http://www.vimeo.com/3166859After having to put this shoot off a few times due to snow we decided we couldn’t wait any longer and met up with Irish pro Ben Reid and his rather high profile MotoX training partner Gordon Crockard for a session somewhere close to Londonderry this afternoon.

When we arrived on location we were all pretty surprised at how much snow there was still lying, it was about a foot deep and unfortunately unrideable, didn’t stop them having a go but we soon realised if we were going to get any decent footage we would have to go elsewhere and fast, before we lost the daylight!

A few phone calls were made and we headed to another location close by. The track was in much better condition, still not great but we got some pretty good shots just as the sun was going down.

Music Credits: Lily-Jean Lonely, Hell Fire Club

http://www.vimeo.com/3060759Another early start at 7am to go and meet Jamie McCullough down at the Mourne mountains.  One of the seals has been leaking in his break caliper so he resorted to burning the brake fluid of his brake pads with a blow torch!

It was a really cold day and also quite dark when we started, but by the time we got to the top of the trail the sun had started to rise properly.  

There are loads of downhill trails around the Mourne area. The trail we focused on (the wolf trail) has loads of densely packed trees along it which can make it quite tight at places, but really fun to ride.

We spent around 5 hours on this trail and got some really good footage.  You can see a clip with some blow torch action in the teaser video.

Up Next:

With downhill rider Ben Ried being a full time pro he has to find something to occupy his spare time in the off season.  Ben decided that putting a 250cc engine into his 80cc MX bike would be a good idea.  Check back soon to see what happens.

Just before Christmas we headed to Rostrevor where we spent two days filming Glyn O’Brien at Kilbroney Forest for his part in Break the Cycle. One of the things that really stood out on this time  is just how dark in general it is at this time of the year which makes it particularly hard to shoot in a forest setting, and full day shoots are definitely out!  

We made the most of our time though. Shane McAuley came down to set up a few zip lines again. We had Glyn hitting a super smooth step down and attacking a couple of flat out corners for that. The shots turned out quite well. By the time we were finished with the zip line it was starting to get dark so we packed up and headed back to Glyns house in Newry.

We stayed over at Glyn’s that night and got some interviews and footage from around his house. The next day Glyn, Big Ray (the headcam guy), and myself headed hiked up the hills above Rostrevor as far as we could go to capture some more action. The views were pretty amazing, and we were lucky to get clear skies.  It was so open up there and definitely worth the trip up.  Ray helped us out with head cam shots with the new HD camcorder we recently purchased gaffer taped to his helmet!

After that we then headed back to Kilbroney forest. Kilbroney has been home to the Irish Downhill Championships for a few years now and has a couple of amazing trails. The light was a bit better this time so we worked flat out to get in as much footage as possible.

Check out the clip from Glyns interview and some shots above Rostrevor. Fuzz also got a few behind the scenes clips together from day 1 of shooting.  A big thanks to Shane for setting up the zip line and Ray for helping with the headcam.

http://www.vimeo.com/2638535 http://www.vimeo.com/2639791

Thanks to everyone who voted for the ‘Break the Cycle’ test video of current Irish downhill champion Colin Ross at Cavehill, Belfast, at MTBMovies.com, as it won their monthly video contest.

In return, we are offering our prize to you!  This includes an MTBmovies T-shirt, First aid kit and stickers, you will not want to miss out!

The winner will be chosen at random from our mailing list, so sign up to be in with a chance to win!

The competition will be drawn on 05/01/2009, and the winner will be notified by email.

Good Luck!

http://www.vimeo.com/2333560I have finally got footage from most of the riders (apart from Glyn O’Brien) for the film and managed to put together a trailer.  This is more of a teaser than a trailer but it give an idea of what the film is all about.

We have not been out shooting over the past couple of weeks as we have been putting the trailer together but we will be out again soon to get more shots.  

Feel free to share the video to your friends or embed it on your site by using the buttons on the video.

Music credits: (in order of appearance – Artist/Track)
The Frames – In the deep shade
Joe Echo – Come get it wrong
Joe Echo – Where we wanna be