MBR Scotland roadtrip

It's quarter to two in the morning and I'm up doing this. What a loser... We just drove back from Fort William and I'm exhausted, but I need to chill out for a bit before I'll be able to sleep, so this is cathartic in a geeky sort of way.
Scotland was amazing; the whole place is of a scale I never imagined it would be. The size of the hills, the friendliness of the people, the crapness of the weather and the quality of the trails all blew me away. It was proper wilderness biking at its best. Pictures here are from the Isle of Skye and Auchindrain, both shot with a camera phone. Geoff's (waughphotos.com) should be pretty stunning in comparison — they'll probably be in the mag for months to come.
I'm too knackered for this, I'm off to bed

Racing

In the last four days I've done three races, and surprisingly enough, I feel better for it. The first one went ok, a 110km hack around the Cutmill circuit in Surrey and I ended up 14th, not that the judges spotted me — they placed two riders who didn't finish in the top 10! On Tuesday evening I road Crystal Palace where I suffered like I've never suffered before just to finish. I spent the whole race wishing I was still a third cat and could race the slower race. Not that that's actually any slower, just the attacks are easier to follow. I'm looking pretty desperate in this picture from londoncyclesport.
Last night I raced at Eelmoor and came 7th. I attacked 10miles from the finish (there were already two riders up the road) and road 2miles by myself before being joined by Wozza and three other guys. Our tactics were crap and we came last out of our break, but still, it's points in an E/1/2 so I can't complain. Let's hope there more where that came from!

Flanders Sportive and road bike pics

Good Friday was the start of a really good weekend which saw me travel to Belgium, ride the Tour of Flanders Sportive, drink Belgian beer, take some pictures of bikes, chase the proper race (see shot of Boonen, Bettini and O'Grady on the cobbles, below), met up with Belgian Stan in Geraardsbergen and then travel home Sunday evening (see above), knackered but happy at a weekend well spent. And then on Monday Al and Brummy John came over and we kicked a ball around the park in the sun. Nice.

Last night I did some final shots for Webby's bike test — the bikes we rode in Flanders — at Crystal Palace (example left). I'm pleased with them. All comments welcome though.

Make your way to Berlin

Laura and I went to Berlin last weekend. It's such a cool city. Really vibrant and masses of recent history. I took a whole load of pictures with my Holga and some expired Kodak 400NC film and these are the first I've scanned. More to follow...

NB: That's it, there's loads on here now, the systems about to blow so I'll stop loading any more pics on this post

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!