POP: Mountain Bikes.

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	30 Images.

		Watching Mountain Bikes. One of the many people that were watching the mountain bikes in Levin the other day, a fantastic course they have made out there, I look forward to the next meeting.
Levin. 1:25 pm, Sun 25th Jan, 2009

		682 Taking a Leap of Skill. The day was not at all well prepared (just like my normal self) on my part (the event was extremely well run), not having walked the track until that day, and arriving fashionably late as usual I had to simply make the best of what I could find, hence many pictures are obscured, out of focus, and all those cool things, but I think there are a couple of nice ones, and a selection of the not bad ones, enjoy.
Levin. 1:28 pm, Sun 25th Jan, 2009

		Peace Out Man! Fairly early on while I was trying to get to grips not only with a new camera but a new shooting situation, I set the camera onto multishot (something like 4 a second from memory), and as we walked alongside the track in amongst all the bush we came across this guy, so I took a picture of him. In the tranquillity of the bush my camera noisily (it is actually quite quiet) snapped of 3 shots, and everyone turned to stare! At 21 megapixels, the card gets full fairly fast, so I went back to one shot soon after.
Levin. 1:34 pm, Sun 25th Jan, 2009

		Water for the Fallen. At one ramp this guy did a great jump off of it, but his landing was not so great, and he ended up sprawled on the ground with his helmet hitting the ground at end with a loud thud, I being a typical photographer was no help, but Carl rushed to his side. 'Give me water he said' as he hobbled off the track. He sat there for a few minutes then got all kitted up again and rode of down the track. Headache later, I wonder, maybe a little bit of crossed eyes, I don't know, he'll be fine eventually.
Levin 1:45 pm, Sun 25th Jan, 2009

		Back to the Start. This is the truck that took the riders from the bottom of the track back up to the top. I guess if this was not an event they would have to do it the hard way and ride there up the road, but under the circumstances (apart from the dust the truck stirred up) the truck was a great asset, keeping the riders riding and the fans interested.
Levin. 1:46 pm, Sun 25th Jan, 2009

		Flying! Coming from a motorcycling background I begin to see that the gulf between motored and pedalled machines has closed, and so it should do, speeds have increased, and the forces on machine and man have increased even more. Mountain biking has got less like Trials and more like Motorcross, and to add more to the two sports, there is now Supercross for both of them :)
Levin. 1:47 pm, Sun 25th Jan, 2009

		Landing. I think this is a cool shot, look at the tyres, look at the suspension and also look at the chain flying round there :) It's pretty impressive what the bikes have to go through, and they go through it so well!
Levin. 1:48 pm, Sun 25th Jan, 2009

		793 Flying. I should have picked up a program! I guess they had names to go with the numbers? Names are good to search for in Google etc, if you searched for 793 you will come up with all sorts of things. Cool style there though.
Levin. 1:49 pm, Sun 25th Jan, 2009

		793 Coming in for a Landing. What goes up, must come down they say.
Levin 1:49 pm, Sun 25th Jan, 2009

		Blue Bike Flying. Hats off to these guys, they really are fearless, but then I guess they are young :)
Levin. 1:49 pm, Sun 25th Jan, 2009

		712 In a Pine Tree Corridor. What a great course it was, some of the downhill slopes were very steep. I think a small motorbike would make it, a trials bike would do it with ease, I wonder who would be faster? I remember when I worked in London as a motorcycle dispatch rider, around the city of Westminster (the square mile) push bikes could beat us motored types any day of the week! But then they were using little alleys and such like while we had to go round the long ways :P
Levin. 1:51 pm, Sun 25th Jan, 2009

		891 Glimpsed Through the Undergrowth. As we walked ever upwards, we were often not in the best place to take pictures from when the whistle blew to indicate a bike coming. I kind of like this one though, it goes to show that mountain biking is not only about leaping from ramps. The was some really nice forest/bush there, and the bikes didn't spoil any of the tranquillity that was there Imo.
Levin. 1:57 pm, Sun 25th Jan, 2009

		845 Here I Am! One of my favourites! I like the haze of the dust from where he had come from, but it has so much more. His shirt is cool as well :) Also it's nice that he has no goggles on showing his eyes clearly.
Levin. 2:00 pm, Sun 25th Jan, 2009

		655 Pedalling. Nice to see riders coming strait at the camera like this, if I had more experience or more time to practise I would have got more like this. Even with goggles you can see eyes and expression (is he doing a small smile for the camera?).
Levin. 2:02 pm, Sun 25th Jan, 2009

		Pedalling. I inevitably had to make the comparison between photographing motorbikes racing and the mountain bikes? My verdict was that mountain bikes are much more peaceful, and much less smelly. Mountain bikes on the whole are easier to photograph, but they have a whole bunch of new challenges, not the least of which is the variable lighting, and the red flags and tape are irritating to.
Levin. 2:04 pm, Sun 25th Jan, 2009

		Launch! It would be interesting to put a wider angle (less telephoto) lens on and sit where the boy is sitting, or to his right, there were a few times I found 70-200mm verging on too strong. I remember my nephew asking me a couple of times if I heard the rider breathing as they rode past, and I never really did since I kept forgetting to listen for it, but getting as close as the boy there would make things like that more clear.
Levin. 2:17 pm, Sun 25th Jan, 2009

		9 Pedalling. We thought this might be a good spot, but the little hill and the sharp bend slowed them down too much to be exciting. I liked seeing them through the trees coming down the hill directly behind this riders head, it is steep and they flew down it!
Levin. 2:25 pm, Sun 25th Jan, 2009

		6 Pedalling. The anticipation of waiting for them to come round the corner after seeing or hearing them come down the hill was nerve racking, but when they finally did appear it was like a cricket bowler bowling a slow one. I think I got my timing right though.
Levin. 2:26 pm, Sun 25th Jan, 2009

		25 Pedalling at the Bottom of the Hill. This must be the foot of the hill, 25 has just started the small climb up to where the earlier shots were taken. Next ones show the hill.
Levin. 2:26 pm, Sun 25th Jan, 2009

		26 Flying Down the Hill. Yes I did end up with at least one picture here where the bike was almost completely obscured behind the pine tree that 26 is about to go behind, like mountain biking, mountain biking photography is similarly fluid (well it is when I do it anyway). I mean without a predetermined position to get good shots, you have to be ready all the time to, raise the camera, and shoot in one fluid movement, it doesn't always work but sometimes it does. On a dirtbike often you have to avoid things in your path, and with no way to stop, you have to be like liquid, all the time flowing this way or that, it is a big part of the wonderful nature of two wheels, it is the dance of two wheels.
Levin. 2:28 pm, Sun 25th Jan, 2009

		What, No Gloves!?!? This guy looks so tuned in, like a bull fighter or something, playing with his deadly opponent, yet knowing him intimately, and predicting his every move before he makes it, he is in the zone! (Gloves! Finger-less ones are certainly better than nothing).
Levin. 2:29 pm, Sun 25th Jan, 2009

		7 Negotiates the Down Hill. A better view of the hillside. This was very close to the end of the day, and I believe all these guys were like the finalists (?), I'm not sure really. Low numbers might mean something as well, lol, ok I don't know :P
Levin. 2:30 pm, Sun 25th Jan, 2009

		15 Waiting for I Don't Know What. This guy turned up here, next to the track, I'm not sure why but the next thing my attention was on the next bike going down the hill, and when I looked back he was gone, I asked Carl 'did he follow that bike down', he said he did. They are Soo quiet, so agile in the right hands, and that is one cool looking bike! (there is one later on that I think is the same model and you can see it better, I will point it out).
Levin. 2:31 pm, Sun 25th Jan, 2009

		864, What An Awesome Bike! This is the bike! It looks so fundamental, but it is built so beautifully, it would be my pick of the bikes I have seen (speaking as a novice in the subject of mountain bike construction). That swingarm holding the rear wheel and the way the shock is mounted in the main frame looks sweet, so long as the pivot is rigid enough (I'm sure it will be). Very nice.
Levin. 2:32 pm, Sun 25th Jan, 2009

		The Bike of Choice. It looks like both frame pieces (swingarm and main backbone) are cast, so I guess they are made of some Aluminium Alloy; lightweight, rigid, shaped, and probably expensive :( The disc on the front wheel looks minute, but no doubt ample for the purpose (many of the motorbikes I have owned had two huge discs on the front). Nice bracing on the forks and good travel by the looks of it. Tidy cables, it is a work of art if you ask me :)
Levin 2:32 pm, Sun 25th Jan, 2009

		16 Flying. Nearing the end of the day now, only a handful left to come, and my 'technique' is improving I think :)
Levin. 2:32 pm, Sun 25th Jan, 2009

		Coming Into Land. It must be a great feeling jumping of ramps etc like this, it looks very cool :)
Levin. 2:34 pm, Sun 25th Jan, 2009

		Unknown Coming Into Land. The helmets and clothes look pretty radical these days as well, it's a big change from the old nothing but Matt Black mindset hehe.
Levin. 2:35 pm, Sun 25th Jan, 2009

		Unknown Launching. I wanted to time this view so the bike was closer to the ramp than the landing place, I thought this would create the impression of the jump still being uncertain in outcome, in other words more dramatic. I think it works, the bike is also at a more radical angle, not the level attitude you get when they are at the zenith of their arc (if that makes sense?).
Levin. 2:35 pm, Sun 25th Jan, 2009

		23, My Other Favourite. I reckon this one looks almost sinister ;) Ok maybe that's just me, probably. I'm sure 23 is a great and generally good sort of a person ;) it is just the lighting and the fact that we are looking up at him?
Levin. 2:36 pm, Sun 25th Jan, 2009