Released in June 2022, Tea & Biscuits 2 premiered in 4 places on a main UK tour, along with 40+ other worldwide screenings at bike shops, cafes and venues. Which is pretty bonkers really. I was quite overwhelmed. The film itself took over 16 months of production end to end, which for me is quite long, but for a major feature film is very short. My previous films were done end to end in around half that time. We wanted to keep the UK vibes but also expand and do some trips further afield. We got to Greece, Italy and France for some wild sections with big name riders such as Vinny T, Sam Hill and Phil Atwill. We had a bunch more sponsors too thanks to the Misspent Summers team, with Propain Bikes and Oneup Components being the title sponsors. The World Premiere evening at EWS Tweed Valley. Back at Llandegla OPA, my favourite premiere location. Raffling some bits off at Stif Bikes in Bristol. A dream come true, being able to film Sam Hill at Pila for a few days. Scoping some (in my mind) silly lines and chatting shite about Greg Minnaar asking the UCI to cut roots out at night to make the track easier. Lando the trail dog, the star of the show. Chloe Taylor on the scandi flicks. Bex Baraona fresh off her first EWS win in Scotland. A cold, wet Welsh day with Dan Atherton and Jim Monro. Euan Thomson, the film's biggest underdog and the riders favourite section. Unbelievable balance and composure on the bike. Our week in Greece was eventful with Phil Atwill and the Greek riding squad. Here's Darren Evans, well being Darren Evans. Phil was hired by the local mayor to build a family track that was suitable for all ages. What he actually built was a fast and hectic downhill track full of gaps and typical Atwill features. Marco Lamaris. Proper young talent. Anastasis pulling some shapes. This guy embodies the spirit of Tea & Biscuits. Just go and ride your bike and have fun, no matter how old or beaten up your bike is. You don't need to newest kit to have fun. The full squad in a little village in the Greek mountains. You don't need a new bike every year. End of. Jake Gilfillan dropping in. And yes that's the bike Rat rode in British Pie 3. Sam Cofano destroying Cheshire loam. Sam Cofano. Again, ultimate young talent. These lads deserved another film segment. Quietly doing their own thing but absolute operators on a bike. Big squad out in St Andrews for a very dry and dusty loam segment. Remi Gauvin coming in hot. It was great to get the Rocky Mountain team involved in a film segment. Max Rendall pulling shapes. Ryan Middleton overcooking the savagely deep loam rut. Reece Wilson drifting over the brow in what became the film poster image. Bit of an honour having Reece turn up for the filming after his world champs win! Long live Dimmo FM. Big trains in the sunshine. The legend himself, Tommo Walker. Down in the big smoke. The London squad. Not quite as sketchy as it looks. Pretty good tracking vehicle as it turns out. Mike Jersey Taylor, the BMX legend back on the streets. This time with about 160mm more travel. Wheelie king Wyn Masters boosting the hip. And finally, the trip to France to see Vinny T. In December. A bit of a stupid idea really but it was the best week filming I've had maybe ever. Pure fun. Looking over to Switzerland on the other side. Joel Anderson, like a pig in shit. Moody mountains. Bikes, sledges, motorbikes. All of the fun activities. There we have it. Lots of BTS bits and shots from Tea and Biscuits 2. All photos from Ben Winder, Will Brignal, Ian Lean and Tom Caldwell.
0 Comments
Better late than never, but here's some of the BTS shots from the first Tea and Biscuits film, released in March 2020 with a sold out Llandegla OPA premiere. Literally days before the world shut down for the C word. Some tasty giveaways from our title sponsor, Nukeproof Bikes. Not long after this, Brayton managed to snap his fork crown and also fall into a ditch in the minivan rental. It was an interesting trip to say the least. Grandad and Grandson. Josh Gleave ripping the loam in Cheshire. I used this Panasonic HCx1000 for a few years. Good, but not great, and fairly terrible in low light situations. Fancy coffees all round in Surrey with Bernard Kerr and Olly Wilkins. Again, fairly difficult to explain this image. Double slide tackle from Emyr Davies and Brage Vestavik. Somerset bad boys, Isaac Anderson and Toby Down.
I headed out to Loosefest a month or so ago for Dirt Magazine and Wideopen MTB for the first time to witness the insanity that is this jump line. Now, if you're not familiar with Loosefest, watch the video below and prepare to have your jaw dropped. If you do know what Loosefest is about, then you'll understand it's a group of mountain bikers who don't race (which is what you'd typically do) but just do big jumps and make cool videos, That's about the jist of it really, but a percentage of these riders have made a career from it. Not racing, no podiums.. just doing really cool sh*t on their bikes, getting loads of exposure for brands and sponsors, and bringing in the keep that way. The brains behind it all and living legend, Nico Vink. He still thinks that the jumps can bigger and that we haven't hit the limit yet. Kiwi Conor Macfarlane is a prime example of a rider who doesn't really race, but gets by by doing the craziest events in mountain biking (Red Bull Rampage, Loosefest), having sponsors who help him out, shooting videos and just generally having a good time without the pressure of race runs. Style dog Remy Morton. Known for his banging Instagram videos. He took a huge slam on the last jump here and is on the road to recovery. Bas Van Steenbergen. Or Steezeburger as we branded him. His first time at the event, scared sh*tless at the start, but couldn't get enough of them by the end of the week. A seriously cool dude who has pulled off the 'professional freerider and video guy' down to a tee. The real rebels... Ronny Racing. Travel Europe, live in an ambulance, and have a good time all the time. They are XL cans of beer in their hands too. The most talked about up-and-comer, Somerset's very own Joel Anderson. BMXer turned mountain biker, Tom Isted is an absolute nutcase. Ronny Racing's vessel. Sputnik 2.0. We don't race, but we still go fast as f*ck. Arguably another living legend. Kristoff Lenssens is his name, and is Nico's best mate. Flat out in the digger, and does every jump Nico does, but has near enough zero presence on social media, so barely anyone knows his name. If there was ever an underdog. This is the general attitude from the group of individuals here towards the rest of the MTB industry. Style dog Craig Evans enjoys the Belgian sunshine before sending himself over some 80ft gaps. Josh Lewis is another example, no racing, or not much at least. He puts all his time and effort into videos, riding skills and developing the 50to01 brand. Talk of the town.. Josh Bryceland. Everyone knows he's not racing now. He's just having a good time. Will he return to the world cups though? Finishing with the biggest rebel of the lot... Jasper Flashman. Anti everything this man is, and I wouldn't put the guy down as a racer. It seemed like he was pretty much the backbone of the Loosefest community, and the freeride scene back in the UK.
Until next year! For A Bigger Slice of British Pie, we shot a hell of a lot of footage. And a fair chunk of that was left out and may never see the light of day. Well it might, in the B-Roll. There was so much good photographic content left over from Ben Winder that I'm just trying to share as much of it as possible from what was the best MTB project of my life so far. Enjoy! At the end of 2 days filming with the North Wales boys, everyone had bonked. It was starting to go dark in the woods and Gaz watched all the boys trickle down the steepest track I've ever seen. An Al Bond special slithering down the steepest of shoots and in-between the biggest of boulders. Nobody wanted to do it, especially not on trail bikes. But peer pressure is a magical thing. The footage from this track was super dark and not really usable. Steep never actually looks steep on camera, which is a shame. But it was great fun to watch the boys on the edge of control. Emyr Davies, probably knackered and preparing for another round of Al Bond steepness. The pink ramp! That ramp is a good 13 years old, Toys R Us special. I used to see how many people I could gap off it when I was 12 and a 'BMXer'. It's use in the pie was to put it in the daftest place and see where you could end up off it. We had to put bricks and stones underneath it to stop the bugger sliding on impact though! Leo Housman and his seemingly never ending supply of Haribo, Big thanks to Simmonds for ditching his honeymoon to come and ride with us, even though he was in a pink swimsuit with goggles on. The full North Wales crew. Steve Peat. Who'd have thought the face of Mountain Biking in the UK would be in my film. Quite the honour having him in front of the lens. The 4x powerhouse that is Luke Cryer, chauffeured by Alton local, Dean Wood. We found a wild Nikki Whiles deep in the heart of the South Wales valleys. The boys were buzzing with some free stickers! About 25 of us turned up to this pub after the dual session and it was only a little place. Jam packed it was, no room! Phil Atwill's old school style at Beastramps, Manchester. Just before the Pie impacted on Phil's face. No wonder it hurt his nose (his nose that he had surgery on a few months before), we had to reinforce the plate as it wasn't heavy enough. It had 2 disc rotors strapped to the back of it! But I didn't tell him that part. Never thought I'd carry a catapult with a grandma. Grandma Bryceland getting ready for her big appearance. A wild Joe Flanagan in his natural habitat. Winter. It's great. The Lakes crew, mid lunch break. Also feat. Beamer. Classic pikey Phil Atwill. The home made chain guide his dad crafted the night before out of a piece of teak. It worked, until it snapped off. Bill Farrington trying to fix his bike minutes before the start of the big grand prix. The boys lined up ready to give it some throttle. The media squids putting in some elbow grease to clear some trail obstacles. We accidentally rolled this bugger down the backside of Ben Nevis. We heard it rolling for a good minute after we pushed it. I hope it took out no hikists on the way down. On the 2nd day of filming, Cathro properly spannered himself against a tree. I think he dislocated his collarbone. The boys off for a dip in Loch Ness when the air temperature was a barmy 4 degrees. Jono and the talking gash. We had every type of weather during this day. This was when it was hailing. A great expression of enjoyment upon Brendans face. The man, the myth, the legend. Olly Wilkins. A recipe for disaster feat. Matt Jones. This was the consistency of Jono Jones' road gap. Basically chocolate cake. Bryceland trying to perfect his slopestyle career, whilst Pagey looks on. The boys congratulating Joe on his backflip.. attempts. Brendan tasting the surrey soil, probably not for the first time. This part never made the film. It all looked well and good launching out of this old brick building, but on the landing were a series of very soft, and pretty brutal natural steps. You couldn't go fast it it just looked awkward bobbling down these steps. Bit of a shame really! Manon Carpenter showing Vero Sandler how she actually trains for World Cups.. Vero trying to perfect her own 'jib'... And then the food fight begun. In the middle of Bringewood! Little man, big truck, and bullhead. Bullhead or Dave Wardell as it turns out is bloody quick on a bike. Masters silver medalist and can keep up with Danny! We'll leave it at that for now, B-Roll on the way soon!
|
Tom Caldwell
Filming bikes, riding bikes and everything in-between. Archives
August 2023
Categories |