Altered Course - Video

Oct 21, 2008
by Alvi surname  
A 7 month escapade in the UK and the Megavalanche.

I lived in London for 7 months with my brother between my Finnish military service and University. During the weekdays I worked in a cycle shop on oxford street, which could get pretty crazy sometimes. Thank god we had one day every week which my brother and I had off at the same time. These days were usually Saturdays. We would dedicate these days to DHing because we had to get ready for our up coming test, the Megavalanche.Our riding spots were Aston Hill, Chicksands, Rogate and when we just wanted to session something close to home Esher Shore. Given that my brother has only ridden for a year and half, his skill set just went through the roof once I moved to the UK. I also gained confidence in cornering, jumping and most of all carrying speed through the roughest (and most ridiculous) of lines. We would constantly play cat and mouse down the hill where ever we rode and we pushed each other to get better and faster.

Not only did we push each other in the woods, but also on the commute to work and back. To keep our fitness up we both had about 13km to ride through the heart of London to work every day. We both used fixed gear bikes and pretty much raced each other every time we rode home. One day when riding at Esher Shore I met this guy called Tom, we instantly started chatting and he helped me find my phone when I dropped it in the middle of a run. From that day onwards we had a riding buddy that would be up for riding any day and in any weather. Tom's seriously smooth riding helped the both of us. Also my brother and I riding full sussers helped him to buy himself a Devinci Wilson 3! After a bunch of honing our skills we finally headed for the french alps to Alpe d'Huez. A weeks worth of breathtaking riding and the mega qualification got all three of use completely hooked on DHing. This video is a collection of what we rode before the alps and also the best footage we took in Alpe d'Huez. Hope you guys enjoy it as much as we did making it.

Alvi, Aki and Tom ripping it up:

- Alvi

Posted In:



Author Info:
b3ans avatar

Member since Aug 14, 2006
1 articles

35 Comments
  • 1 0
 Congrats, this is by far the coolest video I have seen in a while, You sure have some smooth trails that beggs to be ridden with speed. The Alp section with the race was awesome...Congrats guys, made me home sick (almost Wink )


C
  • 4 1
 nicw those place's look fun
  • 2 0
 Like the aston hill run - gd times, gd times.
What was with the roadie with one leg though?
nice vid Big Grin
  • 1 0
 and one arm. He is the most hardcore person in the world. That was the alpe d'huez climb he was going up. 13km of non-stop one-legged uphill!
  • 1 0
 is he a specific person with a name? or did you just see him?
  • 1 0
 We just saw him on the Alpe D'Huez climb and we were like omg, film that dood
  • 1 0
 I told you your story was going to be published! As I said before, great story. Would love to read of such trips/escapades more often. Well done!
  • 1 1
 what kind of helmet cam are you using? im thinking about getting a go pro but i wanna hear from someone that has used the new wide angle lense model
  • 1 1
 I used a Panasonic HDC-SD9 with a wide-angle lens. It was mounted to my visor using a bolt thru into the tripod threads and two thick plastic washers to dampen it a bit. I also ziptied the visor down to stop it from wobbling too much. The footage turned out better than we anticipate.d
  • 2 0
 good old aston hill! nice! great video boys!
  • 1 0
 You guys just got me stoked! Any vid that can do that is a sweet vid in my books!
  • 1 0
 I thought your mtb film was very good,makes me wanna go ride.Give yaselfs a pat on the back,looking forward to next film.
  • 0 0
 Awesome! I might be moving to London next year; are there any good trails (DH or XC) reachable by train from London? What about by car, are the riding spots far?

Cheers
  • 0 0
 By train you can go to Dorking for XC riding. For DH stuff I'd go to PORC if you're stuck with the train. By car you have more variety - Aston Hill, Chicksands, Rogate are all more DHey stuff and about 1-2h away by car.
  • 0 0
 Thankyou!
  • 1 0
 HAHAHA! Tom 'Humpage' lol, excelent name, though i spose mine isnt much better. still, humpage! lol
  • 0 0
 Hey, this is where I live...and ride and ski. Glad you liked it. I'm not a big fan of the Megavalanche though, too many people. I prefer doing the run with just my friends.
  • 0 0
 Real nice little feature, fun video, just makes me want to ride and have some fun with mates.
  • 0 0
 Great Video !!! Funny Guys and cool riding !!!
Thanks a lot for "the light" in the dark and wet fall!
  • 0 0
 Nice work guys really enjoyed that. Its made me want to go to the alps myself now Big Grin
  • 0 0
 that was a great video Big Grin massive props to that roadie.
  • 0 0
 The start looks like XC race. Interesting. I like to see how it ends.
  • 0 0
 search for megavalanche and you will find what it is all about Wink
  • 0 0
 Very very good, sweet soundtrack too!! well done
  • 1 1
 Sweet video!! Great quality and some kick ass riding. Props!
  • 0 2
 that video didn't really impress me, it ras good, but theres something missing...
  • 0 0
 ONLY THING THATS MISSING IS UR STFU
  • 0 0
 will10 could you elaborate? I would like to know so that I could make my next one better Wink
  • 0 0
 NICE
  • 0 0
 impressive
  • 0 0
 sweeeeeeeet!!!
  • 2 2
 nice
  • 2 7
flag VTwintips (Oct 21, 2008 at 12:09) (Below Threshold)
 The main character looks like a complete nerd. Then he gets on his bike and hes the complete opposite.
  • 0 0
 haha hump-age
  • 2 4
 Good effort!







Copyright © 2000 - 2024. Pinkbike.com. All rights reserved.
dv65 0.025213
Mobile Version of Website