My Lost Hobby

You know it's funny, before I started this business, photography was a hobby. Since that hobby turned into a profession, I now have no hobbys...which is bad.

Before photography, I started to ride Trials.

Trials riding? Yes, and not TRAILS riding...trials riding. The sport, or rather "art" is heavily based out of Europe. In fact when I used to ride, there was only 1 other person in the State of Florida who rode. There are MAYBE 500 riders in the US. Another fact is that there is only one US store who sells these special bikes priced at around $2000, or get one imported from Europe. The bikes are special in that they have no seat....your not meant to sit down. Norco, and Echo are among the top manufacturers.

Observed Trials is very popular with motorcycles, but them someone decided to adapt it for use with mountain bikes. Basically, you navigate a short obstacle course without ever having to put your foot on the ground. It takes incredible balance, a heightened sense of what's around you, and the ability to pinpoint exactly how far apart certain things are.

My 2 favorite riders are US based rider Ryan Leech, and Phil Feeney out of Europe. Ryan's style is very clean, very fluid, and sticks every landing with uncanny precision. Phil on the other hand is very aggressive, more freestyle, and just damn right wicked!

My personal goal for this year is to start riding again as a hobby. The bike I used to have was a stipped down mountain bike, wasnt meant of doing what I was trying to do, so I broke it. If I had a bike now, I'd start riding again! To all my readers, if you happen to be a trials rider, please contact me!

Of course my wife cringes thinking about her husband jumping 10 ft off a roof on a bike...BUT...you only live once. Gotta make the best of it.

Here are a few of my favorite videos;

This is an short clip from Ryan's DVD, Manifesto.

Here's Ryan riding in Prague

Ok, so now we switch styles a bit to Phil. Here is Phil's newest video, Edit 7. Just click the vid and you should be able to find all the edits. We're only going to post this one, and one other.