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Bikepacking Mongolia - A couple of Morons go off the beaten track
June 6, 2010
Over the last week of riding Tom and I have ventured off the beaten track. After the town of Bulgan the asphalt ended. Soon we were back on the dirt tracks which have made cycling more fun overall. TODO: Mongolia - cycling Bulgan - moron - may 2010 (2) We cycled on open steppe and climbed a number of stunning passes. One night we camped on the edge of a wide area of pine forest on the hillside.
Tags: WildernessSteppeOff roadBikepackingCycle touringMongoliaAdventure
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Wind-Powered Pedalling and Diving into Walls of Dust Just for fun
May 28, 2010
The last week has been a lot of fun cycling off-road through stunning scenery with a generous helping of bizarre weather conditions. TODO: tom- another plain another day We started out from Ulaan Baatar on a hot sunny afternoon. We cycled through gridlocked traffic but were soon outside of the city. We stopped briefly for a plate of traditional noodles with mutton and vegetables. The countryside has been predominantly wide open hilly grassland.
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Soviet Mattress Suspension and Ulaan Baatar
May 22, 2010
Tom and I are now in Ulaan Baatar. The bus journey here was arduous. We expected it to take around seven hours but it took the entire day. However, one day was nothing compared to the four days on the train. The bus had extra springy suspension and Tom and I were lucky (sarcastic) enough to sit in the back seats. This meant that we were sitting directly over the suspension (comprised of a soviet mattress) and the engine.
Tags: Ulaan baatarBikepackingExpeditionMongoliaTravelAdventureCycling
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Taking the Trans Siberian Train to Go Mountain biking in Mongolia
May 16, 2010
I travelled by bus (Eurolines and Ecolines) from London to Moscow. Tom came from Yerevan on trains and buses and took the ferry from Trabzon (Turkey) to Sochi (Russia). We met up and hauled our kit across Moscow on the tube to the train station. We have travelled 5600km on the Trans Siberian train, which took 4 days. Now we I are in Ulan Ude. The countryside from the train looked mainly forested.
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Travel Filmmaking Pre-Production Tips
January 1, 2010
Message What is the message i want to communicate? This is important because it is the main objective of your film. Audience Who is the audience? Is it for the general public, kids, schools / education. It is meant to for public relations to attract corporate sponsorship. Is it an academic anthropological record? What is the best medium to reach this audience? ls film best or something else? If film, then what genre, style, format and structure?
Tags: film
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Travel Filmmaking Post Production Tips
January 1, 2010
Post Production Editing the style and professionalism of your edit will be dependent upon what film you are making and for which audience. Presentations - cut short films to illustrate your talk. Alternatively cut the audio from your him and set it to photographic slides. Other places for your film if no one seems to want it. Don’t give up hope. Consider Video libraries (Ike photo libraries), Video archive libraries, news organisations (if news angle).
Tags: film
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Travel Filmmaking - What to Shoot and How to Shoot
January 1, 2010
To Zoom or not to Zoom? Keep zooming to a minimum if you want a closer shot, get closer to the subject rather than zooming. Tripod If possible ensure all shots are ‘locked-off” on a tripod. Lighting Use natural light where possible, best times are early morning and late afternoon Use reflector/lamps if required. Other What makes a story and what doesn’t? Go back to finish a story off if you don’t have all the pieces
Tags: film
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Curry, Dolma and Wilderness Mountain Biking in Armenia
November 15, 2009
Tom emailed me last week to tell me he was going to follow an old man on a horse to a hot spring at 3000m. That sounded like my idea of fun so I decided to go to Yerevan and do it. I went to the bus station in Ortachala in Tbilisi at 9.30 am and cycled practically straight onto a Marshrutka (transit van minibus). This dispelled my fears of being able to take the bike in the cramped little bus.
Tags: ArmeniaMountain biking
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A Caucausus Mountain Bike adventure in Khevsureti
November 10, 2009
Tom, David and I went for a bike ride into the Caucasus mountains of Georgia. I’d been planning it for a while and I wanted to get some proper riding in before the snows descended. Tom arrived on the Sunday but leaving was delayed until Tuesday. To pass the time we decided to build up my new Kona Caldera frame, ate Khinkali (Georgian dumplings) and deejayed in Tbilisi at a cafe at the TV tower.
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Bicycle Critical Mass Tbilisi To Protest Dangerously High Levels of CO2
October 26, 2009
On 24th October cyclists, walkers and skaters gathered outside the Philharmonia theatre in Tbilisi to parade down Rustaveli as part of Climate Week combined with the ‘Tbilisoba’ or Tbilisi’s day- a yearly traditional celebration. Meeting new people on the ride. People with banners and placards. Walking with the Georgian flags and Merabi local biker in the foreground. Georgia, Tbilisi - November 2009 - Critical Mass Bicycle Ride (10) Georgia, Tbilisi - November 2009 - Critical Mass Bicycle Ride (3)
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Weddings, unlike lightning, strike in the same place twice...
October 6, 2009
I returned via Public transport back from France to Tbilisi. I met Tom in Venice and we spent a long and strange evening drinking wine with two German girls and an American / Iranian guy. One of the girls had a Georgian name from her ancestry. Then we slept on a bench. It was one of those trips where it seemed we had to wait for a day for anything to turn up.
Tags: Money
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DJing at Raves in Georgia and other Updates from Tbilisi
October 6, 2009
I got the bus back to Tbilisi. I arrived back and realised that I’d had such a good time and also realised a few things through my experience and change of scenery. Namely that I needed to get out of Tbilisi on a wild mountain bike adventure in the mountains (as you do), and also that I would return back to England again at Christmas to spend it with my family even though it would mean another arduous 6 days of public transport, intensive meditation and further draining of funds.