andy waterman: pics and bikes

Crowe Custom Motorcycles

2012-01-25T07:49:00.001-08:00

Crowe Custom, originally uploaded by Andy Waterman.

I shot this whilst visiting Jordan @ hufnagelcycles.com last week in Portland.
Jordan shares his workspace with James Crowe @ crowecustoms.com/ - Jordan makes bicycles, James customises motorbikes. It's a cool set-up and the two guys were super welcoming.
There will be more about Jordan and Portland bike builders in an up coming issue of Rouleur magazine - rouleur.cc/.
Some of this will make its way into my magazine too - www.privateer.cc/

Shot on a Bronica SQ with Fuji Portra 800 film and a 50mm lens.

Death outside the gunstore

2012-01-21T12:26:00.001-08:00

Death outside the gunstore, originally uploaded by Andy Waterman.

Day two of our stay in the US, 8am, rush hour, we heard a loud bang out on the street. There was a guy lying in the middle of the road and two other bodies outside the gun store - that brick building in the back. There were sirens and police and the snow was cold and white, like the sheets they laid over the bodies.
Our minds were racing. Had they tried to rob the gun store? Was it a shooting? What kind of idiot tries to rob a gun store?
It wasn't until the evening when we saw the TV news we found out the truth. Two guys had stolen a car, they were pursued by police, they crashed the car into a pylon, throwing them both from the car, and killing a pedestrian in the process.
The guy in the road, the car thief, survived.
Welcome to America.

Chris King

2012-01-20T10:11:00.001-08:00

CHRIS KING, originally uploaded by Andy Waterman.

Met the man himself yesterday. There's more over on the Privateer blog - privateer.cc/chris-kings-yeti-arc

File under framebuilder

2012-01-18T19:19:00.001-08:00

File under framebuilder, originally uploaded by Andy Waterman.

I'm now in Oregon, and today we visited Rolf wheels and Winter bikes in Eugene. It rained all day - it's not stopped in 24hrs - but I like this place. The people are good and the beer is nice, and vice versa.

Life is good!

2012-01-17T05:28:00.001-08:00

life is good, originally uploaded by Andy Waterman.

Factory visit, Cane Creek cycling components

Louisville CX Masters Worlds course

2012-01-12T14:00:00.001-08:00

Louisville CX worlds course, originally uploaded by Andy Waterman.

I'm racing the World Masters this weekend for Rouleur. It is hellish. I'm not being melodramatic when I say its like the Somme.
My race is tomorrow, Friday. When we were at the course today it started snowing, and since then the temperature has dropped to 25f, which is somewhere in the minus figures in centigrade.
I.E. Fucking cold
I'm dreading it, and not just because it's cold and miserable, but because I'm really underprepared with what I could bring - no spare bike, no wheels, no bags of kit to keep me warm and dry.
You forget how much you rely upon being able to drive to races to take all the gear you need.
Also, since my training ride in the freezing rain this morning, I've got a really sore knee – as most of the course is only really passable on foot now that means PAIN.
One more hour of suffering and the season is over. I can't wait.

Shear Wizardry

2012-01-11T15:57:00.001-08:00

Shear Wizardry, originally uploaded by Andy Waterman.

I'm in Louisville, Kentucky, and I'm thinking about getting a haircut.

Top 30

2011-12-12T08:24:00.001-08:00

nat_series_bradford_seniors-100, originally uploaded by britishcycling.org.uk photos.

Finally, I scored a top 30 result in a National Trophy cross race - my first point-scoring result of the season so far.
I didn't feel particularly good but I was at least able to ride all the technical bits on the course. That made a big difference and meant I was able to beat Andrew Nichols - a guy I was pretty competitive with this time last year - for the first time this season. That made me happy.
Now for a few weeks of relative calm before Nationals and then the World Masters Chmaps in the USA.

Spectra Show, London Newcastle Gallery

2011-12-02T01:00:00.001-08:00

Jen Stark, Counter Cosmo

My mate Ed at the The Future Tense has curated a really fantastic show at the London Newcastle Project Space on Rivington Street in East London. He's brought together a group of artists whose bold use of colour is a perfect antidote to a wet December evening in grimy Shoreditch, and presented their work in a huge, but strangely inviting space, with seriously impacting lighting.
The show runs until 18 December and is highly recommended.

Lee Baker, Refractive Monolith

Chuck Elliott, Radial / One

Why tuition fees are a con

2011-12-02T00:24:00.001-08:00

I don't believe in tuition fees. My suspicion – and I concede it may well be wrong – is that it won't save the Government anywhere near the money it claims, whilst at the same time condemning the vast majority of young graduates to a life of poverty through till at least their forties.
This is why.
When a University charges a student £9000 for a year's worth of tuition, it will get that money up front. Students sign up to pay back these loans out of their post-graduation salaries at source, through PAYE once they earn above a £20,000/pa threshold (making the loans much more like an additional tax than a real loan as has been most people's fear).
The Government, in these dire financial times, won't have the money in the bank to fund these loans up front, so I suspect it will be packaging them up and selling them on as soon as they can to get some cash in the kitty.
The problem is putting a value on that debt.
Although apparently worth £9000, plus interest, the repayment method, and the threshold at which repayments start to take place, mean that anyone who buys that debt is taking a huge risk that it might never get repaid, or in many cases, only partially repaid or repaid over an infinite period – 40, 50 or 60 years perhaps.
So what's that debt worth on the open market? £500? £5000? Who knows, but chances are they're not worth anything like £9000 plus a number of years interest. In fact, it's my suspicion the Government is simply saddling itself with a load of toxic debt that will never be worth what it paid out, much in the same way as the US banks saddled themselves with sub-prime loans prior to 2008.
As a result, I predict higher tuition fees will actually cost the tax payer more in the short and long term than the current system, will ruin any chance that our current A-Level students will be drivers of growth over the coming decade, and will create a huge delay in those young people being able to afford to have children of their own. They simply won't have the financial stability in their lives while they save for a huge housing deposit whilst repaying these loans, creating a recipe for social unrest in the future when my generation comes to retire. There just won't be the young taxpayers there to fund any kind of welfare state.
The only positive to come out of this massive hike in tuition fees is that Universities will have some money to spend, and students will hold them to account – that is their money they are spending. The days of the four hours contact time Philosophy degree are sadly numbered.

I look forward to being proved wrong!

Derby cyclocross weekend

2011-11-28T03:49:00.001-08:00

More shots and a write-up on the vicious velo blog

Sylvain Chavanel, en-route to winning the French Championships, Boulogne 2011

2011-11-25T14:49:00.001-08:00

CLICK THE PIC TO SEE IT LARGE ON FLICKR, originally uploaded by Andy Waterman.

Waaaaaaayyyy back in June I was lucky enough to get a commission from Cycle Sport Magazine to go to Boulogne for the day to shoot the French National Champs. It was a great day with sunshine, brilliant racing on a great, short circuit, and a deserving winner.

And there was sunshine!

There are more shots in the new issue of Cycle Sport magazine, available in the UK and USA right now.

Shot on the left - Canon 30d, 10-22mm lens, and an on camera flash. Shot on the right - Canon 7d, 100mm f2 lens, wide open.

For the magazine, check out cyclesportmag.com

World Masters Cyclocross Champs

2011-11-21T11:39:00.001-08:00

I just entered. Louisville, Kentucky, I'm coming over.

I just need to find a bike to ride now, and if I could find some form, that would be pretty good too. Six weeks to go, I'll be fine - I've got a lot of study material to check out.

4hrs of CX riding in the sun in November.

2011-11-19T07:44:00.001-08:00

Can't complain about that!

Neil and Becky's wedding on Rock N' Roll Bride

2011-11-17T09:36:00.001-08:00

Some of my photos from Neil and Becky's wedding have been featured on the website Rock N' Roll Bride - pretty cool.

Neil and Becky's wedding, originally uploaded by Andy Waterman.

A quote I liked

2011-11-07T08:06:00.000-08:00

"But then we did not think ever of ourselves as poor. We did not accept it. We thought we were superior people and other people that we looked down on and rightly mistrusted were rich. It had never seemed strange to me to wear sweatshirts for underwear to keep warm. It only seemed odd to the rich. We ate well and cheaply and drank well and cheaply and slept well and warm together and loved each other."

Ernest Hemingway, from A Moveable Feast.

Back to shooting film with a Bronica

2011-11-02T02:43:00.000-07:00

I spent last week shooting and doing interviews at Coed Y Brenin for Privateer. Totally loving shooting film again. These are just a couple of outtakes to use up a role on the drive up to Dafydd Davis's house. Details: Bronica SQ, 150mm lens, Neopan 400CN film, edited a bit in lightroom.

Racing/Working/Blogging/Head-Shaving

2011-10-31T03:09:00.001-07:00

andrew waterman, originally uploaded by placid casual.

It's been a bit quiet on the blogging front, mostly because I've been racing a lot and working even more. It's all good fun but it doesn't leave much time for bloggage.
Racing's going ok - fourth at Muddy Hell, 36th at the Trophy yesterday (pic above), and work is going great. Go and have a look at www.privateer.cc where I've been doing a bunch of MTB-related blogging.
In other news, I'm about to shave my head into a mohawk for MoHawkVember. Most of ViCiOUS VELO are doing it. Please sponsor us and make us looking like dicks worthwhile! Here's our sponsorship page: giveincelebration.cancerresearchuk.org/0000864

Vid what I made for the Super Cross series

2011-10-04T06:36:00.000-07:00

Mo' details over at rapha.cc/super-cross. And yes, Vicious Velo have got a ride in the invitation race at Ally Pally!

Morris Dancing in Tenterden

2011-10-03T05:06:00.001-07:00

Tenterden Morris Dancing, originally uploaded by Andy Waterman.

A funny thing about Saturday's wedding was that it was in Tenterden, Kent, which was also hosting the Tenterden Folk Festival, so the town was jammed with drunken Morris dancers, even at 1pm.
I was glad of a prominent Police presence when I went to get the car after the reception! Those Morris dancers know how to party.

Clap your hands

2011-10-02T04:52:00.000-07:00

October 1, 30deg - I don't know what Neil and Becky did to deserve weather like that, but I wasn't complaining!
I like this outtake from yesterday's wedding, it makes me want to listen to jangly guitar music like this collaboration between Beach Fossils and Wild Nothing.

Thirty five flights of steps

2011-09-27T01:37:00.000-07:00

photo by Boom

The ViCiOUS armada rolled into Essex on Sunday for the Eastern League at Springfield, Chelmsford. Kev and I raced there last year and enjoyed it, thus the return visit, this time with Ben, Boom, Matt, Paul and Wayne in tow.
Eastern Leagues tend to get good fields and the front row on Sunday was as hot as the weather. And that excluded the hitters who were un-gridded thanks to it being their first Eastern race. The start was pretty hectic, budging 30mph, flat-out on parched playing fields.
I was up with the leaders, rolling round in third until two thirds of the way round the lap, I rolled a tub. The ground was so hard that I was running a bit more pressure than normal - about 2 bar - but that means that if the tyre catches an edge (such as when you're desperately trying to get a pedal in out of an off-camber corner, and the wheel steps out...) the tub can roll.
And that's what happened.

photo by Boom

I stopped, wrestled it back on and rode round to the pits to get my second bike, from Wayne who was helping out (cheers Wayne!). That put me down to about 20th place, a good 40secs back on the leaders, which included Kev. I worked hard to ride up to Ben over the next three laps or so, but the effort and the heat took its toll and I rapidly got dropped by him again.
I caught him a second and final time after about 40mins of racing, and went straight past this time. By the time we hit the bell, one hour in, I was up into sixth and that's where I stayed to the finish. The course was a killer with three flights of steps on every lap - and we did 12 laps - so that makes 35 run ups (we skipped one on the start loop) in total. By the end of the race my legs were jelly, and so they stayed for longer than normal. This course is really excellent training for National Trophy racing as technique comes into play, but not just that, you have to maintain that technique all the way to the finish. By the end it was as much as I could do to lift my bike up the steps, let alone sprint up them two at a time. That's god practice.
So a decent result given the circumstances. Now it's back to tub gluing ready for next weekend.

Wahey! I took a new photo!

2011-09-21T14:09:00.001-07:00

Alexandra Palace, Paul Oldham, Rapha SuperCross, originally uploaded by Andy Waterman.

Out today with the National CX Champ Paul Oldham, shooting photos and video for the upcoming Rapha Supercross series. First photos in weeks! Been a while...

Something to say?

2011-09-15T03:42:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I know I've been pretty quiet huh? It's because I've been busy: if you hadn't heard, I just started a new job at Privateer magazine, the mountain biking sister magazine to Rouelur. I jumped straight in the deep end, bypassing the office on my first day of employment and heading straight to Germany for Eurobike.
Honestly, if you want to get to know your new colleagues, I can't recommend trawling a bike trade show for four days highly enough. By the end of the week we were all pretty "intimate". Essentially, Eurobike is like going on a four day stag weekend in a gigantic Evans Cycles. Sounds weird, is weird.
Since then, you might not have noticed, but cyclcross season started. Two races in and I've scored a third and an eighth. It looks like cross is getting popular, not just with newbies, but more seasoned racers too. I think I'm going to struggle to get a front row start position at the London League this season...
So that's it, working and riding, riding and working and not a lot else!
Hopefully I'll have some moving images to show you next week after I've filmed the promo for the Rapha Supercross series.

London Riots

2011-08-09T10:06:00.000-07:00

I've just got home from work. It's a beautiful August day in London, and the streets are buzzing with people. It could be very pleasant, but instead, the people are being drawn out onto the streets to check the damage that has been inflicted on their communities by the vandals who have taken control of the city these last few nights.
I rode home from Croydon, spotting Boris Johnson on the way, giving an interview outside the cordoned-off and still smouldering furniture shop that got torched last night.

I rode on, up to West Croydon where a Tesco seemed only recently to have had its windows smashed in and its contents stolen, and another building remained the centre of four of five fire crews' attention.
A safe lay on the floor, in front of police lines, just in front a looted shop.
Shell-shocked residents of all ages and ehtnicity milled around baffled by the uprising. "How much do you think they got from that safe?" a young African woman rhetorically asked her husband as they walked by, two toddlers in tow.
My own suburb of West Norwood seems to have escaped relatively unscathed, although the Money Shop has had it's windows kicked in and its offices ransacked. No police officers were protecting the site when I passed, just one piece of police tape was keeping the looters from returning.
The saddest thing was that Money Shop still had a job advert in its window. If these riots are about a lack of earning opportunities for the young working class, why not apply for one of the jobs that are actually available in your own community rather than ransacking those businesses and chasing potential employers away?
There is no logic whatsoever, and this violence serves no purpose.
Let's hope the police are able to keep things under control tonight.

More Mongoose Know Your Roots pics

2011-08-07T05:21:00.000-07:00

Top one got used as a contents page pic in MBR. That's it though.

DUNGENESS

2011-07-27T09:26:00.001-07:00

I last went to Dungeness in 2007, and I haven't really looked at these photos since. I put some on the blog back then, but only a handful, so it was nice to rediscover them this week. I put a load more up on Flickr, have a look by clicking the image.
It's a uniquely weird, creepy and otherworldly place that really doesn't feel like the Kent/Sussex you know from elsewhere.
Go there, take a camera and don't get too freaked out — I'd highly recommend it.

Bike testing

2011-07-24T08:50:00.000-07:00

After a very busy few weeks, my diary is clear and I've been able to ride some bikes on trails I know. Like this in Swinley. I'm testing two hardtails from Boardman and Genesis this month — it's not as easy as I thought it would be. I'm riding the Boardman here, Ed from the Future Tense is filming.

Trek Remedy 2012 - testing in Austria

2011-07-14T15:20:00.000-07:00

This is what I've been up to this week. I know — I missed Crystal Palace for this, I was gutted (joke).

I did an article about the bike which is on the MBR website. Go have a look.

Wireless

2011-07-05T06:42:00.001-07:00

Foals @ Wireless, originally uploaded by Andy Waterman.

Foals and Pulp stole the show. Saw Metronomy (good) but Missed TV on the Radio and Cut Copy. Next time...

CrossJunkie — Portrait for Cycling Active

2011-06-29T02:56:00.001-07:00

CrossJunkie, originally uploaded by Andy Waterman.

It's not often I get to shoot portraits, so when the opportunity came along to shoot Alan Dorrignton for a Cycling Active Magazine interview, I jumped at the chance. Alan is a huge cyclocross fan/racer/collector/enthusiast, and increasingly well known and respected internationally for his blog crossjunkie.blogspot.com/. To show that, we shot this portrait in his basement, where he stores his huge collection of wheels and tyres. We'd just got back from riding the Ronde Van Oost Lancashire, the Classics inspired ride Alan organised, thus the cycling clothing. It also meant we were pushed for time — Alan's wife was preparing lunch so we only had a couple of minutes to grab the shot.
Here's the end result http://yfrog.com/h2r6nnuj

French National RR Champs 2011

2011-06-27T05:33:00.001-07:00

Chavanel — too fast, originally uploaded by Andy Waterman.

I had a great weekend. Friday night I went to the theatre to see Gogol's The Government Inspector at the Young Vic, which was absolutely brilliant — HIGHLY reccomended.
On Saturday I raced my bike at Hillingdon, attacking the bunch with three laps to go to take 6th place. Not brilliant, but above expectations given the jetlag I've had since being in California this past week.
Then on Sunday — yesterday — I took a day trip to France to watch the French National RR Championships, a comission for Cycle Sport magazine. Sweet deal eh?!
The race was only in Boulogne, half an hour from the Eurotunnel terminal at Calais.
The race was a spectator's dream, covering 14 laps of a 13km circuit around the town. The sunshine only helped matters (and got me very sunburnt).
Sylvain Chavanel was head and shoulders above the rest, riding super aggressively in the final 50km to catch and pass about four groups on the road, before finally going solo for the last lap for the victory. What a guy, and what teeth! Chapeau!
More pics will be appearing in Cycle Sport in due course — keep your eyes peeled for that (probably in the winter apparently).

Paris for Condor

2011-06-13T10:06:00.000-07:00

This was actually the first video I made for Condor, but it's only just gone public now. It shows the making of the Paris frame, together with its intricate bilaminate work around the headtube. These layers of steel look like lugs but aren't.
The frames are made in tiny quantities in Italy, which is where this was shot.

Mongoose Know Your Roots roadtrip, USA

2011-05-26T08:14:00.000-07:00

I'm just back from the US, traveling round Colorado, New Mexico and Utah with Mongoose bikes, pro riders Steve Romaniuk and Amir Kabbani and MTB journalists from Australia and South Africa.
There was a lot of travelling involved but we got to do some amazing riding — especially at Angel Fire Resort — and visit some very cool places along the way.

Forest of Dean

2011-05-18T09:36:00.001-07:00

Forest of Dean, originally uploaded by Andy Waterman.

I've not put any photos on here for ages.
I took this at the Forest of Dean last week. Such fun trails down there.

Lincoln Grand Prix — Condor Video

2011-05-12T09:50:00.000-07:00

I shot this for Condor at the weekend. I need to buy a proper microphone... Lesson learned.

Fashion Videos: Philip Lim thumbs up

2011-05-11T12:50:00.000-07:00

My girlfriend is a stylist so for a while now I've been keeping an eye on fashion videos with a thought at the back of my mind that we could possibly do a test shoot in the future. We've done still test shoots in the past, and while stills are great, video is something I get the impression the fashion world is only just getting to grips with, but the market is likely to grow pretty rapidly.
However, most of the videos I've seen so far are crap: either utterly impenetrable arty bollocks or say-what-you-see yawnfests.
So, I was impressed when I found this Philip Lim video on Selectism.com today. I love the way the director of photography has utilised the light, the architecture and the colour-grading to make it look properly cool and aspirational. What more does it need?

3.1 Phillip Lim "Weavers" Men's FW11 Collection from 3.1PhillipLim on Vimeo.

Vertical Video

2011-05-11T12:05:00.000-07:00

I'm a sucker for a novelty, so when I spotted this vertical MTB film, it got me pretty fired up to give one a go myself next time I go out to shoot. I think it looks pretty cool in this situation — I'm looking forward to trying it myself.

SUNNY SIDE UP! from infinite trails on Vimeo.

BMC Trailfox — headcam video

2011-05-04T06:34:00.000-07:00

From yesterday, music by Yuck (my — and everybody else it seems — band du jour). Click the vid for more details.

BMC launch, Switzerland

2011-05-04T04:22:00.000-07:00

I just had a super busy 40hr trip to Switzerland and back, to visit BMC bikes in Biel for the launch of the new Trailfox TF01.
Press launches are a blessing and a curse in equal measure. There's always the pressure to squeeze as much in as possible which means early starts, late nights and economy airlines. They're nearly always fun, but the payoff is days of exhaustion when you get back home.
I left my house at 4.40am on Bank Holiday Monday, and had a pretty smooth journey to Switzerland with David Arthur from Bikemagic.com, and Albert and Matt from Evans (the UK distributor of BMC). From Zurich airport we hopped on a train to Biel, arriving in time for lunch.

From Biel we took the funicular railway up the mountain to the sports resort of Magglingen, 1000m or so above the main town. Magglingen is the Swiss government's Olympic training facility, so it's jam packed with athletes and athletic facilities; a bit like Crystal Palace, but infinitely better.

After presentations from BMC's marketing and engineering guys, it was back into town for dinner with 20 or so other journalists from all over Europe. The beer flowed — all courtesy of BMC — and so we didn't get back till midnight, verging on comatose.
In this situation, what you want is a lie-in — even being allowed to get up at 9am would be fine. But no, we had things to do, bikes to see and trails to ride, so we were up and in the breakfast room at 7.30am (6.30am UK time).
By 10.30 we were setting up bikes and getting ready to ride. The weather however wasn't playing ball — it was raining, it was cold, and we were up in the clouds. No one was prepared with enough clothes. Fortunately, riding keeps you warm. We finished riding by 3.30pm, and despite the tiredness and the kiss-of-death that was the call to arms for "one last run" on the downhill track (video to follow) we all made it back to the changing rooms safe and sound. That is unusual — tiredness, unfamiliar bikes/trails and journalistic one-up-manship do lead to a lot of press camp crashes.
Back into Biel, we hopped onto the legendarily punctual train back to Zurich where we discovered our legendarily un-punctual Easyjet flight was delayed by an hour.
I eventually got home at midnight — the post-Osama queue at Gatwick passport control added an unnecessary 45mins after the flight — exhausted to point that I couldn't actually sleep. Marvellous.

So, I'm bunking off today — don't tell anyone — and making up for being so productive for the last two days. You can find out more about the BMC Trailfox TF01 next month in MBR and there will be some headcam video online soon.
Right, time for more coffee!

peSeta Cycling Caps video oddity

2011-05-01T06:12:00.000-07:00

This is bonkers and rather good. What draws so many creative people to bicycles?

Brooks saddles campaign

2011-04-27T09:22:00.000-07:00

This is good to see: proper, quality photography, with proper models, props and crew, and — one assumes — a proper budget (especially for post-production). Well done Brooks, it's refreshing to see a bike brand (albeit one that is extending its reach into the world of the hipster) taking its advertising message this seriously, and not cutting corners to get there. Bravo!

The campaign was shot by Frank Herholdt, more from Brooks at brooksengland.com

Vicious Velo Royal Wedding Day Ride

2011-04-25T14:18:00.000-07:00

If anyone fancies joining us for 150km of Kent and Sussex Hills rather than staying in and fawning over a pair of toffs getting hitched, be our guest. Details over at the ViCiOUS VELO blog.

Spring schralp session

2011-04-21T03:02:00.000-07:00

Second video in a week - impressive huh? The Rapha Condor Sharp video has gone crazy — 3000 views and counting, in three days. CRAZY!
Anyway, we thought we'd go and have a play around at making a video for our longterm test bikes at MBR. This is the result. I know the opening title is lame, but the sunshine does that sort of thing to people. I won't say sorry for that.
The rest of it is pretty nice though I reckon. Danny and Mick are really easy to shoot, I'm less easy — at least, it's less easy to make me look fast — which is why there's less of me in it. What do you reckon?

Rapha Condor Sharp at the Rutland-Melton CiCLE Classic 2011

2011-04-19T00:29:00.000-07:00

On Sunday I got the opportunity to go and shoot video at the Tesco Rutland-Melton CiCLE Classic. If you've not heard of it, check out the vid below. It's a crazy race, that zig-zags across the countryside (the course looks like the organiser Colin Clews just dropped a ball of wool on the map) taking in all the worst, non-maintained roads in the area. So that means lots of farm tracks, lots of gravel and lots of punctures. I was following the Rapha Condor Sharp team round as part of my Condor tie-in. It worked out great as Zak Dempster won, although I'm sure he'd be first to say it was a huge team effort — every time you see them in the video, the men in black are on the front.

With any luck, I'll be doing more of the same at the Lincoln Grand Prix. In some ways it should be much less stressful as the course is a simple loop, so it should be easier to get around, plus, the full RCS team will be there, so I can — fingers crossed — hop in a team car and get some behind the scenes footage. We'll see.
Do me a favour though and "like", or just embed, the video above — the more hits this video gets, the more keen the team will be to want to do more!

Condor Catalogue, 2011

2011-04-15T07:35:00.000-07:00

The 2011 Condor Cycles catalogue is available now, and it's jam packed with shots by me. The cover shot is one of my favourite shots ever. It was taken in Condor's Bermondsey warehouse last autumn with my Sigma 30mm F1.4 lens. A lot of the shots used inside the catalogue come from our trip Italy this February. There's a video from this trip coming out very soon - finger crossed. I can't wait to share it.

Forest of Dean weekend

2011-04-11T14:09:00.001-07:00

We just spent a really relaxing weekend with our friends Al and Vic and their little boy Caleb staying at a Forest Holidays cabin in the Forest of Dean.

Obviously I took my bike and had a good explore around an area of the forest I've not been in before, and I took the opportunity to experiment and shoot some video. More than anything I wanted to try out some stuff with Premiere Pro with colour correction and creating pans using the software (shooting at 1080p and putting that into a 720p timeline). I've not tried slow-mo previously, but I think it creates the only real moment of comedy in this clip.

Contour GPS HD helmet cam

2011-04-06T02:54:00.000-07:00

I've been after a helmet camera for a while and last week I was lucky enough to get my hands on a Contour GPS HD. It records in 1080p @ 30fps or 720p @ 60fps. It's small, it's pretty easy to use, but what about the quality?
I had a go with it yesterday out riding with Roo, and I was a bit disappointed with the colours, exposure and white balance. The raw footage from camera is the bottom video here — the colours to my eye are way oversaturated, and that's with the contrast reduced from the stock setting by about 20 per cent (you can do this in the software bundled with the camera). Check the vid at 4.08: purple gloves, orange frame and red grips, all way overstaurated.
The video at the top is my colour corrected version. I'm no expert with Premiere Pro — I'm still on the steep bit of the learning curve — but by dropping the saturation, altering the white balance, adding a bit of sharpness and contrast (with high radius unsharp mask) I think it looks a bit more natural.

You'll notice I come really close to crashing at the end of the video. Roo's a monster and had been beasting me around Surrey for 50km and nearly 3hrs by the time we got here. I was in pieces. Details of the ride on Garmin Connect.

Ronde Van Oost Lancashire

2011-04-02T16:55:00.001-07:00

Ronde Van Oost Lancashire, originally uploaded by Andy Waterman.

Had a great ride today in Lancashire on Alan Crossjunkie's rival to the Tour of Flanders, the Ronde Van Oos Lancashire. He's somehow managed to cram 1800m of climbing, countryside, and cobbles into an 80km ride. It was a long drive up there, but it was well worth it.

Het Nieuwsblad & Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne slideshow

2011-03-25T14:37:00.000-07:00

Here's a video slideshow of all the shots from my weekend in Belgium at the end of February, shooting the opening races of the pro road season. These images are in the current issue (May 2011) of Cycle Sport.

Jewish Museum, Berlin

2011-03-22T16:43:00.000-07:00

The Jewish Museum in Berlin was pretty haunting — probably no surprises there. The root that sinister feeling was surprising though, as it came almost entirely from the architecture. I don't really know anything about architecture — what's good or bad — but it certainly left an impression on me, so good or bad, it was effective.

Berlin

2011-03-21T12:40:00.001-07:00

Sun in Berlin, originally uploaded by Andy Waterman.

I'm in Berlin at the moment, just hanging out with my girlfriend, my Bronica and my phone. It's been a fun few days, especially as the sun has been out the whole time. Few cities rival Berlin when the sun shines. Makes me want move here (gizza job).
More pics to follow when I get my film dev'd.

Mauerpark Flea Market, Sunday

Kunsthaus Tacheles at Oranienburger Straße

Kottbusser Tor U-Bahnhof

MBR Killer Loop, Quantock Hills

2011-03-17T13:51:00.001-07:00

MBR Killer Loop, Quantock Hills, originally uploaded by Andy Waterman.

Today was one of those days where you can't believe how lucky you are to be an mtb'er: where the trails are dusty, the corners come at perfect intervals, the sun's warm and the company makes even the dull bits of the ride fly by.
What a brilliant day.
The Quantock Hills have a new fan.

Cycle Sport May 2011

2011-03-15T05:16:00.001-07:00

Cycle Sport May 2011, originally uploaded by Andy Waterman.

Tom Boonen's on the cover, and my shots from Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussels-Kurrne are on the inside — pages 92-103 to be precise.
Grab a copy as of tomorrow, Wednesday 16 March.
www.cyclesportmag.com

Blossom

2011-03-08T04:05:00.001-08:00

Working in London today. Beautiful morning, wish I wasn't full of a cold and could go out riding.

Back on the road

2011-03-05T10:56:00.000-08:00

I did a big ride today, 4hrs+ across London and out into Essex. It's the first proper ride I've done in three weeks so it was hard work, but no pain, no gain.
The rest of the Vicious Velo mob were racing at Hog Hill in the afternoon, so I finished my ride there to watch and got a lift home after the race (I needed it).
Both the Vicious boys sucked, but they got round.
It was a good opportunity for me to play a bit more with Vignette for Android. Still like it, but the shutter lag makes life very difficult when it comes to capturing anything that's moving.

Photoshooting with Roo

2011-03-02T13:54:00.001-08:00

MBR shoot with Roo Fowler - check his stuff at rupertfowler.co.uk, he's good.

Let battle commence: Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne

2011-02-28T00:47:00.000-08:00

So Sky came out pretty well at the weekend. What a contrast: Saturday, cold, wet, windy and a Rabo win in an epic 2-up sprint; Sunday, cold, dry, sunny(ish) and a convincing win for Sky in a bunch gallop.
I've got so many photos from the weekend, literally hundreds, and they'll be appearing in Cycle Sport magazine next month. I'll probably be able to do a slideshow once the mag's been out for a while, but here's a couple of early edits — the finishes of both races.

Hello spring!

2011-02-24T13:20:00.001-08:00

Hello spring #2, originally uploaded by Andy Waterman.

Cyclocross gear review, 2010-2011 season

2011-02-20T10:16:00.000-08:00

The cyclocross season has finally come to an end, so I've got a bit of time on my hands to do a post about some of the gear I've used on my Cannondales this year.

As always, click any of the images to see them at a higher resolution on flickr.

Strada Wheels — Velocity Major Toms

Back in December Jonathan Day from Strada Wheels emailed me and asked if I'd like to try out some of his wheels. To be honest, if they had been any old wheels, I probably wouldn't have bothered as the thought of gluing tubs on in January filled me with dread — I'd had enough of that game in the autumn.
The wheels Jonathan proposed to send me were interesting though: Velocity Major Tom rims on Hope hubs. Major Tom rims are approximately 4mm wider than a standard aluminium or carbon tub rim — 23mm vs 19mm — and the central well is shallower than standard, which all adds up to a GOOD thing because it allows wide cyclocross tubs to be glued perfectly across a big, broad area. What that means is a better connection, so less likelihood of your tyre rolling off at the silly low pressures we run in cross, and even at low pressures, that broader base will stop the tyre flopping from side to side in the corners, allowing you to ride more confidently.
In practice, I found the Major Toms really good. I'm not sure whether I could really tell the benefit of the wider rim, but without exhaustive back to back testing with the same tyres at the same pressure on different rims, it's hard to make any real conclusions. Did I notice any tyre flop though? No. And needless to say, I didn't roll a tub either.
What wasn't in doubt was the Strada Wheels' build quality. They came dead straight, and they remain dead straight, despite being raced around the boulder fields of Herne Hill.
The other application where I'd like to try the Major Tom's would be with some wider road tubs — 25mm+ — for events like the Tour of Flanders Sportif of the Tour of Dengie Marshes. I'd even like to try them at Crystal Palace crits. Imagine how good a super stable, grippy 25mm tub would feel round Palace's bends!
Unfortunately, these wheels are going from me straight up to Crossjunkie in the north of England, so no chance to test them on the road, but check with him in a few weeks — no doubt he'll give them a pounding over the Ronde Van Oost Lancashire cobbles.
More info at Strada Wheels.

TRP CX9 brakes

I persisted with TRP Euro-X's for most of the season, but when the opportunity to try out some TRP CX9 mini V-brakes came along, I jumped on them.
They really revolutionised the way I rode my cross bikes. At races like the Southampton National Trophy, which was icy, dry, fast, and had a tight corner every 50m, they were worth their weight in gold. The ability to sprint out of corners, safe in the knowledge that you WOULD be able to slow down in time for the next corner made a massive difference. With Euro-X's, there's always a feeling that you don't want to pick up too much speed incase you can't scrub it off again!
That said, the CX9's aren't without their downsides. You do have to set the pads up close to the rim, which means that you often end up with them rubbing, not enough to slow you down, but enough to be irritating, and the feeling is distinctly spongy when compared to Euro-X's. For me, that sponginess is preferable to the wooden feel of traditional cantis, but each to their own.
The front CX9 definitely feels better than the rear — the longer cable allowing for more sponginess — so I think for 2011-12, I'll use the CX9's on the front of both bikes, and use TRP CR950's on the back.
Using V-brakes has really opened up my mind to the effect disc brakes are likely to have on the cross market when the bikes start coming available. One thing my mind is made up on, is that good brakes are definitely worthwhile in cross.
TRP brakes are available in the UK through Upgrade.

Shimano XT shadow rear mech

I ripped an Ultegra rear mech off at a London League cross race back in November. It was the second time I'd snapped a mech in the same place, so rather than replace like for like and wait for the same thing to happen again, I thought I'd try something different.
Shimano's shadow rear mechs lack one of the hinges of a normal rear mech, eliminating what is the weak spot on an Ultegra rear mech. You can't use 10spd MTB stuff with 10spd road gear though, you need to use a 9spd MTB mech — when Shimano made their MTB stuff 10spd, they changed the cable pull ratio, just to confuse everyone and eliminate any backwards compatibility.
New MTB mechs don't have barrel adjusters, so I had to add one to the cable, which is in a pretty crappy position at the moment, but will be moved up the frame when I don the big off-season re-build in the next month or two.
Besides that though, the XT mech worked faultlessly. I suppose the shifting might not be quite as crisp as a short cage road mech (this is a medium cage XT mech, Shimano no longer make short cage MTB mechs in the XC ranges) but crisp shifting is something you only experience for the first few minutes of the first few races of the CX season anyway. After that it's graunchiness all the way through till February.
So, XT seems to work, the cable routing is pretty neat and out the way, and so far, in over two months of heavy racing use, it's not caused me any trouble. I'll be putting an XT mech on my second bike too ready for next season.
Want to use XT too? This is the mech you need.

Specialized Tracer tubs

Specialized let me try out a couple of sets of Tracer tubs at the end of November and I've been using them regularly since.
The Tracer's are an all-conditions tub, based on the MTB tyre, the Renegade. To look at them you wouldn't think they'd be much good apart from in dry conditions, but I've actually found them really good, comparable to and in most cases better than, the ubiquitous Challenge Griffo.
They work great on playing field type terrain and the shoulder tread is surprisingly good on cambers but where they really excel is in the woods, on loamier terrain, like you find at lots of local league races and particularly at Foxhall Stadium in Ipswich (fave venue).
Specialized's tub range should be on sale ready for the start of next season. If the prices are as good as they should be (if Specialized can't undercut Dugast, there's something wrong with the world) then Tracers and Terras should sell like hot cakes.

So that's it, what cross gear have you used this year that's blown your mind?

Crystal Palace, photos without bikes in

2011-02-20T07:59:00.000-08:00

I was meant to be doing a photo shoot for Cycling Active today, but the miserable weather meant it was cancelled, so instead I went and took some pictures in the drizzle up at Crystal Palace. Shooting for Condor in Italy the other week got me excited about taking photos of stuff that isn't directly cycling related, so I figured it would be a good exercise to take some photos of the architecture up at Palace.
Whenever I go to Crystal Palace park, it's with a real sense of sadness that the facilities have been allowed to fall into disrepair, even if they are still well used. There's a feeling of a being in a crumbling communist facility when you walk around, which, with the Olympics coming to London next summer, is criminal.
Why hasn't what is (at least, was) the National Sports Centre, which is in the Olympic city, been given a lick of paint to celebrate?
With Herne Hill having fallen into an even worse state, it really doesn't bode well for London's Olympic legacy. How long till we're organising fund raising events to help keep the Olympic velodrome in a state that is fit for use?
I give it till 2020...

Few Koppenberg re-edits

2011-02-19T08:22:00.000-08:00

Just messing with Lightroom, trying some new stuff, what do you think?

Crap way to end the season

2011-02-13T08:51:00.000-08:00

London League Team Champs — Kev crashed out and I fell off and snapped an Ultegra lever. Game over. Season over. See you in September.

Vignette for Android — mini review

2011-02-12T10:17:00.001-08:00

Wimbledon Common, originally uploaded by Andy Waterman.

A few weeks ago I bought a new phone, an HTC Desire. One of the reasons I wanted a proper smart phone (I had a Nokia E71 before) was for a decent camera with some nice photo apps. I was jealous of my friends posting hipstamatic pics from their iPhones and I wanted a piece of the action.
I didn't really want an iPhone though — too common in my circle of friends — which left me with Android, which suited me just fine.
Vignette for Android was the first app I downloaded from the app store (cost £2.50) and I'm very glad I did. It's really very good. There are 62 built in effects and 20 frame styles. Additionally, all those built in effects are customisable to allow you to over or under expose, add light leaks, fade or over-saturate the colours etc.
So far, my favourite setting is Vintage>Faded in a bordered 5x4 frame — as above. It creates a really nice, desaturated but warm image, much as I've often tried to achieve with other cameras and processing styles. With a flash against a white background, this setting makes for pretty cool portraits too.

I'm looking forward to playing with the more contrasty presets when summer comes along. At the moment I'm finding the Holgaesque settings too dark for my taste, but when there's a bit of blue sky to play with, I bet they'll be very good.
I also really like the ability to create a strip or a 2x2 grid of images as below in my Condor Italian job post — that top shot was created in my phone, using Vignette.
Lastly, the double exposure feature is very cool.

Having used Vignette for a fortnight or so now, I'm wondering why normal compact cameras don't come with in built processing presets like this? Maybe something like Vignette for Canon or Nikon compacts would help stem the decline in compact sales? For me, I really can't see myself using a compact for anything anymore...

Italian job for Condor Cycles

2011-02-10T08:42:00.001-08:00

Paint Shop, originally uploaded by Andy Waterman.

I'm just back from Italy shooting photos and video of Condor's frames being made. Italian factories reflect the general air of disorganisation that pervades Italy as a whole, but somehow they consistently create these beautiful hand made steel, aluminium and carbon frames. Travelling around a number of small factories it's surprising just how many man hours go into each frame. Hopefully the videos that come out of these few days will show that off. Keep your eyes peeled for them on Condor's website over the next few weeks.

And of course being Italy, everywhere you go you're offered coffee, which you have to drink, right? I nearly made myself ill on day one I drank so many espressos - think I'll give caffeine a break for a while now...

Weekend of MTB action

2011-01-30T11:02:00.000-08:00

I spent the weekend riding the Santa Cruz Tallboy in the Surrey Hills — 2hrs on Saturday around Box Hill, then over 4hrs today, around Peaslake. Today was gorgeous, such nice weather — cold, crisp and still — and the trails were remarkably dry. Every minute was a pleasure, apart from when people were crashing... First, Deke broke his chain riding uphill on the road resulting in a big over the bars, then Alec went over the bars because he wasn't concentrating rolling down a fireroad and lost his hand off the bars. Lots of pain, but fun for most of it, and I was alright. My legs are shot now though... Check the stats — over 1300m of climbing!
Oh yeah, I got a new phone, an HTC Desire — I'm loving the Vignette app for taking pics.

Riding and sliding

2011-01-27T14:36:00.000-08:00

Fun day at work today, out riding the Santa Cruz Tallboy I have on longterm test. I really need to get some proper mud tyres.

Koppenberg Cross 2010, extra shots

2011-01-27T00:46:00.000-08:00

Some of these shots appeared in a 10 page feature in the February 2011 issue Cycle Sport magazine (which due to vagaries of magazine schedules is no longer on the shelves at the end of January — don't worry, even people who work in magazines think that's madness too), but even in 10 pages, you could barely scratch the surface of how many shots I got from one day shooting at Koppenberg Cross. It was seriously photogenic, and as I had a photo bib from the organisers, I had amazing access, so getting good shots was pretty easy. Check out the slideshow below, or click the images to see them on flickr in a gallery.

Like cobbles? You'll love the Ronde Van Oost Lancashire

2011-01-26T14:47:00.000-08:00

Alan Crossjunkie is back at it, organising his own grassroots sportive to coincide with the Northern European Classics. If you like cobbles, steep hills, and northern grit, this should be right up your street. Heck, even I'm tempted to do this and I really hate riding without a number on my back.
All the details on crossjunkie.blogspot.com

"Eee, by 'eck that's reet steep" etc

Penguin Great Ideas — do judge by their covers

2011-01-23T14:10:00.000-08:00

I got given a half a dozen books from the Penguin Great Ideas series for Christmas. These books are bloody brilliant, notably for the content, but also for their magnificent covers. Check out the Great Ideas microsite for more, they really are amazing. For cheap paperbacks — £5 each at retail — they are a no-brainer.
I've just finished Books Vs Cigarettes by George Orwell, and I'm currently plowing through Dostoevsky's The Grand Inquisitor (I read The Brothers Karamazov at uni but forgot most of this). Bite-size and brilliant, who needs a Kindle?

Busy new year

2011-01-23T13:48:00.000-08:00

Well I guess it's too late to say "Happy New Year" right?
It's been a busy few weeks for me, both at work for MBR (interviewing the guys from Hope in Lancashire f'rinstance, it's a good feature, keep your eyes peeled) and racing cross. You can read about all the racing I've been doing over on the Vicious Velo blog. The cross season is nearly over now, and I can't wait to have a break. Having achieved my goals of achieving a top 20 placing at the National Champs (I was 20th, just made it!) and finishing the final National Trophy in the top 30 (27th, comfortable, should have done better) for a top 30 placing overall (30th, cutting it fine again), I'm winding down now with a few local races — a win before the season's over wouldn't go amiss!

If you picked up Cycle Sport magazine over Christmas (specifically the February issue), you would have seen my feature from the Koppenberg Cross. It looked really good spread over 10 pages, for which I must thank Matt who designed it; a cross racer himself, he did a good job with the raw materials.

I've got some more interesting jobs coming up in the next few weeks, hopefully I'll be able to share!

New team — Vicious Velo

2010-12-30T14:48:00.001-08:00

As of this weekend I'm racing for Vicious Velo. It's basically a split from Dulwich Paragon. It's a bit of a laugh innit.
The kit turned up today so we shot some photos.

Best shots of 2010

2010-12-30T03:50:00.000-08:00

2010 has been a really good year for me, and I'd like to think I've taken some really good shots. These are some of the shots I think are my best. All of these are hosted on Flickr, just click the image to see them larger.

Shooting yourself, and living to tell the tale

2010-12-20T09:59:00.000-08:00

Earlier in 2010 I travelled to Utah in the US for a feature that is currently on the shelves, in the January 2011 issue of MBR.
As I was travelling alone, I had to shoot all my own photos, which meant shooting myself as the riding model. This could have been a nightmare, but in reality, it actually proved quite easy thanks to one small piece of equipment.
A remote shutter plugs into your camera's side and allows you to trigger the shutter by holding down a button on the transmitter. With my 7D on a tripod and set to 8fps, and with the lens switched to manual focus so as not to have it hunting, I was able to hold the trigger under my bars — out of sight — and snap away.
I got some really good shots this way, some of them look a little staged if you look closely, but most of them came out really good. Have a look below and see what you think.

Give it a go. I picked my remote shutter up on ebay for about £15 and it works faultlessly. The only downside to this style of shooting is that you end up having to do A LOT of editing, especially if your camera can rattle off 8fps.

Koksijde 2010 Photo Special

2010-12-10T00:52:00.000-08:00

I took my Bronica medium format film camera to Belgium. I only shot three rolls of film, so 36 shots in total, but I got some — I think — really good ones. I left the 150mm f3.5 prime lens on all day.
See the whole set on Flickr

Regional Championships

2010-12-05T13:30:00.001-08:00

gwp-101205-0013, originally uploaded by wideopenwaugh.

I came sixth. Proficient — not not set the world on fire amazing, just proficient.
I didn't bother doing a practice lap, as the course looked horrible and I wanted to keep my bike clean and in working order.
I got an amazing start and led the field up the hill — the Hoggenberg — going through the finish line in first place (visual proof below).
Not knowing the course I lost a few places, but was in around 5th by the end of the first lap. Darren Barclay and Nathan Miller got past me and I ended up riding with Greg Simcock and Andrew Nichols from the Eastern Region most of the race, competing for sixth. With two typically long (every time we race at Hog Hill the lap seems to take 15minutes) laps to go, I distanced those two and got away by myself. I nearly got across to Darren and Nathan at the bell, but I then crashed and lost some time — the wet, muddy corners were icing up again by the end of the race.

So I crossed the line in sixth.

Gareth Montgomerie of Sigma won ahead of Jamie Newall and Billy Whenman. Interesting that all three of them are really good crit riders, and either ride, or have ridden, the Tour Series.

That was the third time I've raced at Hog Hill and every time I've raced cross there, I've sworn I'm never going back — today was no different. Apart from having showers and the ability to make the course regulation 3m wide at all points (ffs...), it really is a miserable place to hold a cross race. The clay just holds water at the surface, it's revolting. I don't think many of the Eastern lot are desperate to come back any time soon.

Pics courtesy Cross-Crazy.com

Out of the freezer, into the fire: Southampton National Trophy

2010-11-30T14:37:00.001-08:00

I had perhaps my best ever start in Southampton on Sunday. Starting from the fourth row, I somehow snuck my way through a whole heap of riders to find myself up in the top 20 at the end of the first lap. Unbelievable. Kevin was stood trackside yelling at me about how great the situation was, and I believed him. I was up with the strong guys, I just had to keep it going.
One lap later, things started to go pear shaped. I was getting knackered; I'd been punching above my weight, and I was starting to get hit back. Billy Whenman and Darren Barclay got across to me on the only real descent of the circuit, and as I tried to get round the hairpin at the bottom of the hill, I caught my STI on the course marking post and knocked myself off.
The group rode away as I untangled myself.
I sprinted off, but with the foresight that I needed to relax for a bit and recover if I wanted to avoid making mistakes. The errors kept coming though, and I crashed twice more on the next lap before I pulled my finger out and started riding well again. The whole race, I was up and down like a yo-yo — literally and figuratively.
I found myself riding round with Andrew Nichols, and together we caught Mike Cotty with about three laps to go. Things were looking good for a while and I took the lead. Nothing much happened from there on, except first, Cotty rode away — fair enough, he's a very good athlete — and then on the last lap, Nichols dropped me. He's a skinny little under 23 who goes up hills somewhat easier than me. Oh well. I came home in 31st, outside the points, so technically no better than a DNF. What a load of bollocks.
Realistically, it was quite a positive ride as I had an amazing start and I was mixing it with some good riders all race. Negatives were the lapses of concentration and the lack of strength in the final. Lessons learned — more miles needed, more skills required.
Two weeks till Bradford, scene of my first decent ride at this level when I came top 30 at the 2009 National Champs. At last year's Trophy however, I had a thoroughly shitty ride, so who knows how I'll go. One thing — my fingers are crossed that fewer than 10 Belgians turn up in Yorkshire. They're taking all the points scoring places and ruining my ranking!

Ipswich National Trophy 2010 Video

2010-11-25T04:15:00.001-08:00

National Trophy Cyclo-Cross Round 2 - Ipswich from Kevin Knox on Vimeo.

Thought for the day

2010-11-23T01:33:00.000-08:00

Quote from the legendary George Lois in the latest issue of the brilliant Gym Class Magazine (my copy's in the post), via the equally brilliant MAGCULTURE blog

Good fortune (new Specialized tubs) and bad fortune (broken Ultegra rear mech)

2010-11-21T14:01:00.000-08:00

Bad — my mech snapped off after one and a half laps at today's London League

Good — full quiver of new Specialized Tracer tubs (they worked great for the lap and a half I got to use them in pretty wet, muddy conditions)

Drumming at the London League

2010-11-21T08:48:00.001-08:00

Better pic of @thewarhead confusing the kids, originally uploaded by Andy Waterman.

I ripped my rear mech off during my warm up lap, so I didn't get to race today. Instead, I cheered on the other riders while Geoff played drums. More of this please — it's fun.

Adam Craig on TRP CX9 brakes

2010-11-17T06:42:00.000-08:00

Adam Craig is a dude — check out his bike check and interview on CyclingNews

Interviewer: "So why do most people still use wide-profile Euro-style brakes?
Craig: "Because most people suck at riding, and they don't know any better. They think that the wide-profile Mafac thing is cool, which it was back in 1954"

Adam is using the new TRP CX9 brakes. See that pic down below from Mallory Park? You'll see I'm using the same brakes. That was my first race on them and they were great. I was swapping between EuroX's and CX9s on my two bikes and the CX9's made life so much easier. With good brakes you're either on the gas, or on the brakes. With normal - ineffective - brakes, you end up freewheeling the whole time so as not to pick up too much uncontrollable speed.
Which sucks.
Anyone who tells you you don't need brakes in cyclocross is a crank who's never raced properly and/or is a crap rider. Brakes matter — get the best you can, and set them up so they work!

Specialized shows new cyclocross tubs

2010-11-16T01:20:00.000-08:00

pic by James Huang for bikeradar (click pic for orig article)

So just hours after I posted yesterday's moan about how I didn't feel confident on my Vittoria XM tubs, I discovered that Specialized are in the early stages of producing their own cyclocross tubulars over on bikeradar.com and cyclingdirt. Trust me, this is brilliant news for amateur cyclocross racers.
It would seem that manufacturers are finally getting annoyed with having to buy their sponsored riders £500 worth of new tubulars every year from just one manufacturer — Dugast. The quality of those Dugasts might be good, but a company like Specialized wouldn't have taken kindly to Dugast's old-world delivery times, pricing and the fact that the tubs come unfinished — you have to seal the sidewalls yourself, and even then, you can only expect to get one season from a pair of Rhinos before the sidewalls rot. How hard can building tubulars be? If a one man show in Holland can dominate the market with a very idiosyncratic product, surely a company with Specialized's design, feedback and financial clout can surely do a better job?
So Specialized entering the market is good for me, and probably you too if you're in any way ambitious on the cross course. The main reason Dugast has cemented its position at the head of the market is the tread pattern of the Rhino — it's aggressive 3mm deep central tread digs in providing traction both for driving forward and for not sliding out sideways. Its one problem is that it clogs. Looking at the Terra tub above, it's very much inspired by the Rhino, but with a more open tread pattern to better shed mud. The 33mm thing is practically irrelevant: yeah, that's as wide as you're allowed to go by UCI rules, but such is the variability in tubs that Specialized has had to err on the side of caution and make these slightly narrower than 33mm to ensure they all squeeze into the commissaire's calipers.

pic by James Huang for bikeradar (click pic for orig article)

The second tread is called the Tracer and is based on the Renegade MTB tyre. I'm yet to try the MTB version of this tyre, but Burry Stander and Christophe Sauser have been racing it all season in mixed conditions, so the tread pattern itself is likely to be pretty good. My only thinking is that you can't lean a cross bike over the way you can an MTB, so that shallow tread might be limited to dryer conditions. We'll see. There's also a file tread design, but I'm not that interested in them — check out the video below for more info on them.
The Terra is undoubtedly the tread that will be most exciting to UK riders who for a long time have had a choice of Rhino's or, err, nothing (and thanks to the extortionate cost and lack of availability of Rhinos, very often chose nothing). What's also exciting is that Specialized is entering the sport in such a serious way — choice is always a good thing, and up till now we haven't had any. With any luck, it is the start of a trend, with more big companies coming into the market in the near future. Cross is on the up, and a great way of keeping your brand in the public eye during the winter months, especially now the sport is growing so quickly at a grassroots level (the people who actually buy this stuff). Personally, I don't think Specialized will be the last to challenge the dominance of the european tubular industry — exciting times all round.

Visit cyclingdirt.org for more Videos

Mallory Park National Trophy

2010-11-15T06:31:00.000-08:00

Mallory Park has an unenviable reputation as a venue that eats bikes, riders, and the enthusiasm of all who step over the threshold. I'm glad to say that I, my bikes and most of my enthusiasm for cyclocross are still intact, despite a completely mediocre result.
I ended up coming 28th yesterday, which on paper is my second best result at a National race, but I still feel a bit disappointed. I never really got going in the race — a lack of traction and enthusiasm being the main culprits. The Vittoria XM tubs I'm using have no central ridge to them, unlike the hallowed Dugast Rhinos I borrowed from Kevin to use in Ipswich, so I was finding that I had very little cornering grip on the greasy, flat grass corners and cambered straights that made up much of the Mallory course. That lack of confidence meant there were only a few places on the course where I was able to really push on the pedals without fear of crashing. Excuses excuses...
Next round is Southampton in two weeks time. I'm hoping for a return to the top 25.
Photos are all by Dave Haygarth, who came fifth in the vets. Loads more on his Flickr

More great cyclocross photos by Geoff Waugh

2010-11-14T13:01:00.000-08:00

Pics by Geoff Waugh, including a few of me — all from this year's Eastern League Cyclocross Series.
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Regional Cross - Images by Geoff Waugh

Richmond Park, Autumn, off-road cycling

2010-11-12T07:34:00.001-08:00

Richmond Park, Autumn, off-road cycling, originally uploaded by Andy Waterman.

It's been blowing a gale all week, consequently, there aren't many leaves left on the trees. Shot this today in Richmond Park for Cycling Active magazine.

Double whammy

2010-11-10T10:09:00.000-08:00

It looks like I've got the cover of tomorrow's Cycling Weekly magazine. I did the shoot back in February or March with Ben Spurrier and Claire Beaumont from Condor Cycles, so it was a surprise to see this shot being used so much later. We spent a whole day shooting covers in Sussex, down near Beachy Head, this was one of the first we did, en-route to where we planned to shoot.
Talking of Ben, he's interviewed on the Condor blog together with another of my shots. I'm quite pleased with this portrait — it was shot on the steps of the bandstand at Southwark Park in Bermondsey.

Proper training

2010-11-10T08:56:00.000-08:00

I've been on leave from MBR for the last couple of weeks which has allowed me to train properly. Today I rode over to Mitcham Common to do some specific cyclocross training — 5 long starts with a recovery period on the singletrack, some specific skills training including a dismount (over a log, no barriers available) and then 4min, 6min, 8min and 6min intervals. It's hard to explain quite how beneficial training off-road at race pace can be. At the end of an interval, when your tyres start sliding out on the corners, that's the point when yo become a better rider. Whereas at first you might tense up and dab a foot on the floor, the more you practice at speed, the better you become. Not only do you learn to go faster because of the physical training effect, but you learn to maintain your speed too. Ideal.

Music Monday

2010-11-08T05:02:00.000-08:00

Yuck - The Base Of A Dream Is Empty from Yuck on Vimeo.

Rollapaluza Halloween Cyclocross Video

2010-11-04T16:22:00.000-07:00

I made a video of the Knog Rollapaluza Muddy Hell cross race on Saturday night. The best thing about it is the music, by Bush Tetras. The footage itself is a bit meh... I just need more practice, and starting at an almost pitch black bike race was not ideal. Next time I'll try something where there's a bit more light.
All the filming was done with my Canon 7d, shot at 720p 60fps, some of it played back at 24fps for true slow-mo. I edited it in Premiere Pro, which I'm in the very early stages of learning. I can kinda do the basics, but I need to work out how to do the more complex things like colour correction, and do it all much quicker.

Geoff Waugh — Selectism

2010-11-04T03:58:00.000-07:00

World famous bicycle snapper Geoff Waugh has a show at the excellent Look Mum no Hands on Old Street, starting tomorrow. Check out Geoff's latest work from Koppenberg Cross on Monday — we went together and seeing his slideshow has got me feeling slightly inferior, the's got a great eye. This is brilliant.
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Koppenbergcross 2010 - Images by Geoff Waugh

National Trophy Round 2, Chantry Park, Ipswich. BEST. RESULT. EVER.

2010-11-02T06:32:00.001-07:00

At the time of writing it looks like I came 23rd on Sunday at the National Trophy in Ipswich, which is far and away my best result ever. Really, that result is entirely thanks to the better grid position I got after scoring points (well, a point, singular) at the first round in Wales. In Ipswich I started on the third row, eight per row, so I didn't have to fight so hard on lap one to move past slower riders. It's actually quite interesting to me — if you always end up in 31+ position, it's really difficult to do a breaktrough ride as you will always be starting from the back. The minute you score a point and get recognised by the system, you're away, and life all of a sudden becomes much easier. In cyclocross, success really does breed success.
I used Kevin's Dugast Rhino's at Chantry Park and bloody hell do they grip. No way could I lean the bike over like that on my other tyres. It's a real shame as they cost £150 per pair. At least I should be receiving £10 prize money from Sunday to put towards the outlay!
(both photos by Luke Webber for British Cycling)

20101031-Cyclo-Cross-National-Trophy-Round-2-647, originally uploaded by britishcycling.org.uk.

Sven Nys is terug — Koppenberg 2010

2010-11-02T01:13:00.001-07:00

Sven Nys ist terug — Koppenberg 2010, originally uploaded by Andy Waterman.

I went to the Koppenberg Cross yesterday to shoot photos for Cycle Sport Magazine. Sven Nys won on a heavy heavy course. The mud was revolting — two bike changes per lap revolting. Still, what's bad for the racers is good for the photographers. The shots here are just a few of many, I'll let you know when the photo feature is due out.

One of the most interesting things about going to a cross in Belgium is the fans. There are thousands of them, and unlike in this country, where the only people who turn up to bike races are other bike racers, and occasionally their families, in Belgium they are just common or garden sports fans. There are a lot of characters too, out for the frites, and beer...

For now, check out the last lap, where Sven raced the hardest part of the course on a flat tyre. The descent off the cobbles was somewhere I shot and you can see how off camber and hard going it is in the clip. Definitely a day to be behind the lens!

Oh yeah, I neary got run over by Ian Field on the first lap when he got knocked almost into the ditch by Radomir Simunek Jr. Check the pic — there's some serious elbow action going on there.

Why is the US cross scene so much cooler than the UK's?

2010-10-29T12:32:00.000-07:00

Saw this over on bianchista — I wish more talented photographers and film makers would show up to UK races and shoot stuff like this. C'mon where are you?

Cross Crusade Race #4 PIR from Burk Webb on Vimeo.

More shots for Condor Cycles

2010-10-26T09:59:00.001-07:00

I shot another bunch of photos for Condor last Friday and the first are beginning to appear on the interwebs now - eg the new World Series of which this is one have been on Bikeradar and Bianchista today, together with half a dozen of my shots.
This one was shot behind Mount Pleasant Post Office on a sunny autumn morning, and I used one flash to camera left to lift the shadows a bit and pop the silver bits on the bike.

Eastern League, Essex

2010-10-24T11:45:00.001-07:00

Day 47 - cross, originally uploaded by CJ Boom.

Fourth place today. Bit of a shame as I was in the lead group most of the race but got course tape wrapped up in my wheel with two laps to go and had to stop and untangle it. I lost 35secs on the other two guys who were racing for second in that incident. I pulled back 20secs over the last couple of laps, but it wasn't enough. At least I have this photo of me leading the race.

Manfrotto Magic Arm + Bikes

2010-10-22T15:42:00.001-07:00

Had a play today with MBR's magic arm. Seemed pretty easy to get good results to me. Processing's a bit ott on this, I'm still playing around with Lightroom, enjoying it though, it's a really good tool.

National Cyclocross Rankings

2010-10-19T04:25:00.001-07:00

National Rankings, originally uploaded by Andy Waterman.

As of this morning I am the 12th ranked cyclocross racer in the country. I know that the ranking system is somewhat skewed with wildly varying levels of points being offered at seemingly comparable events, but hey, that's not my fault, and I'm pretty chuffed with the current situation.
That ranking was helped by my scoring a second second place of the season on Sunday at the London League at Herne Hill. An incredible 150 riders started the senior race, showing just how popular cyclocross is becoming, especially when the racing is held at a venue as accessible as Herne Hill.
My race was pretty uneventful really, which is why I got such a good result. I didn't crash, I didn't have any mechanicals, I just plugged away and eventually found myself in second place, while the guys around me were falling off, smashing their bikes up and flatting.
Phil Jones made this silent movie of the race. There are quite a few comical moments in their if you've got the patience to sit through it all.

Condor Cycles, London - New Site, Timelapse Videos by me

2010-10-14T02:16:00.000-07:00

My friends at Condor Cycles have just launched their new shop website, and it looks great. They've used a bunch of the photos that I shot for them last week, and there's also some new videos on there that I produced. The first video here was shot in the store to show how the bike fitting jig works. I shot it with my 7D and 30D using a Canon timelapse remote shutter release (which I subsequently lost on a trail in Utah, bugger) and wide aperture lenses. I then put all the shots together to play back at 8fps for this timelapse. I like the result, and thankfully, so do Condor (this is has even picked up a couple of staff picks on Vimeo — I'm happy with that).

Bike Fitting - Condor Cycles from Condor Cycles on Vimeo.
The second video is a re-edit of one I made last year about wheelbuilding. Condor build their own wheels so it seemed like a good fit. I love that I managed to get an Elliot Smith song onto it too — best singer/songwriter ever in my opinion.

Wheel Building - Condor Cycles from Condor Cycles on Vimeo.

Think this kind of thing would look good on your website? Give me a shout!

Videos from Abergavenny Cyclocross

2010-10-12T01:14:00.000-07:00

Andy in Abergavenny from Kevin Knox on Vimeo.