2010 June | wideopen magazine

Last night I headed down to ‘The Little Picture House’ cinema in Bath to see ‘Follow Me,’ the new mountain bike movie from Anthill Films. Anthill is comprised of a group of filmmakers, including 5 key members from the Collective (responsible for films such as Roam, and Seasons). Add to this film making pedigree the riding abilities of Sam Hill, Gee Atherton, Brandon Semenuk, Cam McCaul, Thomas Vanderham, Matt Hunter, Ben Boyko, Kurt Sorge, Steve Smith and Geoff Gulevich, and I was looking forward to something epic.

Aaaaaand…the film didn’t disappoint! Right from the start there was warp-speed riding, big hucks, huge tricks and a lot of banter and ‘super-gnarl’ from the riders. The film paired up the riders to ride together and in doing so they were forcing each other to push their limits. One of the best pairings was Sam Hill and Thomas Vanderham. Hill is known for his speed and Vanderham for his ability to go big, but this epic section (shot in wet and snowy conditons in the epic surroundings of North-Shore Vancouver) showed a different side to Hill’s riding, he was sending it just as big as Vanderham, and was absolutely pinning the trails in between. A section of film you truly have to see!

Caleb Smith photo

Throughout the course of the film the audience would occasionally utter various sounds, highlighted impressively by one section where pretty much everyone in the cinema exhaled rapidly and said/thought ‘this guy is nuts’ as Matt Hunter ragged his bike onto a massive wooden kicker that just seemed to go over the edge of a cliff into nothingness…and then as Matt hits it you see what he’s trying to do, and it’s insane. He clears an absolutely massive gap and lands in a wallride on a cliff face on the other side of a gorge. If you’ve seen the film you’ll know the bit I mean. It’s massive!

Sterling Lorence photo

In terms of cinematography, the talent on show was well documented and some of the riders really stepped it up. The cinematography was fantastic, including some novel ideas – i.e. a helmet cam looking into someone’s goggles as they reflect the trail…very clever! There was also the usual Cam McCaul talking rubbish and then sending massive tricks as if they were routine. It was good to see more of the rider’s personalities as well as their riding styles.

I only had one gripe about the film, and that was it’s seeming lack of direction. Conventional films build up slowly to a big finale, and have a progressive storyline. Some mountain bike films do this (seasons, first, etc) even NWD9 springs to mind with its tenuous fictional race linking all the sections together. Follow Me was a series of epic but consistent sections one after the other, without the feeling of any progression, meaning that the film felt like it ended a bit abruptly – the screen just turned black after one of the sections. The film didn’t really build to anything.

Harookz photo

However, saying that, the film easily keeps you entertained and leaves you wanting more, and more importantly leaves you wanting to go ride your bike! It truly is epic and seeing the best riders in the world push their limits really makes for great footage. I Highly recommend this film, and it’s definitely one of if not the best mountain bike film ever made.

All photos are taken from http://www.anthillfilms.com where you can get loads more info on Follow Me.

It’s distro’d in the UK by VAS Enterainment.

Brendan Fairclough – Monster Energy / Specialized
Llangollen Track Walk

Brendan Fairclough – Monster Energy / Specialized won the 2009 National in style by a huge margin and took £200 cash for the big whip competition in his race run! 2010 and he cruised in for the win again at Llangollen at the Welsh Champs so is undoubtedly the king of Llangollen.

The Halo BDS is now offering you the chance to win too! Exclusive and new to the Halo BDS, Brendan Fairclough will spill the beans on the course walk, telling you his line choices, breaking points, jumping tactics and where he is going to pedal!!!

This is open to all racers and spectators, free of charge, just make your own way to the top of the hill for 19:00 on the Friday night.

Think about it, this is the chance of a lifetime and a priceless opportunity to pick Brendans brains for your benefit, don’t miss it. No need to book, just get yourself to the top of the hill.

I can’t take all the credit for this great idea, Chris Porter from Mojo is the man to thank on this one.