I have a few photographs published in the latest issue of Australian Mountain Bike Magazine. The images are from Rocky Trail Entertainment’s Jetblack 12hr out at Dargle Farm.I decided I wanted to play around a bit with the riders headlights and just the whole night-time feel which is what makes these long endurance events so special.
I went down to Greenvalleys Freeride Mountain Bike Park last Sunday. The boys had set up a big old gap jump over a creek and were threatening to hit it. Unfortunately by the time I got down to Greenvalleys a change in the weather had moved in bringing strong winds with it making the Creek Gap a dangerous prospect. Instead we walked part of a new downhill track and did some shots on there. Looking like it is shaping up to be a great track.
Last weekend Gil and I travelled down to Bright, in Victoria, Australia to cover our first 24hr race under the guise of Outer Image, the Thule B24 enduro. This was our first 24hr race together and it was certainly a lot of fun. The trip down was an adventure in itself as we were detoured due to bushfires then another due to a nasty crash which together put us about 6 hours of course (always good to take the scenic route though). We arrived in Bright midday on Friday and quickly set to walking the track and finding our locations. Bright is a mountain bikers paradise with mountains all around and trails weaving up and through the forest everywhere. It certainly was not hard to pick our location, the problem was more what locations would we not have time for.
The organisers added a new category called the Esprit De Corps. I haven’t seen this in MTB races before but I imagine that we will be seeing it a bit more in the future. It added a more social aspect to team riding. Your team needed to complete a certain amount of laps over the course of 24 hours but you had the option of all riding as a group. So if you were in a team of 6 and you do a lap with all team riders it actually counts as 6 laps.
The race kicked off at 12 on Saturday. It was quite a long weekend but well worth it. Probably not as long for us as it was for the riders though. We shot well into the night and were up again and into it before dawn. In the last couple of hours things became rather hectic again as all the riders crammed in the last few laps. The smiles which had faded in the early hours of the morning were back too with some riders even going past me giggling Delirious or just very happy I wasn’t quite sure which)
All in all a great weekend away. I will be heading back down to Bright in a few weeks and I’m looking forward to it already. I have a few plans in the making.
Oh and just in case you were wondering, the winner of the solo category was Shane Roberts who completed 22 laps or around 374kms.
Fly fishing in the Central West of New South Wales, Australia
As I have been spending more time lately in the mountains I decided to embark upon a new project. I was looking for something that incorporates the beautiful landscapes found around mountainous regions as well as something that will attract the type of people passionate about what they do. Fly-fishers fit the bill perfectly.
After a recommendation from a fly-fisher I met on the Kangaroo River, I approached Josh Hutchins of Aussie Fly-Fisher. Josh has made a name for himself on both Facebook and Instagram with his fly-fishing exploits. As Josh hails from the Central West region of NSW, he knows the rivers and streams out there intimately and always knows where the fish are biting. He has recently started guiding out that way so if you are thinking of heading in that direction and want to know where its all happening be sure and look him up.
Josh is a fair bit taller than me but seems to have much longer steps. I seemed to be almost running along behind him when he decided to change locations. Far from being a nice relaxing day as I had expected, it became quite an energetic day for me as I trotted along beside him from spot to spot. Most locations shut down over winter but last weekend heralded the start of a new season. I’m looking forward to getting out there again and shooting some more soon. I’d better get my fitness up first.
You can see more images from the shoots here on my website
Last weekend was the final round of this year’s Shimano GP enduro series held on the wonderful trails of Mount Stromlo Forest Park near Canberra. Again I was there with OuterImage to capture the action. There was forecast for rain but once again the weather held and we had beautiful clear skies. That did mean the track was a bit dusty for the riders but it did give us the chance for some interesting shots.
Stromlo Forest Park is situated on the side of Mount Stromlo near Canberra. There is some beautiful trails there. Some years ago the area was destroyed by a fire which burnt most of the trees to the ground. A massive replanting program has since happened and slowly the area is regaining a lot of its trees. With the trees being quite small though views around the trails can be wonderful looking out across the surrounds and across Canberra.
Over 300 competitors competed this year at the Stromlo event and after shooting the whole series I recognised many familiar faces there too. Eliza Kwan and Troy Herfoss took out their 7hr solo categories while Kyle Ward and Wendy Stevenson took out their 4hr categories. Just in case you were wondering, as a rough idea the course is usually around 10km’s in length. Troy managed to complete 15 laps or around 150kms in 7 hrs.
So that’s it for this year as far as this series goes. We are quite often out shooting for fun at many local tracks around the Sydney region. If you see us out there be sure and stop for a quick hello. If you are competing in any races soon there is always a chance we will be around too, we tend to swing by a lot of them even if it’s just as spectators.
As this was the final in the series Gil and I would like to say a big thank you to all the competitors who raced this season and made our work as much fun as it is. A big congratulations to all the winners from the races and the series. And of course a huge thank you to Martin and Juliane from Rocky Trail Entertainment for all there hard work in putting on such a wonderful series.
I’ve got a few shots in this month’s Revolution Mag. I had the chance to do a bunch of product shots for them with a couple of action shots thrown in to show the bike in use. We shot the Santa Cruz Bronson, the Jetblack Race Rack, some new threads and shoes from Sombrio. If you are in Oz get down to your newsagent and check out the mag, It’s always packed full of goodness for mountain bikers.
