Chillin' out at the cinema with Danny Mac...

Great night out at the cinema on Tuesday with Eden Court in Inverness showing a double-bill of mountain bike films. First up was Follow Me from Anthill Films. A fantastic new film in full HD with some brilliant sequences, it follows a bunch of bikers including Thomas Vanderham, Sam Hill, Gee Atherton and the ever hilarious Cam McCaul as they ripped it up in all kinds of different locations around the world from Mount Washington to The Shore, Whistler to Sun Peaks. The action is superb and the riders are all on top form as they fly through the stunning locations. The second film was a favourite of mine, Seasons from The Collective (who've since become Anthill). The film follows a bunch of riders including Steve Peat on great form and my own fave rider Darren Berrecloth. As the title suggests it follows the riders through winter training, spring, summer racing and competing and into the autumn when they all get together for a stunning ride at Whistler. It has some great sections and although the lack of HD shows when viewed directly after Follow Me, I still love the simplicity of the approach and the sense of really getting to know the riders as they move through the year. I've loved this film since its original release and it was amazing to see it on the big screen. I still think the last section of Seasons defines everything that I think is fantastic about getting out on a bike and hitting the trails with friends.

Watch a bit of the final section of Seasons by clicking the link HERE.

The final bonkers thing about the evening was that as soon as I walked into the bar at Eden Court and sat down I noticed a guy sitting talking bikes with a bunch of his friends and you know when you get that feeling that you know someone but you can't quite... It took me a second to realise that it was none other that Danny Macaskill, bike trickster extraordinaire. So I figured no one would believe me and I plucked up the courage to mosey on over and ask him for a picture for my blog. Despite the fact that I was rather annoyingly interrupting his evening, he very politely obliged, and here it is. What a nice guy! Thanks Danny.

So a great night, and I hope that more mountain bike film makers will get the opportunity to bring films into our cinemas. Seeing the films in this way gives such an amazing perspective on them, and seeing them in a cinema with 250 other mountain bikers just made it so much better. Films like Follow Me and Seasons and others like Roam, Virtuous and Home are so inspiring, I'm sure we were all itching to get out and ride as soon as we got out of the place.

Whilst I'm talking films, at the moment I'm waiting with baited breath for the release of Life Cycles from Stance Films, created by Photographer Derek Frankowski and film maker Ryan Gibb, the film looks like it's going to be truly amazing, Berrecloth and McCaul both feature along with a whole host of other amazing riders and the set up of the film looks outstanding. Check out this Cam McCaul flip whip and when you've finished wondering how the hell he got up there and where he's going to land it, imagine it on film, in full HD... CAN'T. WAIT.

             

Talking of inspiration, I'm off to the World Cup Downhill at Fort William tomorrow, so I should get to see a whole bunch of the riders from these films doing what they do best in real life. How's that for a fun day out?

Spring is in the Air...

Sitting here and looking out of the window at the clear blue sky, all I can think about is getting out of work and getting out on the bike. Trails are starting to dry out and we've been able to get out until late every night this week, finding loads of new routes and clearing away some of the winter debris ready for a summer of fantastic rides.

Having planned to do all three of the Ten Under series as well as the Tour de Ben Nevis and Relentless, I've made now made a big decision not to race this year. The costs of racing just seem so high so I'm aiming to spend that time and money looking for some epic rides and getting out into the real wilderness as much as possible. Cape Wrath looks like an exciting possibility and I'd like to get the bike over to Skye for some big mountain riding.

On thing I am going to have to spend some money on is the World Cup at Fort William in June. I hope to get there for a couple of days and I'll try to get some video of Steve Peat, Sam Hill, Greg Minaar, Tracy Moseley and friends letting gravity do it's thing and I think Brian Lopes and Jared Graves will be riding in the 4X so right now I'm getting pretty stoked at the prospect of an awesome weekend. Let's hope that the warm weather is here in force by then and that we get glorious sunshine for a fantastic summer of riding.