I’m running out of time before the hill right near my place that has had a bush fire grows back and becomes unridable, or at least so overgrown that I’m too scared of snakes to go up there. So I went out riding there today and may go back on thursday, although I’m thinking of giving the 300m long round handrail from my first big movie a go.
I explored more of the hill today and found some fantastic lines. The frustrating thing is that technical stuff that you might normally be able to do on ‘normal trails’ becomes unridable when it starts and ends with steep rocky slopes. There’s nowhere to rest. When you come off you just keep going and going too…check out the fast footwork on some of the falls down the steep slopes!
I thought Blockhead’s “The Art of Walking” was a fitting song.
News just in! Firefighters are currently tackling a bush fire near Brisbane, Australia. The blaze is thought to be suspicious and police are searching for a man seen leaving the area with a fat-tyred unicycle, a petrol can and a big grin earlier today…
I’m amazed there aren’t more broken ankles from muni-ing. Hikers take on technical descents with sturdy boots, poles and lots of care; after coming off a muni you’re taking on the same terrain at speed in an uncontrolled manner with highly inappropriate footwear!
That was a very enjoyable video, thanks for posting!
I was chickening out and not jumping very far. Where I was landing it would have been under 6’. Where I wanted to land it would have been somewhere between 7’ and 8’, I think. I don’t like risking hurting myself when I’m on my own, but the real reason I didn’t jump out that far was it scared me.
highly inappropriate footwear!
What, Dunlop Volleys inappropriate?? They do grip very well on rocks.
What does ‘lines’ mean exactly?
A line is the path you choose (or don’t choose sometimes!) to take in trials, muni, and a lot of other sports. I don’t know if they use the word line in rock climbing, but it wouldn’t surprise me. Within the area of the hill I was riding on there were lines everywhere!
I liked the footage of you walking up the trail, then riding down the same sections, all to the relaxed music. It reminded me of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, how he has his routine, changing his sweater and shoes at the beginning and end of every show. Dunno why my brain made that association…
I think John Foss and the Santa Barbara crew are getting to me… I actually thought there was too much hopping in your video, although I’d do the same myself. What choice do you have when things are so steep and rocky? Ah, I’m just getting ornery 'cause I’m laid up with a sprained ankle…
ahem you should be greatful, I sure am… and I thought active ankles were silly… I’m considering getting me a pair now.
There was…but I’m working on it. I must say, I feel like I’m a long way off being able to ride those lines without hopping. They’re just too steep and bumpy for me! As I said before, some of them may have been doable on a ‘normal’ trail where there’s reasonably smooth terrain before and after a technical section but this was all technical. This is where I need to go riding with Kris Holm and the Santa Barbara guys and learn from them.
By the way, I’m glad someone picked up on the riding down the lines that i walked up in the beginning.
Great riding, as usualy, Andrew. Those look like wicked Muni trials runs. Gotta love those dirt rool outs.
By the way, the “Santa Barbara Boys” are not always rolling every inch of that kind of terrain, and there’s a lot of mid-air spinning to get the cranks horizontal when we roll off drops. I personally almost always pause and do a few mini-hops before a drop over 3 feet. If you “session” on a particular run you can throw down big rolling hops off stuff you have memorized, but “on-sight,” on the bigger stuff, I don’t much care for flying off stuff with the cranks at any old angle–though some of us (Hans, Josh, Chris) do.
If you ever make it out this way you’d likely be leading the pack, Andrew.
Thanks Klaas. That’s really odd, yes it is filmed in 16:9. I have only ever been able to save it as a 4:3 with letterboxing (the black bands top and bottom) from the editing program, but then I trimmed off the letterboxing to return it to 16:9 with VirtualDub. That’s really surprising that your media player assumes it’s meant to be 3:2. And 3:2 is a really odd aspect ratio anyway!
My bad, I meant 4:3. That, BTW, is even more off (compared to 16:9) than 3:2.
3:2 may be odd in the IT world but it was a very common aspect ratio in the oldfashioned analog days of taking pictures. Think of the 36 x 24 mm negatives of 35 mm film, or 9 x 6 cm contact prints.
That’s interesting. I’d have thought there would have been a steady progression further and further towards a short and wide aspect, but as you said 3:2 is wider than 4:3 but is older. Maybe it’s just the film industry that’s going widescreen.
So I went out riding there today and may go back on thursday, although I’m thinking of giving the 300m long round handrail from my first big movie a go.