It finally arrived – Break the Cycle’s final shoot, and we definitely finished off the shooting in style.  Andy and I met up with all the Break The Cycle riders (minus two) this morning bright and early at Moneyscalp forest, Co. Down.   It was an amazing day, one of the best we have had for a while with sunny blue skies.  We were really lucky to have zip line extraordinaire Shane McCauley to come and set up a zip line for us!  It took a little longer to set up than he had hoped, Moneyscalp forest is pretty dense and it was hard finding a spot where Andy would stay clear of nearby trees, but he managed and it turned out really good, the fastest and longest one Andy had experienced yet!

After the riders had a quick warm up , we started filming as Shane got to work with the zip line.  Was a strange but cool day having Irelands top riders all together but not competing against each other, I think everyone enjoyed the experience of riding together and checking out each others lines and riding styles!  Was very chilled out and funny when the riders started trying to overtake each other, there were a few funny falls!  After the zip we had a few interviews to finish off then called it a day.  A few of the riders took the opportunity to spend another few hours out on their bikes together while they were all in the same part of the country and had the chance.

So with shooting finished Andy is now getting stuck into the editing.  We have had requests from people in Canada, America and UK for screening evenings, and are currently checking out some film festivals also.  Subscribe to the site to be the first to hear of screening event details and World Wide dvd release dates.  I am currently trying to organise a launch party in Belfast which should be pretty big with some of the bands involved playing.  Details will be posted here when I have them, don’t miss out!

Yesterday Andy and I headed to Ravensdale, Co Down where we filmed Masters World silver medallist Meave Baxter for her second Break The Cycle shoot.  She has got a very cool house where she is lucky enough to have a mountain bike trail which practically leads straight down to her back door, very lucky lady!

We started off at the big mast above Ravensdale Forest, the views were unreal, it was pretty hazy at first but it wasn’t long before the sun came out and the hours just seemed to fly by as we filmed some pretty sick riding by Meave.  I even had a go on Meave’s bike (my first ever go on a downhill bike) which I totally loved, as you can probably see from the photograph below!

After scaring a few sheep and coming across a random plastic chair halfway up the mountain we headed back down to Meave’s house were we all stuffed ourselves with some lovely sandwhiches made by Meave then headed to a Forest just outside Newry, Co Down to meet up with Liam, Meave’s brother for a cross country section.  The forest looked amazing, the sun was just setting and the bluebells were in full bloom, the footage looks pretty cool!

Andy and I got back to Belfast quite late in the evening and are now getting ready for the final group shoot today!  Should be a good one!

With filming for Break The Cycle almost finished, and the editing process already begun, we still have a couple of exciting shoots to go.  Yesterday was no exception as Andy and I were lucky enough to get an insight into the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service.  We headed to Armagh Fire Station, County Armagh, where fireman and Break The Cycle rider Glyn O’brien is stationed.  It was a really fun afternoon as we were given the grand tour of the newly built fire station and then got to film Glyn and a few other fireman going through some of their drills, check out the photos below.

Coming up next is the final group shoot where we are getting all the riders together for some serious riding and some craic of course!

After months of waiting for new sponsors to come on board for his 2009 team, we finally got a session with Ben Reid on his downhill bike.  We hit the trails near Rostrevor in County Down to soak up the action.

Ben just recently built up his new 09 Iron Horse with all the latest kit that you can see in the teaser video.  It’s a pretty sweet set-up, and the bike is really quiet on the trail.

Ben was actually great to work with.  We started at about 10:30 in the morning and filmed through to 18:00.  He only had a small bottle of water and a couple of chocolate biscuits to keep him going, but he had no complaints at all!  All that pre season training must be paying off.

After 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