I arrived back in the UK after a short trip to ISPO last week, to find the latest issue of What Mountain Bike magazine on the shelves at Gatwick Airport. The cover image jumped out at me. It’s one of mine from a photography shoot I did for the magazine back before Christmas at the Kinlochleven Enduro in the Scottish Highlands. The shot features technical editor Seb hurtling down stage three.
It doesn’t matter how often I see my work in print, I’m always like a small, excited child when I do so. I grabbed a copy and settled down for a good read/image check in Starbucks, whilst I waited for my flight back up to Inverness. Having a cover image is always a major bonus, but even better, I have a stack of images between the covers as well.
Seb was an absolutely legend, re-riding sections of each course to make sure that we had all the images in the can for the Bike Test and related articles. Conditions were less than perfect for both racing and images, proving a challenge for us both as we battled the elements, with heavy snow on the ground, which turned to mud lower down. However the event itself was spectacularly well organised by the guys at No-Fuss Events, next year I’m going to make sure I’m riding, not working!
Somehow we managed to put three bikes to the test on this tough and challenging course of the Kinlochleven Enduro, including the Mondraker Dune R, the Cube Stereo 160 C:62 SL and the Orange Alpine 6 S. Although I think it’s fair to say, Seb did most of the hard work, whilst I pointed the camera and looked for near impossible lines for him to ride.
These are only a selection of the spreads from this feature. So check out the latest issue of What Mountain Bike Magazine whilst it’s still on the shelves as print is always best. But if you have missed it try the Readly app where you should be able to find the back issues, plus hundreds of other magazines.
A massive thanks to the No-Fuss team for looking after us and letting us use their race as a testing ground!
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