Late April HellRide

So on the last Saturday of April, Oliver & I set out at 6.30am for a father son filming adventure!
Covering the HellRide.
Armed with a 7D and a shotgun into zoom, we took to Beach Road.
The morning presented a rather large pack careening into a beautiful clear, crisp day...and we were off.
About 4 set ups stopping at Oliver's Hill and then back again. So we got some good 'ride bys'.
We also had John riding in the pack with two onboards.
1 x Helmet Cam
1 x Handle Bar mount, looking back
Here's a few shots from the 7D

Unadulterated Bike Porn pt.1

The Seat
Yesterday John rode the Hell Ride with a coupla cameras mounted on his bike. I covered it using a 7D from the sidelines with Oliver recording sound separately on a Zoom.
, shit I had a stills camera!, so at the end of the ride I took some photos of the bike.
This is the first in a series of galleries that resulted from that shoot.

This is the Seat.

Symmetry and Proportion

So So Sleek

it's a Sports Car for your Arse!

look at the engineering

reminiscent of a Concorde, remember them?

It's a sleek machine and just one component of a very Sleek Machine

Adam's Ride

Stripped back and power ready, Adam's ride is an alternative to the beloved motorcycle. So it must be sleek, sexy, lithe and built for the curves.

and the result is reminiscent of the childhood freedom.

"it takes me right back there, like nothing else can"

Videos that are a GAS #7

Usually they are pretty Aesthetic or in some way or other, Rhythmic but this one has just got lots of ACE things that are said in it. And that's why it's a GAS!

Melbourne Tweed Ride feb 2012

I've had my eye on the Melbourne Tweed Ride for some time now.
I missed their big ride in November last year but this time the stars aligned. I had the gear and I had the time. It was high noon and really quite muggy/borderline hot when people started to gather in the Catarni Gardens, St Kilda.

And what a sight of finery there was to behold.

ladies were present

and gentlemen were in attendance

with baskets of goodies?

what we all need to transport our 'finest'

Bells....by law!

"what chain?"

some were immaculate

some were original

all were very classy

And then the signal was given "mount up riders"
OK I'm slightly romanticising but they did all get on and start the slow ride down to Port Melbourne.
It was beautiful cycling along the beach with a purpose built bike path and the weather of excellence.
But for me, it was a tad hot and sweaty.  I would set up the shot, shoot them riding by, pack up run to the car, drive ahead, jump out and set up again.  I did this all the way to Bay Street, Port Melbourne. Mind you the pace of this ride made it a lot easier than when I've done this for the Hell Ride.
Today's destination was The Rose at the top end of Bay Street and the objective was Pimms and Cucumber Sandwiches. I left the riders at Graham Street as they slowly trundled toward their dreamy afternoon rest stop.
Next time I will allow myself more time and also go to the destination and meet these fine folk, we could talk bikes, tweeds and reminisce about the old days?
Tally Ho....oh, here is an edit of the footage

From Chaos to Freedom

and all via a mish mash smash.
Getty Images recently ran a comp called mishmash where you could download 30 clips and put together a short vid. This is my effort focusing on cycling.

Another Bondi Rescue Vet Event

But it's further south and it's freshwater.
What is it about me, water and birds? Ha, like it happens daily!

Well not really but this is the second time.

 

This is what greets me the other morning.

Shit, I think. 'How'd a bloody bird end up in the pool?' There's a dead animal in my swimming hole.

Then I see that the head is above water and in fact moving. But only just and the eyes were sorta rolling.

'Far Out, how long have you been in there?'

'Well just a second or two longer whilst I photo blog this moment'  I thought and then I get the leaf scoop and net it out. It's a pigeon and not in a great way. Cold and I reckon exhausted.

I'm hoping it hasn't drunk or swallowed the pool water, I can see it needs warmth but first up is to dry this baby. 

And  it was. 

Well not quite a baby but a juvenile and maybe this had been a test flight, a training run that had resulted in a crash landing on the pool? No time for speculation for this required concentration.

Using kitchen towel, ultra absorbent, I gently dabbed and padded his undercarriage, between body and wing and all the downy breast feathers.

Luckily there was some gentle morning sun because this aided the drying process enormously but also provided some much needed warmth. You could feel its' nourishment. 

The patient was very compliant. Exhaustion!

After about 10min we were as dry as we were going to be. So I wrapped the bird up in kitchen paper, shaded the head but left the body in the sun and left em for a rest.

Quick mental check on Samba, the family cat. Yes he's fine he's out the front.

After about an hour there is a marked improvement. 

Sitting up strong, eyes open, moving wings. This is very good. 

I don't do a lot but do check in and have a bit of  conversation and then leave again.

I come back about an hour later and the bird is gone!   SAMBA!!!

oh no, he's out the front and it's then that I look up

There on top of the aerial. Sitting quite OK.
I say hello and i notice that muma pigeon is over on the other roof section.
It is at this moment that I know that 'My work here is done'
Mission Accomplished.