unscene DVD review!

It's mint. Get your cash out and get it bought. Job's a good 'un. There you have it.

More? You want more? Oh, fer feck's sake, you're so demanding! Go on then - let me give you the lowdown. Conceived by Nick Hawker and Tom Hodder and born during 2005, unscene is a video project aimed at capturing the true UK scene, featuring UK riders - some of whom you may not have heard of. Yet, anyway.

Flippin' good stuff! (Shame about my cheesy captions!)

Fire up the DVD and it's straight into the mix of riding. Anything goes - as long as it's UK, that is. From DH racing (weekend warrior to World Cup hero) to full on 4X action (Wheelbase NPS and Bike Show at Coventry) to just playing about on bikes (in the woods, on the trails or riding street in the smoke), the unscene guys put in some serious work, miles of tape and tanks of fuel and probably the odd sleepless night to bring it to your sceen.

With the main focus of the film being 'accessibility', I was stoked to recognise loads of spots and events - many of which I was at! Shame I didn't manage more of an appearance than a left leg and elbow in the Wheelbase section. I'll try harder next time!

Fast paced action from the NPS at Wheelbase

Where were we? Oh yeah - familiar spots to many of you will include Bringewood, Abercarn, Mountain Ash, Fort William, Bolehills, Chezzy BMX track and London amongst others. Many recognisable faces from the UK scene also pop up - certainlly if you race DH in the UK. These are not always the podium standers or the magazine idols. Often, they are the dude next to you on the start hill, who you spoke to at your local spot or rode with last summer - who also happens to have some serious style on a bike.

World Cup at Fort William

Standouts for me include the footage from Fort William World Cup. Rather than be on site, I was reporting 'live' from my desk, posting splits on the forum and I only sampled the atmoshpere by radio, SMS and live web feed. The unscene team footage bought the sweet moment of Steve's victory flooding back!

Steve Peat - on top of the World

Another top section for me was Rowans 'Top to Bottom' run of the Mynydd Mojo track at Cwmcarn. Somehow (probably with lots of running!) the crew stiched together the footage to give a brilliant overview of how to ride this track quickly. Cwmcarn is always a good day out - I now have my own 'tutorial' on how to have it pinned...

Who says Cwmcarn is too man-made? Rowan weaving through the top section

That's the riding covered - but what about the production? It's dialled. Smooth filming and stylish infills and section links so you know where you are. The guys enlished a London club promoter to pick the tracks. 'No rap metal', they claim. I was stoked to hear Therapy? in there, one of my favourite bands. Now I have screen dumps dialled, I need to work out if I can record the soundtrack!

When you consider the undoubted effort and expense that the lads have been to to film this, what's even more impressive is the fact that all profit will be donated to charity. Have a look at www.fairbridge.org.uk and www.wdm.org.uk. So what are you waiting for? See unscenevideo.co.uk to snag yourself a copy. Quick, before the sun comes out and you want to ride!