Making of Film 2 - Pt.1

OK, so, we have a deal. Singletrack want a second Pretty Sweet, mostly because they are nice like that. As such we are going to try and make one for them, and I reckon I'll try and blog a bit about the experience. We have a few plans afoot but for now, we'll post a few stories from 2010, and the accumulation of footage so far.

Still no.1 Lakes Gnar

So, what ended up being our first 'shots in the bag' day was a sweltering ride in July. My overiding memories of it now are of major chaffage issues and Dave W pulling of some tech riding miracles. I think we are all keen to get some 'Fell tech' shots into the film as gnarly, but slow, trails are a firm favourite and hence Dave and I headed to the top of High Street with this in mind. After a quick nap upon reaching the summit we set of towards Nan Beild with a few shots in mind.

The Big Gnar Staircases favoured by fix the fells featured, and whilst I pottered down on a hardtail, the ginger one made things look much smoother. Probably due to the suspension and huge fork he is now lugging round the hills on top of the skills he had anyway. Taking the radios made filming much easier, and the reduction in shouting at each other TO GO was nice. Bleep when your ready kids.

After a few shots on the staircases to the West of Nan Bield we headed over to the east side where things kicked up a notch. No staircases or obvious lines on this side of the pass. I was off form but Dave W picked out some gnadgery lines for the camera, and whilst a few didn't go, the majority of lines and shots came out pretty nicely. A few hikers impressed (really should get that on camera one day), we headed homewards.

And this meant riding Nan Bield. Whilst not as full on as the north side, the south of the pass is the classic, allthough a bit flat to make look good on camera, singletrack,. As good as it is, we were having issues. No idea what happened but the chafe was horrendous. Heat, sweat, summat else? Who knows. All I know is when I got home I nearly burn't my riding shorts. Bastards.

After drinking tea for five, stood up, in Wilf's cafe we tried to work out the best way of getting home. Sitting was massively painful and neither of us had alternative shorts. The options were walk it, or drive. Needless to say it was a looong drive back down the M6. Not sure whether the decision not to just drive home with no kecks on was worth the pain in the end....

8am Flow

A brand new (2nd hand actually, but still exciting) HD camera arrived at Pretty Sweet HQ the other day. As is the way with these things Ste and I got excited and gave it a test drive without reading the instructions. Here is what we made:


8am Flow from David Martin on Vimeo.

So stoked on the number of pixels this thing shoots. It just looks better with four times as many. Not sure of the ideal rendering settings yet as the footage looks so ace when it comes out the camera and above doesn't quite do it justice, but vimeo seems to like these ones so they can do for now. So stoked to start putting together some of our short film plans for this summer

It Is Done

I think we can finally declare it to be done. A year and a day after we got the first shots done at the Marin Trail, the thing is finished. And despite having seen it over one million times, I still have a soft spot for what has come to be known as Pretty Sweet. I think that is a good thing.

I think we can be proud of what we made, considering the amount of money we put into it (very VERY little). Yeah, it does suck that we couldn't film it all in Super HD, but i think what we have looks good. Maybee even a kind of cool 8mm film vibe? There is no way it even holds a candle to the Pro mtb films that are being made at the minute, but I like the kind of 'folk music version of mountain bike film making' vibe we have.

I think Dave W describes the whole thing pretty well: "Mountain bike trail centres are fun to ride and are a great way to grow the sport. However we feel that adventure and wilderness are equally as significant in mountain biking as a lifestyle. Throughout out 2009 we filmed some of our mountain biking exploits to show that grabbing a map and just heading out into the mountains by bike has so much to offer. Without any past experience filming, a broken tripod and and ancient camcorder, we are really happy with what we've been able to put together and the experience has definitely inspired us to continue filming. Likewise, we hope we've inspired at least a few newcomers to the sport to stray from the trail centres and into the hills."

Anyway, the master is sitting on Dave W's PC, and I am putting the first DVD's in the post tomorow. Here's hoping other people will like it, and hopefully we will be able to give this film a few public airings. Fingers crossed.

Summer 2009 - Scotish Roadtrip

We kicked off the trip in the Cairngorms with Laggan Black/Red followed up with some local-built singletrack and a sweet trail i had scouted a few years back in the Rothiemurchus Estate; weaving its way above a raging river just a steep 200m drop below it was definitely a contender for the best singletrack of the trip (and it was only day 2). I promise you, the flow was incredible and coupled with stunning location even in the rain it was dope.

The Sauze

There had been talk of lift acessed trails in Sauze d'oulx in a few of our favourite bike mags, so in the depths of a London winter I booked flights, and the cheapest chalet I could find, so we could head out and see what the fuss was about.

Foot Traffic

For all the trail centers and ski center singletrack that is cropping up all over, there really is nothing better than a couple f hundered years of foot traffic to create some fine riding. The Oetztal valley in the Austrian Tyrol has all the sinous singletrack you could ever need.

Good Weather?

Generally we seem to allways be out in shitty weather. Almost allways anyway. So there was no way I was gonna beleive that the day we planned for a Welsh double header of trail riding, was going to be the hottest day of the year.

Anyway, we headed of the the CliMachx trail super early, to try and avoid the swarms of 'mature' drivers that inhabit the Welsh A roads. Whilst Cal and I got left by Ste and Dave, on the drive out we reached the car park above Machynleth eventually. Climach is a great trail center and the final descent is up there with the Marin for man made goodness, but we opted to film earlier on, getting some shots out in the open amongst the thousands of foxgloves.

Ste, Cal and I rode whilst Dave W caputred the three of us from various angles, aswell as getting some sweet 'scenery' shots of jet planes, eagles and bin wagons. The final descent was awesome as ever. I think it is the longest man made singletrack in Wales, and is worth the trip deep into the valleys.

We had set the afternoon aside for the trail down Cadair Idris, and the 2nd biggest legal descent outside of Scotland. It may have been the biggest descent, but Christ it was a slog to get up. We eventually made the top, dehydrated and knackered at about 5 o'clock. The views were incredible, and despite the reluctance to film, we got some of my favourite shots of the whole year in the bag on the way down.

8 pints of coke later in the pub, and we set of home, from what was a memorable, but knackering day in the mountains, made even better by Cal and I's shortcuts meaning we overtook Ste and Dave twice on the way home.

This May Be The Greatest

May Rules. As does that sweet pun in the title. Our home trails are pretty much perfect at this time of year. Dry and dusty, but not yet overgrown. It is trail nirvana just outside the front door. After a few evening rides, Ste and I headed out to get some shots on the loamiest, most flowy trail around these parts. It was a great evening, and we got a few sweet shots and had an awesome ride. One of those where you don;t actually want to go home. Plus you can just shove your bike away without washing it. Sweet.

Once Dave got a look at the footy, he was keen to get out, so the next day we loaded up the cable cam and set out to get a super cool segment togethor. Ste and I rode the trail over and over and dave got shot after shot. It came out pretty cool. Once into the woods, we decided to gt out the cable cam and get some shots of Ste flowing through the braken. A total misjudgement led to a high speed cable cam crash, which lauched the camera into oblivion. All was well though, despite our best attempts to smash the camera.

We got some pretty nice shots in the end though, despite repeated setbacks. I really need to find somewhere that has a may climate all year round...

Lakes

So the Lakes is pretty much a second home to Cal and I. I think we must have been there every year since birth. And it really is one of the best places to ride bicycles on big(ish) mountains. It only seemed natural to haul Ste, Dave W and the trusty miniDV up there to get some trails on film.

Marin County

So I guess we had better back fill this blog with some of the actual filming we did over the last 11 months. Jeezus, can't believe it has been that long...

Anyway, we kicked of the year riding and filming wise at the Marin Trail in Gwydyr Forest. Seemed pretty appropriate seen as this was the first trail center any of us ever rode at. Seem to think I had bright blue woolen legwarmer tight things and a rigid spesh hardrock. I remember following a guy with a Yoda backpack down the final descent, Yoda flying all over the place, staring back at me. Mountain biking was way rad back in the day.

But yeah, I think the Marin is collectively our favourite trail center. The singletrack there is so sweet, just exactly how it should be, and it never really gets a revamp, which gives it a cool semi eroded, kind of natural vibe.

We set out to film two specific bits of singletrack on what turned out to be a peach of a day. First up Ste and I got up to speed, whilst Dave W scoped out some angles, then we filmed Dave shredding on his own later on. The light was peachy all day, and hitting up the final descent non stop was a great way to start the year. All in all, a damn fine day.