BIG Update!

First and foremost, Highland Mountain Bike Park and Lucent have partnered up for the 2010 season to bring a wide variety of video content to the riders! Feel free to read the full press release here:

Press release

Additionally, I've been 'dabbling' in the snow world with some videos as of late.
Check out a quick webisode for my friends over at Bean Snowboards!



All of Beans boards will come pre-waxed with Green Ski Wax for the 2010 season. Check out the vid I shot for Green Wax w/the bean guys!!


Other than that, just gearing up for snowboarding season and making plans for 2010!
Merry Xmas to everyone and a happy new year!

A Real update: Ryan McDermott Muay Thai video

Ryan McDermott is one of my best friends that I've known since high school, and has been training as a Muay Thai fighter for the past 6+ yrs. His 'pay the bills' job is as an architect, so it's a pretty big contrast seeing him transform from dress clothes to fight gear. Ryan would be the first to admit that he used to have a temper in his college days, resulting in him punching holes in walls. The temper is gone but he's still punching things. The only difference now is that he has to watch out for that return left hook.

I visted Ryan's fight school Redline Fight Sports in Cambridge, MA last week over the course of 2 nights. Night one we shot 90% of the footage, including some dolly footage and some helmet cam footage using the ContourHD 720p camera. Worked out pretty good, I did some handheld shooting with it, and then placed it under one of the bags to get a unique perspective. Night two we shot the interview and some additional POV sparring footage using the helmet cam again. Pretty pumped on the end result, even though I always see things after the fact I wish I could do over.

Can't get enough Lucent??

So if you've reached this blog via the main Lucent Productions website (which is prob indefinitely 'under construction' until winter), feel free to keep up-to-date on Lucent happenings via Facebook or Twitter.

Bromont Promo

So after the Bromont event, I edited the Evil Bike Team vid, did some travel for work, worked on the house....and then finally got around to editing the rest of the Bromont footage. Gotta love 80s pop music, been wanting to use this song for a while now.



In other news, I have officially written off using Ratatat in any future videos. I'm starting to think they are the new Rise Against of bike videos. Awesome but played out. Onward and upward folks.

Evil Bikes - 2009 Bromont UCI World Cup video

Made the trip up to Quebec to film all 3 Evil riders at the Bromont UCI Worldcup!

Grab a seat and some popcorn, this one's chock full of butter.

Evil Bikes:::2009 Bromont UCI World Cup from Lucent Productions on Vimeo.

Flippies, whippies, and spinnies.

Highland Mountain Bike Park held the 2nd Annual Claymore Challenge this past weekend. After last years event, they drew an even larger list of heavy hitters from all over the globe. Everyone threw down hard as usual, with Brandon Semenuk coming out on top!

Littermag (soon to be VitalMTB.com) hired me to bust out my camera and shoot the event, and here's what came out of it!

2009 Claymore Challenge Slopestyle Video from Litter Mag on Vimeo.

Distance makes the heart grow fonder.

I usually have a purpose for posts, but this one is completely random, so I apologize on what you may consider a poor excuse for a 'deep thought'.

It kind of just hit me that some of the people I have met, and/or know on a more intimate basis, that I consider to share and appreciate their perspectives on life & the mtb industry live in distant corners of this rock we inhabit. For a second it kinda bums me out, but at the same time I'll be even more stoked on the rare occasion we get to share a 3D experience together.

What am I tryin to say? Basically the same sh!t people say all the time. Appreciate the people you have in your life, even if they're a digital version of themselves on a washed out computer screen. For the handful of peeps I'm referring to (you may or may not know who you are), I hope our paths cross in the near future.

For now one of my baddest of rad 3D friends is coming over to hang out and grill on a warm Friday night. Hugs.

Ain't no sunshine when shes gone...

I don't really remember the last time I saw the sun, I'm pretty sure it was over 2 weeks ago, and I'm pretty sure the trails have the consistency of a water logged loaf of bread.

In other news.....I have been a contributor to LitterMag for a few years now and have developed an quite pleasant "e-friend" level relationship with Shawn Spomer. (Spom's if you're read this: if we hang 2 more times in person you get bumped to "3D friend" status.)
Anyways, Littermag is probably one of THE best online media sites in the mountain bike industry. Not for some fancy flash layouts, or do-hickey forums, but for some of the most rad content on the planet. The "cream-of-the-crop" photogs like Sven and Gary Perkins are regular contributors, so I am pretty stoked to be mixed in with those guys.
The BIG news for Litter/Shawn, its that they have partnered with the Vital Media Network, founders of VitalBMX.com and VitalMX.com, to create VitalMTB.com. The crazy part is that Shawn had temporarily scaled back the site content at one point. The new site drops August 1st, and I should still be contributing to the new venture!

Pics for clicks

Both machines in action. Sad part is that my laptop has more power than the G5 tower. My girlfriend knows more about Final Cut Pro than your girlfriend. Rad.




You'll find some really cool, interesting, or just plain weird items when you buy a house formerly occupied/owned by a couple in their 70's. I found this old Kodak film canister in the basement workshop, filled with about 100+ various keys to god knows what. It now houses my loose change. File this one under the 'cool' category.

A rebuilding year....

LucentProductions.com is currently down right now while I try and focus some energy on the site. I'm thinking that I want something that has a better video player embedded so that I can really showcase some of the good stuffs. If anyone is out there that has some recommendations on that sort of thing let me know! My interweb-page design is right up there with my photochop skills.

For now, just stayed linked here or on face-space/twitter/smoke signal for any updates.

Highland Mountain Bike Park.

So the past week and a half consisted of filming 3 days down in NJ for the US Open, and then coming home to pound out 2 vids from that event, AND finish a pre-season Highland Mountain bike park video I shot.

Being that I wanted to get it out ASAP since its no longer 'pre-season', I tossed this together last night for the dudes at HMBP. The mountain, the owner, the crew....ALL rock. Get your arse up to Highland now!!

Highland Mountain Pre-season from Lucent Productions on Vimeo.

See no Evil.

I hadn't touched editing in quite some time....and I think I'm making up for it this week in a big way. I shot for the MS/Evil Bikes race team @ the US Open, ate some delicious indian food courtesy of Evil Marketing Manager Todd Seplavy, and learned how rad Steve Smith is on and off the bike. The kid likes movie quotes, cooking in his undies, and italian ice. Oh, and he loves his mom.

Evil Bikes - 2009 US Open from Lucent Productions on Vimeo.

Open season.

Memorial day weekend can only mean one thing on the East Coast mtn bike scene. US Open.
Diablo Freeride park played host again to the US Open of Mountain Biking for another year (I honestly lost count, maybe 6th?). Some of last years masses were off at Angelfire to scoop up some UCI points, but those in attendance were in for another gem of a race.

I had teetered on the idea of not going this year due to being broke as a joke, but some last minute video work made my decision quite easy.

Rolled into town Thurs just in time to catch up with Todd Seplavy and Steve Smith and we hiked up the mountain for a course walk!

US Open Course Walk - Presented by Evil Bikes from Lucent Productions on Vimeo.

In typical US Open fashion, Friday was a hot and sticky 90 degree day, followed by some showers for Sat's practice and qualifiers.

Last year's dual slalom event had been replaced with a Giant Slalom event this year. The berm ridden woods from 08 were now improved and groomed for 09, providing an amazing display of berm exploding by the likes of Lopes, Fairclough, and good ol Sam Hill (thats not a knife....this is a knife). Brendon took home the win, with Sam right in tow. According to Specialized team manager Sean Heimdel, Brendon gave Sam part of the winnings so that they can remain facebook friends.

Mother nature decided to eff with Pros on Sunday by rolling in an apocalyptic storm during Amateur finals which meant Pro Men and Women's race runs would be delayed a good hr and a half. Riders were succumed to a blind crapshoot run a course that hadnt been ridden all weekend in the slop. Most managed a folly here and there, along with some the top guys making it through most of the course only to eat a face full of mud on the open grass corners at the finish. Sammy Hill redeemed himself with a win after being eeked out by Steve Smith last year, and a flat bonanza the year before.

So enough jibbah jabbah, here's the recap video:

2009 US Open Downhill and Giant Slalom - Presented by Lucent Productions from Litter Mag on Vimeo.

Check back later in the week (most likely friday) for the Evil Bikes US Open vid.

Slow and Steady.

I'm pretty bad at finishing projects. Not even just bike related projects. For example, there was a hole that needed to be patched in my living room after some new wiring jazz was installed. I think the hole was made in November, and I think the patch job finished sometime in February. Some might call it procrastination, I call it....well, procrastination.

But sometimes I get this flash of insipiration and motivation to get something done, and that fire under my arse was finally sparked last week. (partially)

I took me a week and about 3 trips to Home Depot to find all the right supplies, and only an afternoon to build.

A run down of the parts list cost:
PVC pipe: $7.50 for 2 10' sections

Hardware: $15
Angle Aluminum: $18
Wheels & bearings: $15 (I must note that this a rare price. I randomly found them at Toys R Us on some clearance rack for 70% off)
Plywood: Free.

So for under $60, I present you with the new Lucent Dolly. Still need to figure out a better way to keep the pvc peices together, but it works for now. I took it up to Highland this past sat and should hopefully have a sample video soon.

Boredom

Kevin Shiramizu is someone that I group into my 'quasi friends' catagory. Nothing against Kevin, I actually wish the dude lived closer to the east coast because all of my deductions about him bring me to the conclusion that he rocks. Not a full fledged pal, but also not one of my many exclusively e-friends either. Quasi because we have met before, but I have a new rule that I am not officially your 3D friend (one of Kevin's terms) until we have hung out 3 times. So I guess our friendship terminology is 'It's Complicated'.

Regardless, Kevin's blog is one of those sites that you'll visit and end up reading through 100 posts before you realize you missed your lunch break. Sometimes bike related, sometimes a randomly awesome video, or sometimes just his brain dropping some knowledge. Oh yeah, and Kevin also takes pictures/shoots video. He's in my Rad catagory of people I know.

Check it.
http://thenewboredom.wordpress.com/

Riding is back!

I made it out west last week for a work trip to San Diego, and ended up staying a few days with an NU Cycling alum!

My first ride of the season was 3 and half hr 12 mile ride through some of the most epic XC trails i've EVER ridden!