Pretty Sweet on Interwebs (For a Limited Time Only)

YOU CAN WATCH IT NOW - CLICK HERE

I love shouting about it

Yup, thats right. Pretty Sweet is going online with a generous helping hand from the folks at Singletrack Magazine. It should be going up on their website (www.singletrackworld.com) over the upcoming week, but due to music licensing restriction, it looks like it will only be up for 5000 views, so you had better get in fast. Well, fast ish. I here those STW fellow run a pretty popular webber.

After the great reception from festivals so far, it should be awesome to get t'film out in front of the wider mtb community.

And yes, before anyone mentions it, we ride like a bunch of complete jeyers.

An Escape To High Places

An escape to the mountains was needed. When a date that worked came along Cal, Dave W and I jumped at the chance to head north into the mountains. With flooding the day before we arrived and snow the day after we left, we finally got some karmic payback from the weather and found some damp but awesome autumnal riding.

24 hours earlier we were all in a major metropolis. Cal and Dave chase the light and escape into the hills

Where There Is A Will...

...There is a way, and I have a way. Filming plans are afoot.

So you may have noticed the '2nd Pretty Sweet' talk, and we are working on that. Whilst a few ideas have been hatched, but I would guess we are still a year away from anything on that front. But fear not, we have some other, shorter film plans, that are starting to come together.

After we got what was our initial break, not to mention some great support from LLAMFF 2010, we all decided, possibly in the car on the way home, that we should try and get something togethor for the 2011 event. And so here we are. In a few weeks the window of filmic opportunity creaks open for 6 days, and we are planning on pitting ourselves against the Welsh November weather. Won't ruin the surprise apart from to say it looks like we may have roped super-pro-real-life-trials-superhero Matt Barlow into our plans and fingers crossed we'll come out with something good. Or a camera full of water. One of the two.

UPDATE: Between hand injuries, broken camcorder screens and severe weather warnings, this plan came to absolutely nothing. Ace.

Travelling Socks: Austria

Week 3 of Supereuromegaride took us to Austria, and trails we knew. Read all about it

By the time we got this far, the sensational weather window was firmly closed. Things got slippy on the trails of Tirol

Travelling Socks: Italy

Photos and largely nonsense words from part two of Cal and I's Euro bikepacking adventure

The first day in Italy. Fully loaded on the slopes of the Bernina Pass. Piz Bernina is the 4000 meter hulk towering in the background.

Travelling Socks: Switzerland

So Cal and I took a few weeks this summer to go on a most excellent adventure, and bikepacked our way around a small part of the central Alps. Here follows photos of part 1 of our singletrail adventure:

The joy of bikes and aeroplanes. Carboard boxes did a splendid job of getting the bicycles to the continent.

Pretty Sweet at Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival

Pretty Sweet is off to Scotland as part of EMFF 2010. We are really chuffed that Pretty Sweet (or Sweet Trip as the website currently has it) has been included in the line up of '20 of the best mountain films'. Our 'beautiful little film' is first on on the Sunday evening, along with Mark Beaumont. Super awesome news. For more details on the tickets and the full line up: http://www.edinburghmountainff.com/

Looks like an awesome festival in an awesome city.

A Day at the Races

The only experience i have of the word 'race' would be primary school sports days (those held at secondary school would be spent at home skiving under the façade of ill health). So i mean it when i say i didn't know what to expect from Tour de Ben Nevis, the newest 'race' event to No Fuss Events' repertoire.

It turned out to be bloody brilliant.
Great route, even by my standards the adventure level was high; waist deep river crossings and prolonged hike-a-bike. But, best of all was the great company; so many like minded people to share in the agony. I am positively looking forward to the next season of No Fuss Events - hopefully to contend for the Britain's Best Mountain Biker (unofficial) title!

Here are the thoughts of Pretty Sweet throughout the race:

Taking It Easy

Way back last Febuary, Ste and I found a peach of a trail in the Welsh Carneddau. It didn't go anywhere, and super gnarly to the point that we turned around when things got a bit scary. Well Dave saw the pics and wanted a go, so with the idea of getting some more 'fell tech' down on camera we headed back across on a much sunnier sunday and pushed to reach the ridge.

This time we made the ridge. Dave W was the only one to get his bike up there, so he was the only one to ride the techy, scenic trail we found

3 Days, 2 Rides

The Alps is a good place to ride a mountain bike, of that there is no doubt, but the UK is pretty good too, especially trails like this one:

Dave W and I headed to Stavely to scratch a trail exploring itch that had been on my mind for a while. The Highstreet - Staveley descent is a techno corker at the best of times, however the Bridleway to complete the loop is a grassy boggy slog up onto the ridge. After a massive trail had been dug in up to the ridge north of Garburn, I had a feeling this would provide a better way of summiting high street. We were mainly focusing on getting a few moving images in the bag for the second Pretty Sweet, plus I had forgotten my camera, so this is the only image from the day, but as a ride it was brutal. Garburn to the ridge was steep, and the descents of two of the three summits where short but steep, and super gnarly in places. Needless to say Dave W aced most of it. I had a bit of a struggle, especially after my sucess on the Lakes Gnar on the 'Long Steep Road of Trips' Trip. I would like to blame it on going back to a hardtail, but my super tech skills could well have gone backwards.

And this one:

All our riding at the minute is done with one eye on the Tour de Ben Nevis, so Cal and I decided to head out to the Marin trail and get used to just 'knocking it out' again. Felt pretty good, certainly better than the pain-fest in the lakes. 2 hours 15 mins for a lap at 'could do it all day' speed certainly boosted confidence. Anyway, it is good to be back in the UK. Despite how it may feel we have it pretty good here.

Pretty Sweet Hits Canada

Well this is Rad. Got news today that a slightly shortened version of Pretty Sweet will be included in the Bikeshorts Film Festival Tour

The tour starts at the above event in Vancouver before taking in dates across Canada along with some international showings. This really does look like an awesome night, I mean c'mon, there is bike valet parking. The line up looks great aswell, with a fair few mountain bike films, including Shortcuts from the Bamboo Chicken guys down the road in Llanberis. Their is also a picture slideshow in the interview, and I think we may have a few shots in that aswell. Basically thus is awesome news about an awesome event.

Personally I think it would be great if we could bring this to the UK. If anyone else reading this thinks they could help make it happen then get in touch (address on the Pretty Sweet film page)

Check out www.bikeshorts.ca for more details

We're Going Racing

Yup. it is all on the line now. In a month or so's time the Pretty Sweet Race Team (ha..) will be heading of to this:

On the No Fuss website it is described as 'The race that took mountain biking back to the mountains' and a 'mountain biking adventure race' which sounds right up our street. As far as I can tell the format is sort of like an Enduro, with both downhill and uphill stages on a course that circumnavigates Ben Nevis. The stages look like they take in some sweet out the way singletrack, plus a stage on the Fort William Downhill Course, and a hike-a-bike section.

Anyway, it looks like Dave W, Cal and I are all going to be there, so bragging rights are on the line, plus it sounds like a pretty good excuse for a roadtrip whilst we are up north. Cal and Dave W are talking of training programs so they should be super competitive. I am aiming to avoid the wooden spoon. The clown is down.

Scottish Road Trip Disaster

These pictures are the leftovers from the 'Long Steep Road of Trips' story that appeared in Singletrack 58. Dave W gives his side of the story below:

Hope that we could find a spell of dry weather in the Scottish highlands was well and truly quenched by a curtain of spray coming up off the motorway. We were at the border to Cumbria and knew full well that every northward mile took us deeper into a developing downpour. Decision time.

Film Night Thankyous

Big thanks to everybody that came down last night. £100 quid for Wheels 4 Life and the IMBA is a pretty good effort in my book. Just thought I would say thanks to everyone that helped out and donated time or equipemnt for absolutely nothing in return; Col for the cakes and the venue, Brian & Fabian for the most excellent film, Keith for the projector & speakers, Ali for the screen, Sarah for her patience and helping me out, and everyone that came down and gave their £3. Muchos Gracias. And if you weren't there, what the hell?

Delamere MTB Film Night Fundraiser

On the evening of the 8th July Delamere Cafe will be hosting a mountain bike film double bill to raise money for Wheels 4 Life and the IMBA.

As the poster says there will be not just the films, about which there is more below, but also food and drink and a raffle to give away some DVD copies of the films, all for a £3 donation to two great charities. The night should make for some ace post or pre ride entertainment. What's not to like?

VAST is Ionate Films eagerly anticipated follow up to the spectacular Virtuous. Here is what they have to say about their brand new flick:

'We're happy to take you on a breathtaking freeride journey. From the foot of the Matterhorn to the urban realms of Berlin, from the Ligurian Mediterranean coast to the overwhelming Aletsch glacier. VAST shows mountainbiking in its purest form at Europe's most beautiful locations'

Support is provided by PRETTY SWEET, a low-fi mountain bike film about pointing your bicycle at the mountains and seeing what you find. It is a film that shys away from huge huucks and DH action and instead sets out to show just how much grabbing a map and heading into the mountains by bike can offer.

Pretty Sweet Teaser from David Martin on Vimeo.

Another Roadtrip Disaster

This time we were aiming for Knoydart and we ended up in Torridon. Turned out all right in the end though:

Then we just kind of stayed there. Dave 'Pleasuredome' Waugh in action

The Long Steep Road of Trips

Any regular readers of this blog (Hey look, some tumbleweed) may have noticed we mentioned a trip to the lakes, but never made anything of it. The reason for that was we sent some pictures and words of to the most excellent people at Singletrack Magazine who, in their infinite loveleyness and tolerance of poor spelling, decided to put our story in their magazine. This one:

So basically, I think you should go out and buy it. It is only £3.50 ish, it is a comletely independant mag - surely a good thing, and this month in particular is a guddun'. Steve Peat, important discussion on cheeky trails, Ben Lomand, an epic story from Siberia, me trying my hardest to write something good at the front and the most thorough fork test ever, if you are into that kind of thing, plus all the banging photos from Mainey, Milner, Barham and co. It is good stuff I tells ya. It is their title, not mine by the way.

Is There A View?

So the trails on Snowdon are top notch, as, I am guessing is the view. We have ridden bicycles up to the top cafe/building site/nonsense twice before and been greeted with 'thick as the thickest pea soup mist' and howling gales both times. Whilst the mist and wind made for some of my favourite shots of the Pretty Sweet film experience last time Ste and I ventured up, Dave W, Cal and I headed up a week before the summer solstace hoping for still weather and a view of the sun dipping below the Atlantic as we headed down the mountain.

Alas, it was not to be.

Rail 2 Trail

Dave has been talking about the maze of trails in Wharncliffe for a while. Gnarly, Flowing and Steep seemed to be the most common descriptions. Sounded pretty good, so at 8am on what was to be the hottest weekend of the year, I was stowing my bike on the train to Sheffeild.

After being repeatedly hunted down by a tram on the road ride out to Wharnecliffe, Dave's plan was to ride the excellent DH tracks he allready knew about, and try and discover a few more singletracks threading down the hillside. Boyo was up to speed on the trails he had already unearthed.

I Heart The Woods

I have been out riding in the woods a lot recently. It has been good. After we got back from the lakes (stay tuned...) trips involving getting  in the car and spending a whole day on the trails have been put on hold whilst work/exam/other commitments have been filled. As a consequence the quick two hour ride around the woods has become my main riding fill, and I have been loving it.

Ste riding the woodland moon.