an icy morning with puddles frozen and a layer of frost over everything.

Saturday was practice runs at Stromlo. Gil and I took our cameras and headed off to the vapor trail or, as it was known on race day, the Camelbak Track. Gil took to the top half while I explored the lower half. I was quite keen on getting a few shots of the big wallrides in action plus we were just doing a bit of recon for shooting locations on race day. Not nearly as many people were hitting the wallrides as I had expected but I did manage to get a couple of shots. With locations scouted I started on my way back down heading via a field where I knew the kangaroos gathered and snapped a few shots. The sounds of music further down the hill lured me on to the dirt jumps where I met the guys from backbone BMX and did a few shots with them to finish off the days shooting.

Early Sunday morning and apparently the temperatures hit a chilly -4. So I awoke to yet another frosty morning. I don’t mind the cold temperatures but it does make it harder to get out of bed in the morning. Race day all went smoothly. Gil and I shot at the locations we had scouted the day before. Gil got some great shots of a drop up top while I shot lower down on a berm I knew of. I even managed to get a few more sneaky wallride shots in.

A huge congratulation to all those place-getters and an even bigger one to Michael Vanos and Vanessa Thompson who won the male and female elite series. You can, as always see the full results on the Rocky Trail website here. All the images are available for viewing on the Outer Image website here and don’t forget to download your shots if you raced on the day.

A huge thanks to all those who made the series as wonderful as it was. Top of the list is Martin and Juliana of Rocky Trail Entertainment without whom we wouldn’t have a series in the first place. To the fine folks at Fox racing and Camelbak for sponsoring all the races. To all the caretakers that maintain the tracks that the races are run upon and of course to all the competitors who are the soul of the series and who make each event so much fun

Richard

: Black Mountain

: On the wallride

: Mountain biking Australian style

: The last light

: Dirt jumping at Stromlo

: Rocky Trail crew getting ready

: Michael Vanos in the rock garden

: Ben Cory on his way to a win for the day

: Series winners for the Female Elite

: Series winners for the Male Elite

: The Crew

: Jason Lorch in the day’s last light

Jul

2015

Side trip to Canberra

I had a weekend free of sorts so I took a trip to Canberra. I had donated a print to the charity Pedal 4 Pierce for their upcoming auction at Fight Night. The framers had insisted that I come down and sign the print before they finished the frame. I had also been wanting to do a shoot with Chris Jefferys, the founder of Pedal 4 Pierce, outside of a race setting as we had always done until this point so that they had a selection of images to use for promotional purposes.

So I guess a little bit of background is in order here first for those that don’t know. Pedal 4 Pierce was a charity started by Chris when he was 10 years old. Chris decided he wanted to ride bikes but did so to raise money for research into a worthy cause. He chose muscular dystrophy as his focus and Pedal 4 Pierce was born. He has been at it for the last 7 years or so. I also asked an outlet of talented dirt jumpers, Jack Baker and Tom Wrigley, to join me for a day shooting down there on some of the local trails that we knew about. The jumps are made from orange dirt that contrasts beautifully with the green of the surrounding vegetation. They had been extended quite a bit since I last shot down there so there was plenty of fresh angle to shoot from.

I also managed to squeeze in a quick shoot for Copic Australia. They brought along one of their new bikes that they had just finished building up, plenty of being on the bike. It was a full steel frame but super light. Keep an eye out for it on the Enduro trails.

The other reason for the trip was just to have a better look around Canberra and its surroundings. I was never too enamored with Canberra before but every time I go down there it grows on me a little bit more. So I drove out into the Brindabella National Park where things were nice and frosty and did a little exploring. There is a lot more exploring needed in this area. I am back down in Canberra next weekend so I shall continue with my exploration then.

Jul

2015

Kempsey Rollercoaster

It’s been a while since I have been out shooting any races but last weekend I was back at it under the guise of Outer Image. We were off to Kempsey to cover the fourth round of the Gravity Enduro Rollercoaster series.

Kempsey is about 5 hours north of Sydney so I decided to make a weekend of it and spend time camping at Hat Head National Park. This is one of my favourite campsites due to its stunning natural beauty and the fact that you set up camp among the kangaroos.

This year 2 more tracks were added to the course and another day of racing was added too. Day 1 was 2 tracks and then on the second day the tracks changed. There was a little bit of something for everyone in the tracks. I heard some say that there was too much pedaling in parts of the track while others said they loved those same sections for the rolling rides through the trees. The tracks were nowhere near as dusty as they were last year which although is good for the riders There was around 120 riders this time. Not such a big turn out for an enduro but considering its 5 hr drive from Sydney it was more than we expected. It’s a great track and good to see it’s expanded to include another 2 tracks this year.

Enjoy!!!

: Rocky Trail Entertainment’s Kempsey Rollercoaster

: Rocky Trail Entertainment’s Kempsey Rollercoaster

: Rocky Trail Entertainment’s Kempsey Rollercoaster

: Rocky Trail Entertainment’s Kempsey Rollercoaster

: Rocky Trail Entertainment’s Kempsey Rollercoaster

: Rocky Trail Entertainment’s Kempsey Rollercoaster

: Rocky Trail Entertainment’s Kempsey Rollercoaster

: Rocky Trail Entertainment’s Kempsey Rollercoaster

: Rocky Trail Entertainment’s Kempsey Rollercoaster

: Rocky Trail Entertainment’s Kempsey Rollercoaster

: Rocky Trail Entertainment’s Kempsey Rollercoaster

: Rocky Trail Entertainment’s Kempsey Rollercoaster

May

2015

Sydney Series Cyclocross round 1

Today i spent the afternoon checking out the first round of the Sydney Series of the Cyclocross. It’s a kind of unique type of racing. The bikes are modified racing bikes and the course is a mix between short course road racing and a short xc track. Obstacles around the course are designed to make you get off and carry the bike over them. Races only run for 45 mins but they are short and intense. Looks like a bunch of fun and I hope to get back and shoot a few more soon.