So every now and then I get thrown a challenge. It usually goes along the lines of “we want something different” or “we need fresh new material to show off our event” or “we want to promote our event to more people and bring in new competitors.” Well a few weeks ago I got a call that pretty much summed up all of these needs, the job was for Maximum Adventure and to shoot their Convict100 Marathon MTB race. I have been shooting this event for some time now, the last 2years under my event photography business Outer Image Collective capturing race photos for all the riders. Being one of, if not the oldest, marathon event in Australia Maximum Adventure wanted marketing images from the event showing the great mountain bike community and what it’s like to attend this awesome event. Every aspect of camping out, eating at the historic St Albans Settlers Arms Inn built in 1863 to what the trails are like.
Now how can I do this? Tough course to get around by vehicle. I know. E-bike.
This will be amazing, I can ride the whole course and capture images along the way sharing the highs and lows of marathon racing, now who can I get an e-bike from? Lets let Facebook do the work. Out goes the post and within a few hours, I had my answer. The team at Drift Bikes in Newcastle sell Specialized and the word on the web is the Levo is one rad machine and after a quick phone call, it was sorted. Now I will say I paid for this bike hire, no talking up mates or bikes for a freebie. Luke and Robbie were very helpful and knew exactly what this bike was capable of and the power requirements I would need. Great service from the shop and these guys are passionate about the Specialized brand and riding. Until now I had not ridden an e-bike so didn’t know what to expect but if you were on the course when I went past you will know this bike is a weapon, uphill and downhill. At a cool $10,000 the 2018 Turbo Levo FSR Expert Carbon 6Fattie is worth every dollar, I just need to find a way to claim it as a business expense and order one.
So quick stats on the bike and camera gear. I used 2x batteries leaving second with a photographer at 33km location swapping out when I arrived. I got about 31km out of the battery when on “turbo” mode the whole time. Second battery got me a bit further about 38km as I was a bit more cautious using “normal” power mode when full gas was not needed. As advised the big “enduro” wheel setup was fine for this fire-road XC style event. It gave me ample confidence on the downhills which was great seeing I had 2x cameras, 3x lenses: 14-35mm, 24-70mm and 70-200mm, 1x flash, food and water and bike tools in the backpack.
So how did the whole experience work from a working pro point of view? You need to be smart and know the course and what/ where you want to shoot. Easy to ride past key photo locations either not knowing they are there or simply because you are having too much fun. I also used my Cotton Carrier system which I always have on, the new CCS G3 Harness-2 worked well providing me with hands-free holder when I stopped at locations. I decided to bag the cameras when riding as a precautionary choice and when I stopped both cameras out onto the harness. I could scramble up cliff walls to get high angle shots. I could run around the kayak bridge or feed station and have two cameras on hand not having to change lenses, missing shots and letting dust into my camera body. I wouldn’t change much to this setup next time.
As for the images, I think it was a success. I am always critical of my own work and know I missed a few shots out there but trying something different has allowed me to capture content that would never be seen or at least by someone with a camera in hand. Being part of the event and laughing with the others racing on trail was also great fun. I now know what riding the kayak bridge is like and Mark from Maximum Adventure, if you are reading this keep it at 4-planks….. unless of course, I am not riding a $10k bike and about $12k in gear than I think 2-planks is fine 🙂
Cheers Gil
