Olympus Mju 770 — home studio

I blagged this new Olympus camera for MBR's Most Wanted feature as it's really pretty awesome. Waterproof, shockproof and crushproof — perfect for the rider who wants to chuck a camera in his pack and not worry about it being in bits when he gets home.

I set myself up a mini studio (see my DIY set-up here) at home to take this shot. Light from above is a shoebox softbox (shoebox lined with foil, with baking paper where the lid would be to diffuse), the background is a black bedsheet and the highlights are comeing from a Nikon SB28 to camera left.

As a first attempt at this studio lark I'm quite pleased. It's not perfect but it's got potential.

Spain

On Sunday I got back from training camp in spain, where we were staying www.ciclocostablanca.com on the coast in Denia. The accomodation was top notch and Terry who owns www.ciclocostablanca.com was a great host and guide, taking us over some really excellent roads.
Andy Fowkes, Simon Bateson and me rode 27hours in total over a seven day stay. Unsurpisingly, my knees hurt right now... The riding was great, so was the weather and I'm looking forward to next year.
These two nodders had a great time — look at their happy little faces.

Oldie, but a goody

This shot went in the mag this month. It's an old one from the MBR Big Welsh Weekend which must have been last May, maybe the begining of June. I raced the day before on the road and did one lap of the MTB circuit before giving up and just doing pictures. Such a perfect day, bring on summer!

Bagjack Bags

Simon's shop is now selling Bagjack and Pac bags so I did a shot for the mag to use for a news story. This is it. Used two lights and was quite pleased with the results.

The shop can be found at www.bricklanebikes.co.uk

Where's Winter?

Winter seemed to come and go in about three days. Yesterday Paul and I went riding in Bracknell and it was pretty much short sleeves weather. We rode the new jumpy, bermy XC trail a couple of times and that's where this photo is from. There's some good stuff there now.

Salisbury Plain Challenge

Yesterday I rode the Salisbury Plain Challenge and took pictures for a feature in Cycling Weekly. It was grim. Possibly the most unpleasant ride I've ever done.
Most of the ride was on waterlogged fields (the rain was biblical all day on Saturday and early Sunday morning) which meant the climbs were long pushes, the flats were frustrating granny gear grinds against the wind, and the descents were super slippery straight liners down the grassy plains. Plus I crashed covering myself and most of my gear in chalky crap. It was horrible, bring on the road racing season.

Last day of Christmas

Tomorrow I've got to go back to work — I've been off for about three weeks so it's about time really — so to make the most of it, in spite of the rain, me and Marky went down to Peaslake for the last mid-week ride either of us will get to do for a while. The weather was crap and this picture, taken with my point and shoot is crap too, but who cares, we had a good ride and no-one reads this stuff anyway. Picture from the last trail of the day, the infamous Barry Knows Best.